Anthropology Program
Tongan History Association Newsletter
Vol.3 No.1, July 1991
The Fifth THA Conference To Take Place in Hawaii
The Fifth Tongan History Association Conference will be held at Brigham Young UniversityHawaii Campus, Laie, Hawaii, USA, May 20 23, 1992. Conference hosts are Brigham Young UniVersityHawai'i, the Institute for Polynesian Studies, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The conference program will include three full days of scholarly presentations, demonstrations, exhibits, artistic presentations (including an evening concert of choirs and an evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center)' and an arts festiVal and luau (katoanga) on Saturday, May 23rd.Air transportation to Honolulu, Hawai'i, is to be arranged and paid for by the indiVidual participant. The Institute of Polynesian Studies will provide shuttle service from the airport in Honolulu to Laie and back.Lodging/meal options include: 1) participants to arrange their own; 2) participants to stay at BYUHawai'i dormitories with meals in the cafeteria, 3) participants to stay at the Laniloa Lodge with meals at Brigham Young UniversityHawai'i cafeteria, and 4) prearranged housing with local Tongan families (limited number). The fees for options 2) and 3) will be announced at a later date. Those who wish to pursue this matter now should contact Dr. Shumway (address below).Tuition: TBA.The sponsors write: ''We encourage presentations given in varied formats, papers, panel discussions, lecturedemonstrations, etc. We hope for an increase in the number of native Tongan participants at the conference. Much interest has already been expressed in areas of oral history, family and village histories, as well as in more conventional topics such as history, anthropology, cultural arts, etc.'' Please mail presentation proposals to: Dr. Eric Shumway. Chairperson. Tongan History Association (THA) Conference. BYUHawai'i. Laie. Hawai'i 96762. USA.
`ATENISl CELEBRATES ITS SILVER JUBILEE
The Board of Trustees, the governing body of 'Atenisi Institute, announces the celebration of its Silver Jubille, marking its 25 years of existence. The event will take place at 'Atenisi, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, from December 17 to 20, 1991. A range of daytime and nighttime activities, both academic and nonacademic, is scheduled. The academic events will make up the better part of the program and will include public lectures and presentations of papers. A number of prominent overseas academics have been invited to participate. Both 'Atenisi alumni and others, national and overseas, are invited to deliver papers; and everyone, friends and supporters, are invited to attend this gala event. For details, please contact: Secretary, 'Atenisi Institute, P.O. Box 220, Nuku'alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga.
THA Members Participate in the 8th Pacific History Association Conference in Guam
Several members of the Tongan History Association gave papers at the 8th Pacific History Association Conference held in Guam in December 1990.'Okusitino Mahina gave the paper "A Consideration of History in Tongan Art or Faiva.'' In it he interpreted a composition entitled "Nailasikau" by Queen Salote Tupou Ill, which is based on the myth (talatupu'a) of the great legendary doublecanoe Lomipeau.Leonaitasi Hoponoa also gave a paper, but on more contemporary events. His ''ProDemocratic Movement in Tonga: The Case of Samiuela 'Akilisi Pohiva'' examined the recent events associated with `Akilisi Pohiva as aspects of a ''prodemocratic movement.''Ian Campbell's paper ''Recent Political Developments in Tonga expressed skepticism of such labels, arguing that recent restlessness may not be inspired by democratic principles-Western-style, in any case. ''Recent events in Tonga are better understood in terms of the constinuities in Tongan history'' (abstract).Phyllis Herda's paper '`Tu'itatui to Taufa'ahau: The Genealogical Construction of Tonga's Past'' meanwhile argued that personal and dynastic genealogies provide an indigenous temporal framework and that they also "structure the way history is constructed" (abstract).
The next PHA meeting is in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1992. The Macmillan Brown Centre will be the host. For further information contact: Dr. Malama Meleisea, Director, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
People
Dr. Sione Latukefu, President of Tongan History Association, is pleased to announce his retirement as President of the Pacific Theological College. Dr. Latukefu is looking forward to some productive years working , among other things on an expanded edition of Church and State in Tonga, which he wants to bring up to date. Dr. Latukefu and his wife, Dr. Ruth Latukefu, may be reached from the end of November 1991 at 8 Dennis Street, Garran, Canberra, ACT 2605, Australia. Their telephone number is (06) 282 4942. Happy retirement, Sione!
