WEAVING THE COMMUNITY:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A FIJIAN VILLAGE
by Stephanie Sienkiewicz

Chapter 2
Social Organization and Structure in the Village:
Existing and Changing Rules

Chapter 2

Patriarchy and Hierarchy

Village History

Age Hierarchy

The Kinship System and Systems of Respect

Social Organization, Bending Rules

Education in the Village

The Religious Village

Conclusion

Patriarchy and Hierarchy

Each Fijian village has a chief. This chief is the apex of a hierarchical society. This hierarchy is defined in many ways. Fiji's patrilineal customs define one of the aspects. A person, male or female, belongs to the family of his/her father. When a daughter marries, she loses her father's surname. And although she is still a member of her father's family rather than her husband's, she serves her husband's family line as if it were her own. Her children will not be of her patriline, as they become members of their father's lineage. Daughters cannot continue the family therefore; only sons can do this. Also women, when they marry, generally leave their home/father's village and move to their husband's village. Children should grow up in their father's village, according to Fijian custom, and sons will remain there to raise their families.

Because of this emphasis on the male in Fijian descent and culture, men are accorded more respect than women. Men are hierarchically above women. Usually a man is the chief of the village therefore, since this is the highest position, the top of the hierarchy. The chief deserves the most respect. People must strictly adhere to Fijian rules of respect when addressing or encountering the chief. The word used to describe ideal Fijian behavior is vakaturaga. This means "that one's actions and characteristics befit the presence of a chief. It includes veidokai (respect), vakarokoroko (deference), vakarorogo (attentive and complying), yalo malua (humble)" (Ravuvu 1983:103).

The chief is always a member of the most respected or highest mataqali in the village. The mataqali is one of a person's familial groups. This can be defined as the bloodline, the sub-clan, or the patrilineal lineage. "A Fijian child is normally registered at birth as a member of his father's mataqali (sub-clan or lineage) and this entitles him to all rights and privileges including land rights" (Ravuvu 1983:1). Members of the same mataqali are able to trace their ancestry back to one common source. Smaller than a mataqali is the tokatoka. This is the immediate family or extended family, "a sub-lineage of a mataqali" (Ravuvu 1983:121). There are a few tokatoka in each mataqali. The grouping of a few mataqali together makes another family combination called the yavusa. This could be called the clan, where members know they are distantly related but are unable to trace back the source of that relation. The yavusa is "a social unit of agnatically related members larger than the mataqali and the members of which claim descendants from a common founding male ancestor" (Ravuvu 1983:123). A village consists of one or a few yavusa. There will therefore be numerous mataqali.

In the Fijian village of Narewa, for instance, there are two yavusa. These are the Navatu yavusa and the Namotutu yavusa. There are four mataqali in the village. The Nasaba mataqali and the Valelawa mataqali belong to the Navatu yavusa. The Yavusa Tabua mataqali and the Rokotakala mataqali belong to the Namotutu yavusa.

Mataqali are ranked according to status within the yavusa. The hierarchy of mataqali originated in historic Fiji, when each mataqali's members were supposed to have a certain occupation or group of occupations. The mataqali were ranked then as different jobs were seen as more or less important than others. There is one high-ranking chief for Narewa and the two adjacent villages, Vitawa and Naivuvuni. This chief of three villages, based in Vitawa, the largest of the three villages, is entitled the Tui Navatu. The Navatu yavusa, to which the Tui Navatu belongs, was originally the highest ranking yavusa in this area.

People of the Nomotutu yavusa, the yavusa of the regional high chief, the Tui Navitilevu, came to settle with the Navatu however. Thus, there is a chief of only Narewa as well as the one for Narewa, Vitawa and Naivuvuni (the Tui Navatu). The man who is chief of solely Narewa is called the Tu Malake. The Tu Malake's mataqali is Yavusa Tabua of the Namotutu yavusa. He lives in Narewa as a representative of the Namotutu yavusa. He is of less rank than the Tui Navatu because the Navatu yavusa was the original occupant of the land; the Namotutu yavusa arrived after the Navatu.

The Nomotutu yavusa ranks higher than the Navatu yavusa though since the Tui Navitilevu, the 'big' chief who presides over the whole Rakiraki district belongs to the Namotutu yavusa. The Tui Navatu in Vitawa has authority over the Navatu yavusa in Narewa as well as the Nomotutu people in Narewa. He has authority over the latter only because they arrived in the village after the Navatu people had settled it; otherwise the Tu Malake would have authority over the Navatu and Nomotutu people as a member of the higher ranking yavusa. The Tu Malake's post was created when the Nomotutu people came to Narewa. He is ultimately of less rank than the Tui Navatu in Vitawa because his people came to the village after the Navatu people. The arrival of the Nomotutu people will be explained in the next section of this chapter, Village History.

