Culture and the Art$

   So, for those of you not in Fiji, before we started working here, we were officially welcomed to the country by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Arts at the Fiji Museum. This was very formal - our group sat crossed-legged in two rows in silence for the ceremony on ibe, Fijian woven mats. The morning began with speeches followed by  the most elaborate form of kava ceremony: 

Making Kava

Nikki, our tutor, accepting Kava on our behalf

  and a traditional meke (Fijian dance):

Meke

 Both were performed by students from the Fijian conservatorium of Music. Throughout the trip they'll be our buddies showing us around us around Suva. It was a great honour to be welcomed so elaborately. 


   Felipe Bole, Minister of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Arts mentioned in his welcoming speech that the students from the conservatorium were a great asset to the country, both as representatives of the country and financially. The next day at work, I was reading material about various projects that my workplace, the Fijian Arts Council has been involved in. I found a really relevant essay by Teresia Teaiwa entitled 'Ways of seeing' which was in the exhibition 'VASU, Pacific Women of Power.' She focuses on female artists, but many of her arguments are relevant in a broader discussion of this issue.


    I recognize that commodification of culture is a consequence of socio-economic reality and makes the arts a realistic life choice for Fijians like the conservatorium's students. Similarly, it can also lead to the acknowledgement of individual artists, who more commonly go unrecognized worldwide due to what Teaiwa terms the 'fetishism' of Pacific art. This is a phenomenon where art (especially any traditional art) is displayed and collected as an example of a region's handicrafts with no credit going to the person who produced the art itself. Thus, commercialising and placing a monetary value on art places importance on the producers i.e. the artists, potentially leading to their increased visibility.

Tapa cloth and mats in Suva's flea market - no credit to the artists who made them.

   However, I agree with Teaiwa that there are many disadvantages to this process. Firstly, it alienates artists from 'organic collective environments where they learnt their crafts' and their communities where they find meaning in being well-rounded people. In addition, a process of cultural commodification requires an initial set-up investment. This capital carries with it the expectation that there will be returns creating a pressure to produce only commercially viable dance, music and goods. This is dictated by the market which, in Fiji, consists largely of tourists. Artists can subsequently become 'mere workers and commodities in the global capitalist economy,' limiting their creative output to producing souvenirs that appeal to visitors.


  I know that this was a very shallow overview of pros and cons of this issue, but we're just my initial thoughts. I think that blogs give freedom to flesh out thoughts and discussions without necessarily coming to any hard conclusion ;) For now, I'll conclude that there are both advantages and disadvantages to the commercialising of a culture and I can't decide which outweighs the other. Hopefully, Fiji and Oceania will  somehow be able to negotiate the best of both worlds.


ALSO, credit to Hester Li who took the photos on this blog post.