Basil Thomson’s The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom

Record summary

Although published in 1908, Basil Thomson’s The Fijians synthesizes observations and administrative experience rooted partly in the late nineteenth century, including discussions of Fijian religion, spirit beliefs, prophecy, colonial change, and the Tuka movement. It is a useful lead when tracing how earlier Pacific religious reports were systematized by colonial officials. The work may illuminate links between political resistance and claims about ancestral or transformed worlds, but it is not a primary transcript of prophetic speech. Its categories reflect early twentieth-century evolutionist anthropology and should be critically compared with Fijian scholarship.