The design of this qualitative research traces actors and their activities in various multilateral settings through an inductive approach of describing the different processes of negotiations and the perspectives of Pacific island parties. The methodology draws on talanoa a Pacific research method and global talanoa, a term that this research has coined to describe the use of process tracing47 and global political ethnography48 for this
research.
Talanoa Method
The unique method used in this qualitative research is the application of talanoa
method49. Talanoa is an existing cultural practice found in mainly Polynesian cultures50
to depict formal and informal conversations, storytelling and experiences which has become a popular and prominent methodology to study Pacific communities51 by
47 James Mahoney, Erin Kimball, and Kendra L Koivu, "The logic of historical explanation in the social
sciences," Comparative Political Studies 42, no. 1 (2009)., Rosemary C. Reilly and David Walner, "Process tracing and causal mechnism," in Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences ed. Alexander L and Andrew Bennett George (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2005)., Rosemary C. Reilly, "Encyclopedia of Case Study Research," ed. Gabrielle Durepos & Elden Wiebe Albert J. Mills, Encyclopedia of Case Study Research (Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2010), under "Process Tracing."
48 Finn Stepputat and Jessica Larsen, Global political ethnography: A methodological approach to
studying global policy regimes (DIIS Working Paper, 2015).
49 Some of the work around talanoa as a method of inquiry and methodology in social research include
Mo'ale Otunuku, "How can talanoa be used effectively an an indigenous research methodology with Tongan people?," Pacific-Asian Education 23, no. 2 (2011)., Tamasailau Suaalii‐Sauni and Saunimaa Ma Fulu‐Aiolupotea, "Decolonising P acific research, building P acific research communities and developing P acific research tools: The case of the talanoa and the faafaletui in S amoa," Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55, no. 3 (2014)., Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop and Eve Coxon, Talanoa, Building a Pasifika Research Culture (Dunmore Publishing, 2014)., Nāsili Vaka'Uta, "Talanoa: Building a Pasifika Research Culture ed. by Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop," the contemporary pacific 29, no. 1 (2017).
50 The concept and practice of talanoa are found across many Polynesia cultures in Samoa, Tonga, Cook
Islands Fiji, Niue, Hawaii and Solomon Islands. See more Semisi M Prescott, "Using talanoa in Pacific business research in New Zealand: Experiences with Tongan entrepreneurs," AlterNative: An
International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 4, no. 1 (2008).
51 Trisia Farrelly and Uanasi Nabobo-Baba, "Talanoa as empathic research" (paper presented at the
21 Sitieveni Halapula52 and Timoti Vaioleti53. This research is more concerned with
talanoa as a method of data collection and how it is used in academic studies to encompass the use of cultural-specific protocols, to conduct research with Pacific communities on particular issues.
In practice talanoa is an umbrella term to denote various forms of both individual and group interviews, which are either informal conversations (chatting or offload) or formal intensive interviews54. In defining the term, tala holistically intermingles
researchers’ and participants’ emotions, experiences and knowing; while noa is the space and conditions55. These methods are explained in established humanities
disciplines as face to face informal open-ended narrative interviews or an open dialogue56. However, what distinguishes talanoa from ethnographic methods of
intensive interviews is the empathetic reciprocal relationship between the participant and the researcher. It is a relationship where the researcher recognises the complexity of cultural and political lived realities of participants: from notions of relatedness,
expectation, assumptions, values, protocols and how they communicate with each other57. By opening the space for flexible opened-ended discussions, talanoa is effective
once trust is built and participants not only reflect on questions prompted but share their personal stories and emotions58. Talanoa encourages reciprocity for the participant to
create and formalise a relationship by asking the researcher questions on the project and its contribution to the knowledge imparted.
While participant observation allows the researcher to objectively detail the process of negotiations, talanoa is subjective. The method of participative observation is a mixture
52 Sitiveni Halapula, a Tongan researcher used the talanoa method in post-conflict and peace studies to
facilitate dialogue among multi-cultural societies and organisations in post-2000 Fiji. Sitiveni Halapua, "Talanoa process: The case of Fiji," East West Centre, Hawaii (2000)., and
53 Timote Vaioleti a Tongan researcher identified eight various methods of talanoa (talanoa vave, faikava,
usu, tevolo, faka’eke’eke, po talanoa, talanoai, talanga ) when engaging with Pacific, or distinctively Tongan communities. Timote Vaioleti, "Talanoa: Differentiating the talanoa research methodology from phenomenology, narrative, Kaupapa Maori and feminist methodologies," Te Reo 56 (2013).
54 Timote M Vaioleti, "Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research,"
Waikato Journal of Education 12, no. 1 (2006).
55 Ibid., 24.
56Ibid., 21., Trisia Farrelly and Unaisi Nabobo‐Baba, "Talanoa as empathic apprenticeship," Asia Pacific
Viewpoint 55, no. 3 (2014): 3.
57Vaioleti, 21. 58 Ibid.
of passive (researcher is only in the bystander role) and moderate participation
(researcher maintains a balance between "insider" and "outsider" roles)59. Subjectivity is
fundamental when using global talanoa as it establishes professional and cultural connection using multiple insider and outsider identities. Fieldwork involved ten months of access into various sites of negotiations, the researcher was able to gain the trust of Pacific leaders and negotiators who would share information with someone who was attempting to tell their story. This involved introducing the research first and
foremost using an outsider identity of documentary researcher when they were informed of the ethics and main questions of the research. At the same time the researcher
introduced the project by stating his insider identity as an advisor attending as many meetings as possible early in the year. Furthermore, it was important that negotiators were informed that the researcher was a Samoan national of Tuvaluan, i-Kiribati, British and Chinese ancestry, attempting to also find out if there were idiosyncratic features of cultural affinity in the negotiation styles of Pacific negotiators. These insider-cultural and outsider-professional identities of the researcher, and consistent participation in the multiple multilateral meetings gradually built trust and rapport with Pacific leaders and negotiators to share their stories and perspectives through talanoa interviews.
