An ethnography of social networks in the diaspora

Supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, 2013 - 2015
Project participant: Dr Dominik Schieder

This project will examine the question of whether the Fijian Islanders in the great expanse of London see themselves as a community, or alternatively which feelings of belonging and which identity models they have developed. The transnational Fijian diaspora consists of different ethnic groups (indigenous Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotumans, Fijians with European roots, etc.). The pecularity of the project lies in the fact that the focus is not on any one specific ethnic group. Rather, the multi-ethnic relations of transnational Fijian migrants will be examined within their heterogenous diasporic group. For comparative purposes a project recently completed by the applicant on the social networks and inter-ethnic relations of Fijian migrants in the Tokyo metropolitan region will be included in the study.