The 1961 British Military Recruitment Campaign in Fiji: Historical Circumstances, Discourses of Fijian Culture and Personal Narratives

Abstract

In 1961, the British Armed Forces enlisted 200 men and 12 women of various ethnic backgrounds in what was then the Crown Colony of Fiji. Many of these Pacific Islanders, now widely known as the ‘212’, have since settled in the United Kingdom. Although this military recruitment campaign has remained a footnote in British history, it represented a critical juncture for the ‘212’, their kin, and following generations of transnational Fiji Islanders who have been working for the British forces. Drawing on Marshall D. Sahlins’ notion of ‘structure of the conjuncture’ and the personal narratives of my interlocutors as an analytical focus, I reveal how these Fiji Islanders have appropriated and creatively used the historical circumstances as well as discourses of Fijian culture that enabled Britain to recruit soldiers in Fiji to pursue their individual projects and ambitions. While loyalty and colonial obedience feature in some of the ‘212’ narratives, other prominent motives include the urge to escape the communal Fijian lifestyle and the smallness of the Fiji Islands, as well as the desire to experience adventure. The article suggests that the socio‐cultural complexities ingrained in critical junctures, made visible through narration, enable us to scrutinize how modernity and global circumstances have allowed Pacific Islanders to transform their ways of life.