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Re-inventing the Cultural Wheel: Reconceptualizing Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding in Ethnicaly Divided Fiji

Ratuva, Steven
June 4, 2015

Source: (2003) In, Sinclair Dinnen, Anita Jowitt, and Tess Newton Cain, eds., A Kind of Mending: Restorative Justice in the Pacific Islands. Canberra, ACT: Pandanus Books. Pp. 149-163.

Ratuva discusses inter-ethnic conflict between indigenous Fijians and Indo-fijians. While the govenrment is working with a national reconcilaition program which creates more social interaction, Ratuva argues that the nation needs a process to focus on the underlying causes to the conflict. He proposes adapting the traditional Fijian veisorosorovi process to be used in the inter-ethnic context. This process is a ceremonial setting where parties in conflict come together to resolve that conflict. This includes the admission of mistakes, forgiveness, resiprocal engagement, premptive action, trust and expectations, and transforming collective relations.

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