Wendy Cowling has been awarded a doctorate from Macquarie University, Sydney, and has accepted a position in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Freya Higgins-Desboilles Phyllis Herda has received an award in recognition of her work on the Malaspina expedition to the Pacific in 1789 - 93.
Research Communications
'Okusitino Mahina is finishing his thesis on "Ideology and Transformation in Early Tongan History." in the Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University. The thesis elaborates upon the masters thesis 'Okusi did at the University of Auckland.
Also, Helen Kavapalu is nearing completion of her doctorate in anthropology at the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. Her thesis is called "Becoming Tongan: An Ethnography of Childhood in the Kingdom of Tonga." Helen is presently interested in historical material on childhood and family life in Tonga. She can be reached at Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.Dr. Paul van der Griio is a cultural anthropologist who is now a Research Fellow of the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and is based at the University of Utrecht. His interests include ideology, social structures, and the history of Tonga; and he is presently working on a comparison of the history, contemporary social organization, and ideology of Tonga, Uvea, Futuna, Rotuma, and Samoa. His doctoral thesis, prepared for Nijmegen University, was completed in l987 under the title '`Produktie en Denkwijzen in Polynesie: Sociale Asymmetrie, Ideologie en Verandering op de Tonga-Eilanden'' ("Production and Modes of Thinking in Polynesia: Social Asymmetry, Ideology and Change in the Tonga Islands"). His book Tongans: Production. Social Inequality and Modes of Thinking in a Polynesian Kingdom is in press with Dordrecht (Holland) and Providence (USA): Foris Publications (Verhandelingen Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde). See the "Recent Publications" section for a listing of his recent articles on Tonga. Dr. van der Grijp can be reached at Weezenhof 6755, 6536 BG Nijmegen, The Netherlands.Professor Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk is a new member of THA. She teaches art history at the University of California at San Diego and is interested in women's arts in particular. Her current research is on Tongan graves,ngatu, koloa, and ta'ovala as forms of women's art. She can be reached at the Department of Visual Arts, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0327, USA. Aletta Biersack would like to know about what research in medical anthropology is being done in Tonga. She can be reached at the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Wendy Cowling is working on Tongan household economies and the concept of faka'api, life in the Tongan diaspora, and emotions and Tongan social life. She can be reached at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
RESEARCH NOTE
The holdings of manuscripts bearing on Tongan History and culture in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum relevant to the research of E.W. Gifford, the American anthropologist who vistied Tonga in the early 1920's and published Tongan Society, Tongan Tales and Poems, and Tongan Place Names, are of some interest these include three boxes of materials, as follows:Box 1.1 "Tongan Society", material deted from first copy of original.Box 1.2 Tongan material collected by E.W.Gifford and E.E.V. Collocot in 1920. Chants.Box1.3 Tongan material...1921 (cont.) Chants. Box1.4 "Tongan Genealogies: Additional material in card form." Box 2 Tongan Genealogy card indexBox 3 Tongan Genealogy card index. There is also a stash of photographs from the period. Researchers wanting to look at this material should contact lynn Ann Davis, Chairperson, Bishop Museum Archives, Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice Street, P.O.Box 19000-A, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817-0916, USA, for an appointment. Phone: (808) 847 3511; Fax: (808) 841-8968.
