Responding to climate migration: engaging with Pacific Island voices on loss and mobility

Abstract

The voices of Pacific Islanders and those facing displacement as a consequence to climate change are vital to our understanding of the relationship between climate change and human mobility. Demonstrating a gap in the literature to engage with Pacific Islander perspectives, this thesis acknowledges the need to amplify voice and knowledge production in the region. To better understand how Pacific Islanders are experiencing climate mobilities, this thesis examines political speeches and poetry which provide insight to how Pacific Island communities are grappling with the potentialities of loss and mobility in the face of sea level rise and environmental degradation. By critically analysing these discourses, this thesis draws attention to how narratives surrounding the phenomenon of climate mobilities are constructed and reproduced within the literature, by the international community and by Pacific Islanders themselves. By centring Pacific Island voice, this thesis illustrates the value of poetic expressions as valid contributions of knowledge towards a larger discussion on responding to climate mobilities.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2031.

Date of Award	Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Heather Johnson (Supervisor) & John Barry (Supervisor)