When participants were made aware of the ethics and questions of the research they were informed that did not have to talanoa with the researcher immediately. They were given the opportunity to choose the place and time throughout the year in the various meetings, and in as many occasions they would like to share. These led to talanoa akin to semi-structured interviews in the intervals during the negotiations, in hotel and airport lobbies, offices, restaurants and not to mention reflective discussions in the midnight hours during heated negotiations. In total 35 participants would offer their insights through 65 sessions of recorded talanoa throughout the year, as affixed in Appendix I. Participants were given the choice to be attributed, or if they prefer to be anonymous to be given a pseudonym in the study. These sessions did not include the rich information obtained through corridor talks that relayed both the relief, frustration, suspicions and predictions of actors during negotiations. In essence participants would
59 Kathleen Musante Dewalt, "Participant Observation," in Handbook of Methods in Cultural
23 also lead or direct the researcher, using snowball tactics to identify other key negotiators in the meetings- and in many cases hand-hold the researcher to follow them to key side meetings that would prove useful in documenting both the complexity of the negotiation process and political dynamics in the multilateral forum.
Global Talanoa: process tracing through global political ethnography
Global talanoa is the term used to describe the use of process tracing and ethnography for this research design. Process tracing is a collective term60 for numerous approaches
that look at identifying, validating, and testing causal mechanisms within case studies in a specific, theoretically informed way. In Chapter Two, from the disciplines of
psychology, international relations and diplomatic studies, various hypotheses on the extent of how consensus is built and reached in multilateral negotiations will be interrogated through ethnographic narratives. Global political ethnography allows students of policy studies to understand linkages and impacts of policy in its multiple levels from the global to the local. The methodology allows for collection and testing of data from multiple sites61 of diplomatic conferences62. Together, they are useful in
supplementing the data gathered from the talanoa method.
Document and Sources
This research collected documentary evidence from various sources. The official negotiation documents from UNFCCC, PIF and PIDF secretariats on the draft texts, negotiation procedures, official speeches or submissions by states and coalitions distributed before or during the conferences were pivotal in understanding the context and process of negotiations as they unfolded. Some of these documents were uploaded
60 The four distinctions of process tracing are linking conditions to outcomes of decision making;
independent and dependent variables of causal mechanism; instantiating a mechanism schema by testing various phases, and verification of a single inference in a process. Reilly and Walner, 67.
61 Multi-sited ethnography made famous George Marcus study of phenomena dispersed across borders
and articulated in flexible networks. It broke with static mono-locational conceptualisations. See more E George Marcus, "Multi-sited Ethnography," Multi-Sited Ethnography: Problems and Possibilities in the Translocation of Research Methods (2011).
62 Studies of conference ethnography are prevalent in the work of Lisa M Campbell et al., "Studying
global environmental meetings to understand Global Environmental Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography at the tenth conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity," Global Environmental Politics 14, no. 3 (2014). Catherine Corson, Lisa M Campbell, and Kenneth I MacDonald, "Capturing the personal in politics: Ethnographies of global environmental governance," ibid.
onto their official websites. The daily records of UNFCCC proceedings from Earth Negotiation Bulletin and ECO Newsletter were useful accounts in reflecting on how events unfolded, and a macro outlook of negotiations. These were compared with accounts from news media and academic blogs that captured day-by-day shifts at the negotiating conferences. However, the most vital documents were emails of issue position papers and strategies shared by Pacific delegates and coalitions during the negotiations. Access to these documents could come to me only because I participated in these negotiations both as a researcher and negotiator.
Participant Observation
Global talanoa explores multiple sites at different levels using participant observation. As indicated in the design of this research, the data is sourced from multiple multilateral forums of the UNFCCC COP21 and ADP2-9, as well as regional meetings of PIDF and PIF. This multi-sited and multi-level study took place in 2015, where the researcher undertook fieldwork in seven multilateral conferences over a period of ten months63.
The researcher was able to gain special access from the governments of the Independent State of Samoa (PIF, ADP2-9, COP21), and Tuvalu (PIF Smaller Island States meeting) to attend these meetings as a pro-bono advisor64. In the process of attaining these special
accesses, the researcher and the relevant ministries of foreign affairs agreed that under no circumstance would the researcher speak on behalf of these countries in the
negotiations, but merely follow leaders and officials to document the process of the meetings. The access into these meetings as state official or ‘pink badge’ holder was beyond the access that media or NGOs had, which kept them outside of the closed negotiation chambers. The delegations also respected the circumstances of the researcher not to engage in any policy or strategy advice. The insights into the
discussions of plenaries, coalitions, state delegation meetings, bilateral, informal side meetings, drafting meetings, high-level ministerial meeting, including access into
63 These included the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Program’s Pacific Climate
Change Roundtable/High-Level Support Mechanism I in Apia (May), UNFCCC ADP2-9 in Bonn (June), Pacific Islands Development Forum Summit in Suva (August), Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Port Moresby (September), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Program’s High-Level Support Mechanism II in Apia (November), Pacific Small Islands Developing States negotiation bloc meetings in New York (November) and the Paris Climate Change Conference/COP21 in Paris (December)
64 This practice of involving academics in delegations were not peculiar to Samoa and Tuvalu- in fact was
25 COP21 leaders holding room provided insights into the world of negotiators and
negotiations process that are rarely analysed in academia. The access into these rooms informed the thick ethnographic narratives of description of place, actors, activities, relationships and political dynamics before and during the negotiations.