A trip to Fiji's tradition and culture

Fiji and Colombia are countries that are geographically talking, very far away, so it is common that there are some differences between their cultures,  but we also find aspects that they have in common. We are going to analyze the following graph, to better understand according to the  Hofstede  model,   t he differences between Fiji and Colombia . Colombia = Blue                Fiji =Purple So when looking at the previous graph, we can realize that Colombia differs a lot from Fiji in the aspects of uncertainly avoidance, long term orientation and indulgence,  since we can see that Fiji has 32 points of difference in  uncertainly avoidance  and it does not apply to the other 2, this means that Colombia it is a country that does not like to make very risky decisions, they focus a lot on the future and they like to follow the imposed norms. But they are very similar in aspects like power distance, masculinity and individualism, which means that they have strong hierarchy, practice the c

Lewis's model aims to categorize cultures according to people's behaviors. This came to the conclusion that we can classify cultures into 3 categories: Linear-active, Multi-active and Reactive. When we focus on the behavior of the Fijian community, we realize that it falls between  near linear active and multi active.   This means that they are characterized mainly by: Doing several things at the same time, display their feelings, they are quite polite but direct, they are totally rational, so they adhere to the facts and separate the social from the professional. So Fijians have a balance between being very cool and decisive planners, but also emotional and loquacious.

Gender Stereotypes: People who do not know Fiji sometimes consider that the Fijians, who are very far away, are very backward and that they still have very old thoughts and that patriarchy is very prevalent. A stereotype is that they believe that people are too homophobic and transphobic, that they do not accept that people identify with another gender, but in reality they are quite inclusive with people belonging to the LGTBI community. Another well-known stereotype about Fijians is that they live in a too patriarchal society, as they have island communities with which they are ruled by chiefs, which is why many people consider that the role of Fijian women is not considered important. This stereotype has a true part, but in the community if women are valued and they have power in the community, but as in all the world there is violence against women, but Fiji has institutions to solve these types of situations .

Stereotypes of Fijians: Fijians, like any other community, suffer from stereotypes, t hese are cultural ideas created around a group, which are based on generalizations, prejudices, urban mythologies, or simplified and exaggerated perceptions of it. One of the stereotypes about Fijians is that t he people have very island features, like very bronze skin, long and curly hair, and a fresh style, when in fact many of their features are descendants of Indians , since more than 40% of the population of Fiji comes from the India. Another of the stereotypes that I found about Fijians, which surprised me, is that there is still the idea that they are too primitive, there are even people who think that they currently practice cannibalism on the islands, due to the fact that many years back if this practice of consuming human flesh was made. But it is actually a very safe and welcoming island for all tourists.

About me: Hello! My name is Gabriela Gonzalez, I am in the third semester of industrial engineering. I am currently at level eight in English and I hope to finish this course successfully soon. This blog is created with the aim of learning about the culture, history and traditions of Fiji, also to practice my English. My knowledge about Fiji: Fiji is a group of islands located in Oceania, characterized by its beaches, tropical rainforests and a great diversity in flora and fauna. It is located near Australia and New Zealand, so English is one of its official languages, but they also speak Fijian and Fijian Hindi.