“I Cannot See the Day They Will Make a New Chief”: Historically Created Uncertainties about Sacred, Kingly, Populist and Secular Values in Lau, Fiji

Simonne Pauwels

doi:10.3138/anth.2018-0017.r3

Auteurs-es

Simonne Pauwels Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, EHESS, CREDO, Marseille, France

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.3138/anth.2018-0017.r3

Mots-clés :

Fiji, province de Lau, mana, chefs, respect

Résumé

Aux Îles Fidji, les chefs suprêmes Lauans ont toujours été des chefs sacrés - royaux et populistes -, mais avec le temps, ils sont aussi devenus des chefs séculiers –des représentants du pouvoir colonial et, plus tard, des hommes politiques et des hommes d’État. Pour les uns, le statut de chef sacré devait consolider leur statut séculier, pour les autres, la manipulation des titres devait conférer une apparence de sacré à leur statut de chef séculier – les titres ayant même fait l’objet d’une expansion territoriale. Les chefs eux-mêmes, qu’ils soient séculiers, sacrés ou les deux, ont entretenu une confusion entre droits et devoirs sacrés et séculiers. Une récente enquête de terrain révèle l’ampleur des frustrations et des récriminations chez les Lauans. En effet, ces événements ont engendré une multitude de points de vue qui s’expriment de plus en plus ouvertement depuis treize ans du fait de l’absence de chef suprême. Dans ce contexte, les Lauans se montrent moins respectueux envers le titre et ont le sentiment de pouvoir se passer d’un chef suprême. Or, au même moment, l’idée que seul un chef peut restaurer les valeurs de respect et d’ordre dans la communauté demeure bien vivante.

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