Brij V. Lal

William Safran

Ajaya Sahoo

This book studies Indian diaspora, currenlty 20 million across the world, from various perspectives. It looks at the 'transnational' nature of the middle class worker. Other aspects include: post 9/11 challenges; ethnicity in USA; cultural identity versus national identity; gender issues amongst the diaspora communities. It argues that Indian middle classes have the unique advantages of skills, mobility, cultural rootedness and ethics of hard-work.

The Indian Diaspora

Transnational Migrations

Professor Lal has been remarkably successful in combining scholarship with autobiography in Mr Tulsi’s Store. In the essays which cover the author’s childhood and education up to university, diligent scholarship combines with evocative autobiographical details to reveal a philosophical pattern that encompasses the experience of the descendants of all Indian indentured workers everywhere. Professor Frank Birbalsingh, York University, Canada.

A Fijian Journey

Mr Tulsi's Store

Between 1879 and 1916, some 60,965 Indian indentured men, women and children were introduced into Fiji, of whom 45,439- the subject of this study- left from Calcutta and the rest from Madras when recruitment was started there in 1903. Indian indentured emigration to Fiji was a small but significant part of a larger process of labour emigration from India, which began in 1834. The labourers were introduced into the colonies on a fixed contract to meet the shortage of labour caused either by the abolition of slavery, the inability or unwillingness of the indigenous people to meet the growing needs of the plantations or by the failure of other sources of supply. The story of the experience of the indentured labourers in Fiji, as indeed in other former colonies, is by now well known. Somewhat less is known about their social and economic background and their motivations for emigration. This study represents an attempt to understand these aspects. Various questions are discussed: the reasons for introducing Indian labourers into Fiji, the structure and evolution of the indenture system, the changing regional origins of the emigrants, the nature and patterns of internal migration in the United Provinces from where the majority of the emigrants came, the social and caste background of the labourers, their precarious economic position in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the emigration of women and families. The picture which emerges from a computerised analysis of the data in the Emigration Passes, and from folksongs and other conventional sources, goes against the grain of mythology as well as the current interpretation of indentured emigration. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, it is shown that the emigrants were not invariably of low social origins. It is suggested that the strata from which they originated were increasingly being subjected to unprecedented changes brought about by British penetration of Indian society. Emigration seems to have offered one of the alternatives to cope with the consequent vicissitudes of rural life. The extent to which spatial mobility was prevalent is shown by the fact that a very large proportion of Fiji's migrants had already left their homes before they were registered for emigration. Not only men but women and families also emigrated in large numbers and they, too, were a part of the uprooted mass. The important role of the recruiters in inducing emigration is acknowledged, but it is suggested that the degree of their influence has been exaggerated. In short, this study demonstrates that indentured emigration was a much more complex and differentiated process than has often been realised.

Origins and Background of Fiji's North Indian Indentured Migrants, 1879-1916

Leaves of the Banyan Tree

Origins and Background of Fiji's North Indian Indentured Migrants, 1879-1916 : a Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Australian National University

Stewart Firth

Jon Fraenkel

This book explores the factors behind - and the implications of - the 2006 coup. It brings together contributions from leading scholars, local personalities, civil society activists, union leaders, journalists, lawyers, soldiers and politicians - including deposed Prime Ministers Laisenia Qarase and Mahendra Chaudhry. The 2006 Military Takeover in Fiji: A Coup to End All Coups? is essential reading for those with an interest in the contemporary history of Fiji, politics in deeply divided societies, or in military intervention in civilian politics.

A Coup to End All Coups?

The 2006 Military Takeover in Fiji

To read this evocative book is to be thrust into a Fiji that has, for the moment, been snuffed out by military might: a Fiji of political parties, parliamentary politics, elections, manifestoes, campaigns, democractic defence of interests, party manoeuvres, and constitutional protection of rights and freedoms. It is a comprehensive and eloquent re-telling of the story of Fiji politics from independence in 1970 to 1999 through the perspective of Fiji's greatest living statesman, Jai Ram Reddy, by one of the world's most distinguished scholars of its history and politics.

