Abstract
This article explores the relationship between I-Kiribati communities and the broader 'imagined' Pasifika community in Aotearoa New Zealand. It looks at the way a group of I-Kiribati tertiary students experience identity within this context. Through the use of semi-structured interviews and a discourse analysis, the study draws three main conclusions. First, that I-Kiribati navigate multiple identities and are constantly negotiating these within different spaces. Although this contributes to uncertainties around identity, I-Kiribati students also strategically enact identity to suit various contexts. Second, that Pasifika as a term tends to infer 'Polynesian' which in turn may marginalise I-Kiribati identities within certain spaces, particularly in education settings that intend to support all Pacific identities. Yet, given such a narrow understanding of Pasifika, these efforts may counter that intention for those on the margins of, or outside the common usage of, the term Pasifika. Last, community plays a significant role in the formation of identities within minority groups, which is important for countering aspects of marginalisation experienced within broader pan-ethnic labels such as Pasifika. Consequently, we argue that Pasifika as a label needs to better reflect inter-Pacific diversity as well as the identity negotiations that Aotearoa New Zealand-born Pacific peoples navigate.