Browsing by Author "Auckram S"

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    Pacific approaches to fundraising in the digital age: COVID-19, resilience and community relational economic practices
    (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2023-08-01) de la Torre Parra L; Movono A; Scheyvens R; Auckram S
    The aim of this paper is to discuss how community relational economic practices in virtual spaces are effective in building resilience because they are borne of and sustained by familiar traditional Fijian values of collective work and social interdependence. The researchers adopted a pandemic-induced methodology, conducting online-based talanoa (fluid conversations between two or more people) with a number of people leading, or involved in, these initiatives. We also engaged with online community groups behind a number of initiatives. Examples are provided of online crowdfunding, livestreaming of concerts to solicit donations, and bartering facilitated by social media sites. To conclude, we stress the enduring nature of communal bonds and traditional systems which Pacific people readily adapt and translate into different forums and forms in the face of challenges such as the restrictions and financial hardships caused by COVID-19. The findings highlight that solesolevaki – a tradition of working together for a common cause – can also occur in the digital era: this demonstrates the deep connection of Fijian peoples and their sense of obligation to one another and to their culture, regardless of where they are in the world.
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    Pacific peoples and the pandemic: exploring multiple well-beings of people in tourism-dependent communities
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-01-01) Scheyvens RA; Movono A; Auckram S
    This article aims to examine how the border closures due to Covid-19 have impacted the well-being of Pacific peoples. Many women, men and children living on islands around the South Pacific live in households that depend on tourism income to provide for the majority of their cash needs, thus the pandemic has delivered a devastating financial blow to them. Nevertheless, an online survey combined with interviews in five Pacific countries shows that many people have drawn on their traditional skills combined with cultural systems, social capital and access to customary land to ensure that their well-being is maintained despite major decreases in household income. Others, however, have been more vulnerable, struggling with reductions in their mental health and increases in household conflict, for example. As well as this, the research data reveals that there needs to be a consideration of the spiritual aspect of well-being as something that is of deep importance for Pacific peoples and can provide them with great comfort and support during times of shocks. We will elucidate what can be learned from this in terms of planning for more just, sustainable tourism.
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    Silver linings around dark clouds: Tourism, Covid-19 and a return to traditional values, villages and the vanua
    (Victoria University of Wellington and John Wiley and Sons Australia Ltd., 2022-08) Movono A; Scheyvens R; Auckram S
    The global pandemic has adversely affected tourism globally, particularly in small island states heavily dependent on tourism. The closure of borders to regular flights for over a year in places such as Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Vanuatu, where this research was undertaken, has resulted in massive job losses. Many tourism employees have left the once-bustling tourist hubs, returning to villages and family settlements. Such clear urban to rural migration behaviours do not dominate movement patterns in the Pacific, but are an important and enduring strategy when shocks strike. In the case of the pandemic-induced migration to villages, former tourism workers have had to engage in a complicated process of adapting to the communal setting, employing new – as well as traditional – strategies to sustain a livelihood. Thus, this paper will discuss how the pandemic has influenced return migration patterns in the Pacific, and the implications of this shift. Findings suggest that, despite their financial struggles, people have adapted to life in their ancestral homes by rekindling their relationships with kin and increasing their engagement on their customary land. They have relearned about traditional Indigenous knowledge, diversified their skills and reconnected with their social and ecological systems. This spiritual homecoming observed in the Pacific ultimately shows that there can be silver linings to the dark clouds of the current disorder.