Village History

Narewa's oral history begins with the Navatu yavusa. The Navatu clan occupied the land now known as Narewa; the chief was then as now the Tui Navatu. Next to the village is a small mountain. This is called the Ulu ni Navatu. Ulu ni Navatu means Head of Navatu. The following is an account of how the rock acquired this name; Mili, a woman from Narewa, relayed this legend. There is one person buried on top of the mountain. The man buried there centuries ago is an ancestor of the present day chief. Mili explained to me that when someone dies it is the duty of the mother's family, called the vasu, to bury the dead person, male or female. A person is a jewel to a family, he/she brings them honor as a part of the family. The family then wants to give the person a special burial to show them how much they appreciate him/her. The chief buried on the top of Ulu ni Navatu was placed there as an of appreciation of his life. The mountain is between the two villages Narewa and Vitawa. The chief ruled over Vitawa, Narewa, Naivuvuni and Malake Island. His mother's family was from Vitawa. The present day chief's surname means hard rock. This is because on the top of the mountain, there is no soft soil in which to bury someone. It is all hard. When his ancestor was buried therefore, hundreds of people lined up down the mountain and relayed buckets of dirt up to the top. In this way, enough earth was accumulated to bury the chief. Navatu is the name of the chief's yavusa in Narewa. So the head of the Navatu yavusa is buried atop the mountain. Thus it is Ulu ni Navatu.

The Narewa koro used to be on Ulu ni Navatu. The villagers moved up there during a period of tribal warfare. They did this to protect themselves, and primarily to protect their chief. There is a part of the mountain which is still referred to as "town." When the warfare became too intense and the villagers did not feel they could keep the chief out of harm by themselves any longer, they requested that warriors come from Rakiraki village to help defend the land. The Rakiraki villagers that came and successfully protected Narewa were of the yavusa Namotutu. In gratitude and payment, the Narewa villagers, of the yavusa Navatu, gave them land within the village to settle on. This agreement between the Navatu people and the Namotutu people led to the existence of the two yavusa in present day Narewa. Some of the members of the Namotutu yavusa live in Narewa while others of the yavusa remain in Rakiraki. This yavusa stretches from Vunitogoloa (the village past Naivuvuni) to Namuaimada (a village further down the coast, past Navolau). The yavusa remains connected, dividing up land lease money among its members for instance.

Age Hierarchy

As mentioned above, the title of chief is passed on through the mataqali. When the chief dies, the new chief will be his younger brother. The title passes down through all of the brothers until there are none of that generation left. The next chief should be the eldest son of the next generation, whether this is the most recent chief's son or his brother's son. One may see how relative age fits into the hierarchy of Fijian society. Elders deserve the most respect as well as the highest positions.

In the Nasaba mataqali of the Navatu yavusa in Narewa, the head of the mataqali, or turaga ni mataqali (literally man of the mataqali), is a man named Masi. The eldest person of the family that the position is passed on through maintains this title. Even though Masi is younger than another man named Sarevi Nauvi who is also part of the mataqali, Masi is the turaga ni mataqali because his father was older than Sarevi's father. Masi's father was also the head of the mataqali. The title of turaga ni mataqali remains in Masi's family until there are no members left to take the position. Then it will switch to Sarevi's family, as his father was the next eldest after Masi's father. Masi's and Sarevi's fathers were cousin-brothers. When Masi's father died, Masi's eldest brother took over the position. After his death, another of Masi's elder brothers became the head. When this man died, Masi took over as the eldest male of that family. Masi has no other brothers. After his death therefore, if she is still alive, his sister will take on the role. Masi has two sisters. When one dies the other will become the head. When the sisters have died, their sons (first) and then daughters will take over. If these sisters have no children or if all of these people have passed away, then the title of turaga ni mataqali will move to Sarevi's family. If Sarevi has died by this time, his younger brothers or their sons (Sarevi has only daughters) will take over. The title will remain in this family as well until there are no heirs. This passing of a title indicates how central relative age is to Fijians. Even though Masi is younger than Sarevi, since his father was older he rightfully inherited the title.

Ravuvu points to the emphasis on age.

Relative age is important in determining social behavior and economic activities. It permeates almost every activity from eating to sleeping arrangements. Family members are ranked in order of seniority of birth. The younger should obey and respect the older. (Ravuvu 1983:7)

People are carefully arranged at dinner time, around the feast mat or the dinner table. One end is the head (the head of the body is a symbol of the most highly respected) and the other is the low end. Men and visitors sit around the head of the table. A senior man sits at the head and the rest of the men are arranged such that the youngest is furthest from the head. The women sit at the low end of the table similarly arranged. This is another example of the hierarchy of age (and gender).

