COMPLIANCE AND CARE:
AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A FIJIAN VILLAGE
by Emily Sparks

Conclusion

Conclusion
Works Cited

As my field work in Navolau has come to and end, I have noticed that my thoughts now concentrate on not what kind of data I can gather about the lives of the villagers, but what life is actually like for them -- day by day, month by month, and year by year. I find myself thinking about what Tata and Nana will be doing when I leave, how Lucy's plans to attend university will pan out, if the eldest brother in the family will soon marry, or if Merilita will return back to the village. Scenarios run through my head -- will one friend be beaten again by her husband? Or will another friend's husband become a Seventh Day Adventist? Like the villagers in Navolau #2, these situations are now in my thoughts as well. During my brief stay here, I think that I have begun to get a feel for how they live their life, and perhaps how they think of their lives.

Although it would take years, perhaps a life time, (or maybe that would even not be enough) to understand the Fijian ethos (or any world view other than one's own), this is what I have attempted to do in writing this ethnography. For the past ten weeks in Navolau, I have collected qualitative data that has helped form an idea of how villagers in Navolau live and think. The one theme that has been apparent through every aspect of their lives is their notion of the sociocentric self. This idea is one that runs through their social structure and organization, as well as their economic system. Tracing life cycle events also shows that Fijians emphasize the community over the individual, and in their Christianity, aspects of the Fijian way of life, including highlighting the community over the individual, is apparent.

As I have stressed, the social structure and organization, the economics, the life cycle events, and religion of Navolau highlight relations between villagers, as opposed to individual families. People are organized by mataqali and yavusa, and these ties which bind people together are not only very strong, but also quite extensive. With such extensive ties, Fijians are secure in that they will be taken care of by family in any need that they may have. Fijians will always offer a place to stay, economic loans, and a guarantee to provide for one's family. However, with this secure communal ethos, which I have thus far applauded, there also comes the idea that with these ties bears a great deal of responsibility. The responsibility one has to such a large kin network can certainly be exhausting.

From an American standpoint, this responsibility to so many different family members seems overwhelming and even intrusive to an individual's personal goals and desires. As Americans, we comment on how many people Fijians welcome into their home, saying, "We just couldn't live that way, having unexpected guests drop by all the time." However, putting others before one's self is something that Fijians must do, as part of what their cultural rules demand. Although the providing, loaning, attending, and supporting so many different events can be exhausting, since people put the community's aspirations before their own, these extensive ties are rewarding, to a point where they surpass what most Americans, in their individualistic ethos, would find.

Thus which is better? In questioning first the Fijian ethos, and then my own American world view, I have come to conclude that neither one is better than the other. Americans are generally happy with their autonomy, as Fijians are happy with their extensive family ties, obligations to their kinsmen, and their supportive kinship system. The people who have invited and allowed me to question them in the village, who have become my friends and my confidants, who have taught me about their way of life, have helped me come to understand that although our world views may be different -- theirs a sociocentric one, and mine more of an individualistic one, we now have similar ideas and concerns about how we think of our lives.

Works Cited

Becker, Anne E. 1995. Body, Self, and Society. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Nayacakalou, R. R. 1978. Tradition and Change in the Fijian Village. Suva, Fiji: South Pacific Social Sciences Association.

Ravuvu, A. 1983. The Fijian Way of Life. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.

Rika, N. 1975. Is Kinship Costly? In The Pacific Way: Social Issues in National Development. S. Tupouniua et al., eds. Suva, Fiji: South Pacific Social Science Association. Pp. 27-31.

Vusoniwailala, L. n.d. Communication, Social Identity and the Rising Cost of Fijian Communalism. Pacific Perspective. Vol. 12 No. 2.