History, while quite fascinating, is a path to what was and what is to become.
Those were some of the carefully chosen words, Dr Anurag Subramani, author of the newly launched book, ‘The Fiji Times at 150: Imagining the Fijian Nation (Or, A Scrapbook of Fiji’s History)’, used to ignite a sense of curiosity about his latest publication.
In a room filled with invited guests, Dr Subramani, a University of the South Pacific academic and historian, shared how it all began in early March 2019.
It started when he received a call from The Fiji Times editor, Fred Wesley, asking whether he was available to meet with the newspaper’s then general manager, Hank Arts.
Hank at the time had been following Dr Subramani’s history columns in The Sunday Times and was impressed with them.
Dr Subramani thought the conversation with the former newspaper executive would be about one of those columns.
Little did he know it would be an engaging conversation which would later convince him to write a book on unusual bits of Fiji’s history. After Dr Subramani shared his extensive background in history and literature, he was asked to write a history of the newspaper.
“After I said yes, I was suddenly beset by panic,” Dr Subramani said during the launch on Tuesday night at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva.
“I said yes but the enormity of the task just suddenly dawned on me.”
“As Hank kept talking, I drifted into a reverie, my mind raced in all directions trying to work out what I should do and how I should go about this monumental task.
“But as I slowly came out of the trance, the strangest thing happened, my thoughts coalesced, and I had clarity of vision.”
A moment of epiphany befell him and he understood what the book would be about and what was needed to be done.
“This is where a historian needs to explain his philosophy of history.
“I believe historians should not only acquire historical knowledge but examine the nature of historical knowledge and historical writing.”
While unveiling the title of the book to the management board of The Fiji Times, he said a certain amount of anxiety settled on him over a certain word, ‘scrapbook’.
Hence, the 550-page book, Dr Subramani explained, was an assemblage, a scrapbook of odd narratives. “When I say the book is about nothing, I meant that it is about the minutiae of history, the bits and pieces, the odds and ends, the scraps.
“It’s not about the big events of the big players; the big events are there but I deliberately as a historian relegate them to the background, foregrounding the minor narratives and what I call the little voices of history. “It is about the stories that get tucked away in the inner pages of newspapers.”
Dr Subramani said while most were not aware, he wrote his novel and The Fiji Times book through a period of great personal suffering. While he was writing his novel, he was diagnosed with an illness (2017) that doctors said would be fatal.
“I wrote my novel Dakuwaku in hospital beds in Suva, Auckland and Chennai, India.
“Similarly, I wrote the Fiji Times book through great pain and suffering. I had already been suffering rom chronic tension, headache and migraine, very debilitating conditions for over a decade and his new illness compounded my fragile situation.
“The thought that life might Soon end drove me to write and o complete my novel and The Fiji Times book.”
He said he saw the creative process as his salvation stating: “By giving me the permission to write his book, The Fiji Times saved my life.” It gave him something to do, to look forward to, and a deadline to meet that kept him going each day. Acting director of Oceania Centre of Arts, Culture and Pacific studies, Larry Thomas, said the book was a kaleidoscope of cinematic proportions with careful election of stories into a major story of the 150 years of newspaper company. “The story opens with this country called Fiji an outpost of empire but more specifically the small beautiful, enigmatic and almost elusive island of Ovalau with the buzzing capital of Levuka, home to n assortment of individuals,” Mr Thomas said.
“Many of whom were suspicions in nature, who came to seek adventure, seek their fortune and sometimes seek their own demise.”
Thomas added that while locals allied against colonial rule for good reason, there was still the bit left that needed acknowledgement s it also played an important role n our education.
“The Fiji Times has been part of hat education. What was once a newspaper for the elite Europeans s now a newspaper for the people, he local people of this country.
“Do we continue to blame colonialism for our failures and shortcomings? Or do we view colonialism as an important integral part of our history and learn from it?”
He said this book evolved out of the colonial construct, illustrating the progress of the nation with stories of horror, unsavoury moments, struggles, and the beauty of the people.
“These stories are for the people by people who have traversed the length and breadth of this beautiful country.”
Chairman of The Fiji Times, Kirit Patel, said as a corporate social responsibility of the Motibhai group, more than 1000 copies were distributed to all secondary schools and other institutions in Fiji.
“When placing this history book into the hands of our youths, we give them not only with knowledge but with a constant reminder of Fiji’s history.
“As we embark on this journey through imagining the future nation, we are reminded of the incredible power of journalism, a power that has the ability to inform, inspire and unite.”
Patel described the book as a masterpiece and a testament of the fact that The Fiji Times was far more than a mere newspaper. It was, according to him, an extraordinary publication, “capturing the essence of the nation’s past and serving as a chronicle of its journey”.
From catchy headlines, bizarre news items, pictures, commentary, and advertisement extracts, the book is packed with both wit and wisdom.
