Compassion and Virtue: Social media-enabled bartering in Fiji during COVID-19

Abstract

This essay explores the emergence of the BFBF and how this online group made ‘bartering’ and other practices of exchange central to surviving Covid-19. We analyse the posts and discussions of BFBF participants in 2020. We are interested in the way moderators and participants position this contemporary way of conducting bartering as an alternative to market trade that has deep cultural roots in Fiji. Such forms of exchange have serious implications for the study of digital practices and relational systems of exchange in Fiji and beyond.

Social media and democracy: The Fiji 2022 National Election

“…These impacts included ICT access being instrumental in facilitating information flows, increasing efforts towards transparency, the emergence of collective identities and wider political participation of new actors (Logan, 2012). Finau et al (2014) examined instances of social media use and civic engagement in politics. The article examined social media use on Facebook specifically for Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (Finau et al, 2014).…”

“…Finau et al (2014) examined instances of social media use and civic engagement in politics. The article examined social media use on Facebook specifically for Fiji, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (Finau et al, 2014).…”

Beyond extraction: Data strategies from the Global South

“…Closed borders in the Pacific nation of Fiji led to redundancies in the tourism industry, resulting in a reduction of access to currency needed to purchase goods. In response, a group of Fijians created a Facebook page to barter food, goods and services (Finau et al, 2021). 1 In the Philippines, digital payments increased due to restrictions on mobility, limited access to cash and fears about the transmission of COVID through paper and associated services (Acopiado et al, 2022).…”