Jai Ram Reddy and the Politics of Postcolonial Fiji

In the Eye of the Storm

Kate Fortune

An encyclopaedia of information on major aspects of Pacific life, including the physical environment, peoples, history, politics, economy, society and culture. The CD-ROM contains hyperlinks between section titles and sections, a library of all the maps in the encyclopaedia, and a photo library.

An Encyclopedia

The Pacific Islands

Collection of essays examining the politics and dynamics of the 1999 election in Fiji and the role of key individuals and institutions in producing the outcome that led to the Speight crisis of May 2000. Began as a series of workshops and seminars held at Australian National University. Considers the impact of constitutional change and debate 1990-1997. Includes tables and figures, map, notes on contributors, glossary, references and index. Editor is Professor of History and Director of the Centre for the Contempoary Pacific at the Australian National University.

Elections and the Politics of Development

Fiji Before the Storm

“It is a milestone in subaltern studies, a biographical journey penned by a living relic of the indentured experience and a scholar whose thoroughly interdisciplinary approach is a good example for the anthropologist, the sociologist or the economist who wish to see the proper integration of their disciplines in a major historical work.” Brinsley Samaroo, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad

On a Journey Through Indenture in Fiji

Chalo Jahaji

Bruce Connew

Indians first came to Fiji as indentured labourers in 1879. Since the Rabuka coup d'état in 1987, and three subsequent Fiji coups, Indian-Fijians have been emigrating from the country in earnest. STOPOVER is a haunting suite of Bruce Connew photographs from the tiny Indian-Fijian sugar cane settlement of Vatiyaka, taken during seven visits between June 2000 and November 2003, placing an extended family inside a story of migration. Connew's narrative captions and a short story by Brij V Lal, Professor of Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University, take the reader to the heart of an embattled life. STOPOVER will open as an exhibition at Pataka, Porirua, Wellington, on 18th August, 2007.

Stopover

Bill Gammage

Gavan Daws

Hank Nelson was an academic, film-maker, teacher, graduate supervisor and university administrator. His career at The Australian National University (ANU) spanned almost 40 years of notable accomplishment in expanding and deepening our understanding of the history and politics of Papua New Guinea, the experience of Australian soldiers at war, bush schools and much else. This book is a highly readable tribute to him, written by those who knew him well, including his students, and also contains wide-ranging works by Hank himself. –Professor Stewart Firth, ANU.

Remembering Hank Nelson

The Boy from Boort

"Dr Lal's book is more than an eloquent account of the political struggle of one of Fiji's outstanding leaders. It is a timely reminder that the process of constitutional change hangs in the balance, as it did at the time of Mr Patel's death. I hope his example will inspire future generations in Fiji to realise the vision articulated by a brilliant and courageous advocate of democracy, and a loyal son of Fiji." - Late Adi Kuini Bavadra

AD Patel and the Politics of Fiji

A Vision for Change

Through Dr Lal's refreshingly clear and powerful prose and sharply observed stories, we enter the inner world of Indo-Fijian feeling and aspiration. One universal that emerges with particular clarity in the Indo-Fijian experience is the ceaseless struggle to find community in a changing world, balancing the beauty of ritual and tradition against the transcendent value of education and modern rationality. The volume poses the question of how people draw upon historical memory and immediate circumstances to create a social world, and how that world can be shared with others in multicultural society. The answer seems to lie somewhere between history and poetry, as in Dr Lal's 'factions'.

Fiji Factions

Turnings

A Time Bomb Lies Buried discusses the debates which took place in Suva and London as well as the politics and processes which led Fiji to independence in 1970 after 96 years of colonial rule. It provides an essential background to understanding the crises and convulsions which have haunted Fiji ever since in its search for a constitutional settlement for its multiethnic population.

