TE MOANA workshop (France)

7 July 2026

Photo: Mélanie Edeline, Université de Haute Alsace

On Tuesday, July 7, Mathilde and Tamatoa participated in a workshop. The TE MOANA project brought researchers together for a workshop focused on environmental changes in the Pacific during the era of French nuclear testing, the associated perceptions, and the lasting impacts these changes have had to this day.

Designed as a collaborative working session, this workshop began with an exercise that was seemingly simple but particularly thought-provoking: inviting each participant to present a key concept used in their research, - whether or not it directly concerns Polynesia or nuclear issues-, in order to fuel a collective reflection on Oceanian worlds, forms of knowledge, risk policies, territorial reconfigurations, environmental memories, and issues of nuclear justice.

Throughout the morning, discussions focused in particular on uninhabitable spaces, scientific diplomacy, colonial ecology, local knowledge, “more-than-human history,” archives, AI, the territorialization of maritime spaces… as well as ways to visualize research.

Beyond the presentations, this workshop was also intended to inform the next stages of the project, with plans for a conference in Tahiti in 2027 and a collective publication in 2028.