Book Review Corner
Shumway, Eric B., tr. and ed. 1991. Tongan Saints: Legacy of Faith. Laie, Hawaii: Institute of Polynesian Studies by Alleta Biersack, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.On July 15, 1891, ther first LDS missionaries arrived in Nuku'alofa from Samoa to open the Tonga District of the Samoan Mission. The present volume is at least implicitly a centenary commemoration as well as being a celebration of Tonganness.The Book contains 56 narratives, most of which are written by Tongans, though some palangi missionaries have either contributed autobiographical statement or been described by others. These accounts touch on events covering the entire century, several regimes, and two hurricantes at least. There are intriguing allusions to domestic, village, and national life sprinkled throughout. But the bulk of the reporting supplies unique 20th Century accounts of what the Church of the Latter-Day Saints has meant to ordinary Tongans during moments of crisis. ("...the purpose of this volume is to feature extraordinary spiritual moments in the lives of ordinary Saints..." [Shumway's Introduction, xxxvi]. None of the accounts are as rich in historical detail as Peter Vi's narrative from the previous century. Yet cumulatively these statements provide considerable insight into the conversion experience and the way LDS faith has been corroborated in the lives of believers. In this the book is aptly described by Dr. Shumway himself: "The overriding collective theme of these historical accounts is profound religious faith. It is faith motivated and sustained by an assurance that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is in very fact the only `true and living church' on the face of the earth" (p. 8).More narrowly stated, the theme is (as one Tongan contributor notes) "the power of faith and the holy priesthood and the fastings and prayers of so many people'' (p. 289). Again and again, whether Tongan or palangi, the writers attest to the miraculous. A person at death's door or already dead inexplicably revives, usually in response to prayer or a blessing. There are extraordinary feats of navigation, narrow escapes from airplane crashes, and cures that depend upon a lay person's acquiring expert knowledge instantaneously through "inspiration."Some of the material is published from typescripts Dr. Shumway has in his possession. However, 85 percent of the accounts are excerpted from family and personal histories produced recently for an oral history project begun in December 1988. According to Shumway's introduction, the project has generated over 300 histories, and these are deposited in the Pacific Collection of the Joseph F. Smith Library, BYU-Hawaii, Laie, Hawaii. Shumway has selected and translated these excerpts, and in so doing he has produced a literate, wellwritten book, one that is a pleasure to read. The book may be ordered from The Institute of Polynesian Studies, Brigham Young UniversityHawaii, Laie, Hawaii 96762. US$19.95.
Oliver, Douglas L. 1989. The Pacific Islands, 3rd ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989. xi = 304 pp., illus., maps, drawings. US$14.95. By Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, International Relations Office, Schiller International University, London, England. In response to academia's demands, Douglas Oliver has updated his previous editions of The Pacific Islands using recent advances in historical and anthropological literature. The book is ambitious in scope, ranging over the development of the islands from the precontact era to the 1950s. As can be expected given such a monumental goal, his discussion succumbs at times to annoying blanket generalizations. Nonetheless, the work makes fascinating reading.Oliver divides the discussion into four parts. Firstly, he characterises the islanders in the precontact era. Then he describes the various '`invaders'' who came in search of knowledge, profits, or converts. Next he assesses the changes these hordes rendered to the societies and economies of the Islands. And finally he views World War II as a watershed in the islands' relations with external powers.Throughout Oliver's work, the reader is confronted with examples of loss of independence, through both direct action and indirect maneuverings. In the final section, ''Cataclysm,'' the islands fall under trusteeship or become prey to strategic interests of outside powers in 7the aftermath of World War II. Oliver leaves the reader with uncertainty as to whether independence is secured in the formation of nation states or whether overt control has given way to invisible webs of economic vulnerability, aid dependency, and the strategic dictates of external powers. What is certain is that the islanders must come to terms with their past to take hold of their future--and Oliver's book assists in achieving the first goal. Editor's note: All readers of the Newsletter are invited to submit book reviews. Tongan readers in particular may want to use this space to react to papalangiauthored texts about Tonga and to set the record straight if need be. Send reviews to Aletta Biersack, Department of Anthropology, RSPacS, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601.
Proceedings of the 1987 THA Conference Still Available
The proceedings of the first international Tongan History Conference, held in Canberra in January l987, are still available in the handsome paperback volume titled TONGAN CULTURE AND HISTORY edited by Phyllis Herda, Jennifer Terrell, and Niel Gunson and published in Canberra by the Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University (1990). Its contents include:
F.O. Kolo, ''Historiography: the myth of indigenous authenticity'';
Niel Gunson, ''Tongan historiography: shamanic views of time and history";
Phyllis S. Herda, ''Genealogy in the Tongan construction of the past";
`Okusitino Mahina, ''Myths and history: some aspects of history in the Tu'i Tonga myths";
Aletta Biersack, "Blood and garland: duality in Tongan history'';
Adrienne L. Kaeppler, ''Art, aesthetics, and social structure'';
Wendy E. Cowling, ''Eclectic elements in Tongan folk belief and healing practice'';
K. E. James, ''Gender relations in Tonga: a paradigm shift'';
Dirk H. R. Spennemann, ''Changing gender roles in Tongan society: some comments based on archaeological observations'';
Caroline Ralston, ''Gender relations in Tonga at the time of contact'';
Bonnie Maywald, `'Women of the lotu: the foundations of Tongan Wesleyanism reconsidered'';
Kalapoli Paongo, ''The nature of education in preEuropean modern Tonga'';
Guy Powles, ''The early accommodation of traditional and English law in Tonga'';
Elizabeth Wood Ellem, '`Chief Justices of Tonga 1905-40;
Wendy E. Cowling, ''Motivations for contemporary Tongan migration'';
Edgar Tu'inukuafe, ''Tongans in New Zealand a brief study'';
Siupeli Taliai, ''Tupou College and the education of women.''
