Paper short abstract:

The paper looks into the value of time in Fiji, with a particular emphasis on waiting.

Paper long abstract:

My paper looks into the value of time in Fiji, with a particular emphasis on the value placed on waiting. In Naloto village in the chiefdom of Verata, waiting, relaxing or doing things slowly may even be regarded as a vessel of communal values in a way that is closer to Veblen's conspicuous leisure than Marx' labour theory of value. The particular value that Veratans place on this absence of time discipline is a proverbial fact in Fiji, just like Fiji as a nation is famous for "Fiji time", a general attitude to time and labour that "appears to be wasteful and lacking in urgency" (Thompson 1967: 60).

In a village situated just outside of Fiji's main metropolitan area, resting, relaxing and dignified pace thus act as a counterpoint to the rewards of wage labour and urban middle-class prestige, making it possible for village-based Nalotans to render their values comparable with those of the urban employed. It is, however, only through the experience of those seeking to make the transition that one understands the great degree to which time can also be used for levelling and the proprieties of conspicuous leisure get to be internalised. That is when relaxing and acting in a dignified manner can turn into "wasting time".