Stephanie Sienkiewicz Email

Stephanie Sienkiewicz Email
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Follow-up Questions from Afternoon Section

For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: afternoon
Questioners: Kirk Campbell, Amanda Groves, Robyn Kurland, Jeb Moore, and Catherine Welter
Date: November 9, 1999
How do the villagers view their local government (chiefs/elders) as compared to the national government?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: The respect system for elders is still very much intact. There are intricate rules about how you treat various relatives. People have to respect, as in avoid in the strictest sense, certain relatives. These include a wife's husband's eldest brother (this goes for cousin-brothers as well, these are one's mother's sister's sons or one's father's brother's sons), and mother's brothers. Other relations, called tavale, are those that people should joke with; these are mother's brother's children or father's sister's children. So, these respect rules are still strong. I've seen people run out of rooms when a certain person walks in the room. So the general respect for elders also plays an important part in people's lives here. People often refer to others as mother of so-and-so or father or grandfather/mother of so-and-so. This is to avoid saying their name because they have to or because it is just more respectful not to directly address someone by their first name. People give much respect to chiefs. They sit at the front of church behind the preacher. Seating arrangement is a big indication of respect. The same goes for drinking kava; everyone must sit opposite the chief, behind the kava bowl.
The national government works through the traditional local government. There is one man in the village called the turaga ni koro (literally man of the village) who is like the town crier. He had a more prominent role in the community in past times, organizing village labor forces etc.. But now he is the village's representative to the government councils. When the village wants to get money for a project, rebuilding the community hall for instance, there is a town meeting. The decision of the meeting is taken to a government council by the turaga ni koro.
People are interested in national politics too. They vote for the Prime Minister. It seems to me that in their minds, the local chiefly authority is something entirely different from that of the world of national politics. In the village, one needs to follow the rules of respect and the chief is the culmination of this system. It is like the government of social relations and has little to do with politics. Chiefly titles are passed through families and mataqalis. One person told me about a chief handing over his title to another during a kava drinking session; giving the to-be chief the first bowl was the indication that he was the new chief. So there are not elections. The chiefly authority is something which Fijians have to accept and respect, like all of Fijian village life. National government and politics on the other hand is something which people try to affect; this is opposite to the traditional system of local government under chiefs.

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For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: afternoon
Questioners: Kirk Campbell, Amanda Groves, Robyn Kurland, Jeb Moore, and Catherine Welter
Date: November 9, 1999
How long has America's influence been coming into Fiji? Has it been a gradual movement, or is there a sudden burst in American ideas and practices? Do Fijians view this as Americanization or modernization?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: You ask if Fijians view this as Americanization or modernization. It seems to me that America is just another Western, "modern" country to the Fijians. Therefore, influx in technology and popular culture is not so related to America as it is to the idea of progress. Fijians consider themselves backwards. I have had people give me mythic stories about why Fiji is "behind" the rest of the world.

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Original Questions from Morning Section

For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: morning
Questioners: Marisa Jacques, Josh Bubbs, Sarah Tuman, Scott Corn, Luke Mastrioianni
Date: October 9, 1999
How has westernization affected the Fijians' way of life?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: Well, this is a hard question for me to answer briefly. I was actually considering doing my project down here on this topic but decided it was too broad a thing to attempt. Plus, it's just hard to say how much it's changing the way people think about the world. I'll tell you what I see. We have a tv in my house in Fiji. My Nana's (host mother's) favorite show is the Fresh Prince, followed in some order by Seventh Heaven, 90210, and Shortland Street (this is a half an hour sitcom that's on every night; it's from New Zealand). Xena and The Nanny are also big favorites here. Some things strike me about these shows...it's quite interesting which ones have been chosen to broadcast here. The tv families are pretty wealthy in all of the shows. Most Fijians definitely seem to think of America as a decadent place. And then other shows are pretty violent (Xena for example). So I think I'd say that the tv is where most Fijians get their ideas about America and maybe to a lesser extent other countries. That influences how they interact with the tourists that come here, I'm sure. I know I've definitely gotten the impression talking to some people, that they think I'm rich - just because I'm from a Western country.
Name brand clothing is big here, or imitation name brand. Last night I met a guy with a 2 Pac shirt on, but he didn't know any of 2 Pac's songs. You get the impression that Fijians want to look like Westerners some times. But then they also adhere to their village dress codes, ankle length (or around there) skirts/sulus for women. And when you talk to them they don't want to be like Americans. I've actually heard a few people say that Fiji is the best place in the world. I'm not sure if this is a token tourist line or not.