The Kinship System and Systems of Respect

The kin term system also demonstrates the importance of relative age and male dominance in Fijian society. There are many different kin terms, or names for relatives. Along with these, rules exist governing the relationship that each of these relatives must have with one another. The titles Fijians give each other are not just meaningless words; they demonstrate avoidance relationships or the opposing familiar or joking relationships. Titles are a framework of a quite structured society.

The rules of respect dictated by the system outline a great deal of village culture. Kin terms and relations also demonstrate however, that the Fijian system of respect in the patriarchy is counterbalanced by nurturing relationships with the mother's family and with the families of women from the patriline who have married elsewhere (such as father's sisters). The relations with the mother's family and with women of the patriline who no longer live with the patriline provide an egalitarian forum of nurture in familial interaction. This side of kinship balances out the very formal, respectful, and hierarchical relations within the patriline.

Name avoidance and brother-sister avoidance is one facet of relations in Fijian society. This works symbolically to reinforce ideas of dominance in the Fijian family and thus the whole of Fijian society. Avoidance reinforces male dominance, the dominance of relative age, and that of the patriline. Rules for brother-sister relationships work to keep the order of patriarchy. The avoidance observed between brothers and sisters, especially once married, means that these ties are respected and important. One must treat sibling relations delicately so as not to injure them and lose that family tie. Brothers will inherit the mataqali while sisters leave the village and marry into another mataqali. When sisters leave however, they remain connected to their father's mataqali which has become their brother's mataqali. Sisters are connected as they continue to attend mataqali ceremonies like weddings and funerals and contribute a share of mats and other goods even after they have left the village. This material connection is symbolic of an emotional or familial connection that must remain intact as an important part of a person's family.

Brother-sister relationships are not often described by Fijians; this itself demonstrates the tendency to avoid one's siblings of the opposite sex. Fijians are more likely to describe another relationship as similar to a brother-sister relationship. Siblings are free to use each other's first names while all live in the household. Once a sister leaves the house however, once a sibling gets married, her/his sibling relationships become much more formal. It is at this point that brothers must refrain from saying their sisters' names. Again, to avoid a person is to respect her/him. The opposite sex sibling relationship is a highly respectful one. This prevents damage to the relationship while emphasizing that the man remains attached to the mataqali. The woman, the sister, moves to another village. Men are left to handle the affairs of the bloodline. One can see how the brother-sister avoidance relationship reinforces male dominance.

One informant named Soko explained her genealogy to me as did her husband. Her husband's name is Joji. He has one sister, Sala, who is married. He has another sister, Sera, who is not married. Joji told me that he is not supposed to say Sala's name since she is his sister and she is married. He can say Sera's name though because she remains single.

Name avoidance occurs out of respect to an individual. A complication arises as the Fijian system of naming comes into action. According to Fijian culture, a couple must consult the elders before deciding on a name for their new child. Families want to retain names from each generation to the next. One informant described this as "keeping the bloodline pure." If an elder dies, for instance, and there is no child in the family who has taken on his/her name, the family will name the next child born after the deceased. Siblings therefore name their children after one another out of respect and tradition. Out of respect too, they must avoid using the name of their married sibling which may have become the name of their own child.

My tata named his daughter Vinaina after his elder sister Vinaina. The fact that she is elder adds to the respect owed, since Fijian culture is hierarchical according to age. My tata calls his own daughter nei rather than Vinaina. Nei is the Fijian word for aunt. One reason that she is called nei rather than the Fijian word for sister is that Tata's sister Vinaina is Vinaina's aunt. Another reason is that the word nei connotes respect, as a term for an elder, more so than does the term sister. Daughter-in-laws call their mother-in-laws nei for instance, rather than by their first names. Daughter-in-laws call their father-in-laws momo, which may mean uncle as well. These two phrases may have many meanings since people use them to respect different kinds of people. Nei cannot call her own namesake by her first name out of respect either. She calls her "noqu yaca." This means same name or namesake.

The informant Soko told me about a relationship within her family. Soko's mother has a brother named Simeli. Simeli has two children. One of them, his son, is also named Simeli, the other, his daughter, is named Filo. Simeli, the father, cannot say his daughter Filo's name. This is because Filo is also his sister's (and Soko's mother's sister's) name. My tata's eldest brother (tata levu Sarevi Nauvi) nicknamed his eldest daughter "Rosi" because he cannot say her name, Serai, as she is named after his cousin-sister.

