Jara Hulkenberg
Lecturer
Arts
University of south pacific
Fiji
Biography
Jara Hulkenberg is an anthropologist who has done research in Fiji on the production, use and significance of masi (Fijian barklcoth) for her PhD. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Pacific Studies, University of St Andrews where she has done post-doctoral research among Fijian migrants living in the UK. This research examines how and why Fijians in the UK live life ‘in the Fijian way’ (vakaViti)? She investigates how kinship and complex hierarchical relations are played out in the day-to-day fulfillment of ritual obligations centered on life cycle and religious events, and how ceremonies create transnational spaces that connect Fijians globally.
Research Interest
Fiji, material culture, arts, migration, Christianity, money, exchange, gifting, kinship, ritual, life cycle events, personhood
Publications
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(2005) Masi, mats and associated objects. Catalogue entries based on unpublished acquisition report by Jara Hulkenberg. Digital publication (www.rmv.nl)
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Forthcoming Masi: House and Cloth of the Vanua, Journal of Material Culture
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(2015) Fijian Kinship: Exchange and Migration in New Perspectives on Pacific Kinship, edited by C. Toren and S. Pauwels. Published by Berghahn Books
