(Vaka)Vanua as Weakness, (Vaka)Vanua as Strength: Reflections on Fijian Sociality in Urban and Migrant Environments

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fiji Islander sociality has long been characterised by high levels of diversity as well as interwoven categories of (self-)inclusion and (self-)exclusion and is increasingly shaped by urbanism and transborder mobility. This article focuses on how Fijians in town and abroad constitute self and belonging between vanua, ‘land’, and vakavanua, ‘tradition’, on the one hand, and the urban and migrant life worlds they inhabit, on the other. Being conceptually framed as a discussion piece and drawing on ethnographic research in urban Fiji as well as among the Fiji diaspora in Japan and Australia, this article takes a cross-comparative approach. It sheds light on the ongoing engagement among Fijian professionals with (vaka)vanua despite its relative absence as a tangible factor in their daily lives. Focusing on the dynamic undercurrents of (vaka)vanua and its social and political meanings from the perspective of three different research trajectories and settings, the discussion reveals that being Fijian in today's world engenders new engagements with ‘land’ and ‘tradition’ in manifold and challenging ways.