Another instance of name avoidance to show respect is that of my brother Samisoni Waqa. He is named after my tata's elder brother, Samisoni Waqawua. Due to respect, he avoids saying his name and therefore calls him "Tatua." Tatua is a respectful title which can be given to anyone older than the speaker. "Makete" is a nickname that was given to the elder Samisoni, who used to sell food in the market, by the younger as a name avoidance. The younger can call his namesake this as well as Tatua to avoid saying his name out of respect. The nickname has trickled down to the younger Samisoni, however, and he is now also referred to as Makete.

While the respect relationship of adult sisters and brothers often translates into an avoidance relationship, they are allowed by custom to talk to one another. There are more strict rules applying to their spouses however. A wife must respect her husband's brothers. She may not even speak to her husband's elder brothers, according to the laws of custom. Nor can these wives say the names of their husbands' brothers. This avoidance relationship shows respect between these family members. In a patriarchal society, a man's wife is a reflection of himself. When a woman refrains from talking to or saying the name of her husband's elder brother, she is relaying respect from her husband to his elder brother. This avoidance reinforces the dominance of age. It also enforces male dominance as it is the women who must follow these rules rather than the men. A patrilineal society could not function if its men/brothers, who are responsible for the mataqali, could not talk to each other.

One informant, Mili, was telling me her children's names. As she was about to tell me of one of her sons she paused as if she forgot the name. She was really waiting for someone nearby to fill in the blank and tell me her son's name. She cannot say that his name is Josateki. She explained that the name is tabu (taboo) because that is also her husband's elder brother's name. She calls her own son Jay to avoid saying the name. Mili must not sit next to or be in the same room as her husband's elder brother. Her husband though can be in the same room as his brothers.

Soko, an informant referred to above, calls her husband's brother Josefa "yaca." Yaca means namesake. Since Josefa is her husband's elder brother, Soko has to refrain from saying his name to accord him respect. Since Josefa is named after an elder in the family, he has a namesake and is therefore called "namesake" as a kind of nickname. Soko must completely avoid this man. She explained that if she meets him on the street, she has to hide to avoid speaking to him. If she can't hide then she must look away and ignore him. "There is no sense looking at him if I can't talk to him." said Soko. If they need to speak to each other then someone has to translate everything that is said between them. Soko also described this as not uncomfortable but fun. This is a tradition which risks fading away in time. Informants told me however, that this is why people must stay in the village. The village preserves the customs. Soko broke the tabu to tell me Josefa's name.

My nana, Neni, calls my tata's elder brother (tata levu Sarevi Nauvi) "Fancy" as a nickname. She cannot say his name because he is her husband's elder brother. She told me that "Fancy" is his nickname because he's fancy, as she started laughing.

There are also ways to show respect to a person if they are unrelated or distantly related to you. Since Fijian society is hierarchical by age as well as by other factors, the elder a person is the more respect he/she deserves. It is improper to call someone older than you by their first name in most contexts. Fijians can refer to people in relation to their children then. Since name avoidance is a method of respect, as is evident in brother-sister relations and sister-in-law to brother-in-law relations, to say a person's name can be extremely disrespectful. In combination with the age hierarchy system, it is appropriate to say the name of someone younger than you, as you owe them less respect than they owe you. As people refer to each other in relation to their children or grandchildren, they are retaining a respectful distance between themselves and those they are speaking to. As with complete name avoidance, this distance gives people less opportunity to damage relations. Overall village relations as well as relations between members of different mataqali in the village are preserved therefore. These people must live together in close proximity for most, if not all, of their lives. Respect shown in this manner symbolically reinforces that the village is comprised of different mataqali who must live and work together. Demonstrating respect for the elders, or high-ranking members, of another mataqali shows respect to the entire mataqali. Elders are the representatives of their mataqali.

Fijians should, according to custom, refer to parents as "mother of [so-and-so]" or the "father of [so-and-so]"; so-and-so is their eldest child. The Fijian terms for this are "tinai [so-and-so]," for the mother, and "tamai [so-and-so]," for the father. My nana told me that she calls her niece (my tata's brother's son's wife Adi) "tinai Siteri" since Adi's daughter is named Siteri. Once a person becomes a grandparent, people should call them "grandparent of [their eldest grandchild]." The Fijian word for grandmother and grandfather is the same, bubu (pronounced mboo-mboo). The term for this then is "tubui [so-and-so]." My nana explained that people in the village regularly refer to her as "tubui Puni" since her only grandson's name is Puni. This method of reference is appropriate since one is avoiding the use of the person's name that he/she wants to respect by saying the name of a person he/she owes less respect.

Different categories of relatives also fit into different roles as a rule. Sisters and brothers respect each other based upon relative age. In addition to this, parallel cousins are treated just as sisters and brothers treat each other. They call each other sister or brother. A parallel cousin is a mother's sister's child or a father's brother's child. The avoidance rules which apply to brother-sister relations also apply to this situation therefore. Giving these people respect preserves relations as well as reinforces the gender and age hierarchy of the society. Soko listed the Fijian term for parallel cousins as vei tatacini (pronounced vei tatathini). She explained that she must respect a man who is her vei tatacini just as she has to respect her own brothers. She would greet him with his name if she met him walking down the street. But, if the brother is older than her, she should have to leave a room when he entered; this applies only if the brother is married.

