Notions of Insecurity among Contemporary Indo-Fijian Communities

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of insecurity among contemporary Indo-Fijian communities. It shows how the historical specificities of the Indo-Fijian experience have strongly contributed to perceptions of marginalisation and deprivation. I then argue that such perceptions of Indo-Fijians do not come into existence independently but have to be understood as in constant exchange within an insecurity involving indigenous Fijians. Crucially, attention is drawn to how scholarly representations of recent periods of upheaval tend to obscure the extent to which there are friendly and supportive relations in everyday life across the ethnic divide. This is followed by an illustration of how Indo-Fijian insecurities are embodied in forms of mental distress and an increase in security installations around residential neighbourhoods. In conclusion, the ongoing large-scale emigration of Indo-Fijians is seen as one response, arguably the most poignant, to how Indo-Fijian communities negotiate contemporary notions of insecurity by considering mobility.

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