Veirogorogoci

Re-imagining a ‘Whole of Life’ Historiography for Pasifika Histories: A Baravi Decolonial Approach

Abstract

This paper aims to problematise the historiography of the narratives of Pasifika histories of Christianity from an indigenous Fijian decolonial perspective. Most histories of Christianity in Pasifika are Eurocentric histories as they were framed and constructed by Western and colonial missionaries’ approaches and perspectives. The paper concentrates on John Garrett’s narrative of Fiji’s Methodist history in Footsteps in the Sea, in which he recorded the changes in Christian missions in Pasifika and the emergence of self-governing Island churches, particularly during the post-World War II period. The problem that emerges constantly in the narrative are silences, representations whereby the indigenous voices, culture, and knowledge are being sidelined or misrepresented. This made the narrative a colonial tool of suppression, identification, and modification. In response to the historiographical issues, the paper presents an historical method from the Fijian context to reconstruct and re-story the history of Christianity in the island of Ono-i-Lau as an alternative history. The rationale is to let the people tell their own histories rather than relying on outsiders or colonisers to do the work for them. This is a way of healing and rediscovering indigenous values, culture, and knowledge that were downplayed by hegemonic colonial projects.