Digital Politics in Fiji

Please note that this is a hybrid event. For online attendance please sign up to obtain the Zoom link. Access link will be delivered via email upon registration.

In this seminar presentation, PhD candidate Jope Tarai will present the findings of his research addressing the question: Does social media use inform politics in Fiji? The research has utilised digital ethnography as an approach to explore social media use and politics in Fiji through an embedded examination of four case studies. These include; social media use in political campaigning since the 2014 national election, the role and use of social media amongst the tertiary youth, regional advocacy campaigns, and the interplay between the social media sphere and the traditional media sector. The case studies have been foregrounded by a critical examination of Fiji’s political history and ongoing legacies. In answering the central question of the thesis, this pre-submission seminar will build into branches of knowledge around social media use and politics. These branches of knowledge include but are not limited to: online political campaigning, youth online engagement, advocacy campaigning, traditional media online, and methodological insights regarding online research. Therefore, the thesis makes wider contributions to Fiji and the Pacific in politics, youth engagement, the media and methodological applications for grounded research.

Speaker

Jope Tarai is an Indigenous Fijian and Pacific scholar pursuing a PhD in digital politics, at the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. He was awarded a gold medal for the most outstanding Master of Arts Thesis at the University of the South Pacific for his thesis titled Collective Diplomacy: A case study of the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. Jope has extensive work-related experience in Pacific regionalism and development, having worked at the University of the South Pacific and through networks with other regional agencies. His research interests and publications address topics including Pacific politics, regionalism, collective diplomacy, digital politics, and Pacific development.