Introduction to Relations in Multicultural Fiji: The Dynamics of Articulations, Transformations and Positionings‪.‬

Socio-political life in the post-colonial state that is the Fiji Islands has often been imaged in the media--indeed, in light of the recent political crises, ever more pointedly so--as marked by tensions and divisions between (and within) the ethnic groups living there. Yet it is possible to see tensions and divisions as processes and politics of (partial) dis-connections and (new) connections, provided, that is, the focus is put systematically on relations. Thus the contributions to this volume, which build on a long series of prior studies of Fiji by the social sciences, address a broad spectrum of relations, turning the spotlight especially on the cultural modalities that are instrumental in shaping these. Relations between ethnic groups do not flow from a '"natural" order of things' (Comaroff and Comaroff 1992:59f.). Rather they are to be seen, as is also the case with other kinds of relations--for instance, between the members of a society, between people and their resources (material and immaterial), cultural traditions or global discourses--as the product of a historically constituted 'cultural order of things'. We therefore operate on the assumption that social actors in Fiji do not just passively accept extant relations, but that, guided by their interests, they actively work on these thereby pursuing cultural and political strategies. (1) Correspondingly, we place our emphasis on how people, as cultural actors, thematicise, reflect on and utilise relations. We argue that transformations, positionings and articulations, in respect of how relations are handled, have a two-fold relevance: on one side, actors (individual and collective) move within relations that are already transformed, positioned and articulated; on the other, actors themselves actively articulate, transform and position these relations in order to shape their identity and place in Fiji. Yet in neither case can any fixed order of precedence be noted in these transformations, positionings and articulations. Rather these processes stand in a wechselwirkung (dialectic) of mutually interlocking dynamisms. If, then, in these introductory words we approach the topic of this volume via articulations leading us to transformations and positionings, this is only one of several accessways we could have chosen.