If no one writes, who will?

Indigenous Fijians need to be comfortable reading and writing their own stories. If no one writes iTaukei stories, who will? How does a person get a date with her destiny?

I come from a place surrounded by the sea, a sea of islands in the South Pacific. I read somewhere how the Irish can determine the different shades of green out there and I can surely say as Pacific Islanders, we can tell the various shades of blue and determine the depth of waters. My ancestors were fierce navigators guided only by the moon, stars and nature, who traveled and explored the treacherous seas in search for land for their posterity. I come from a proud family of fierce warriors and unique traditions of language and culture.

To me, the South Pacific Islanders are some of the friendliest people in the whole wide world (earning a place as the happiest people in the world) quite the antithesis of their fearsome notorious reputation of flesh-eaters or cannibal warriors long before the missionaries came and rooted out the dark practice from our midst. The Fiji I know now is replaced by many elements of change that is under threat from political marginalization by the current government as well as globalization. We stand poised for the next election and waited with bated breath as to who will take the nation forward in the islands.

We do not have much in the islands but the wealth of our hearts and living our lives to the fullest. I did not realize this until I left those comforting places where I was cocooned in to explore the big world out there. I learned to appreciate my identity quite deeply to a sense of nostalgia. Fiji is nestled amongst the widely scattered islands that divide themselves in invisible lines of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (a colonial convenient concept but I will not divulge further). You will find that the Islanders share a lot of characteristics. By whose standard, I do not wish to ponder upon. While they may not have the wealth of the world to build commercial businesses, the people possess what cannot be materially measured- good health, smiles and a carefree attitude. 

These are undoubtedly assets to the islanders, something we look upon with envy. Fiji, for instance had been rated to be one of the happiest people in the world. How can this be when the country had gone through not one but three coups and intermittent political instability? The people in the islands possess a resilient spirit and innate ability to overcome their present circumstances that drive people to face their realities everyday.

A rocky history (simply told)

As an English major in our local uni several years ago, I was smart to pick out something was amiss. Where are the iTaukei writers? The only books I was constantly reading were from the West and the Pacific.

Of all the text collections we have had, indigenous Fijian writings had been scarce. I could count iTaukei writers with my fingers and that is saying a lot without spelling it out here in this piece. It was a gloomy sight when I looked to other side, the other ethnic races; particularly the Indo-Fijians were doing far much better than us. In fact, if you were to count the books and articles on the shelves, the difference is clear. I am not racist, I am just stating the obvious and hopefully we as a people can do something about it. The Indo- Fijians had always had a writing and literary culture due to their ancestral link to the writing traditions from India, an artistic country and also they resort to writing due to the harsh circumstances they faced in a new land. They came so many miles away, what they call ‘over the seven seas’ from India during the indentured era to come and work the sugar cane plantations in Fiji.

One of those colonial machineries that had many far-fetching consequences in colonized countries. The indelible memories that those ugly machineries have caused will endure to our grave and consciousness. No wonder they call sugar a slave crop. I am so over the anti-colonial whining but one cannot hide the ugly truth. Sugar has over the centuries been blamed for displacement, unnecessary diaspora, slavery and the list goes on.

So here they are in a tiny island in the Pacific, hostile reception (still simmering between and nothing the government can do about it with their Language education) by the indigenous people and worked like slaves by the Europeans during the indentured period. The two major races were kept separate by the ruling power at the time (the Brits) and this is seen in their resentful co-existence over the years. Some have on the other hand, got educated in the mind and have adopted an inclusive attitude, however, there are some, who felt the resentment of other races usurping their land.

Decades later, emotions ran very high and existed on many skin deep Fijians out there. Since the Bainimarama decree, which is the current governing power, everyone in Fiji young and old are called Fijians regardless of their ethnic background. For the purpose of this blogging, I shall refer to indigenous Fijians as iTaukei or Fijians. The others will be called by their varied ethnic groups.

Why am I writing a historical account?

It is important to understand why one race is thriving more than the other. Something that I hope we can blog and exhale it out for our reflections. During those years, Indo-Fijians have been writing rather voraciously about their situations and worked extra hard for representations and sustenance over the centuries. Literature does emerge from great adversity. It was only after the first coup headed by Rabuka that an influx of literature came out in waves. Everyone was writing in from all corners of the globe stating their dismay for what they call injustice. Fiji had a rocky history and they are now reaping the legacy of those colonial machineries.

Going back to my first question

Fijians have on the other hand, possessed and enjoyed a thriving oral tradition and saw no need to write. Other reasons could be the inept feeling of the mastery use of the English language for writing. Also, writing is an individual craft whereas my kinsmen thrive on communalism and anyway writing too demands a certain critical analysis of the self and the community at large. In such a time, what may arise from this precarious position is the idea of a kinsman writing analytically and critically (so unFijianlike) of his own and this is not going to be 'accepted' or taken well by his community. Apparently, the iTaukei community judges a person by how much he can contribute positively to his fellow clans-member. Of course, this view is debated now with the rise in globalization and mordenisation.

Fijians also rely a lot on their genealogies, myths and legends to tell their stories. You can find it here with Pio Manoa's quite eloquent paper.  It has always been like that for years. So when globalization hit the tiny Pacific islands, we are still perching on the rock of complacency over the years. We have been taught that a new way to ‘write back’ is to write our individual stories as a neocolonialist . Despite this knowledge, we still have not made any headway. There simply is no urgency to write our existence save for anonymous blog sites we pen our views in on social websites.

How else would you explain the lack of literature arising from the time of the illegal regime?

Indigenous people have taken to their blogs under anonymous identities to air their views. This is not the medium perhaps that can have a far reaching effect. One needs to write about it in books, fiction or academic journals.

So many editions about us have gone to research by outsiders. Some portray us in a favorable and some are pretty much patronizing to the point of negative reporting- the way the West revert to their default position when judging or researching the Pacific. I salute academics from the West, who have contributed favorably to the Pacific canon of literature. There has been a surge of writing over the years yet I have noticed something. Very few educated Fijians took to writing their version of the story from the viewpoint of their people. Something that had pained me in the past.

I am an Indigenous woman, a Fijian, one who had been thoroughly influenced by two Indo Fijian literary heavyweights in Fiji, who are of Indo-Fijian descent Professors Satendra Nandan and Subramani. I salute these two men and their tenacity in airing their views when and where it is needed. While their views have been contrary to mine, I kept an open mind and extract their wisdom in their lectures. I did appreciate their interrogation of the Fijian literature, something they have encouraged me to do constantly. This post is an extension of that thought during lectures.

It got me thinking. If no one writes, who will? It got me on a trail to research more and clothe myself in academic writing, an act foreign to my skin. I am writing because it is a dying art for my people and blogging is just an extension of it. I write stories and may look simple but it is a start to talk about the ordinary iTaukei. This cry is a lone cry of a wanderer standing on a mountain gazing at a bright deep blue sea. This blog is that lone cry of someone who cares about her people that a generation will come and will only glean from foreign textbooks things about them.

What a shame for the present generation if we are not going to do anything about it? If no one writes, who will?