Humanities and Social Sciences

Anthropology Program

Tongan History Association Newsletter

Vol.4 No.2, August 1993

Report on the 6th Tongan History Association Conference

The 6th Tongan History Association Conference was held on the Tongan National Centre, Nuku'alofa, from June 23 to June 29, 1993. The Conference took place in the context of the combined celebration of the silver jubilee of His Majesty King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV and His Majesty's 75th birthday. To honour His Majesty, the Tongan History Association presented him with three books bound in leather and with His Majesty's name embossed on the outside. These three books were: Herda et al., Tongan Culture and History (1990) (see review below); Latukefu, Church and State in Tonga (1974); and Campbell, Island Kingdom (1992). The inscription in the books reads: "Presented to His Majesty on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his reign and his 75th birthday, the Tongan History Association."

The proceedings began with an opening address of His Royal Highness Prince Fatafehi Tu'ipelehake and a response by Mrs. 'Eseta Fusitu'a, Chairperson of the 1993 Conference. Dr. Sione Latukefu, President of the Association , gave a welcoming address and Rev. Lopeti Taufa, President of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, delivered the invocation. HRH Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita delivered a short address as the Patron of the Tongan History Association just prior to the first paper. HRH Princess Siu'ilikutapu delivered the closing address following the last paper.

Papers presented were: Dr Sione Latukefu (title unavailable); Hon. Tutoatasi Fakafanua, "Change: Constitutional and Economic"; Prof. Futa Helu, "Polynesian Customs and the Great Migrations: A Speculation"; Dr Elizabeth Wood Ellem, "Customary Landholders in Tonga after the Constitution of 1875"; Rev. Lopeti Taufa, "Christianity"; Mrs Fekita 'Utoikamanu, "The Economy and Foreign Aid"; Mr Kit Velt, "Origins of the Me'etu'upaki and 'Otuhaka; Dr Viliami Tangi, "Paediatric Surgery in Tonga"; Rev. Stephen Donald, "Tongan Politics and the Anglican Church 1899-1913"; Mr Uilou Samani, "Sustainable Development in Tongan," Prof. Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk (title unknown), Mrs 'Eseta Fusitu'a, "Family Unit"; Dr Barbara McGrath, "New Rituals for Contemporary Times," Dr Virginia Conzalez, "The Tonga Islands in Mexican Archives"; Mr Tavake Fusimalohi, "Media"; Wendy Pond, "Unsolved Mysteries of Tongan History"; 'Inoke Hu'akau, "Kava: Facts, Myths, Theories"; Tuila Pusiaki, "Haka"; Tupou Posesi Fanua, "Bits and Pieces of Tongan History"; Drs Phyllis Herda and Wendy Cowling, "Pulotu Revisited"; Edgar Tu'inukuafe, "The Tongan Anglican Mission-Auckland"; Dr Aletta Biersack, "Affinal Politics and the Tongan Ramage"; Finau Kolo, "The Contribution of Tongans Abroad to the Sociopolitical Situation in Tonga"; Dr Adrienne Kaeppler, "Paradise Theme in Modern Tongan Music"; Clive Edwards, "Constitution and the Law"; Dr 'Ana Taufe'ulungaki, "Educational Achievements--A Jewel in the Crown"; Dr Nancy Pollock, "'Uvea's Place in the Early Tongan Empire"; Mrs Mele Taumoepeau, "Ko e Loto'i Tonga"--A Crowning Jewel."

The Conference was organised by Mrs 'Eseta Fusitu'a, together with Afu Taumoepeau, director of the Tongan National Centre. Afu had assistance from Mrs Salote Fukofuka and Mrs Mele Taumoepeau. Mrs Fusitu'a indicated that plans dor publishing the Conference papers were already well developed.

The sponsors of the THA Conference were Royal Tongan Airlines, Tonga Visitors Bureau, Tonga Tourist Association, Australian High Commissioner, British High Commissioner, the Ministry of Education, and the Tongan National Centre. Malo aupito!

Election Officers and Plans for the Next THA Conference

At the business meeting, Dr Sione Latukefu and Prof. Futa Helu were re-elected as President and Vice-President, respectfully, of THA. HRH Princess Pilolevu has kindly agreed to continue as the organisation's patron. The position of Secretary-Treasurer was split between Salote Fukokuka, the Tongan Secretary-Treasurer, and Aletta Biersack, the overseas Secretary-Treasurer. Overseas correspondents are Aletta Biersack, mainland USA; Elizabeth Wood Ellem, Australia; Salote Fukokuka, Tonga; Paul van der Grijp, Europe; Edgar Tu'inukuafe, New Zealand; E Wolfgramm, Hawai'i. In addition to collecting THA membership dues nationally (see "THA Membership Dues are Due !" below), the correspondents are requested to report any news of interest to THA members to Aletta Biersack (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA) so that this news can be reported in the Newsletter. The purpose of dividing the Secretary-Treasurer position was to make it possible to publish Tongan texts in the Newsletter. Those who wish to have Tongan material appear in the Newsletter should contact Salote Fukokuka (USP Centre, PO Box 278, Nuku'alofa, Tonga). In addition, the Association appointed Afu Taumoepeau, the head of the Tongan National Centre, the THA Archivist (see below).

