Thread by @thebadfijigyals

Bula! To understand how limited, patriarchal & colonial existing narratives around Girmit have been, the first step would be to put down your “Peasants in the Pacific,” “Tears in Paradise,” “The Violence of Indenture,” & other books we’ll name later. Naka #fiji #girmit

The problem with how Girmit has been told

Girmit is seen as a niche area of research due to how invisible it is as a history. This has allowed for white savior and upper-caste academics to get more clout

When Girmit was first written about in the colonial records it was authored by white officials. Once Girmit reached the academic institution, Girmit became an area dominated and debated by white academics for the colonial gaze

When the Girmit community finally got access to universities, it was Indo-Fijian men who took it upon themselves to rewrite the Girmit narrative

Indo-Fijian men centred Girmit around their patriarchal understandings which focussed on their pain and sorrow, creating a 1-dimensional narrative

The lived experiences of women, queer, trans and gender diverse people in our community are forgotten. They are buried under the enormous weight of Indo-Fijian men’s colonial desires of our ancestors as only passive and submissive

When academics did attempt oral recordings and research to centre our perspective, mainly men were chosen while female interviewees only made up a small fraction

Colonial and Brahminical values have been reinforced by many Girmit male academics, and with limited push back. These narratives serve as trauma porn for institutions and are upheld in everyday interactions with Girmit history

There is an ongoing problem in allowing our ancestors to have agency to their own histories, as messy and complicated as it is. We as descendants are seen as only having stories of displacement, rejection and violence

The complexities of indenture are overlooked for watered down versions to fit white savior and Hindu nationalist agendas. The Bad Fiji Gyals as a collective works to destroy these supremacies that do not serve—and work against— our communities.