Accordingly, a man treats his brother's children as he would treat his own children and a woman treats her sister's children just as she treats her own. The Fijian kin term for a mother's sister is nana levu or nana lailai depending upon age. If she is older than the child's mother, he/she calls her nana levu and her husband tata levu. If she is younger than the mother, the child calls her nana lailai and her husband tata lailai. Likewise, a child calls his/her father's elder brother tata levu and his wife nana levu; he/she calls his/her father's younger brother tata lailai and his wife nana lailai.

The kin terms for a father's sister or mother's brother reflect the less hierarchical relationship that these relatives have. Children call their father's sister nei and their mother's brother momo. These are the same terms which often are applied to someone to which the speaker owes respect but who is distantly related or unrelated to the person. Hence the terms are not unique to the specific family relationship. As previously mentioned, a daughter-in-law calls her mother-in-law nei and father-in-law momo. (Although, the term navugoqu can be used for the husband's mother and father and the wife's mother and father in the Rakiraki dialect; nei and momo are of Bauan dialect.)

It is tabu for a person to drink yaqona or eat with their momo. This means they may not share the same plate or cup. In the strictest sense, one should not be in the same room as her momo. Mili, an informant referred to above, explained that she should not technically be in the same room as Solo, her mother's brother. Momo is also the term given to a father's sister's husband. And, the term nei is applied to a mother's brother's wife.

These rules of respect which result from ties through women are therefore very important to Fijian social structure just as rules through the patriline are important. Since the terms nei and momo can be used for many different relations though, one can see that ties through women are more egalitarian than those through men. Nei and momo are respectful titles yet they do not clearly define one's exact relationship with a person. Hence, one's place within the hierarchy in relation to the nei or momo is not explicit. Relations with the mother's family and with women of the patriline who have married elsewhere counterbalance the very hierarchical relations within the patriline.

Another aspect of ties through women that counterbalances the respectful hierarchy of the patriline is the nurturing relationship within the vasu. A mother's brother falls under the term vasu. The vasu is the mother's side of the family. The nurturing relationship within the vasu means that members of the vasu can theoretically take anything they want from one another. One informant, Esei, had a flashlight at my house one night. He was reluctant to let a member of his vasu hold and look at this for a long time because, as he explained, the admirer has the right to take anything, including that flashlight, from another member of the vasu. This association exists alongside the tabu about sharing eating and drinking items for certain members of the vasu. The relationship acts as an escape from respectful hierarchical relations. In another instance of nurturing responsibility, it is the vasu that are responsible for burying a person when he/she dies.

The vei tavaleni, or tavale, relationship has different implications than the parallel cousin relationship. Tavale are a mother's brother's children or a father's sisters children. Some tavale are members of the vasu while others are not. This group of people also provide a counterbalancing effect to the strict hierarchy of the patriline. Tavale can be children of women who have married away from the patriline or the mother's brother's children. So again, ties through women achieve a counterbalancing effect.

A person can take anything he/she wants from his/her tavale. One cannot just take anything he/she wants from a patrilineal parallel cousin. There is a defined role for tavale in Fijian society. Tavale should joke with one another. Fijians also remark on the flirtatious interaction of tavale and the natural sexual attraction between them. Therefore tavale are supposed to flirt with one another. It is actually this pool in which people are often expected to find their future wife or husband (most often the second cousin or someone more distantly related). I witnessed several instances of tavale joking. Esei, the same informant referred to above, shone the beam from his flashlight up and down a woman's body when she entered my house. He remarked on how good she looked. She gave him an unfriendly look and they both started laughing. These two are tavale. Women's husbands also call their wives' brothers tavale. The loose, informal relationship between tavale offsets the respectful hierarchy of parallel cousin relations.

Regions have 'tavale' in a sense as well. Different regions of the country are paired with other regions in joking relationships. The people of the regions are cross-cousins or tauvu. This was exemplified at the Adi Navuavua, or Navuavua festival, which I attended. Women of the hosting village performed the meke dance. Whenever a group performs, they are 'appreciated' by their tauvu. While doing the meke, audience members 'showed appreciation.' Viewers put baby powder in the hair of the dancers; they put sulu around their necks and money in their shirts. There must be this tribal relationship between the dancers and the people ridiculing them.

