He has worked as an academic in five different countries and now Dr Steven Ratuva has been made a distinguished professor – the first Pacific person to ever hold this highest professorial title.

The Fiji-born University of Canterbury political sociologist and director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies has been recognised for his pioneering research in a range of fields, including ethnicity, security and politics.

Dr Ratuva has been promoted to the highest role in academia and wants to inspire other Pacific students and scholars to break down the “political and cultural” hurdles that often stand in their way.

• READ MORE: Steven Ratuva becomes world’s first Pacific distinguished professor

“I want to show them that nothing is impossible, you can reach the top,” he said.

“There is always the perception that Pacific people are not as smart, just good in rugby and not so much academia.

“It’s a myth that we need to break through.”

Dr Ratuva said he was honoured to receive the appointment.

First time for a Pacific scholar
“It’s the first time a Pacific scholar has received the title, anywhere in the world,” he said.

“There’s a lot of research around the world about how minorities internalise the perception about them. It’s about breaking through those psychological and cultural perceptions.”

Dr Ratuva joined the University of Canterbury in 2015 but has also worked at universities in Fiji, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.

“I grew up in an environment where education was very much encouraged and promoted. In my family alone, there are about 15 degrees altogether.”

Dr Ratuva worked for the Suva-based University of the South Pacific (USP) before joining highly respected think tank the Institute of Development Studies, based at the University of Sussex, in southern England.

“It’s the leading development institute in the world. It’s ranked above Oxford and Harvard, they compete for second position,” he said.

The father of two is a prolific author and in the last two years alone he has written and edited five books, including a three-volume global project on ethnicity, the largest and most comprehensive on the subject.

Connecting the boxes
“A lot of those issues are interconnected; politics, economics, culture,” he said.

“Often in academia we break them up into little boxes. In my work, I try to connect those boxes.”

Last year, Dr Ratuva was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and has won the society’s Mertge Medal for New Zealand social science research excellence.

He is currently co-leading a University of Canterbury and USP joint project on climate crisis, covering 16 Pacific countries.

Dr Ratuva is one of four Canterbury academics recently awarded the role of distinguished professors. The others are Maggie Lee Huckabee, Charles Semple and Michael Hall.

This article was first published by Stuff and is republished with permission.

Retired politics professor and historian Robert “Robbie” Robertson, 69, co-author of the book Shattered Coups about the 1987 coups led by then Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, has died in Melbourne, his family has confirmed.

Dr Robertson wrote the book with his partner Akosita Tamanisau, then a Fiji journalist. It was published in January 1988 and he also wrote other books and papers on Fiji and globalisation.

He and Dr William Sutherland co-authored the fast moving and readable Government by the Gun: The unfinished business of Fiji’s 2000 coup.

• READ MORE: The General’s Goose: Coups, globalisation and Fiji’s reset ‘democracy’ paradigm
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His last book on Fiji in 2017 was The General’s Goose: Fiji’s contemporary tale of misadventure.

Dr Robertson was the second person at the University of the South Pacific to have his work permit rescinded and he was deported to New Zealand by Rabuka’s government.

Attempts to have him relocated to Port Vila were sabotaged by the then Vanuatu government.

Moved to Australia
He moved to Australia and joined La Trobe University and became associate professor of history and development studies in Bendigo.

Dr Robertson returned to USP from 2004 to 2006 as professor and director of development studies.

Subsequently, he served as professor and head of school of arts and social sciences at James Cook University (2010-2014) and as professor and dean of arts, social sciences and humanities at Swinburne University of Technology from July 2014 until he retired.

Retired professor of development studies at USP Dr Vijay Naidu and New Zealand researcher Dr Jackie Leckie recalled his contribution as a progressive and inspirational academic, and his sense of humour, Dr Leckie saying “Robbie was one of the good guys. I am so sorry that he had suffered in health recently.”

Dr Robertson is survived by his wife Akosita and sons Nemani and Julian.