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.