Indigenous Fijian masculinity and tourism as a liminoid experience (Nadi, Fiji)

In this article, we study Noah’s Gang, a group of 30-60-year-old ‘street boys’ that operated in Nadi, Fiji from 2013-present. We study a number of their interactions with individual tourists and explain how they provide liminoid experiences for white tourists from the Global North. The hustler lifestyle and the interaction with tourists also provides them with liminoid experiences that are a break from the hierarchical and restrained aspects of village life. Women on the edge of the Gang are peripheral members only and do not offset the overall masculine style. Tourists, like the two described, often come with essentialized stereotypes of Fijians as either hospitable or as powerful savages. Indigenous Fijians also have multiple stereotypes of tourists.