Representation and Choice

My week with the Fiji Museum has been an interesting one, and a very valuable lesson in the way that 'Fiji Time' or more relaxed attitude can overstep the fine line that it treads between a casual relationship with time and productiveness in the workplace. My week spent cataloguing library books for lack of a supervisor may have been remedied by the simple sharing of information in advance of our coming, so that there was more than one person capable of assigning our project and supervising our placement. It's been a very valuable lesson to learn, along with the idea that initiative may sometimes be necessary in order to discover the true lay of the land here. For example, I'm still not entirely certain what my project will now be, or even where I might end up. Though I knew I would at least start Monday at the Fiji Arts Council, I've heard reports of working with the Conservatorium, ideas that I might be composing songs (something so far outside my comfort zone it can't be chartered) or simply joining an existing group.

The Fiji Museum, however, has also left me with a much greater understanding of the ways in which representation is a conscious choice and how it reflects those aspects of the culture which are desired for public consumption. Though the museum has a large collection of artefacts, only certain ones are placed on display, and together form a selective and selected narrative of Fiji's history. Their collection itself tells a story; much of the collection in storage is culturally Pacific, whether Fijian, Rotuman, ni-Vanuatu or i-Kiribati. Excepting a selection of English colonial textiles, such as a soldier's red coat, those objects from other regions are notable for their indigenous nature. From what I could see, the (spatially separate) Indo-Fijian gallery appears to contains the extent of the collection related to Indian experiences and history in Fiji. There is an effort to illustrate the discrimination faced by Indo-Fijians, but the focus of the collection and the narrative is very clear.

For me, the tutorial discussion this evening illustrated the connections between these reflections on the Fiji Museum and the representation in the music video for We Are Fiji. Whether or not Cattermole's analysis is entirely supported, it is true that the video is quite dominated by images of indigenous Fijian culture, to the extent that there is very little visual representation of Indo-Fijian culture or people, with the notable exception of the sitar - a smaller section of the song than the Fijian hymn singing. In and of itself, that is an interesting statement of divides, given that the Indo-Fijian community appears, by and large, to be non-Christian. There is no representation of the Chinese community, or other Pacific Islanders, such as Banabans. Like the Fiji Museum, the video is selective, not free from agenda given that the video images were provided by the tourist board, and one which prepares a narrative for public and international consumption. It caters to certain expectations – whether the more sensationalist aspects of the old cannibal culture or the romanticised, exotic images of warriors, sand dunes and canoes.