THE descendants of indentured labourers who arrived in Fiji more than 100 years ago have undergone many changes, says University of the South Pacific academic Professor Vijay Naidu.
While speaking at the International Conference on Indian Indentureship and Girmitiya Descendants in Lautoka, he said the most significant changes occurred in the areas of culture, language and social class.
“The indenture system basically demolished the caste system,” he said.
“In Fiji, from the 1920s right through to the 1940s, there were talks of an Indian government because there was a diverse group of people from India who had their own language and even culture and the obvious caste systems.
“But over time, the Fiji-Indian identity in particular became more significant.”
Prof Naidu said the Indo-Fijian identity became more prominent during the post-indenture period.
“What developed was a more distinct Fiji-Indian or Indo-Fijian identity.
“The origin of the word Indo-Fijian was born in the 1950s.
“Being an Indian in Fiji separated you from the rest and the sense of being an Indian in Fiji became more stronger when people moved overseas.
“A group of Indo-Fijians attended a university in India and they were called Fijians. That was a national-based identity.
“There are Fiji born Indian students in Vancouver and Auckland and you go to their homes and you see Fijian memorabilia displayed in their homes.
“There became this unique Fiji-Indian identity.
“There was a loss of language, especially to the more distinct ones such as Tamil and Gujarati, South or North India.
“But with a loss in language, there is also a gain in language and we have now Fiji-Hindi.”
Prof Naidu said industrial actions were also one of the significant movements that the indentured labourers began in Fiji.
“There was resistance displayed by the farmers from the 1920s right through to the 1950s over wages and working conditions.”
He said today’s Indo-Fijian (Fijians of Indian descent) were more likely to be fluent in an iTaukei language or dialect depending on where they lived.
“Especially in areas like Vanua Levu, you have Indo-Fijians who go as far as speaking the dialect.
“Likewise for iTaukei, in the Ba Province and in Nadroga there are those who are very fluent in the Fiji-Hindi language.”
