The Custodians of the Gift : : Fairy Beliefs, Holy Doubts and Heritage Paradoxes on a Fijian Island / / Guido Carlo Pigliasco.

• Superior document: Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca
• VerfasserIn: Pigliasco, Guido Carlo,
• Place / Publishing House: Florence : : Firenze University Press,, 2020.
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca (Florence, Italy)
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (228 pages) :; illustrations.

Emerging from more than two decades of research in the field and in the archives, the essays collected here explore the multifaceted topic of the Fijian firewalking ceremony, the vilavilairevo. The collection examines the intersection of the intertwined topics of cultural property, reproduction of tradition, and change with issues of (post)colonial representation, authenticity, and ethnic identity. The essays advance new insights on the tourist gaze and the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and pose serious questions regarding the role of digital and social media as tools for preserving cultural legacies and extending traditional cultural worlds into new domains. Focusing on the response of the Sawau tribe of the island of Beqa to the commodification of the vilavilairevo as their iconic practice, this essay collection ultimately illuminates how the Christian cultural dynamics and unprecedented dogmatic schism surrounding the vilavilairevo spectacle are reshaping local notions of heritage, social sentiment, and social capital.

Table of Contents

MAP X -- LIST OF FIGURES XI -- LIST OF TABLES XIII -- FOREWORD XV Sipiriano Nemani -- PREFACE XIX -- CHAPTER 1 NA VILAVILAIREVO: THE FIJIAN FIREWALKING CEREMONY -- CHAPTER 2 "ARE THEY EVIL?": DENOMINATIONAL COMPETITION AND CULTURAL DEMONIZATION ON A FIJIAN ISLAND -- CHAPTER 3 FROM COLONIAL POMP TO TOURISM REALITY: COMMODIFICATION AND CANNIBALIZATION OF THE FIJIAN FIREWALKING CEREMONY -- CHAPTER 4 WE BRANDED OURSELVES LONG AGO: INTANGIBLE CULTURAL PROPERTY AND -- COMMODIFICATION OF FIJIAN FIREWALKING -- CHAPTER 5 INTANGIBLE CULTURAL PROPERTY, TANGIBLE DATABASES, VISIBLE DEBATES: THE SAWAU PROJECT -- CHAPTER 6 THE SAWAU PROJECT GOES SOCIAL, OR, THE UNEXPECTED DILEMMAS OF THE DIGITAL AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT -- AFTERWORD: GIFTS OF HERITAGE AND THE LIFE OF THE LAND 153 Matt Tomlinson -- REFERENCES 157 -- INDEX 191 -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR.