Open AccessCompassion and Virtue: Social media-enabled bartering in Fiji during COVID-19
Author(s) -
Glen Finau,
Jason Titifanue,
Romitesh Kant,
Suliasi Vunibola,
Geir Henning Presterudstuen,
H.E. van der Horst
Publication year - 2021
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.51142/issues-journal-4-1-3
Subject(s) - barter , compassion , covid-19 , sociology , social media , virtue , social exchange theory , position (finance) , social psychology , psychology , media studies , public relations , political science , business , economics , medicine , law , disease , finance , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , macroeconomics
This essay explores the emergence of the BFBF and how this online group made ‘bartering’ and other practices of exchange central to surviving Covid-19. We analyse the posts and discussions of BFBF participants in 2020. We are interested in the way moderators and participants position this contemporary way of conducting bartering as an alternative to market trade that has deep cultural roots in Fiji. Such forms of exchange have serious implications for the study of digital practices and relational systems of exchange in Fiji and beyond.