People wishing to receive a copy should send $A21 or $US25 plus $4 postage and packaging (checks made payable to the Department of Pacific and South East Asian Studies) to Tongan Culture and History, Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, GPO Box Canberra ACT 2601, Australia.
Recent Publications
Benguigui, Georges. 1989. "The Middle Class Tonga." Journal of the Polynesian Society 98: 451 - 63.
Benguigui, Georges. 1988. "The Fish of Tonga: Prey or Social Partners." Journal of the Polynesian Society 97: 185 - 98.
Berg, Friederiki von. 1990. "Nahrung und ernahrung in Tonga: Kontinuitat und wandel." Gottingen (masters thesis).
Beirsack, Aletta. 1991. "Kava'onau and the Tongan Chiefs." Journal of the Polynesian Society, in press.
____________. 1990. " Under the Toa Tree: The Genaealogy of the Tongan Chiefs." In J. Siikala, ed., Culture and History in the Pacific. Transactions of the Finnnish Anthropological Society no. 27. Helsinki: The Society.
Campbell, Ian C.,ed. by Marg Burell. 1989. A History of the Pacific Islands. Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
____________. 1989. Classical Tongan Kinship. Nuku'alofa: 'Atenisi U.
____________.1989. "The Demise of the Tu'i Kanokupolu Tonga 1799 - 1827." Journal of Pacific History 24: 150 -63.
____________.1989. "The Alleged Imperialism of Tupou I." Journal of Pacific History 25: 159 -75.
Claessen, Henri J. 1988. "Tongan Traditions: On Model Building and Historical Evidence." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 144: 433 - 44
Cowling, Wendy E. 1990. "On Being Tongan: Responses to Concepts of Tradition" (Ph.D. thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney). (Currently being prepared for publication).
____________.1988. "Kava and Tradition in Tonga." In John Prescott and Grant McCall, eds., Kava: Use and Abuse in Australia and the South Pacific. Kensington, NSW: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 1988.
Dably, Mark. 1989. The Cocker Connection. London: The Regency Press.
Gunson, W. N. 1990. "The Tonga-Samoa Connection 1777-1845. Some Observations on the Nature of Tongan Imperialism." Journal of Pacific History 25: 176 - 87.
Hills, Rodney. 1992. "The 1990 Election in Tonga." Contemporary Pacific, in press.
Houghton, Phillip. 1989. "Comment on the Human Skeletal Mterial from Pen, Tonga Site No. 1" Records of the Australian Museum 41: 331 - 2.
James, Kerry. 1988. "Making Mats and Barkcloth in the Kingdom of Tonga." Suva, Fiji. Text and Pictures.
__________. 1988. "O, lead us not into 'commoditisation'": Christine Ward Gailey's Changing Gender Values in the Tongan Islands." Journal of the Polynesian Society 97: 31 - 48.
Kirch, Patrick V. 1988. Niuatoputapu: The Prehistory of a Polynesian Kingdom. Seattle: Burke Museum, 1988.
Moyle, Richard. 1988. "Tonga." In H. Touma, ed., Festival traditionaller musik 99 Pazifik. Berlin: Internationales Institut fur Bergleichende Musikstudien, pp.32 -39.
Ralston, Caroline. 1990. "Women Workers in Samoa and Tonga in the Early Twentieth Century. In Clive Moore et. al., eds., Labour in the South Pacific.
_____________. 1990. " Deceptive Dichotomies: Private/Public and Nature/Culture. Gender Relations in Tonga in the Early Contact Period." Australian Feminist Studies.
Scarr, Deryck. I. 1990 The History of the Pacific: Kingdoms and Reefs. Sydney:
Macmillan.Shumway, Eric B., trans. and ed. 1991. Tongan Saints: Legacy of Faith. Laie, Hawaii: Institute for Polynesian Studies (see book review).
Spennemann, D. H. R. 1988. '`Vorgeschichtliche Steinbruch und Stein bearbeitungstechnik auf de Tongalnseln.'' Anschnilt 40:1145.
