Jonathan Fifi'i
Kwaio · mortal · Kwaio traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Jonathan Fifi'i (c. 1921-1989) was a Kwaio leader, a principal organiser of the post-war Maasina Rule movement on Malaita, and later a district figure whose autobiography, recorded with Roger Keesing, is a central document of Kwaio life. Though drawn toward the wider colonial and Christian world, he remained a defender of Kwaio custom and of the ancestral religion, and his account preserves much of the traditional knowledge of adalo, taboo and sacrifice. In Kwaio belief he too becomes, at death, one of the adalo who watch over and afflict the living.
Domains
- leadership and custom
- transmission of knowledge
Powers
- organise and lead the Maasina Rule movement
- preserve and transmit ancestral custom
Sources
- Jonathan Fifi'i (c. 1921-1989) was a Kwaio leader and a principal organiser of the Maasina Rule movement on Malaita, whose autobiography was recorded with Roger Keesing.: Fifi'i, Jonathan, and Roger M. Keesing. 1989. From Pig-Theft to Parliament: My Life between Two Worlds. Honiara and Suva: Solomon Islands College of Higher Education and University of the South Pacific. (primary); Akin, David W. 2013. Colonialism, Maasina Rule, and the Origins of Malaitan Kastom. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. (secondary)