Stephanie Sienkiewicz

Stephanie is a senior anthropology major. She went to India on her first Union term abroad. In Fiji, she is staying in the village of Narewa. Her host family has a reputation for entertaining all visitors, local and otherwise, so Stephanie had an opportunity to enjoy kava-drinking (see photo at right) on many occasions.

Stephanie has a range of interests, some coming from her experience in India. As part of a look into various dimensions of Westernization in Fiji, she chose an independent project that addressed ethnic identities. The research is the basis for her senior thesis. Stephanie looked at Fijians' sense of identity in relation to the ethnic Indian population in Fiji, and vice versa. The Indo-Fijians are descended from people originally brought over to Fiji from India to work in the sugar cane industry. Their descendents have stayed on in Fiji, now making up nearly half the population. Currently there is some ethnic tension between the groups, related in part to political issues such as land use rights. Stephanie interviewed both Indians and Fijians topics of current interest related to the ethnicity issue.