Fijian culture is very rule-oriented. As demonstrated in this last section, the patriline retains a strict order of respect and authority. The rules of respect have shown however, that the ties to the father's sisters and to the mother's family are also very important. These relations are based less on rules of respect and hierarchy though. The father's sisters and mother's family provide a forum within the family that has a more relaxed, more egalitarian atmosphere. It is a relationship based upon nurturing. The outlets of the mother's family and the families of the women who have married out of the patriline provide a means of getting away from the constant respect etiquette of patriarchy. This outlet works to prevent emotional distance within families in a society which dictates that one cannot be close to a large portion of one's family members.

Social Organization, Bending Rules

Aside from the balanced dimension of the kin term system, another way that people cope with such a rule-oriented society is to actually not follow the rules in certain situations. All of the rules and responsibilities described above are the ideal, how it is supposed to be, and how people think that they act. That is the social structure of the village. How villagers really act is the social organization of the society; this is described below.

There are three factors which lead people to observe social rules most strictly. The following three groups are most likely to adhere to the strict customs: men, older people, and people of high status. Respect relations between men might be more tense than those between women because it is men who are seen as the bearers of tradition. In a patriarchal society, men must carry on the family and therefore Fijian culture. It is more important that they follow the rules and teach by example therefore.

The same concept can be applied when contemplating age and social status. The younger people are the less responsible they are thought to be. Fijians must look to and respect their elders, as they know the correct way to live. They have to set an example as well then. Also, the older people get, the more status they acquire. High status members of society follow social codes more so than those with lower rank. It is conceivable that those with lower status would bend the rules since less attention is focused on them. It wouldn't matter if they broke the rules because people do not look up to them to learn from them.

Another factor which influences people to deviate from the respect laws in Fijian culture is familiarity. The people that one interacts with the most regularly are the people with whom he/she will observe the least amount of rules around. The more social distance between people, the more they will follow procedure. Fijians often bend the rules in their daily interactions therefore. They do not act exactly as they describe.

An example of the divergence from these codes is that when I asked informants about members of their family whose names they could not say, they said these names anyway. Soko told me she should not say Josefa's name (her husband's elder brother), yet she told me what it was when I asked. Her husband Joji also told me his sister Sala's name while describing that he could not say it because she is married. My nana told me that one of my tata's elder brothers asked her if she would speak to him when he came to visit because the wives of the other younger brothers don't speak to him. Mili, another informant, told me that an elder brother decides if he will allow his younger married sister to be in the same room as he. In the strict sense of Fijian culture, this is not allowed. It is a bending of the rules that the brother has this decision to make.

My nana told me that people in the village regularly call each other tinai [name of her eldest child], for a mother, or tamai [name of his eldest child], for a father. She told me too that once a person becomes a grandparent, they become tubui [name of their eldest grandchild]. Since my nana told me that this is the regular system of respect reference in the koro, this is the framework that she thinks her culture follows. It is the social structure. In practice however, I have never heard my nana call Adi, Siteri's mother, tinai Siteri. I have only heard her say Adi. This most likely reflects the proximity in which these two women, my nana and Adi, live. Adi lives in the house directly behind my nana's. She is in the house every day, usually numerous times in one day. She sometimes takes her meals at my (nana's) house or cooks there. Siteri is generally present for our meals. It is also true that people within the village don't often refer to my nana as tubui Puni (Puni is her only grandchild). I most often hear them call her Neni. They even call her Neni Reagan as Neni is the Fijian equivalent of Nancy and she lives in a white house.

Throughout my stay in Fiji, I have heard many explanations of kinship relations. These are often explained as, "we really aren't even supposed to be in the same room now, but since he is over here a lot..." for example. I seldom hear any person in the village refer to another as anything other than their first name (with the exception of calling someone 'Bubu'). The population of Narewa is estimated at 80 people. This could be the reason that villagers use such familiar terms to call each other. As explained previously, the more frequently people interact, the less formal they act toward each other.

Other examples of life patterns which are deviant from the ideals of Fijian society can be found when one examines other aspects of the village. While performing a census on the houses in Narewa koro, I found men who were not from Narewa and one women that was. Of the ten families I surveyed during the census, six heads of the household (or deceased heads) are living in the village of their great-grandfathers. Four are not. Two of the heads of households that I interviewed live with their vasu (in their mother's village). One man lives in the village which his father moved to, having been invited by the chief that he was friends with (this man had no land on which to settle). In the fourth household which does not fit properly into the social structure of the village, lives a woman, her mother, and her two daughters. This woman grew up in Narewa and moved back after leaving her husband's village (this man had also left his own village to move to New Zealand). All of this seems to go against tradition since the patrilineal aspect of society means that men of one family stay in the same village; sons live where their fathers lived. Women generally marry out into other villages. According to custom a family does not live in the woman's (her father's) village, they live with the man's. It isn't possible to make a generalization about why people live with a woman's family rather than a man's. But it is evident that there is some flexibility built in here which allows people to live with women's families. A man might live with his wife's family if that village close to an urban center or if they live on the mainland and he is from an outer island, for instance.