__________ 1988. "Pathways to the Tongan Past: An Exhibition of Three Decades of Modern Archaeology in the Kingdom of Tonga (1957 to 1987)." Nuku'alofa: Tongan National Centre.
Taumoefolau, Melenaite. 1991. "Is the Father's Sister Really `Black'?" Journal of the Polynesian Society 100: 191198.
Teilhet-Fisk, Jehanne. 1990. ''Tongan Grave Art." In Allan and Louise Hanson., eds., Art and Identity in Oceania. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
__________ 1991. ''To Beat or Not to Beat; That is the Question: A Study on Acculturation and Change in an Art Making Process and Its Relationship to the Nature of Gender Structures." Pacific Studies.
Valeri, Valerio. 1989.''Death in Heaven: Myths and Rites of Kinship in Tongan Kingship.'' History and Anthropology 4: 20947.
__________ 1990. `'Diarchy in Tonga and Hawaii." In J. Siikala, ed., Culture and History in the Pacific. Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society. no. 27 Helsinki: The Society.
van der Grijp, Paul. 1986. ''Continuiteit en verandering in het Tongaanse giftenverkeer ("Continuity and change in the Tongan gift circulation"). In M. Van Bakel et al, eds., Traditie in verandering (Chanoina Traditions). Leyden: DSWO Press.
__________ 1987. `' Pacificatie van de Pacific: Handel en geweld bij de eerste contacten tussen Tonganen en westerlingen" ("Pacification of the Pacific: Commerce and violence during the first contacts between Tongans and westerners"). In P. van der Grijp et al (eds.), Sporen in de antropologie. Nijmegen: IKSA.
___________ 1987. "Een protectoraat in Polynesie: Britse ingrepen in het Tongaanse staatsbestuur" (''A protectorate in Polynesia: British interventions in Tongan state government).'' In A. Borsboom & J. Kommers (red.): Processen van kolonisatie en dekolonisatie in de Pacific. Nijmegen: Sociaal Antropologische Cahiers, vol. XX.
___________ 1987. `'L'ambivalence du progres: Le developpement economique et social aux lIes de Tonga'' ("The ambivalence of progress: economic and social development in the Tongan Islands"). In P. Geschiere & B. Schlemmer (red.), Terrains et perspectives: L'anthropoloaie face aux transformations des societes rurales. aux politiques et aux ideologies du developpement. Paris: Editions de l'Orstom.
__________ 1988. Ideology and Social Inequality in the Tongan Kinship System. Biidragen tot de Taal. Land en Volkenkunde l44/4: 44563.
___________ 1989. "Competitie en conflict tussen Tongaanse hoofdlieden'' ("Competition and conflict among Tongan chiefs"). In A. Boorsboom et al., eds., Antropologische essays. Nijmegen: Sociaal Antropologische Cahiers, vol. XXlII,.
__________ 1989. `'Avonturiers en Zendelingen: Vroege confrontaties op de Tonga Eilanden'' (`'Beachcombers and missionaries: Early confrontations on the Tongan Islands"). Biidraaen tot de Taal. land en Volkenkunde l45/1: 3046.
____________ 1990. `'Polemiek over een Polynesisch koninkrijk'' ("Polemic on a Polynesian Kingdom")." Antropologische Verkenningen 9/1: 3241 (1990).
___________ 1991. "Kerstening, staatsvorming en geweld op de TongaEilanded'' ("Christianization, state formation and violence on the Tonga Islands"). Biidragen tot de Taal. Land en Volkenkunde, in press.
____________. 1991. Tongans: Production, Social Inequality and Modes of Thinking in a Polynesian Kingdom. Dordrecht (Holland) & Providence (USA): Foris Publications (Verhandelingen Koninklijk Institut voor Taal-, Land- and en Volkdenjunde), in press.
____________. 1992. "Culture and Management in a Polynesian Kingdom: Three Tongan Life Histories." In D. Bertaux & P.Thompson, eds., Qualitative Approaches to Social Mobility. London:Sage, in press.
____________. "Giftenverkeer, ruilhandel en wapengekletter: Eerste uitwisselingen tusssen Europa en Plynesie" (Gift circulation, commerce and noise of weapons: First exchanges between Europe and Polynesia." Under review. Zann, Leon. 1990. "Looking for William Mariner and the Treasure of Port au Prince." Geo 12:80-5.
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