I have a confession to make. I have mistakenly been using
the term ‘Fijian.’ While it refers to anyone with citizenship of Fiji, I have
been using it to refer to indigenous Fijians, i-taukei. Thus, excluding almost
half of the Fijians that do not belong to this group. I came to this
realisation after reading Cattermole’s and Teaiwa’s readings which elaborated
on the important role of Indo-Fijians in Fiji. Many arrived in the late 1800s
and early 1900s; today they make up 37% of the population. My lesson has been
learned and I will be more conscious from now on – Sorry!
Even this is not a simple issue, although your genuine sentiments are admirable.
ReplyDeleteJeff was telling me about a recent article in the paper where an elderly Fijian man was lamenting that all his life he has been Fijian. Now he learns that he is i-taukei. He is confused. Why is he i-taukei all of a sudden and not Fijian anymore?
I can't help but imagine this in a Samoan context. Indigenous Samoans can still refer to themeselves as Samoan and I hope will always be able to.
Tricky topic...