Geir Henning Presterudstuen

Sport Migration and Sociocultural Transformation: The Case of Fijian Rugby Union Players in Japan

Since the 1990s several Fijians have entered rugby union competitions in Japan, attracted predominantly by the financial incentives offered by large corporations who dominate Japanese rugby. In Japan, Fijians face numerous economic, demographic and sociocultural experiences that challenge the vaka i taukei (the ‘traditional’ Fijian way of life). Migration thus becomes a lens through which Fijians review their identity and place in the world. This paper discusses the sociocultural complexities that underpin critical migrant perspectives on the communal patterns that dominate the Fijian way of life. Based on research conducted in Fiji and Japan, this contribution provides an anthropological perspective on transnational Pacific Islander rugby mobility. It pays particular attention to aspects of sociocultural transformation – a theme previously neglected in scholarship on Pacific Islanders in professional rugby.

Bati as bodily labour: rethinking masculinity and violence in Fiji

Violence has been considered a decisive factor throughout much of Fijian history, from pre-modern inter-tribal warfare via participation in the British Military in both world wars to the more recent events of active military intervention in civil matters. Underpinning this history is a more fundamental notion of the Fijian male warriors (bati) as the protectors of everything Fijian. This is epitomised through bati ideology, which continues to hold purchase in discourses about Fijian identity and social organisation. Although the nature of violent practices has changed considerably throughout modern history, notions of martial strength, power and manhood remain closely linked in Fijian social ideologies. Embedded in this social context, contemporary constructions of masculinity are often centred on stylised performances of physical strength. Equating these dynamics with a claim that Fijian masculinities are intrinsically violent is, however, problematic. By looking at boxing and rugby union as constitutive social practices in the constructions of contemporary Fijian masculinities, we draw upon the concept of bodily labour to discuss how Fijian men negotiate bati ideology in a modern context. Our key argument is that while bati ideology remains pervasive as a part of the hegemonic notion of masculinity in Fiji, it is not used to valorise or glorify uncontrolled violence.

Monster Anthropology in Australasia and Beyond

1. Introduction: Monsters, Anthropology, and Monster Studies Yasmine Musharbash 2. Cave Men, Luminoids and Dragons: Monstrous Creatures Mediating Relationships between People and Country in Aboriginal Northern Australia Joanne Thurman 3. Monstrous Transformations: A Case Study from Central Australia Yasmine Musharbash 4. Specters of Reality Mamu in the Eastern Western Desert of Australia Ute Eickelkamp 5. A Murder of Monsters: Terror and Morality in an Aboriginal Religion John Morton 6. Burnt Woman of the Mission: Gender and Horror in an Aboriginal Settlement in Northern New South Wales Mahnaz Alimardanian 7. Demons Within: Maleficent Manifestations in the Hare Krishna Movement Malcolm Haddon 8. Ghosts and the Everyday Politics of Race in Fiji Geir Henning Presterudstuen 9. Entanglements Between Tao People and Anito and LAnyu Island, Taiwan Leberecht Funk 10. When Goblins Come to Town: The Ethnography of Urban Hauntings in Georgia Paul Manning 11. The Workings of Monsters: Of Monsters and Humans in Icelandic Society Helena Onnudottir 12. Afterword: Strangerhood Pragmatics, and Place in the Dialectics of Monster and Norm Rupert Stasch

Performing Masculinity Through Christian Devotion: Methodism, Manhood and Colonial Mimicry in Fiji

Although the academic research on religion in Fiji and the South Pacific is substantial, there are few examples of studies that connect religion with the larger discourses of Fijian tradition and social life. Even fewer are the ones linking culturally specific notions of gender performances to Christian devotion. By utilizing the theoretical framework of colonial mimicry,11 The theory was proposed by Bhabha (2004). I argue that the Christianization of Fiji, particularly its continued impact on the social organization of modern Fijian society, has been reliant upon its collusion with premodern Fijian notions of gender, power and consanguinity. Based on historical enquiries and ethnographic material, I develop the argument that while conversion may be understood as the conscious adoption and mimicking of the western notion of religion as presented by Wesleyan missionaries in the 1800s, the Fijian understanding of their Christianity, the merging between Christian belief and Fijian social protocol and the consequent development of culturally specific articulations of Christian devotion have produced substantial differences from western theological practice and teaching. A central distinction is the close link between performances of masculinity and Christian devotion found among Fijian Methodists.

Ghosts and the Everyday Politics of Race in Fiji

One early morning during a fieldwork trip to Fiji’s old capital, Levuka, in 2009, I was dragged from a deep, kava-induced sleep by loud banging on the door of the rented cabin I shared with one of my friends and respondents, Ajay.1 “Hello, hello,” someone shouted, and as our visitor did not relent, Ajay reluctantly got up to answer the door while I turned around to go back to sleep. After a brief discussion with the visitor at the door, Ajay called me to come and sort the matter out. The visitor turned out to be a young, pretty, Fijian girl. Judging by her sleepy eyes and slurred speech, I figured that she must have spent the previous night much like I had—chatting and drinking yaqona2 (kava) followed by a complimentary “wash-down,” that is the two or three long-necks of cold Fiji Bitter beer that many young Fijians consider the natural way to finish off a “grog session.”