Abstract
Indigenous Fijian polity before European contact was characterized by political contests and inter-tribal rivalry among indigenous Fijians. However, with the arrival of Europeans and their technology, indigenous warfare changed, enabling the chiefdom of Bau to become a hegemonic power in eastern Fiji via tactical political positioning and strategic maneuvers. The alliance between the chiefs and the Europeans was strengthened by the formation of the Cakobau government in 1871, but internal conflict between indigenous Fijians and Europeans over governance and security forced the Europeans and the chiefs to cede Fiji to Britain, which modeled indigenous administration as humanitarian colonialism. Disparate groups of indigenous Fijians subscribed to a singular cultural identity and the authority on indigenous land lay with the Council of Chiefs. In addition, the British introduced a new ethnic category to the colony of Fiji in the form of Indian indentured laborers, and this new ethnic group led to a three-tier ethnic structure where indigenous Fijians were owners of the land, Europeans controlled commerce and the economy, and Indians and Indo-Fijians provided cheap labor. The ethnic terrain chartered by the colonial administration in Fiji created a problematic historical landscape with constant Indian agitations for political equality and common roll before independence and indigenous Fijian and European resistance to Indian demands. This article explores the ethnic history before cession and the historical and political dynamics of conflicting ethnic social forces.
Keywords
References
Brewster A (1922) The Hill tribes of Fiji: a record of forty years intimate connection with the tribes of the mountainous interior of Fiji. Service & Company Ltd., Seeley
Clammer J (1976) Literary and social change: a case study of Fiji. E.J. Brill, Leiden
Coulter J (1967) The Drama of Fiji: a contemporary history. Charles E. Tuttle Co., Tokyo
Cumpston I (1956) Sir Arthur Gordon and the introduction of Indians in the Pacific: the West Indian system in Fiji. Pac Hist Rev 25(4):369–388
Derrick RA (1950) A history of Fiji, vol 1. Suva, Government Printer
France P (1969) The charter of the land: custom and colonisation in Fiji. Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Howard M (1991) Race and politics in an Island State. UBC Press, Vancouver
Knaplund P (1958) Sir Arthur Gordon and Fiji: some Gordon-Gladstone letters. Hist Stud 8(31):281–296
Knapman B (1992) Fiji’s economic history, 1874–1939, Studies of capitalist colonial development. Pacific research monograph no. 15. ANU Press, Canberra
Lal BV (1980) Approaches to the study of Indian indentured emigration with special reference to Fiji J Pac Hist 15(1):52–70
Lal BV (2008) A time bomb lies buried: 1960–1970. ANU E Press, Canberra
Lawson S (1991) The failure of democratic politics in Fiji. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Legge J (1958) Britain in Fiji 1858–1880. Macmillan, London
Legislative Council Papers (1960) Government Printer, Suva
Lemarchana R (ed) (2011) Forgotten genocides: oblivion, denial and memory. University of Pennsylvania Press, Pennsylvania
Lester A, Dussart F (2014) Colonisation and origins of humanitarian governance: protecting aborigines across the nineteenth-century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Macnaught T (1974) Chiefly civil servants: ambiguity in district administration and the preservation of the Fijian way of life 1896–1940. J Pac Hist 9(1):3–20
Macnaught T (1982) The Fijian colonial experience: a study of neotraditional order under British Colonial Rule Prior to World War II. ANU Press, Canberra
Mati JM (2019) Ethnicity and politics in Kenya. In: The Palgrave handbook of ethnicity. Palgrave, New York
Meller N (1984) Traditional leaders and modern Pacific Island governance. Asian Surv 24(7):759–772
Moses M (2019) Colonialism and race in Vanuatu. In: The Palgrave handbook of ethnicity. Palgrave, New York
Naidu V (2019) Construction and race and racism. In: The Palgrave handbook of ethnicity. Palgrave, New York
Nayacakalou R (1975) Leadership in Fiji. Halstead Press, John Sands
Norton R (1993) Culture and identity in the South Pacific: a comparative analysis. Man 28(4):741–759
Norton R (2013) Averting irresponsible nationalism: Political Origins of Ratu Sukuna’s Fijian Administration J Pac Hist 48(4):409–428
Oliver D (1989) Oceania: the native cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands, vol 2. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu
Parke A (2014) In: Spriggs M, Scarr D (eds) Descendants: spirits, places and pre-cession Fiji. ANU EPress, Canberra
Plevitz L (2010) Arthur Hamilton Gordon and Adolphe de Plevitz: ambitions for Indian labour in colonial Mauritius and Fiji. Qld Hist J 21(3):181–195
Roth GK (1953) Fijian way of life. Oxford University Press, London
Routledge D (1985) Matanitu: the struggle for power in Early Fiji. The University of the South Pacific Press, Suva
Sayes S (1984) Changing paths of the land: early political hierarchies in Cakaudrove Fiji. J Pac Hist XIX(1):3
Sutherland W (1992) Beyond the politics of race. An alternative history of Fiji to 1992. Political and social change monograph 15. ANU Press, Canberra
Tippett A (1955) Anthropological research and the Fijian people. Int Rev Mission 44(174):212–219
Vasil RK (1972) Communalism and constitution-making in Fiji. Pac Aff 45(1):21–41
Veracini L (2011) Settler colonialism: a theoretical overview. Palgrave, London
Ward R (1972) The Pacific Beche-de-mer trade with special reference to Fiji. In: Ward R (ed) Man in the Pacific. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Ward RG, Spate OHK (1990) Thirty years ago: A view of the Fijian political scene confidential report to the British colonial office, September 1959 J Pac Hist 25(1):103–124
Young J (1984) Adventurous spirits: Australian Migrant Society in pre-cession Fiji. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ramesh, S. (2019). State Hegemony and Ethnicity: Fiji’s Problematic Colonial Past. In: Ratuva, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_17-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_17-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-0242-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-0242-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences