Fiji (Cultures Of The World), by Debbie Nevins

While Fiji on the one hand is widely recognized as a beautiful set of islands in the South Pacific, it is also a nation whose history presents it as a seriously troubled and complicated nature in many ways. Fiji’s native culture, such as it is, appears to be a complex mixture of Melanesian and Polynesian traits and backgrounds, which fits its place at the border of those two regions of Oceania. In addition to this, Fiji finds itself to be a state deeply divided between its traditional Fijian chiefs, who have long maintained a high degree of dominance in politics and the military, and a large Indo-Fijian minority that has struggled to receive the same degree of respect and esteem despite professional success and large numbers. Fiji is one of the more intensely divided nations in terms of its ethnicity and culture, and this has led predictably to political turmoil as repeated coups have overthrown attempts by the Indo-Fijians to receive political equality and even occasional rule over Fiji as a whole. If tensions have decreased in recent years, it appears to be mainly because of the emigration of a substantial portion of Indo-Fijians, which has restored enough of a majority for native Fijians to allow for a less fraught political co-existence between the two peoples, although this solution does not seem ideal.

This book features a difficult task in that what people want to read about Fiji mainly concerns its natural beauty as well as its lifestyle and information about the people of the island group, while it is easiest for writers to go into detail about the politics of the nation, which sometimes have threatened the well-being of the state regarding its place within the British Commonwealth as well as the dominant sector of tourism. Speaking personally as a seasoned world traveler, coups and political instability tend to make many travelers leery about the safety we would find in an area, and as a person deeply interested in the legitimacy of states, tends to make me question the extent to which the Fijian people are willing to deal with their history. Be that as it may, I am glad at least that this book seeks to write broadly about Fiji and not dwell too much on its politics while also putting those politics in a broader context that involves history, culture, religion, and geography. This broader context makes the book worth reading even if Fiji as a nation is far more fragile and far more deeply contested than perhaps it ought to be.

In terms of its contents, this book is a bit less than 150 pages and it is divided into thirteen chapters and other materials. The book begins with a brief look at Fiji today. This is followed by a discussion of the geography of the Fijian archipelago as well as its capitals, peaks and rivers, flora and fauna (1). After this the author discusses the history of Fiji ranging from its early colonization through the arrival of Europeans and tribal wars to the political turmoil of the early 2000’s (2). After this comes a discussion of the government of Fiji, including its constitution, branches of government, local governments, national defense, land rights for natives, and national symbols (3). The author then discusses the economy (based mainly on agriculture, tourism, mining, and fishing) (4) and environmental issues (5) of the country. The author then discusses the Fijian people, which are mostly divided into the iTakukei, Indo-Fijians, Rotumans, Banabans, and others (6), before discussing the lifestyle, including social problems, of the country (7). Religion in the nation is divided between populations into Christians and Hindus as well as some indigenous faiths and smaller religions (8). A discussion of Fiji’s languages includes the native tongue (Fijian), Hindi, as well as the use of English (9). The author’s discussion of Fijian arts leads to a discussion of pottery, wood carving, literature, architecture, and hymn singing (10). Fijian leisure is focused on sports and drinking (11), while religious and ethnic festivals dominate the chapter on that subject (12). The last chapter of the book discusses Fijian food (13), after which the book ends with a map, information about the economy and culture, timeline, glossary, suggestions for further information, a bibliography, and an index.