Email index | Stephanie Sienkiewicz
For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: morning
Questioners: Marisa Jacques, Josh Bubbs, Sarah Tuman, Scott Corn, Luke Mastrioianni
Date: October 9, 1999
How difficult is it for you to communicate with the Fijians and about what percent of the people you have come in contact with are able to speak English? For example how did you interact with the people in the stores and the employees?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: Yeah English pretty much always works. It's difficult though because I'd like to learn the language, I just don't have a strong incentive because I know I can speak in English and people will understand me. When we went to the shops we spoke in English. I think I met one Fijian woman who only spoke a little bit of English. But there were two other women, both Indian, in the store who spoke English. That store was MidWest Markets - they had an interesting language factor to their sales methods. In Fiji, there are Fijians, speaking Fijian, as well as Indo-Fijians speaking Hindi. Lots of Fijians speak Hindi and Indians Fijian, but there are people who don't. English is their way of communicating. English is the second national language here too.

Email index | Stephanie Sienkiewicz
For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: morning
Questioners: Marisa Jacques, Josh Bubbs, Sarah Tuman, Scott Corn, Luke Mastrioianni
Date: October 9, 1999
How easy or difficult is it for you to adapt to the rules of respect and etiquette, and from where do these rules originate? If you do not follow the rules do the people get offended?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: No, these aren't really that hard to follow. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm not speaking Fijian. I think it becomes a little more important to use the native rules when you're using the native language. So people don't really get offended. But the rules are kind of fun too - this from someone who is leaving in a month. I like being conscious of how I'm treating people. People here have told me that the rules of respect were designed so that everyone respects each other. That's the basic premise around here. At first I didn't really buy into this argument. But now I think it's true, as far as what I've witnessed anyway. I think there could easily be things that fall outside that realm that I just haven't seen yet though.
But no, people don't really get offended when I do the wrong thing. They all know that I don't know what I'm doing and really just get a kick out of seeing me demonstrate what I do know. I have more involvement with the rules when people around me are respecting me because I'm a guest than when I have to follow the rules myself dealing with other people. A lot of the rules too are written into the kinship system. You have to treat certain members of your family in certain different ways. I pretend to fit into this but there isn't any harm when I don't act like I would as if I was really born into my family here. Everyone wants to talk to me since I'm a foreigner and they're not going to avoid doing that because they are pseudo-related to me in a certain way which means they aren't supposed to talk to me (brother-sister relationships are kind of like that.)

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Original Questions from Afternoon Section

For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: afternoon
Questioners: Kirk Campbell, Amanda Groves, Robyn Kurland, Jeb Moore, and Catherine Welter
Date: October 19, 1999
What are the effects of outside influences on the Fijian culture? Has there been Americanization? What parts of the culture does it affect: technology, social behavior, etc.? (Examples in your notes include the reference to Princess Diana, or the Japanese technological advancements made.)
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: Here's the answer I wrote to the other group 5 who also asked about Westernization:
Well, this is a hard question for me to answer briefly. I was actually considering doing my project down here on this topic but decided it was too broad a thing to attempt. Plus, it's just hard to say how much it's changing the way people think about the world. I'll tell you what I see. We have a tv in my house in Fiji. My Nana's (host mother's) favorite show is the Fresh Prince, followed in some order by Seventh Heaven, 90210, and Shortland Street (this is a half an hour sitcom that's on every night; it's from New Zealand). Xena and The Nanny are also big favorites here. Some things strike me about these shows... it's quite interesting which ones have been chosen to broadcast here. The tv families are pretty wealthy in all of the shows. Most Fijians definitely seem to think of America as a decadent place. And then other shows are pretty violent (Xena for example). So I think I'd say that the tv is where most Fijians get their ideas about America and maybe to a lesser extent other countries. That influences how they interact with the tourists that come here, I'm sure. I know I've definitely gotten the impression talking to some people, that they think I'm rich - just because I'm from a Western country.
Name brand clothing is big here, or imitation name brand. Last night I met a guy with a 2 Pac shirt on, but he didn't know any of 2 Pac's songs. You get the impression that Fijians want to look like Westerners some times. But then they also adhere to their village dress codes, ankle length (or around there) skirts/sulus for women. And when you talk to them they don't want to be like Americans. I've actually heard a few people say that Fiji is the best place in the world. I'm not sure if this is a token tourist line or not.

