Academic literature on the topic 'Ethnology of Fiji'

Face à la crise environnementale et climatique, les pratiques basées sur la gestion des processus écologiques ouvrent un nouvel horizon pour l’agriculture. L’enjeu actuel de l’agroforesterie basée sur les associations d’arbres, de cultures et d’élevage, n’est plus limité à la seule production, mais touche aussi à la durabilité́ de cette production, à la résilience du milieu cultivé vis-à-vis des aléas climatiques, à la fourniture des services écosystémiques et à la création de nouveaux « terroirs ». Il s’agit de concrétiser sa multifonctionnalité́ et son inscription dans le long terme. Or, ces pratiques agroécologiques ne peuvent pas résulter d’une pure application de recettes techniques ; elles se développent avec les caractères propres de chaque milieu accompagné par chaque agriculteur. L’entrée par les connaissances naturalistes et agroécologiques des agriculteurs, et par ce que l’on nomme paysage, peut-elle devenir un vecteur de transmission des pratiques agroforestières essentiellement par effet de voisinage et par apprentissage collectif ? Une étude critique des modalités et des dispositifs d’apprentissage, de transmission et d’accompagnement des pratiques agroforestières du Bassin francilien est menée à travers une démarche ethnopaysagère et géographique et par la sociologie pragmatique. Les récits des trajectoires agroforestières et en agriculture biologique ou de conservation des sols sont retracés à travers l’enquête ethnographique auprès d’agriculteurs et la collecte documentaire de terrain (photographies, dessins d’agriculteurs, plans de projets). Une typologie des différentes formes de paysages agroforestiers (linéaires d’arbres intra-parcellaire, complantés parfois d’une strate arbustive, maillage de haies champêtres, etc.) et la gamme des savoirs écologiques et de diversification qui y sont associés, est proposée. En regard, la méfiance envers les arbres chez certains agriculteurs de conservation des sols est identifiée. Dans un deuxième temps, l’enquête sur les modalités d’accompagnement par les parties prenantes du développement territorial (agriculteurs, propriétaires fonciers, agents des parcs naturels régionaux et des communautés de communes, vulgarisateurs), éclaire les conflits et les alliances entre acteurs territoriaux. Les outils et les processus d’apprentissage collectif de cette université agroforestière du dehors sont mis en évidence à travers les chroniques des ateliers de collectifs d’agriculteurs et des projets de recherche-participative autour du patrimoine de semences et de ligneux adaptés localement (enquête écologique, index-botanique, lecture et design paysager, ateliers de projets et de taille, sélection participative). Ce travail propose une synthèse des freins (le temps long, le manque de références locales et de savoir-faire de gestion, l’arbre dans le bail rural) et des conditions de transmission des pratiques agroforestières (implication des pionniers dans un groupe de pratiques, approche par l’expérience, implication des acteurs territoriaux). Celles-ci s’articulent entre différentes échelles : de la parcelle à la plaine, jusqu’à la communauté d’acteurs du « grand paysage ». Enfin, cette thèse identifie un ensemble d’expériences patrimoniales du vivant qui, à travers les bénéfices agro-écosystémiques et les filières alimentaires issus de ces nouveaux paysages agricoles, pourrait devenir le socle d’un projet local garant de la durabilité environnementale, sociale et économique du territoire
Faced with the environmental and climatic crisis, practices based on the management of ecological processes are opening up a new horizon for agriculture. The current challenge of agroforestry, based on associations of trees, crops and/or animals, is no longer limited to production alone, but also affects its sustainability and in particular the provision of ecosystem services and the food resilience of territories. However, these agroecological practices cannot result from the application of technical recipes. Can farmers’ naturalistic and agroecological knowledge of landscapes, become a vector for the transmission of agroforestry practices mainly through neighborhood effect and collective learning ? A critical study of the methods and mechanisms of learning, transmission and support of agroforestry practices in the Paris Basin is carried out through a transdisciplinary, ethno-geographic and pragmatic approach. The stories of their agroecological trajectories are retraced through ethnographic investigation and documentary collection from the field (photography, drawing of farmers, project plan). A typology of the different forms of agroforestry landscapes (intra-plot tree lines, diversified hedgerows gridding, etc.) and the range of ecological and diversification knowledge associated with them is proposed. In contrast, the mistrust of trees among some soil conservation farmers is identified. Secondly, the survey on the methods of support by stakeholders in territorial development (farmers, landowners, agricultural development associations, agents of regional nature parks and communities of municipalities), sheds light on conflicts and alliances between actors. The tools and collective learning processes of this outside agroecological university are highlighted through the chronicles of farmers' collective workshops and participatory research projects around the heritage of locally adapted seeds and woody plants (ecological survey, botanical index, reading and landscape design, project and pruning workshops, participatory selection). This work offers a synthesis of the brakes (the long time, the lack of local references and management know-how, the tree in the rural lease). And the conditions of transmission of agroforestry practices (pioneering attitudes, empirical and transversal approaches, involvement of territorial actors) are articulated between different scales: from the plot to the plain, to the community of actors in the large landscape. Finally, this thesis identifies a set of updating of living heritage which, through the agro-ecosystem benefits and the local food systems resulting from these new agricultural landscapes; could become the basis of a local project guaranteeing the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the territory

