This blog will largely be about my journey as a PhD student in Marine biology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. I'm an indigenous Fijian student researching indigenous Fijian funeral practices and how it may contribute to social and ecological resilience.
Journal articles from PhD dissertation (Yet to defend/graduate)
Vave, R. (2021). Five culturally protected water body practices in Fiji: Current status and contemporary displacement challenges. Ambio. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01620-z[IF: 5.129 (2020)]
Vave, R. (2021). Urban-Rural Compliance Variability to COVID-19 Restrictions of Indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) Funerals in Fiji. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 33(6-7), 767-774. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395211005921[IF: 1.399 (2021)]
Other journal articles (during PhD)
Sterling EJ, Pascua P, Sigouin A, Gazit, N., Mandle, L., Betley, E., Aini, J., Albert, S., Caillon, S., Caselle, J.E., Cheng, S.H., Claudet, J., Dacks, R., Darling,E.S., Filardi, C., Jupiter, S.D., Mawyer, A., Mejia, M., Morishige, K., Nainoca, W., Parks, J., Tanguay, J., Ticktin, T., Vave, R., Wase, V., Wongbusarakum, S and McCarter, J. (2020).Creating a space for place and multidimensional well-being: lessons learned from localizing the SDGs. Sustainability Science. 2020/07/01 2020;15(4):1129-1147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00822-w[IF: 5.301 (2019)]
Sterling, E. J., Filardi, C., Toomey, A., Sigouin, A., Betley, E., Gazit, N., Newell, J., Albert, S., Alvira, D., Bergamin, N., Blair, M., Burrows., K., Bynum, N., Caillon, S., Claudet, J., Cullman, G., Dacks, R., Eyzaguirre, P.B., Gray, S., Herrera, J., Kenilorea, P., Kinney, K., Kurashima, N., MacEy, S., Malone, C., Mauli, S., McCarter, J., McMillen, H., Pascua, P., Pikacha, P., Porzecanski, A.L., De Robert, P., Salpeteur, M., Sirikolo, M., Stege, M.H., Stege, K., Ticktin, T., Vave, R., Wali, A., West, P., Winter, K.B. and Jupiter, S. D. (2017). Biocultural approaches to well-being and sustainability indicators across scales.Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1(12). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0349-6[IF: 12.541 (2019)]
Huntington, H. P., Begossi, A., Gearheard, S. F., Kersey, B., Loring, P. A., Mustonen, T., Paudel, P.K., Silvano, R.A.M and Vave, R. (2017). How small communities respond to environmental change: Patterns from tropical to polar ecosystems.Ecology and Society. 22(3):9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26270171[IF: 3.310 (2010)]
Loper, C., Pomeroy, R., Hoon, V., McConney, P., Pena, M., Sanders, A., Sriskanthan, G., Vergara, S., Pido, M., Vave, R., Vieux, C and Wanyoni, I. (2009).Socioeconomic conditions along the world’s tropical coasts: 2008.
Veitayaki, J., Tawake, A., Bogiva, A., Meo, S., Ravula, N., Vave, R., and Fong, P.S. (2005) Addressing human factors in fisheries development and regulatory processes in Fiji: the Mositi Vanuaso experience. In: Ocean Yearbook. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 289-306. ISBN 9789004157552
Vuki, V.C., Naqasima, M. and Vave, R. (2000). Status of Fiji’s coral reefs. In: Salvat, B, Wilkinson C, South GR (eds). Proceedings of the International Coral Reef Initiative Regional Symposium, Noumea, 22-24 May 2000.
Vave, R. (2021). Urban-Rural Compliance Variability to COVID-19 Restrictions of Indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) Funerals in Fiji. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 0(0), 10105395211005921. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395211005921
Abstract
Research on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has focused primarily on impacts in Western societies despite emerging evidence of increased vulnerability among indigenous peoples such as Pacific Islanders. Using Facebook public posts, this research assessed compliance to COVID-19 restrictions such as social gatherings (SG) and social distancing (SD) in non-COVID-19, indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) funerals in Fiji. Results showed 95% of the 20 funerals exceeding SG limits with greater, and highly variable crowd sizes in rural than urban communities. Additionally, 75% of the 20 funerals did not adhere to the 2-m SD requirement of which 80% were in rural areas. Higher SG and SD compliance in urban funerals could be partially explained by the presence of a recognized authority who enforced crowd size limits, and the heterogeneous urban community who were more likely to flag breaches than their collectivistic, homogeneous, close-knit, rural counterparts. Ultimately, health authorities need to utilize a social lens that incorporates etic and emic differences in culture to ensure maximum compliance.
Ron Vave 