Crafting Sociocentric Selves in Religious Discourse in Rural Fiji

This article examines narratives about religious experience among rural Fijians in order to reexamine the claim that Fijians and other Pacific Islanders have "sociocentric selves." Individuals insisted in their narratives that they had actively chosen to commit to churches in order to become more sociocentric. They suggested that sodocentrism was only a satisfying orientation if freely chosen. This article suggests that in our contemporary global village, Fijians choose to adopt a sociocentric orientation to define a worthy place for themselves vis‐à‐vis urban relatives and Western visitors.