Whanganuilibrary.com
Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

On Fiji Islands / Ronald Wright.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Viking, 1986.Description: xii, 257 pages : maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 067080634X
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • DU600 .W8 1986
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 996.11 WRI 1 Available T00600174
Total holds: 0

Maps on lining papers.

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. [237]-244.

11 96 115 127

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

area studies/trav Within the last 150 years, Fiji, the original ``Cannibal Islands,'' has been colonized and Christianized and has seen a huge importation of Indian laborers. Despite all these dramatic changes, the Fijians have retained their own land and culture. Intrigued by this unique history, anthropologist Wright traveled extensively throughout the Islands, visiting both cities bustling with Indian merchants and quiet Fijian villages in the remote interior. He vividly describes his experiences. However, this is not just a travel book but a weaving of contemporary impressions with underlying history. Wright feels that it is impossible to understand current Fijian culture and problems without a grasp of the past. The result is a compelling combination of travelogue and history book. An excellent bibliography is appended. Judith Nixon, Purdue Univ. Libs., W. Lafayette, Ind. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In little more than a century, Fiji islanders have made the transition from cannibalism to Christianity, from colony to flourishing self-government (1970) in a variegated society. Theirs is a Third World success story; they have accepted some aspects of Western civilization without losing essential values of their own culture. Anthropologist Wright (Cut Stones and Crossroads here explores how this bridge was achieved. He went to the Islands with a fellow Canadian who had previously worked there on an archeological project. They toured city and countryside, observing village life and taking part in communal ceremonies. On his own, Wright visited Rabi, where the Banabans resettled after their home, Ocean Island, was dug from under them (for phosphate fertilizer); and he went to Bau, a sacred island. He attributes the remarkable state of affairs in Fiji to the fact that the natives have kept their social structure intact, and they have retained ownership of 83% of the land. Part travel memoir, part history and anthropology, this is a compelling story. (July 21) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Book Review

Wright opens his book--a pastiche of travel writing and ethnology--with a paragraph that's a sure-fire ""grabber."" ""In the Fiji Museum,"" he writes, ""there is a curious wooden artifact with a carved handle and four sharp prongs. Beneath it is the short but eloquent inscription FORK USED IN EATING REVEREND BAKER."" Unfortunately, what follows (for 225 pages) fails to live up to the promise of those opening lines. Not that there aren't many riveting pages to be found in Wright's account of months spent exploring the Pacific Islands. His recital of the history of Banaba is a case in point. In 1900, when the British discovered that the tiny island was composed of phosphate of lime, a mineral that could be easily converted into valuable fertilizer, they calmly carted it off, shipload by shipload, to spread on the fields of Empire. As Wright points out, ""Many peoples in the world have been driven from their lands, but the Banabans were the first to have their country dug from under them."" His descriptions of the gradual ""Christianization' of the islands, of the eradication of cannibalism and of the current racial and political tensions found even in this remote outpost are equally revelatory. It is when Wright attempts to incorporate his own travel experiences into the historical/ethnological/political material that he runs afoul. The seedy hotels, even seedier bars, the whispering palms and flaming sunsets, the rum-sodden fellow travelers, saucy hookers and dignified village elders have all been around since Maugham sketched them far more successfully several generations ago. Wright hasn't been able to view the milieu with as fresh an eye as, say, Paul Theroux brings to his similar material. For a concise and well-written overview of the history and the current state of this little-known corner of the Pacific, then, Wright's book is highly recommended. As an example of evocative, freshly observed travel writing, however, it's advisable to wait for another, more imaginative guide to the local sights. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Powered by Koha