Fiji's Road to Independence, 1960-1970

A Time Bomb Lies Buried

Allison Ley

The Coombs Building at The Australian National University is a Canberra icon. Named after one of Australia’s greatest administrators and public intellectuals—‘Nugget’ Herbert Cole Coombs—for more than forty years the building has housed two of the University’s four foundational Schools: the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies and the Research School of Social Sciences. This volume of recollections is about the former. It looks at life in the building through the prism of personal experience and happenstance. Part memoir, part biography, and part celebration, this book is about the people of Coombs, past and present. Through evocative and lucid reflections, present and former denizens of the building share their passions and predilections, quietly savour their accomplishments and recall the failings and foibles of the past with a kindly tolerance.

A House of Memories

The Coombs

‘What I have sought to do in my work is to give voiceless people a voice, place and purpose, the sense of dignity and inner strength that comes from never giving up no matter how difficult the circumstances. History belongs as much to the vanquished as to the victors.’ — Brij V. Lal ‘Professor Brij Lal is the finest historian of the Indian indentured experience and the Indian diaspora. His Girmitiyas is a classic.’ — Emeritus Professor Clem Seecharan, London Metropolitan University ‘Brij Lal is a highly respected, versatile and imaginative scholar who has made a lasting contribution to the historiography of the Pacific.’ — Dr Rod Alley, Victoria University of Wellington ‘Professor Brij Lal’s life is a remarkable journey of a scholar and an intellectual whose writings are truly transformative; a man of moral clarity and courage who also has deep pain at being cut off from his homeland.’ — Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University ‘Brij Lal is a singular scholar, whose work has spanned disciplines – from history, political commentary, encyclopedia, biography and “faction”. Brij is without doubt the most eminent scholar in the humanities and social sciences Fiji has ever produced. He also remains one of the most significant public intellectuals of his country, despite having been banned from entering it in 2009.’ — Emeritus Professor Clive Moore, University of Queensland ‘Brij Lal is an accomplished and versatile historian and true son of Fiji. Above all, there is affirmation here of the enduring worth of good literature and the value of good education that Lal received and wants others to experience. The world needs more Lals who speak out against ruling opinions and dare to stray into the pastures of independent thought.’ — Professor Doug Munro, historian and biographer, Wellington, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland

Remembering Fiji

Levelling Wind

Vicki Luker

"This volume of essays is an exploration of the way in which scholars from different disciplines, standpoints and theoretical orientations attempt to write life stories in the Pacific. It is the product of a conference organised by the Division of Pacific and Asian History at The Australian National University in December 2005. The aim of the conference was to explore ways in which Pacific lives are read and constructed through a variety of media: films, fiction, faction, history under four overarching themes. The first, Framing Lives, sought to explore various ways of constructing a life from a classic western perspective of birth, formation, experiences and death of an individual to other ways, for example, life as secondary to a longer genealogical entity, life as a symbol of collective experience, individual lives captured and fragmented in a mosaic of others, lives made meaningful by their implication in a particular historical or cultural web, the underlying values and world views that inform one or another approach to framing a life. The second theme, the Stuff of Life, looked at materials, methods and collaborative arrangements with which the biographer, autobiographer and recorder work, their objectives, constraints, inspirations, challenges and tricks. The third section, Story Lines, focused on formats and genres such as edited diaries, collections of writings, voice recordings, genres of biography autobiography, truth and fiction (verse, dance, novels) and the varieties and different advantages of narrative shapes that crystallise the telling of a life. The final section, Telling Lives/Changing Lives, focused on biography/autobiography and the consciousness of identity, history, purpose, lives as witness and windows, telling lives as change for those involved in the tale, the telling, the listening. The overall aim was to bring out both the generic or universal challenges of telling lives as well as to highlight the particular tendencies and trends in the Pacific. Yet these four themes, which seemed analytically promising at the outset, proved in practice difficult to disentangle from the presentations at the workshop"--Provided by publisher.

Brij V. Lal

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