Oubramani asserts that the forces of globalism must be resisted by Pacific intellectuals and writers. He says they can do this primarily by using ver nacular languages and epistemologies, the result of which is a change in the locus of power, from without to within. The emergence of a new lan guage of critique that does not mimic that of the west, an integrated approach to the pursuit of knowledge, the refusal to treat literature as a commodity, and the empowerment of the marginalized (what Subramani calls the subaltern), are some of the benefits that will arise when Pacific intellectuals and writers realize that where they are should be the center of their universe. According to Subramani, there are three variables—the nation-state, diasporic communities, and the global paradigm—that stand in the way of realizing the agenda he has outlined. To overcome these obstacles to the production of new epistemologies, Subramani provides examples of how intellectuals and writers can deal with opposing forces so that they become allies in the struggle. For example, he cites the contributions of intellectu als to constitutional reform in the aftermath of Fiji's first and second mil itary coups in 1987 (since then there has been another in 2000), the ways in which several Pacific writers explore the experiences of displaced Pacific Islanders in their fiction, and the role of the University of the South Pacific in the creation and promotion of Pacific literature, the teaching of Pacific languages, and the promotion of the visual and theater arts. Essentially, Subramani proposes the construction of a body of knowl edge rooted in and about Oceania that encompasses its philosophies, car tographies, languages, genealogies, and repressed knowledges. This idea is not new. Albert Wendt's 1975 essay Toward a New Oceania, early writings in the journal Mana by Marjorie Crocombe and others, and more recently Epeli Hau'ofa's essay Our Sea of Islands (1994) speak of the same concerns. Two other articles in this issue (by Gegeo and Meyer) have similar themes. According to Subramani, the greatest threat to such