Exclusion of Indigenous Fijian Knowledge: Factors and Effects

Chilisa (2012) underlines the necessity for social science research to free itself from only Western European perspectives, urging for the recognition of other forms of living and knowing among non-Western realities. According to Chilisa, the hegemony of Euro-Western knowledge systems in contemporary research comes at the expense of other cultures, especially those of the formerly colonized. In the Pacific and Fijian contexts, Naidu (2010) presents the impact of globalization on the mindset and value systems of South Pacific Island nations, particularly in Fiji as a post-colonial state. He notes that even before the contemporary integration of developing economies in the global market as well as the consequent political crisis brought by socio-economic and technological forces, decades of colonialism already featured major structural changes in island societies. Varani-Norton (2017) narrates the persistent dominance of British colonial structures over the handling of the culture of the iTaukeis, the indigenous Fijians, although adoption or hybridization of other systems with traditional culture has been in practice among them even before first contact with Europeans. While this essay argues that colonial and contemporary politico-economic and socio-cultural factors contributed and continue to contribute to the exclusion of Fijian indigenous knowledge, negatively affecting local communities, the student-researcher intends also to explore the role of indigenous societies themselves along with the state in these exclusionary dynamics. This, in turn, would inform the understanding of the causes and past initiatives to address the issue as well as the proposal of possible alternatives and solutions in relation to negative effects and conditions.