Lagi, Rosiana
(2017)
Vanua Sauvi: social roles, sustainability and resilience.
In:
Relational Hermeneutics: Decolonising the mindset and the Pacific Itulagi.
USP Press and The Pacific Theological College, Suva, Fiji, pp. 187-197.
ISBN 9789820109674
Abstract
Vanua, for an indigenous Fijian, encompasses the land, the sea, the cosmos, the people – all living things, including spirits, in a specific ‘place’ and how each of them are related to and responsible for each other. It also includes the culture, traditions, knowledge, skills, and ways of knowing, love, peace, prosperity and communalism. In the indigenous Fijian psyche, vanua embodies social institutions responsible for the management of the vanua. Each member of the vanua is ascribed into one of these social institutions. The members of these social institutions are equipped with traditional knowledge, skills and wisdom that enable them to be responsible guardians of the vanua, managing it so that it is sustainable and resilient and safeguarding it for the next generation. This chapter explores the significance of these social institutions in the sustainability and resilience of the vanua in this climate change era. Using an Indigenist research approach, a case study was conducted on a coastal village of Ovalau, Rukuruku, on how their social systems, social roles, knowledge, skills and wisdom enabled sustainability and resilience in this climate change era. It was found that the people of Rukuruku managed to forecast the change in climate, save their vanua from coastal erosion, and ensure both food and human security through the practice of their social roles, knowledge, skills and wisdom.
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