USP Book Centre specialises in books about the Pacific - its people & politics, history & geography, culture & traditions, flora & fauna, language & literature, travel, crafts and many more...
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This book attempts to map the various streams of work FRIEND has been doing in largely rural farming communities in FIJI. It does this through bottom-up approach, inviting beneficiaries of the NGO programmes to talk about the impact of such interventions in their lives, as farmers, housewives, former prisoners, people with disabilities and youths. They tell their stories of their lives which have been impacted by FRIEND’s deliberate push to either involve them in small businesses, teach valuable employment skills or lead a more active and healthier lifestyle. While reading you will gain an insight into the effectiveness of the work this Lautoka-based NGO is delivering just because a young women from Tuvu had the courage a decade ago to dream, dare and deliver.” The cases related in this book celebrate the strength of the human spirit over adversity and seemingly overwhelming odds. The distinction between the philosophy of aid provided by FRIEND and that of welfare, although that has its place as well, is the old tale of providing either fish or fishing line.” (Mr. Joni Madraiwiwi)
Since gaining independence on 10 October 1970, the people of Fiji have experienced four coups. While the leaders of the first three coups claimed to represent the interests of the iTaukei, the leader of the fourth coup (on 5 December 2006), Commodore Frank Bainimarama, stated that his aims were to address the underlying political problems to eliminate Fiji’s ‘coup culture’ forever. The coups and following political confusion have seriously undermined Fiji’s economy and people’s sense of security. All coups have been powered by a combination of factors, including inter-ethnic competition over resources, traditional conflicts between the chiefly choice, low levels of education, an iTaukei-dominated military force, and traditional institutions of governance challenged by systems of democracy and human rights. The experiences of Fijian citizens of ‘democracy’ and different models of governance are thus marked by discontent.
“The purpose of this book is to articulate the ‘why, how, and what’, or what we call here in Tutu, the principles, the processes, and the practice of Marist Training Centre Tutu (from hereon called Tutu). This book is principally for the benefit of present and future staff, Board members, religious superiors and any other people intimately involved in supporting Tutu into the future. This book will allow institutional knowledge, experience and paradigm of Tutu to be articulated and available for staff, Board and partners in order that they can understand, honor, preserve and further enhance the lived charism and spirit of Tutu which has enabled it to fruitfully and faithfully serve rural people for the last forty years.
Leadership in Education presents a collection of essays discussing an array of issues in educational leadership; implicit is the call for the adoption of suitable leadership practices for the common good of our education communities. As an area of discourse, education leadership, like other areas, has undergone paradigm shift, occasioned by the new contextual realities of changing times.Adopting suitable leadership practices will help school leaders achieve better outcome in the education system, at the school level in particular. Values-based leadership has become a front runner, in the face of the dehumanizing effects of the rush to globalization..
South Pacific Skin is a glimpse into the journal of a woman traveling alone around the isolated islands of the South Pacific. Amanda Fornal visited these islands while creating her documentary Blood & Ink. Each day, she recorded her unique encounters and tribulations which took place over four months, through nine countries, twenty islands, forty interviews, and over fifty flights. Join her as she seeks out the deeper meanings and unusual stories behind the cultural markings of these enchanted islands.
The book draw attention to colonial and missionary agendas, local and global economies, environmental disasters, cultural identities, social connections, and family continuity, as well as personal choices. And, as the chapter on homeless Hawaiians shows, even those without houses have stories to tell. Anthropologists, architects, environmental designers, geographers, and historians will welcome this diverse volume on a neglected yet important aspect of change in the lives of Pacific Islanders.
David Harrison Gilmour, one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, has enjoyed extraordinary success throughout his career. His successes have been built upon a rich and complex combination of experiences revealed for the first time in this compelling first-person account of life as a “serial entrepreneur.” From the story of the founding of the largest hotel chain in the South Pacific to that of creation of Barrick Gold, world’s most profitable gold-mining company; from the founding of the iconic brand FIJIWATER to the creation of the Wakaya Club, and Wakaya Perfection..
“This book is a journey to some of the world's many and diverse islands, captured in signature dishes and between pages."-Grant McCall, President, International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA) Food is the quintessential social jelly of our lives. We make new friends and consolidate existing ones around meals; we use food to mark events in our lives; we share in our joys and sorrows by breaking bread together. A Taste of Islands is full colour throughout, with beautiful photos of each island's signature dish.
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna was the best equipped Fijian leader in the twentieth century. A man of noble birth, a soldier of heroic deeds and a scholar of a renowned university, a civil servant, a politician and ultimately the first speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He has been described as a man of two cultures as, indeed, he was in fact the translator and intercessor in his life of these cultures.
This edition of select writings by Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna is the companion to the biography Ratu Sukuna: Soldier, Statesman, Man of Two Worlds, published in 1980, which Dr Scarr was invited to write by the Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Biography Committee under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Fiji, Ratu Sukuna’s nephew, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.
This magnificent book showcases more than 250 of the finest examples of traditional jewelry from the Pacific. Myriad designs and materials, including jade, whale teeth and bone, shark teeth, tapa, shells, and plant fibers, are woven together in a skillful combination of color and craftsmanship. Apart from their beauty, these personal items also convey information about power, status, and community. Their significance, the ceremonies in which they are worn, and the messages they convey are explored in an illuminating introductory essay.
“Plants of Tuvalu” is a timely, richly-illustrated contribution to the natural and cultural history of Tuvalu, the atolls of which are clearly on the front line against climate, environmental and economic change. It is an educational resource, a fragrant multi-flowered garland, that will help preserve the knowledge and respect that island people have for their very limited but precious plant life, the protection of which of their first and last line of defense against change.
The book will be interest to all the stakeholders who care about children's learning and teachers' work, it is primarily addressed to educational planners, policy-makers, senior officials of the education ministries, school administrators and practitioners.
From 1960 to 1990, islands across the Pacific gained independence or selfgovernment.In the years following this, Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles interviewed the Pacific people in key leadership positions in the lead-up to and achievement of independence, many of whom became well-known in the Pacific and more widely.
