Related Papers
Journal of Sustainable Tourism
Indigenous and democratic decision-making: issues from community-based ecotourism in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji
2011 •
Trisia Farrelly
Participatory development literature involving community-based ecotourism management (CBEM) has only recently addressed issues pertaining to indigenous governance and decision-making systems. This paper contributes to sustainable tourism by presenting local decision-making practices and issues arising from the perspective of the members of one village in the Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji. It shows that introduced democratic decision-making systems may not contribute to political empowerment in CBEM and can cause difficult situations. It is argued that greater attention to local systems of governance is required if tourism practitioners are to fully understand decision-making and participation in CBEM. The paper also offers a culturally appropriate methodology that may produce more meaningful outcomes for sustainable tourism research in indigenous Fijian contexts, and in other contexts worldwide. It argues that levels of empowerment should not just be treated as the outcome but as a part of the process of tourism development. It explores the core Fijian cultural concept of vanua as a way of life, involving interrelated social, ecological and spiritual elements. An emic perspective utilising informal talanoa (discussions) is used and examined, along with the roles of kin groups, village spokesmen and clan systems, and their relationship with western business decision-making practices.
Silence/Absence as Passive Resistance in Fiji: A Case Study of Indigenous Ecotourism Development in Taveuni
Trisia Farrelly
There are diverse ways of knowing and learning. Learning is best understood within an individual’s cultural milieu which then informs teaching practice. The spoken word is only one in a myriad ways in which opinions or desires can be expressed. In some cultures, the “loudest voice” is spoken in “silence. In this paper, “silent/absence” as passive resistance to authority is explored in the context of efforts to implement indigenous ecotourism development in the The Boumā National Heritage Park, Taveuni, Fiji. Silent/absence implies either silence or silent and physical absence. Implications of silence for pedagogy are then intimated.
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Kerekere and Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship
2013 •
Alisi Vudiniabola
Since the colonial period, kerekere as an indigenous Fijian mode of exchange has been blamed for stunting the economic development of indigenous Fijians. It has often been reduced to ‘begging’ and it has been used in connection with terms such as ‘corruption‘, and ‘dependency‘. This article strives for a more balanced and culturally complex account of kerekere. Business and vanua; modernity and tradition; moral and market economy are often imaged as dichotomous and irreconcilable by indigenous Fijians and others. This paper suggests that these are false dichotomies, and yet the way they are imagined as dichotomous has had a significant impact on indigenous Fijian entrepreneurial discourse and practices. After surveying the relevant economic anthropology literature, the authors appeal for emic research which applies an integrated economic approach to contemporary economic activity in Fiji in which kerekere may be an essential element in the success of indigenous social entrepreneurship.
– article – KEREKERE AND INDIGENOUS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
2016 •
Alisi Vudiniabola
Since the colonial period, kerekere as an indigenous Fijian mode of exchange has been blamed for stunting the economic development of indigenous Fijians. It has often been reduced to ‘begging ’ and it has been used in connection with terms such as ‘corruption‘, and ‘dependency‘. This article strives for a more balanced and culturally complex account of kerekere. Business and vanua; modernity and tradition; capitalist and non-capitalist or market and moral economy are often imagined as dichotomous and irreconcilable by indigenous Fijians and others. This paper suggests that these are false dichotomies, and yet the way they are often imagined as dichotomous by indigenous Fijians has had a significant impact on their entrepreneurial discourse and practices. After sur-veying the relevant economic anthropology literature, the authors appeal for emic research which applies an integrated approach to contemporary economic activity in Fiji. We draw on ethnographic examples of community-based...
Transforming Cultures eJournal
Fijian Sigidrigi and the Sonic Representation and Construction of Place
Jennifer Cattermole
This paper explores how the inhabitants of Taveuni, Fiji’s third largest island, use the music genre known as sigidrigi (from the English ‘sing drink’) to articulate and redefine their relationships to particular places. Sigidrigi songs are often performed by groups of men to entertain people during informal yaqona (or kava as it is known throughout Polynesia) drinking sessions. They feature three or four-part vocal harmony, and are accompanied by guitar and/or ukulele. The repertoire consists of covers and localised versions of overseas songs, as well as songs composed by Fijians in styles adopted and adapted primarily from Northern America and Western Europe (for example, rock, pop, country and blues). The repertoire also includes songs from other Pacific islands, the Caribbean (for example, reggae), Indo-Fijian songs, and i taukei (indigenous Fijians of Melanesian or Polynesian descent) children’s songs and meke (an art form consisting of music, dance and costuming whose origin p...
Reimagining ‘ environment ’ in sustainable development Development Studies Working Paper Series 2010 / 1
Trisia Farrelly
The paper presents an argument for a broader and more complex definition of environment than that currently offered in sustainable development discourse and practice. Sustainable development is rooted in dominant western rational and instrumental scientific representations of human-environment relationships. As such, it has been criticised as misrepresentative and meaningless for many of those for whom it is intended. Recent contributions by social scientists have emphasized the need to move beyond the narrow construction of the human-environment dichotomy found in western scientific rhetoric. These emerging ‘new ecologies’ advocate a reimagining of human-environment relationships as holistic, connective, and relational, and as a product of direct perception and active engagement in the world. The Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji, a community-based ecotourism initiative is presented as a case study to identify discrepancies between indigenous perceptions of the environment and tho...
Imagining'environment'in sustainable development
2010 •
Trisia Farrelly
Since the colonial period, kerekere as an indigenous Fijian mode of exchange has been blamed for stunting the economic development of indigenous Fijians. It has often been reduced to ‘begging’ and it has been used in connection with terms such as ‘corruption‘, and ‘dependency‘. This article strives for a more balanced and culturally complex account of kerekere. Business and vanua; modernity and tradition; moral and market economy are often imaged as dichotomous and irreconcilable by indigenous Fijians and others. This paper suggests that these are false dichotomies, and yet the way they are imagined as dichotomous has had a significant impact on indigenous Fijian entrepreneurial discourse and practices. After surveying the relevant economic anthropology literature, the authors appeal for emic research which applies an integrated economic approach to contemporary economic activity in Fiji in which kerekere may be an essential element in the success of indigenous social entrepreneurship.
Tokyo : Asian Productivity Organization
Ecotourism In Fiji
2002 •
Manoa Malani
Community-based tourism in Fiji: a case study of Wayalailai Ecohaven Resort, Yasawa Island Group
2015 •
Dawn Gibson
The Indigeneity of Archaeological Research in Fiji: Issues and Opportunities
2010 •
Tarisi Vunidilo
