28 November, cultural welcome

Today was definitely a jam-packed day! The cultural ceremony in the morning was extremely enlightening, and it was really useful to be taught the basic codes of conduct that Fijians abide by. The communal way of living we learnt briefly about is something that I would really like to investigate further; what seems to really differentiate a great number of cultures, the Fijian one included, from perhaps more Western cultures is this mode of living; in the majority of societies similar to our own, everyone seems to live their own pretty isolated lives, in their own houses, firmly fenced off from their neighbors. Here, however, one can see people standing around and chatting at every turn. There is undoubtedly a spirit of “we’re all in this together”; Fijians seem to realize that their prosperity and happiness is very much mutually intertwined.

This is a sentiment strongly reflected in the Cattermole reading, which, although it focusses on the bonds uniting different races in Fiji, also speaks of this sense of commonality. I have not really observed the extent of inclusiveness of inter-racial complete acceptance just yet, but it is certainly easy to imagine how this sense of being in a shared situation could give rise to a strong feeling of patriotism, at least amongst the i-taukei. Another observation from the Cattermole reading which is relevant to what I experienced today is the sense of national pride that Fijians seem only too willing to promote. The performances today seemed very important symbolic markers of the indigeneity of the Fijian people.

This sense of the Fijian people being somewhat of a common entity was also evident in the speech given by the Director of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Arts this morning at the introduction at the Fiji Museum. The Director emphasized the gratitude that him, his colleagues, and the Fijian government in general, had for us in coming to volunteer our time and services to assist in these projects. However, for me, the focus of this trip is not so much on what I am contributing to Fiji, but what Fiji is giving to me. This is how I am approaching this trip; as an opportunity to learn and to improve my employability skills. It is incredible that a nation, accustomed to arranging its own affairs and plodding along happily in the grand scheme of things, could think of a bunch of undergraduate students from a foreign university as being able to deeply enrich it. I am without a doubt deeply humbled by this sort of attitude.

Just on the cultural introduction today, I definitely appreciated my position as an intern, associated with one of the most pre-eminent universities in Australia and with the work of the Fijian government, as it is this status which allows me to be privy to the kind of elaborate formal ceremonies we were fortunate enough to witness today, whereas a common tourist would most likely not receive this degree of cultural enrichment. This sort of experience really reminded me of my studies in Anthropology this year with the exploration of touristic experiences, and what defines an “authentic” experience. This ceremony lacked any hint of commodification. This to me was really indicated by the inherent joy that the Fijian dancers appeared to have. The men, when doing their vigorous dancing (with lots of foot stamping and sharp, strong arm movements), just had these amazing grins on their faces. The women, although somewhat more subdued, had smiles of genuine pleasure on their faces. Although the performers at more touristy places would certainly also have similarly smiley faces, to me, these smiles did not seem plastered on as I would imagine they would be at resorts and such. It seemed rather a genuine desire to promote the culture of Fiji, rather than just seek the attention and money of wealthy Westerners.

On further reflection on the performances today, and a deeper reading of the Cattermole piece, I began to understand the parallels between these and the nature of Fijian society. With regards to the gender divide, just as Fijian men have more political power than Fijian women (and arguably power on a lesser scale), when the two sexes joined together in the final part of the dance we were watching, the men stood, while the women sat. The patriarchal nature of Fijian society, with its strong militarism, was also evident in the vigorous, if not somewhat aggressive, dancing of the men, while the women were portrayed as significantly more meek and docile, with their graceful fan-waving and such. However, even thought there was a gender divide evident in the ways of the dancers, I still very much noted an aspect of the two coming together, for the mutual goal of providing entertainment. As somewhat of a microcosm of larger Fijian society, this dance to me represented the importance of unity to national identity, a central element of Cattermole’s piece.