The language faculty within the University of Fiji is offering more than just iTaukei language teaching.

Director for Centre for iTaukei Studies (CIS), Associate Professor Litiana Kuridrani in a release said the aim the training was to revive the iTaukei culture, like many others, that are slowly dying because of Western influence.

“We have done our training assessment and found out that we are losing critical aspects our culture and even at homes, our children are speaking in English and the iTaukei language and culture is slowly fading away,” she said.

She also said that in a small scale they were teaching various arts that now were rarely seen or practiced.

“We teach how to weave; we expose them to printing (tie and die), creative arts like making necklaces, art and craft, kava ceremonies, traditional meke, indigenous knowledge of traditional medicine and healing therapies traditional knowledge of weather music and much more,” she commented.

Ms Kuridrani further elaborated that they invited elders from nearby villages to come and teach expressive arts as traditionally these aspects such as oral history were passed down by elders to young ones.

“We believe that most of the iTaukei culture is about oral history not documented so we want them to blend with the traditional way and learn by doing because we encourage them pass on their skills and knowledge from the elders to the young ones,” she explained.

“The best outcome for us is them actually performing at stage what they learn from class and we are fortunate that they have been able to put to use what they learnt in class in various ceremonies,” she stated.

Source: University of Fiji

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