Email index | Stephanie Sienkiewicz
For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: afternoon
Questioners: Kirk Campbell, Amanda Groves, Robyn Kurland, Jeb Moore, and Catherine Welter
Date: October 19, 1999
What are the effects of music (pop, techno) in the market place? What role does it play?
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: I guess I alluded to this a little bit with the 2Pac thing above. I saw a guy with a Meatloaf shirt on too. But I'm not sure how these people acquire these, if they buy them or receive them, or if they buy them because they're cheap or save up to get them or what. People in the village don't go shopping all that often for things other than tea, sugar, etc. We did economic surveys in the village houses and so I was asking people how often they buy clothes. They only buy about one new article of clothing a month or so, a shirt or skirt or something. As far as buying cassettes goes, I don't see much of that going on. The music stores I've seen tend to focus on Hindi music - which would make me think that they're catered to the Indian population, who buy those kinds of consumer goods. In my house, we just listen to the radio and a few tapes that they have, mostly church music. We listen to the pop radio station. It has some Hindi music and then some pretty bad American stuff. They tend to play the same stuff over and over again. Then there are a few random ones in there like Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" or Jimmy Buffet. Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears are really big.

Email index | Stephanie Sienkiewicz
For Student: Stephanie Sienkiewicz
Section: afternoon
Questioners: Kirk Campbell, Amanda Groves, Robyn Kurland, Jeb Moore, and Catherine Welter
Date: October 19, 1999
What plays a larger role in Fijian society: religion or mysticism? Also, how were you personally affected by their culture's attitudes and beliefs about these things? (We didn't know if you were religious at home or brought up with myths as well or whether this was foreign to you and if so, how was that like? Uncomfortable? Interesting?)
Stephanie Sienkiewicz replies: Fiji's one of those places that had its entirely own religion, with various gods, that was then confronted by Christianity. I don't know much about the old religion, but I know that people here refer to that time as the "Dark Ages." I think the ideas about it are tied up with cannibalism and a "before we were civilized" notion. It seems like the Fijians kind of look back on it with a laugh. One woman I live near was laughing when she told me this story about "Thomas Baker's boots." He was some missionary that came to Fiji and was killed and eaten. The locals tried to eat his rubber boots since they had never seen shoes before, or so the story goes. But belief in sorcery and ghosts isn't out in the open at all. I actually haven't really seen much to do with that, I don't think I've been here long enough. Supposedly it's there somewhere still though, as in the people say they don't believe in it and won't admit it (or may not even know that they do believe). But they do things indicated that they do believe in sorcery, etc..
Religion is the big deal here. I'm sure this isn't the Christianity of home. It's probably got its own flavor due to the mixing with pre-Christian religion. Most people are Methodist here. There are different prayer groups on weeknights and people have home prayer sessions. I went to church twice the second day I was in the village. It has been a little strange for me since religion has no part in my life as I think of it. Some of the students here have been put on the spot as in, "You believe in God, right?" or "Are you a born again Christian?" That second one happened to someone while she was standing up in church in front of the whole congregation. What do you say? Fortunately no one has wanted to get into any deep spiritual discussions with me. They don't seem to mind/notice that I don't say Amen when they do or that I don't know any prayers and won't say grace (masu) before eating. I sing in church though because it's fun. I don't mind church that much since it is interesting (to some degree). It would be more interesting if I knew Fijian.