• Corpus ID: 159554565

The Last Exile of Apolosi Nawai: A Case Study of Indirect Rule during the Twilight of the British Empire

@article{Weeks1995TheLE,
  title={The Last Exile of Apolosi Nawai: A Case Study of Indirect Rule during the Twilight of the British Empire},
  author={Charles J. Weeks},
  journal={Pacific studies},
  year={1995},
  volume={18},
  pages={27-45}
}

• C. Weeks
• Published 1 September 1995
• History
• Pacific studies

In June 1940, the British governor of Fiji exiled Apolosi Nawai, the charismatic leader of Fijian commoners, for the third and final time. To colonial officials, he was a "disaffected native"; to the indigenous chiefly hierarchy, he was a threat to their privileged status. From the perspective of the Colonial Office in London, Apolosi epitomized the contradiction between English concepts of order on one hand and justice on the other. Placing Apolosi's exile within the context of the Robinson and Gallagher thesis of imperialism, however, Apolosi was a "proto-nationalist" who had to be removed if the collaborative arrangement between the crown and the chiefly hierarchy of Fiji was to survive. In 1940, the British opted for the expediency of indirect rule at the expense of their traditions of fairness and legality. Partially as a result, Fiji entered the post-World War II era of decolonization with indirect rule firmly entrenched.