About BOKOLA
BOKOLA is a framework for artistic and cultural analyses and writing in my Fijian context. The use of the term BOKOLA is a personal act of acknowledgment and restoration of those whom history has placed in files labelled 'Taboo', 'Too Difficult', 'We Have Moved On', 'Unnecessary' or 'Inconvenient'.
BOKOLA is an independent review series launched in August 2024 by Fijian writer, Mary Rokonadravu. It reviews products, initiatives, policies, governance, and performance of the art and culture sector in Fiji. Its predominant focus is Visual Art followed by other art genres, and the overall constituent institutions and bodies that oversee development in Fijian art and culture.
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The BOKOLA Series, a single digital literary product, does not measure its performance by rapid numbers growth. Its focus is on growing a steady community of people interested in art and culture in Fiji and Oceania. The work and approach behind its conception, writing, and sharing are to provoke thought. Not clickbait content. Strategic communications and knowledge management approaches and tools are used to provide a rich reading and engagement experience.
Why the word BOKOLA for a publication series?
'Bokola' is the term or reference for people who were earmarked for human consumption and sacrificial purposes in old Fiji, when anthropophagy was in practice. Bokola were not a class of people. Bokola could come from any social class, from priest, chief, warrior, to the lowest class, classified as 'Kaisi'. As spoils of war or if captured in non-warfare brackets, they were consumed immediately or 'farmed' in pens called 'Na ibi' or 'the turtle pen'. Bokola were baked in earth ovens or 'lovo' pits. In fact, bokola were also referred to as 'Vonu Balavu' or 'Long Turtles'.
Is Bokola a profanity or swear word?
Bokola is more a derogatory term. It is not specifically a profanity that is socially offensive. If you return to what I explained earlier, the term was applied to those fated to put in earth ovens and as sacrificial offerings (by death) to mark construction passages and ceremonies marking huge voyaging, construction, and gifting ceremonies, aside from outright spoils of war. This publications is deliberatively restorative of their memory; an endeavour to subvert the historical narrative around the word and those to whom it was uttered as label before they lost their lives.
What is Anthropophagy?
Anthropophagy is when humans consume other humans. It is specific to humans.
What is the difference between Anthropophagy and Cannibalism?
Anthropophagy is the term for when a human consumes (eats) another human. Cannibalism refers to the act of one species consuming its own. It includes insects, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibia that consume their own kind from time to time. It is not specific to only humans.
It is my personal choice to use the term anthropophagy. Cannibalism is fine too. Understanding the difference is useful.
People or clans who earned the disfavour of chiefs and or priests were also relegated Bokola and were sacrificed at ceremonies to mark the beginning and ending of construction projects (elaborate temples, grand naval or ceremonial voyaging canoes, meeting halls of magnificence) and gifted during and after battles, among other rituals.
'Bokola' were at any given time and space, the ones stripped of identity, rights based on their former clan or class, and all hope of existence. This publication series is named for them as its approach is to think, write, and imagine issues from the lowest or deepest points of marginalisation. There is arguably none more vulnerable or marginalised as Bokola in our history. The use of the term is a tribute to their collective memory.
'Bokola' is often used as a derogatory term and this stems from its original relegation or downgrading of a person or collective. However, in order to reclaim the memory of those most marginalised and lost to time and memory, this use is an act of reclaiming their loss and restoring their memory. In the contemporary sense, this is what it means to 'leave no one behind' - particularly in national memory and consciousness.
Does this mean you will be writing extensively about anthropophagy in Fiji?
No. I am reviewing art and culture. Bokola is a title and a framework to guide my thinking and writing. In order to achieve depth, breadth, and inclusion, I use the framework which positions me with the lowest and most invisible in our history.
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