‘The Story that Came to Me’
Gender, Power and Life History Narratives—Reflections on the Ethics of Ethnography in Fiji
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20073672 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pauline Mckenzie Aucoin (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Publication date | 2008-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Telling Pacific lives (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | ANU Press (PUBLISHER • AU) |
| DOI | 10.22459/tpl.06.2008.06 |
| OpenAlex | W2917393947 |
| ISBN | 9781921313813 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
I was well into my fieldwork in Fiji when Vasi, a young Fijian woman, came to visit me. My research into the social construction of gender in Fijian society had been going well. I had travelled to several of Fiji's larger islands, including Koro, Vanua Levu, and Viti Levu, and established a wide network of contacts with men and women in many of their villages. I had conducted interviews with a number of women involved in Na Soqosoqo Vakamarama, the National Fijian Women's Organisation, and helped with the organisation of a village women's co-operative store. I had acquired a sound understanding of the routines of daily village life, and attended weddings in several coastal villages and the interior. My trips to the capital, Suva, to conduct archival work had been successful. I was nearing completion of a kinship survey and had identified a preferential marriage rule: when a woman of one generation from Clan A marries into Clan B, then one of her daughters or classificatory daughters in the descending generation from Clan B would then marry, in turn, into her natal Clan A. A marriage rule. Exchange relations. My notebooks were filling up
Art · Ethnography · Literature · Narrative · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |