European Society for Oceanists 2025 Conference

ESfO 2025. Lucerne, 24 June 2025 - 27 June 2025

The 2025 ESfO conference will be held as an in-person conference in Lucerne, Switzerland. The venue is the main building of the University of Lucerne, located right between the train station and Lake Lucerne.

The dates are the following:
• Tuesday 24th of June 2025, afternoon: registration & opening reception
• Wednesday 25th of June 2025: keynote 1 and panel sessions
• Thursday 26th of June 2025: keynote 2 and panel sessions
• Friday 27th of June 2025: panel sessions followed by conference dinner

The Registration for the Conference is still OPEN!

Please register before the start of the conference.

Please click on the registration tab at the top of the page and follow the instructions.

Conference Organizers

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

University of Lucerne

Bettina Beer

Tobias Schwörer

Contact: esfo2025@gmail.com

Sponsors

Connections Within and Beyond Oceania

Oceania has always been interconnected in a myriad of ways. From the first peopling of Australia and the Pacific to today’s age of the internet, social media, and mobile phones, people of the Pacific have initiated, strengthened, reinforced, and affirmed, but also blocked, interrupted, resisted, and broken off connections with humans and non-humans alike. They have established complex relations within and between communities, societies, and nation states, formed and recognized links with their physical environment, circulated objects, visions and ideas that shape and redefine their worlds, created artistic expressions celebrating all kinds of connections, and continue to be affected by and contribute to global processes that impact us all.

This conference opens a forum for establishing which connections are central to the lives of Pacific people, but also which connections are neglected, de-emphasized or forgotten. We invite participants to reflect on the nature, shape, direction, and durability of connections, how they are initiated and maintained, and the goals and aspirations towards which they are established. We seek to explore the complex interplay between the environmental, social, and cultural landscapes of Oceania and their local, regional, and global connections and disconnections in the past, present and future.

The conference is also an opportunity to reflect on future connections in Oceania and beyond. With new and continuing challenges like climate change, geopolitical shifts, migration, pandemics and other health crises, the impact of extractive industries, or enduring legacies of colonialism and racism, what new connections and alliances are being forged, which new pathways created? How do people remain connected with their heritage in an increasingly globalized world? And what are the objects and ideas that continue to connect people within Oceania and beyond?

Pacific Islands Scholars Travel Grant

We warmly welcome scholars from the Pacific, recognizing the importance of the perspectives they bring to the discussion. The organizers have secured funding for travel grants for Pacific Islands scholars without sufficient institutional support to support their participation at this conference and ensure their voices are heard. The deadline for application has passed, and the grants have been awarded to 7 scholars.