Kava and ethno-cultural identity in Oceania

Garibaldi and Turner (Ecol Soc 9:1, 5, 2004) explain the role that particular plants play in facilitating the shared ancestry, practices, and social experience of an ethnicity. This can include spiritual connections, cultural expression and practice, ceremony, exchange, linguistic reflection, socialization, and medicinal and/or dietary systems. They term these plants “cultural keystone species” and icons of identity, plants that if removed would cause some disruptions to the cultural practices and identity of an ethnic group. Undoubtedly, kava (Piper methysticum) is the cultural keystone species for many Oceanic and Pacific peoples, a “differentiating element of common culture” (Zagefka, Ethnicity, concepts of. In: Smith AD, Hou X, Stone J, Dennis R, Rizova P (eds) The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of race, ethnicity, and nationalism. West Wiley, Sussex, pp 761–763, 2016) informing their ethno-cultural identity. That influence is also extending to new non-Pacific Island user groups who have embraced elements of kava ethno-cultural identity in what has been termed diasporic identity formation in reverse. This chapter will discuss kava with specific reference to ethnic positionality in Fiji while recognizing the tensions from inside and outside the region that support and threaten the continuance of the kava drinking tradition

Sport and ethno-racial formation: imagined distance in Fiji

Significant research depicts the implications of sport’s role in racial formation located mainly in the ‘Global North’. Yet, there has been less attention afforded to the related role of sport in the ‘Global South’, particularly in divided societies, where the consequences of sports’ influence on ethno-racial relations, are also significant. This study relies on empirical evidence gathered during an in-depth exploration into the role of soccer and rugby in Fijian intergroup relations. Sport is analysed as an arena that not only plays host to ethno-racial groupings but one which is also instrumental in their maintenance and reimagining. In Fiji at least, the organisation and positioning of sport in popular culture and discourse means that it becomes an emblematic sphere, active in the reconfirmation and preservation of ethno-racial division. Through this discussion, this study contributes to sport and racial formation theory, widening the gaze to diverse and divided socio-cultural settings

Ethnic politics, communalism and affirmative action in Fiji A critical and comparative study

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN036527 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Integrated social protection, inequity and COVID-19: rethinking Pacific community responses in Aotearoa

COVID-19 has forced us to think critically about alternative global and local response strategies to the unprecedented devastation. Some of the most infected groups are Pacific communities and this has raised concern about the need to seriously address the issue of health and socio-economic inequality. One way of doing this is through social protection. The paper critically examines some of the conventional notions of social protection, especially those predicated on market-imperatives and assumptions and argues for new and community-relevant innovative social protection strategies to effectively mitigate the effects of COVID-19. It then discusses the integrated social protection approach (ISPA), The paper argues that while ISPA is an attempt to create an alternative, inclusive and participatory social protection strategy, the issues of equity in terms of distribution of resources and power still need to be fully addressed because of their potential to cause tension within the community. The meaningful participation and empowerment of the Pacific communities and the strategic use of their cultural norms in social protection framing and implementation are important in building up resilience and sustainability to mitigate effectively against the sudden onset of pandemics such as COVID-19

Three linked risks for development in the Pacific Islands: climate change, disasters and conflict

Pacific Island countries are demonstrably vulnerable to the risks of climate change, disasters and conflict. This article outlines the conceptual links between these risks, briefly describes how each of the risks operates in the Pacific Islands, and goes on to demonstrate the interaction of climate change, disasters and potential for conflict in the Pacific Islands, by applying a new conceptual framework to some illustrative case studies. The case studies include relocation after the Gizo earthquake, ‘environmental refugees’ from sea level rise, and aggravation of the social issues of urbanization and unemployed youth by climate change. Fortunately, none of these cases has yet crossed the threshold into violent conflict, even though relocation of an affected community onto someone else's land is a particularly sensitive issue in the Pacific Islands

Ghosts and the everyday politics of race in Fiji

One early morning during a fieldwork trip to Fiji’s old capital, Levuka, in 2009, I was dragged from a deep, kava-induced sleep by loud banging on the door of the rented cabin I shared with one of my friends and respondents, Ajay.1 “Hello, hello,” someone shouted, and as our visitor did not relent, Ajay reluctantly got up to answer the door while I turned around to go back to sleep. After a brief discussion with the visitor at the door, Ajay called me to come and sort the matter out. The visitor turned out to be a young, pretty, Fijian girl. Judging by her sleepy eyes and slurred speech, I figured that she must have spent the previous night much like I had— chatting and drinking yaqona2 (kava) followed by a complimentary “washdown,” that is the two or three long-necks of cold Fiji Bitter beer that many young Fijians consider the natural way to finish off a “grog session.” When I somewhat brusquely asked her what she wanted at that time of the night, she introduced herself as Judy and repeatedly explained that she was looking for her cousin who lived in the cabin. It took me several explanations and, in the end, a rather stern telling off before she eventually, quite meekly, accepted that she had mistaken our commercially rented cabin with her cousin’s house, and left. While I initially did not think much of the situation and was eager to get back to bed, I was surprised to find my friend, who was Fijian-born of Indo-Fijian heritage, visibly upset. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned to me and exclaimed, “Thank God you made her go away . . . I’ve been told many times that it is so important not to be friendly or inviting when a ghost visits you, because then you will never get rid of them.” It appeared that I had just experienced a Fijian ghost first-hand