The first aim of my research project is to determine from oral accounts I recorded over a period of some fifty years, how Fijians especially in western areas of Fiji currently understand and explain (a) the origins, characteristics, development and interactions of the social and political divisions of late pre-colonial traditional Fijian society, and (b) the general principles of traditional land tenure. The second aim is to assess the reasoning, consistency and, where possible, the historical accuracy of such understandings. The period on which my project concentrates is the two centuries or so immediately prior to Cession. Under the Deed of Cession a number of the major chiefs of Fiji had offered to cede Fiji to Queen Victoria; and after the offer had been accepted, Fiji became a British Crown Colony on lOth October 1874. The traditional Fijian society and system of land tenure with which the project is particularly concerned is referred to in this dissertation as "pre-colonial" or "pre-Cession" Fijian society. For the sake of chronological convenience, pre-colonial Fijian society has been divided into "late prehistoric" and "protohistoric" periods. "Proto-historic" refers to the century ending at Cession in 187 4 and beginning with the arrival of the first outsiders to have significant interaction with Fijians. Other studies of Fijian traditional social structure have generally concentrated on areas in the eastern parts of Viti Levu and in other parts of Fiji to the east of the main island (the so-called Na Tu i Cake). Partly for this reason and partly because I have been familiar with the area since 1951, my investigations culminating in this dissertation have concentrated on the relatively little known west (the Yasayasa vakaRa). It is hoped that the outcome of my project will now enable people to endorse the more easily the line with which I introduce Chapter 1, "But westward look, the land is bright." Research into pre-colonial Fijian society began incidentally when I was an officer of the Colonial Service in the Fiji District Administration and in the Fijian Administration in the 1950s and 1960s. My experience and general investigations while a member of these two Administrations served as a background to my later formal research conducted directly in relation to this project. When I returned to carry out the latter research in the 1990s, I endeavoured to operate through both these Administrations as well as through the currently recognised socio-political units or polities.

This thesis investigates sociolinguistic variation in the Fijian village of Waitabu. The aim is to investigate how particular uses, functions and varieties of language relate to social patterns and modes of interaction. ·The investigation focuses on the various ways of speaking which characterise the Waitabu repertoire, and attempts to explicate basic sociolinguistic principles and norms for contextually appropriate behaviour.The general purpose is to explicate what the outsider needs to know to communicate appropriately in Waitabu community. Chapter one discusses relevant literature and the theoretical perspective of the thesis. I also detail the fieldwork setting, problems and restrictions, and thesis plan. Chapter two provides the necessary background information to this study, describing the geographical, demographical and sociohistorical setting. Description is given of the contemporary language situation, structure of Fijian (Bouma dialect), and Waitabu social structure and organisation. In Chapter 3, the kinship system which lies at the heart of Waitabu social organisation, and kin-based sociolinguistic roles are analysed. This chapter gives detailed description of the kin categories and the established modes of sociolinguistic behaviour which are associated with various kin-based social identities. Chapter 4 focuses on discourse of everyday life, dealing with the general rules and norms by which Waitabu individuals construct their everyday sociolinguistic behaviour including: male and female speech; greetings and leave-taking; deference and politeness markers; and conversational strategies. Chapter 5 provides detailed investigation of the ceremonial speech event. This event is characterised by special rules of speech and nonverbal behaviour, and is distinguishable by clearly defined opening and closing sequences with set sequencing of components in between. The chapter describes the specific principles and norms governing the linguistic, social and kinesic behaviour. In chapter 6, the decline of chiefly respect language is described. First, I detail distinguishing lexical, grammatical and speech act features of the speech style traditionally used towards the village chief. Then, I investigate the loss of these specific rules and norms in contemporary Waitabu, exploring factors in this change. Chapter 7 gives detailed description of dialect levelling evident in Waitabu. The various dialect varieties and their domains are described. Language attitudes and factors conducive to dialect shift are also investigated. Then follows analysis of how individuals creatively use these dialect differences in constructing their sociolinguistic behaviour, to mark certain contexts and role-relationships as distinct. Focus is on the specific rules and norms for sociolinguistic behaviour in the netball peer-group and in interaction with Indians. Chapter 8 investigates the special patterns of language use which characterise two institutionalised modes of communication in Waitabu society - religion and education. Chapter 9 gives a summary of the Waitabu investigation.