Fijian Race

TRADITIONAL CRAFT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:

LIVING FOSSIL OR LIVING ART?

Rod Ewins

This paper was first presented as a Keynote Address at the First South Pacific Arts Conference, Suva,

Fiji, 25-29 August 1980. It was published in the Conference Report, Suva, Fiji Ministry of Education, 1980,

pp.42-56. Small sections of it may be cited, with appropriate attribution, in a scholarly context, giving

either the Conference Report or this webpage as reference. It is copyright and may not be reproduced

in

full.

Preamble

Before launching into a topic with a title like that, I feel I'd better try and whittle it down to

'bite size', for my own sake at least, as I don't pretend to possess an encyclopaedic

knowledge of all 'Developing Countries' or of their whole range of crafts.

I have used the term 'Developing Countries' in a very loose sense, thinking particularly

of those countries presently dealing with the complexities of autonomy and

selfgovernment, generally after a century or more of playing 'host' to a foreign colonial

power of overwhelming financial, military, and industrial strength.

This definition, of course, fits most of the island countries of the Pacific Basin, that are

the focus of this Conference. It is because I suspect that they share many of their

concerns and dilemmas with other emerging countries (for instance those in Africa) that

I didn't merely entitle the talk 'Pacific Countries'; I hope this won't drag me into a lengthy

debate about the Third World, for not only do I not feel equipped to debate that, but nor

do I think it is really necessary to this paper. I use the term, as I say, loosely.

My knowledge is greater about Fiji than about any other developing country, having

family connections here for over 100 years, and having been born, raised, and educated

to School Leaving here. My interest in Fiji persists, and I am currently engaged in

independent research here. Thus I am really using Fiji as the basis for my...