Dec 7, Fine Dancing

Chiefly compound in Bau, symbolic of the high status of the chief (particularly Bau's chief) in Fijian society. Such high ranking can give rise to problems of corruption.

Today made for a welcome change from the past few days. Rather than having class, we were fortunate enough to attend a performance of the play Fine Dancing. Seeing this play came at rather coincidental timing, firstly because I had only that day heard about a woman in my workplace who was suffering from an overbearing and controlling husband restricting her freedom. Although not direct evidence of domestic abuse, this example indicated to me that the suppression of women’s rights at the hands of men does occur in Fiji. This, it can be said, is partially a result of the hierarchical and patriarchal nature of Fijian society, which leaves little room for the high valuation of women. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the gender divide can be considered to be culturally reflected in the meke dance in the different movements of the men and women.

Further evidence of the dominance of men indeed occurring is provided by an issue in the Fiji Times I had been reading of prior to attending the play; that of a by-law recently instituted in the village of Vunivesi in Savusavu against violence against women and children.

The most recent update on the issue, released today, the 8^th of December, was in response to overseas media reports suggesting that the by-law was not instituted from the bottom-up, by the villagers themselves, but rather was imposed by the government, to comply with international pressure to take greater action on violence against women. The chief of the village, Ro Aca Mataitini, quickly shot down this accusation. However, regardless of whether true or not, the accusation necessitates an important consideration of the nature of development policies in states such as Fiji.

Hooper emphasizes the need to avoid macroeconomic approaches to development recommendations. The history of development in the Pacific has unfortunately been a rather grim one, directed from on high and failing to take account of social realities. This is not surprising, given that it was based upon, in the words of Truman’s acceptance speech in 1949, the need to ‘make the benefits of [the Western world’s] scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.’

The culture of Fiji is unique (arguably like all cultures), especially in terms of its kinship structure and complex social organization. Policies designed and implemented by the ‘bureaucratic elite’ with a failure to take into account how those on the ground live, and the strength of their culture and traditions, are thus doomed to further perpetuate social and economic inequalities. This is also the attitude of Hau’ofa, whose revolutionary thinking was eternalized in a pillar in the Oceania Centre in USP, the setting for Fine Dancing, in the quote ‘we are the sea, we are the ocean, we must wake up this ancient truth and together use it to overturn all hegemonic views that aim ultimately to confine us again, physically and psychologically, in the tiny spaces that we have resisted accepting as our sole appointed places…’

Failure to consider cultural realities is also simply bad business, given how strongly Fiji’s economy relies on the tourism sector, and given how in turn a strong part of this is influenced by traditional elements.

However, it is also important to keep in mind that even policies instituted at the grassroots level may face difficulties in implementation, for corruption can certainly exists at lower levels. From what I have heard, corruption is able to foster quite easily in Fijian society, especially amongst the chiefs. It is the chief in a village who grants permission for the villagers to use the land, and although money from the lease land is distributed through the village, the majority lands back with the chief. The supremacy of the chief in Fijian society can be considered culturally reflected in the order of serving the kava in the yaqona ceremony.