The Role of the Writer as Educator Joseph C. Veramu Introduction Like many scholars today, I feel that 'art for art's sake' cannot be accepted in developing countries. The artist, and in particular the writer, should uplift and educate people, especially the disadvantaged working class in towns and villages. The writer should have a social, moral and political role in bettering the society in which he or she lives. In the developing South Pacific countries, and indeed any third world country, it is not enough to write to entertain - there must be conviction. Some pointers It will be more meaningful if I relate my own writing activities to the above. As a rural school teacher in Kadavu and then in Solevu, Bua, I worked closely with students and parents in producing a collection of myths and legends entitled, "The Two Turtles and the Ungrateful Snake" (1981). Students collected stories in the Fijian Language and rewrote them in English using their creativity to embellish them. This served three purposes: they learned to appreciate another aspect of their culture, they became more fluent in English and they gave enjoyment and information to their readers. The part I played was in inspiring, facilitating and encouraging them to have more confidence in their own creativity and, finally in editing their work. To take another example of how a writer can serve as educator let us consider the attitude towards women in traditional communities in the South Pacific. Women are looked down upon and are expected to bear children, cook and wash but not to express opinions. In many cases they even seem to be marketable commodoties. In my story "Na Marama Yalodina" serialised over four weeks in the Fijian national weekly, "Nai Lalakai", the main character, a young woman, is brutally raped by a callous village youth who feels no remorse whatsoever. In the story the reader is provoked into rethinking some of the outdated ideas held about women. Although the villagers realize that she is completely innocent, many of them still feel that in some way she is now "unclean". She 54