Abstract
This chapter situates the place of children and young people with Fijian society and demonstrates how they can end up being perceived to be ‘in’ or ‘out’ of place. Being ‘in’ place generally refers to an existence within the home, school and village. An ‘out of place’ existence is one experienced outside of these normative spaces. The chapter follows how these constructions are reflected in state discourses that protect children through regulation of age and related activities and their use of public space. The spatial entities and ideological constructs act as a backdrop against which the existence of street-frequenting young people are constructed and understood.
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Notes
- 1.
Katz’s definition complements that which was earlier offered by Ravuvu (1988). According to Ravuvu (1988, p. 7), the “vanua literally means land, but also refers to the social and cultural aspects of the environment. On the social plane it includes the people and how they are socially structured and related to one another. On the cultural plane it embodies the values, beliefs and common ways of doing things.”
- 2.
Commonly known as ‘kava’, yaqona’ is of ceremonial significance, farmed as a cash crop and consumed on many social occasions (Ravuvu 1988).
- 3.
‘Vakaturaga’ literally translates into “having the characteristics of one who lives according to the way of the chiefs” (Katz 1993, p. 27). However, one does not have to be a chief to be ‘vakaturaga’. It represents a personality.
- 4.
Article 43 of the UNCRC stipulates that signatories establish a national coordinating committee to monitor and report on the implementation of the Convention initially after 2 years and every 5 years thereafter (Freeman 2000). According to Freeman (2000) the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the UNCRC is in its current form weak and requires much strengthening if the Convention is to be more effective, meaningful and relevant.
- 5.
In 2017, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child published a General Comment (No. 21) on children in street situations. The comment gives street children a document they could use to hold their governments accountable as signatories to the UNCRC. Access the General Comment here http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=5&DocTypeID=11
- 6.
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Vakaoti, P. (2018). Childhood and Youth in Fijian Society: In and Out of Place. In: Street-Frequenting Young People in Fiji. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63079-3_2
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