State of Suffering: Political Violence and Community Survival in Fiji

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments A great many people contributed to making this book possible. First and foremost, I thank my husband John, without whose never-ending encouragement this project would never have been started, much less finished. He has enthusiastically engaged with my intellectual endeavors from my first days of undergraduate study up through my initial years as a professional academic. In Fiji, he shared the ups and downs of two years of fieldwork, always eager to share in both the joys and difficulties of life in the field. He has read and rigorously critiqued multiple drafts of this book and taken up the slack at home, changing more than his fair share of nappies, when writing deadlines loomed. I could not have asked for a more supportive partner . This book is dedicated to him. Our daughters, Revena and Anika, were also central figures in both the fieldwork and writing process. Revena first journeyed to Fiji at the age of two and left at the age of four, her earliest memories being of gunshots and roadblocks. I hope in time she will have the opportunity to get to know a calmer, safer Fiji. Anika was born in Suva but spent only a few weeks there following her medical evacuation to New Zealand. Hopefully she too will have more of an opportunity to get to know the country of her birth. Our son, Lukáš, joined us just in time to provide welcomed company, and distraction , during the final stages of the writing process. I also thank my parents and siblings who were the first to encourage me to take up a career in academia. My father promoted in me the desire to travel and see the world for myself, and my mother gave me the courage to fulfill my academic, and other, aspirations. My brother Peter and sister Irena similarly encouraged me to pursue a life of intellectual endeavor. My initial teachers in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, in particular Lawrence Cohen, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Ellen Lewin, and Alan Dundes, provided intellectual and practical guidance while fanning the enthusiasm of an eager undergraduate. Alena Heitlinger of Trent University was later crucial in providing me with my first professional research experience, in the Czech Republic, for which I will always be grateful. At Princeton University, my intellectual debts to the faculty and my fellow graduate students at the time are numerous. Rena Lederman, Emily Martin, João Biehl, Isabelle Clark-Deces, and Jim Boon provided an intellectual environment equal to none. Rena Lederman in particular provided me with the support and sustained critical engagement necessary during my graduate studies. On the top floor of Aaron Burr Hall, Sarah Pinto, Kavita Misra, and Heiko Henkel provided comradeship and plenty of opportunity for intellectual debate. Stephen Jackson and Tisa Wenger helped keep the scholarly enthusiasm flowing. Since leaving Princeton, members of the Princeton Anthropology Graduate Cyberwriting Group—in particular , Sarah Pinto, Lisa Wynn, Rachel Newcomb, Tom Strong, Alex Edmonds , Kristi Latta, and Kirstin Sheid—have been crucial to keeping up a vibrant intellectual exchange. In Fiji, I am indebted to many families for their care and support not only during the process of conducting field research but also during the dif- ficult days of the coup and especially after my daughter’s birth. While I cannot name many of those who were most instrumental in assisting with both my research and in making our lives as safe and comfortable as possible, I am intensely grateful to the residents of “Darshan Gaon,” especially the families of “Devi,” “Rajesh,” and “Elizabeth” for their kindness. I’d also like to thank “Sera” for all her friendship and support during my pregnancy . Mike Davis of the University of the South Pacific, Scott MacWilliam and Brenda Love, Kimberly and Matthew Oman, and Meriea and Christian Carling were wonderful friends to have in the field, going out of their way to provide advice and support. Tej Ram Prem guided me through my initial days in Fiji and became not only a wonderful field adviser but also a close family friend. I will always be extremely thankful to Howard H. Betts and other staff at the U.S. Embassy in Suva, administrators at the Suva Colonial War Memorial Hospital, and Dean Sandra Mawhinney of Princeton University for coming to our aid and enabling our newborn daughter’s medical evacuation . I am especially grateful to the doctors at CWM who kept her alive so that she could be transferred...