Abstract
This paper aims to shed light on the validity of previous studies by reconstructing in detail the Lami’s historical development from its beginning to the 1990s. The Lami is a cooperative group in Fiji whose main characteristic has been radically changing its members’ lives. Lami people not only abolish or simplify some parts of Fijian customs such as wedding and funeral ceremonies; they also abstain from luxuries such as kava and tobacco. Previous studies take for granted (1) the relationship between characteristic activities of the Lami and its members’ sterile land and unstable land rights, and (2) the Lami’s relationship with Melanesian cargo cults such as the Viti Kabani movement in Fiji. In this paper I would like to use archival and ethnographic studies to question these assumed relationships.
