A Politics of Virtue: Hinduism, Sexuality, and Countercolonial Discourse in Fiji

by John Dunham Kelly

Kelly opens new questions about dialogue, colonial power, and
changing conditions of political possibility by examining the
connection between politics and sexual morality in the British
colony of Fiji from 1929 to 1932.

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1992

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

An absolute travesty of a publication. One of the worst pieces of academic writing I have ever had the displeasure of reading. This is a 25 page article to which has been stapled 200 more pages of “context” in an effort to make it seem less like John D. Kelly had no actual sources about his topic. This is the oldest trick in the book and using it for your monograph is simply grim, a junior in college should know better. The supposed core of the book, the collapse of Fiji Indian politics into infighting over sexual morality, occupies perhaps 5 pages and has only a handful of examples. The rest of the book is either “background”, which stops being background when it’s the entire book, or Kelly going on and on about Marx and Weber and Foucault and their discourses. This book felt like someone who thinks of theory as dessert who orders dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was pure fluff, and makes no clear contribution to theory that I could recognize. This was an absolute waste of my money and time, and I am absolutely seething that this guy probably got tenure out of this and is now a full professor at UChicago. At least it did provide a decent history of Fiji Indian habitation in Fiji, something Kelly promised not to do, just like the worst presenter you know says they won’t just read their PowerPoint out loud.