Soko and Joji are informants referred to above. The two of them and their two children live in Narewa. Joji's (the husband's) father is from the nearby village of Navutulevu. Joji's mother, Susana, is from Narewa. Susana married a man named Jito Lewamituva from Navutulevu; this is Joji's father. Jito was a police sergeant and Susana was attending typing school in Suva shortly after Joji was born. Joji stayed in Narewa with his grandparents, Susana's parents, at that time. It is Joji's vasu who live in Narewa, where he grew up. After Joji left the village to work in Sigatoka and Suva, he returned to the village to live and become a farmer. He had met Soko in Sigatoka and she returned to Narewa with him. She is from Mua Levu in the Lau Islands. Joji never lived in his father's village therefore, because his father had left that village and was living in the city with Susana. As he was raised in Narewa, Joji considers it to be his home village although it is his mother's rather than his father's.

Another household in the village is that of Isikeli Vaya. He, his wife, and six children live in their house in Narewa. Isikeli's household also lives with his vasu. His father, Joeli Lokalavo, is from the neighboring village, Vitawa. Isikeli's mother, Merewalesi, is from Narewa. His mother moved to Vitawa to stay with her husband, Isikeli's father. Isikeli was brought back from Vitawa however, to Narewa, to live with his grandparents, his mother's parents. Isikeli's wife and their children (as well as each of their children from before this marriage) therefore, live in Narewa, in Isikeli's mother's village. Isikeli's wife, Rusila or "Mila," is from Malake Island.

A third example of a family who is not living in the husband's original village is that of Christopher Miller. Christopher moved to Narewa with his parents when he was young. They moved from a village called Serua near Sigatoka. His mother is originally from Vunitogoloa, which is two villages away from Narewa. When his mother, Lisi Nadave, married his father, John Miller, she moved to Serua, where he lived. John Miller's father (Christopher's grandfather) was a German missionary. This man came to Serua and married the chief's daughter there. John was entitled to no land in his home location because his father was European and Fijians trace descent patrilineally. John Miller was friend's with the chief of Narewa, who invited John to move to Narewa. Christopher Miller's family does not live in his father's, grandfather's, and great-grandfather's village therefore because those men had no village holdings. Christopher's wife moved to Narewa, when she married Chris. She is originally from Navitilevu in the Nalawa District in the Province of Ra.

The following is a final example of the deviance from traditional rules of living in Narewa. Four women live in one of the houses in the village. These are Mereseini Kutu Waqatabu, Adi Laite Samuta, Mereseini Solei Samuta (called Solei), and Kalisi Sevu Samuta. Mereseini Kutu Waqatabu is Adi Laite's mother and the grandmother of Solei and Kalisi. Mereseini, the grandmother, is from Narewa but she also married a man from Narewa. Her deceased husband's name was Josefa Waqatabu. This is Adi Laite's father. He and his father were from Narewa. Adi Laite married a man named Penisoni Batinavatu Samuta, from Rakiraki village. She moved to Rakiraki then and they had three children. Penisoni went to New Zealand for his twin brother's funeral at some point, but did not return for ten years. Adi Laite and her children moved back to Narewa to live with her family then. Her husband has since been back to Fiji for some time and again he lives in Rakiraki. Although the couple is not divorced, Adi Laite will not live with her husband any longer. She and her daughters stay in her father's village then, rather than her husband's.

I performed the census on ten households in Narewa. Four of the families (all described above) were not living in the husband's village as tradition dictates. In six houses, women had left their father's village to come live with their husband's. In the house I stay in, Jone Waqa is the head of the household. His father and grandfather were from Narewa. His wife (my nana) came to Narewa from Naivuvuni, where she grew up. This is the closest village to Narewa. Jone Waqa's elder brother is Sarevi Nauvi. His wife is from the Lau Islands. Jone and Saravi's younger brother Manueli does not live in the village. He moved to Australia. His son does live in Narewa though, according to traditional social codes. His name is Paula Naivoce. Paula's wife, Adi Romera, also moved to Narewa from another village. She is from the same village as Paula's mother, Lauwaki (near the town of Lautoka).

