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Fiji Indians and Political Discourse in Fiji: from the Pacific Romance to the Coups
Author(s) -
KELLY JOHN DUNHAM
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6443.1988.tb00013.x
Subject(s) - indigenous , politics , rhetoric , independence (probability theory) , colonialism , constitution , political science , romance , political economy , gender studies , law , sociology , psychology , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , psychoanalysis , biology
Why did Fiji Indian political rhetoric shift, at Fiji's independence, from Gandhian political grievance to nation, development and harmony? The Indians were brought to Fiji as plantation labor in order to protect the indigenous Fijians from wage labor. A romantic vision of the indigenes guided colonial policy, and became law at Fiji's independence, in a constitution giving indigenous Fijians and their chiefs special privileges. Despite the appeasing rhetoric, an electoral defeat of the indigenous chiefs was followed by military coups, for protection of indigenes against Indians and consolidation of chiefly power. Fiji has proved difficult to ‘imagine’ as a nation.