Fiji Indians and “commoditization of labor”

Fiji “Gujaratis,” free emigrant shopkeepers, refuse to commoditize their own labor, unlike the Fiji “Indians,” descendants of indentured laborers. The difference can be explained in relation to two different syntheses of bhakti devotionalism and capitalism, but only after the capitalism in Fiji's colonial history, the capitalism in India's precolonial history, and the relation of capitalism to Europe have been reconsidered. This article seeks to demonstrate the utility of a cultural approach to capitalism. [capitalism, commoditization, labor, Fiji Indians, bhakti]