A fourth household in the village is not related to that family. This is the household of Viliame Sadruga. Vili (his nickname) and his father were both born in Narewa. Miliana, Vili's wife, moved to Narewa when they married. Mili is from the village of Bureiwai. This is considered an interior village (it is on the road to Suva from Rakiraki). The head of a fifth household is Atunaisa Waqawai. His father is from Narewa as well. His wife, Lusiana Siteri, moved to the village from another village close by. Nakorokula village is approximately six villages away from Narewa. The last house at which I did the census was that of a widow, Ane Likutabua Toua. She and her granddaughter, Marian Toua, live in the house. Ane married into Narewa; her husband and his father were from the village. She is originally from Vanua Levu. Her mother was from Bua in Vanua Levu and her father was from Taveuni, an island considered part of Vanua Levu.

There are a total of 22 households in the village. The evidence presented here is related only to ten households in the village. It is therefore difficult to come to conclusive results about the distances women move when they marry based upon such a small sample. Three of the women came to Viti Levu from the outer island. These women came prior to marriage, for education or employment purposes. The men who live in the village and whose mataqali does not belong to this village have settled in Narewa because they consider this their home. They were raised here and have considered this to be 'their village' regardless of the proper social structure and patriarchy of Fijian culture. This may be considered a demonstration of the nurturing of one's vasu for some of these instances.

Education in the Village

What is possible to determine about village life is that younger villagers have received and are receiving more formal education than their elders. The oldest informants involved in the census attended village schools. These were not primary or secondary schools, nor did they have class or form numbers. Vani Nakandaba, or Bubu (grandmother), is Jone Waqa and Saravi Nauvi's mother. She attended the Methodist school in Narewa. Her age is difficult to determine since various family members give various answers. The most common guess is 107, but this seems a steep figure (Jone is her fourth child at 61 years of age. Sarevi is the eldest and is approximately 70-75 years. She most likely started having children before the age of 32.) It is difficult to determine when children stopped going to village schools and started going to primary and secondary school. Some villages still have kindergarten classes. There is no kindergarten in Narewa but there is in the neighboring village of Vitawa. No children from Narewa attend the kindergarten in Vitawa. Primary schools start at class one and go to class eight. Class seven and class eight are also the same as form one and form two of secondary school. Secondary schools go from form one to form six or seven. (Only one school in the area, the Penang Sangam School, offers form seven.) Students sit for their Fiji School Leaving Certificate after form six.

The census based upon ten village households, showed that children in Narewa attend or have attended three different primary schools in the area. These are Penang Sangam Primary School, Sudhar Bhartiya Primary School and Navatu Fijian Primary School. They have attended five secondary schools, Ba Methodist High School, Nakauvadra High School, Tavua College, Rakiraki Public High School and Wairaku High School. Secondary school is referred to as both high school and college. There are two universities in Fiji. One of these is F.I.T., the Fiji Institute of Technology, and the other is USP, the University of the South Pacific. Some villagers have attended these universities, only a few have finished with degrees however (none of these live in the village any longer).

The Religious Village

Informants in Narewa claim that this was the first village in the area to be contacted by Christian missionaries. They spread to the surrounding villages using Narewa as a base. There is a foundation of a former church between the village and Ulu ni Navatu. This church was established to commemorate the landing of those first missionaries.

Religious affiliations are slowly changing among Fijians. Most Fijians are Methodist. One of the oldest informants in the census, Ane Likutabua, is Methodist yet went to a Catholic Convent School. She went there because her parents thought it would be a good school since only Europeans and part Europeans were allowed in. She could get into the school because her last name was Peckam, as she is descended from an English man. Ane maintains that even while she was in Catholic school, she was Methodist.

One head of household that I interviewed, Isikeli Vaya, belongs to the Apostolic Church, a sector of AOG, although his parents and grandparents were Methodist. Two other households in the census, Christopher Miller's family and Adi Laite's family, also belong to the AOG, Assemblies of God, Church (this is a different sector than Apostolic). They have denounced drinking yaqona, alcohol, and smoking cigarettes. They also contribute one-tenth of their income each week to the church in addition to whatever they put in the donation plate. The Narewa Methodist church makes only one plate collection each week. Money from the village fund is contributed to the Methodist church in the village however.

Conclusion

This chapter has outlined the social structure of a Fijian village, using Narewa village as a model. The social organization of the koro, how the villagers actually interact with one another including bending social rules and effecting change in lifestyles, is unique to Narewa however. Each Fijian village, while modeled upon a similar model of hierarchy including patriarchy, relative age relations, and kinship rules, exists much as an enclosed entity. The chiefly arrangement is different in Narewa koro than in other villages nearby for example. This is because the village had to find a way, within the framework of their existing society, to express gratitude to the Namotutu yavusa. Villagers have also taken a more familiar approach to addressing fellow villagers. People have bent the rules therefore, as they live together in a small village. These are just two examples of how members of a society can mold the rules to adapt to specific circumstances. Contained sections of the world, such as villages, develop their own culture as they deal with the framework of their society diversely.

On to Chapter 3...