A Tortuous Path: Cultural Heritage’s Policy and Governance in Fiji (original) (raw)
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Pacific islands artifacts and imageries have had a strong appeal to the popular imagination of the West over the years. However, in recent years the question of ownership of intellectual property rights has emerged as many indigenous groups around the world call for the repatriation of their cultural objects taken away, with or without their ancestors’ consent, as a way of reasserting their cultural rights and in rediscovery of their roots and identity. The question of repatriation of cultural objects is now a contentious issue, as indigenous peoples demand the return of their cultural goods from metropolitan museums while museum owners claim ownership of the objects. The creation of indigenous museums adds to this contention as these museums are still deeply entrenched in colonial legacies. It has however shifted indigenous peoples’ views o museum collections and artifacts. The development of cultural centers and the increasing number of indigenous people trained in museology and a...
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Following the Arts and Humanities Research Councilfunded Fijian Art research project and its culmination in the exhibition Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific (Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, 2016-17 1), the project team received further funding to translate the results of that project into substantial impacts in Fiji. Under the banner of 'International Development' the project engaged with non-academic communities in the hope to bring lasting benefit to Fiji in the cultural heritage sector. The aim of this paper is to reflect on some of the activities that were organised during the project Fiji's Artistic Heritage: Impact and Engagement in Fiji (AHRC Follow-on-Funding Scheme) and to focus on challenges of translating research into impact and engagement. The most tangible outcome of this project was the exhibition Kamunaga: the story of tabua at the Fiji Museum (2017), curated by staff of the Fiji Museum and iTaukei Trust Fund Board, which is the main case study of this paper.
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