Vanua as Environment: Conservation, Farming, and Development in Waitabu, Fiji by Hao-Li Lin BA, Anthropology, National Taiwan University, 2004 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2015 W UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Hao-Li Lin It was defended on March 16th, 2015 and approved by Kathleen Musante, PhD, Professor, Department of Anthropology Andrew Weintraub, PhD, Professor, Department of Music Dissertation Advisors: Richard Scaglion, PhD, Professor, Departmental of Anthropology Andrew J. Strathern, PhD, Andrew Mellon Professor, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Hao-Li Lin 2015 iii Vanua as Environment: Conservation, Farming, and Development in Waitabu, Fiji Hao-Li Lin, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2015 This dissertation examines the idea of “environment” in Waitabu, an indigenous Fijian community on Taveuni Island, and how it influences the community’s participation in contemporary development projects. My main argument is that vanua (a Fijian concept often translated as “land” but which also encompasses people, community, and custom) is an important framework through which the community negotiates social and biological changes through time. In other words, it is an “environment” in its totality. I also argue that contrary to common understanding, vanua is a dynamic entity shaped by historical events rather than a set of rigid customary protocols, thus creating different trajectories of engagement with development projects. Two particular cases are analyzed here: 1) the “Waitabu Marine Park” conservation and ecotourism project; 2) the grassroots cash-cropping schemes and subsistence farming in the village. This study treats vanua as an “entangled environment” that involves historical configurations of indigenous identities and politics, as well as foreign contacts and colonial governance. This historical perspective allows for a more holistic and dynamic view of how rural development projects operate in seemingly simplistic and isolated places today. As projects introduce new ways to manage natural resources, the historical and cultural connotations of the environment are being evoked and realigned in response to these engagements. For example, for iv Waitabu villagers, the marine park is seen as not just a conservation project, but a way to recapture their marginalized identity. In the grassroots cash-cropping schemes, vanua plays a crucial role in keeping the community together in the face of challenges from globalization, while individual farmers are able to pursue their own export business opportunities. With a focus on vanua as an environmental framework, this dissertation links anthropological theories of environment with the emergent literature of “entanglement.” The “environment” is seen as an open-ended site where interactions between different ideas and agencies are constantly taking place. While many studies highlight the dimensions of conflict and collision, here I argue that different values and events have long been intertwined in an “entangled environment” that provides the capacity for flexible arrangements and negotiations in response to contemporary development issues. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................ XIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION: THE FIELD, FIELDWORK, AND RESEARCH METHODS IN WAITABU AND BEYOND .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 THE ENCOUNTER ............................................................................................ 2 1.2 THE FIELD .......................................................................................................... 7 1.3 FIELDWORK AND RESEARCH METHODS .............................................. 14 1.4 DISSERTATION OUTLINE ............................................................................ 19 2.0 VANUA, A MULTIVALENT FIJIAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPT ........... 24 2.1 VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF “ENVIRONMENT”............................... 31 2.1.1 As “Port” in the Northern Philippines ...................................................... 34 2.1.2 As Part of Nature in the Central and Southern Philippines ................... 35 2.1.3 As Territoriality in Borneo ........................................................................ 36 2.1.4 As Political-Religious Domains in Java and Highland Bali .................... 37 2.1.5 As “House” for Toraja in Sulawesi ........................................................... 39 2.1.6 As Site of Linkages in Island Melanesia ................................................... 40 2.1.7 As Land with Spirituality in Polynesia ..................................................... 42 2.2 THE MAKING OF VANUA IN FIJI ............................................................... 45 vi 2.2.1 Vanua in Historical Perspective ................................................................. 45 2.2.2 Anthropological Studies of Vanua ............................................................. 50 2.2.3 Comparisons from the Non-Austronesian-Speaking World ................... 57 2.3 ENTANGLEMENT AND ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 60 2.3.1 Theories of “Entanglement” ...................................................................... 61 2.3.2 Towards an “Entangled Environment” .................................................... 68 3.0 INDIGENOUS IDENTITIES AND HISTORIES WITHIN THE ENVIRONMENT OF WAITABU, BOUMA, AND TAVEUNI ............................................. 77 3.1 THE MAKING OF “FIJIAN” IDENTITY ..................................................... 83 3.2 IDENTITIES AND HISTORIES IN TAVEUNI ............................................ 88 3.2.1 Prehistorical Movements ............................................................................ 88 3.2.2 Early Polities................................................................................................ 91 3.3 LANDSCAPE OF IDENTITIES AND HISTORIES IN BOUMA................ 95 3.3.1 The Making of Bouma ................................................................................ 99 3.3.2 Mosaic Landscape ..................................................................................... 106 3.4 RITUAL, KINSHIP, AND IDENTITIES IN WAITABU ............................ 117 3.4.1 Ritual and Identity .................................................................................... 118 3.4.2 Meanings of a Chiefly Title ...................................................................... 122 3.4.3 Kinship in the Making .............................................................................. 127 3.4.4 Depopulation and Regeneration .............................................................. 131 4.0 REMAKING THE ENVIRONMENT IN PRE-COLONIAL AND COLONIAL TAVEUNI .................................................................................................................................. 137 4.1 PRE-COLONIAL AND COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT IN FIJI ............. 142 vii 4.1.1 A Brief History of Capitalist Development ............................................. 142 4.1.2 Impact to Indigenous Fijians ................................................................... 145 4.1.3 Civilizing and Developing “Environment” ............................................. 149 4.2 LAND ALIENATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN TAVEUNI 1839-1970 153 4.2.1 The Advent of Foreigners 1839-1870 ...................................................... 153 4.2.2 Spatial Rearrangement 1870-1970 .......................................................... 158 4.3 ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING IN TAVEUNI 1877-1990 ..................... 162 4.3.1 Forest Reserves and Nature Reserves ..................................................... 163 4.3.2 Processes of Uneven Development ........................................................... 170 5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CASE STUDY I: CONFLICTS AND COLLABORATIONS OF THE WAITABU MARINE PARK ............................................ 182 5.1 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PARK ............................................................ 191 5.1.1 Marine Protected Area ............................................................................. 191 5.1.2 Fishing Practices: Past and Present ........................................................ 195 5.2 CONFLICTS AND COLLABORATIONS WITHIN THE PROJECT ..... 204 5.2.1 Concerns of Community and Leadership ............................................... 205 5.2.2 Spaces for Collaborations ........................................................................ 213 5.3 NEGOTIATIONS OF IDENTITY ................................................................. 220 5.3.1 Rituals of the Environment ...................................................................... 220 5.3.2 Affirming Ownership and Identity.......................................................... 226 6.0 ENVIRONMENTAL CASE STUDY II: MOBILITY AND RESILIENCE OF THE WAITABU FARMING LANDSCAPE ......................................................................... 232 6.1 MOBILITY AND DIVERSITY WITHIN THE ENVIRONMENT ........... 235 viii 6.1.1 Globalization and Farming ...................................................................... 235 6.1.2 Land Tenure .............................................................................................