The Tongan History Association has been invited by Guy Powles and John Dalton to hold its next conference in December 1994 or January 1995 at Monash University in Melbourne. The conference will cover Samoa, Fiji, and possibly other countries of the Southwest Pacific as well as Tonga. The THA organiser for this conference will be Dr Elizabeth Wood Ellem (28 View St., Alphington, Melbourne, Victoria 3078, Australia). The nest THA Newsletter will carry a call for papers and further details about the venue and dates. The THA conference following the one in Melbourne is tentatively scheduled for 1997 and will probably take place in Tonga.

THA Facilitates the Creation of an Archive-Library at the Tongan National Centre

During the THA Business Meeting at Nuku'alofa in June 1993, Afu Taumoepeau offered the Association facilities at the Tongan National Centre for a research library. This is an air-conditioned room. Researchers will be able to work in office space nearby. All materials must be used on the premises. Anyone wishing to use the archives are encouraged to contact Afu Taumoepeau (Tongan National Centre, PO Box 2598, Nuku'alofa, Tonga) beforehand.

Members of the THA are encouraged to send in copies of their publications to date, together with index cards, to Afu. Books, published papers, manuscripts, photographs, and maps will be welcome contributions. Please include index cards (5" x 3") for each item sent. For example:

POND W.

Wry comment from the outback: songs of protest from the Niua islands of Tonga. Paper published in Oral Tradition, v. 5, nos 2-3, 1990, pp. 205-218.

NIUA ISLANDS: SONGS

Niuafo'ou, Niuatoputapu, Tafahi.

Kitione Mamata, Huhane Vivi, Loketi Lapuka.

Eric Shumway has already donated the papers of his Tongan research to the archive

Based on a report filed by Wendy Pond

THA Membership Dues Are Due!

The Association decided in its Business Meeting that its fiscal year would run from July 4th to July 3rd, membership dues being due on July 4th of every year. This means that everyone who did not resubscribe at the THA Conference needs to do so to continue their membership for the 1993-94 year. The annual membership fee is $10 in whatever is the member's national currency or $5 in the same currency for students. Send these dues into the THA correspondent for your country. If you live in Tonga, send your dues to Salote Fukokuka; if you live in New Zealand, send your dues to Edgar Tu'inukuafe; and so on. The names and addresses of the correspondents are listed below to facilitate members' sending in their dues to the relevant correspondent. Those who do not resubscribe will not continue to receive the Newsletter, so please do send in your dues.

Correspondent for New Zealand: Edgar Tuinukuafe, Pacific Islanders' Educational Resource Centre, 272 Jervois Road, Herne Bay, PO Box 46-056, Auckland 2, New Zealand.

Correspondent for Australia: Dr Elizabeth Wood Ellem, 28 View St., Alphington, Melbourne, Victoria 3078, Australia.

Correspondent for Europe: Dr Paul van der Grijp, Faculteit der Sociale Wtenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, Weezenhof 67-55, 653 BG Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Correspondent for Tonga: Salote Fukokuka, USP Centre, PO Box 278, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Correspondent for USA: Aletta Biersack, Dept of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA

People

The prolific Paul van der Grijp has published Islanders of the South: Production, Kinship and Ideology in the Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga with KITLV Press (see "Recent Books, Theses, Articles" below for further details). He has another book on historiography in the works, though this has yet to be translated into English. He has also received a two year research fellowship and plans to begin additional fieldwork in Western Polynesian (including Tonga) this fall.

Professor Futa Helu gave two papers in Paris at the National Centre for Scientific Research in November 1991. One was on the brother-sister relation and the other was on the gender relation in ancient and modern Tonga. He also gave two papers in Australia last year. "Heraclitis, Anderson, and Social Science" was given on a panel on the Australian philosopher John Anderson at the 1992 annual meeting of Australia's national anthropological association. "Mythical and Scientific Thinking: A Comparison," was given at a "thinking" conference; and James Cook University will be publishing the papers from that conference. A collection of Professor Helu's papers will be published some time this year.

Kerry James has taken up an appointment at the Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Centre, University of Hawai'i.

Helen Kavapalu is co-teaching a course on "Gender, Colonialism, and Post-Colonialism," a full-year sociology/history/women's studies course (previously titled "Women in the Pacific") at La Trobe University, in Melbourne.

Francoise Marsaudon successfully defended her 900-page thesis on Tonga, Wallis ('Uvea) and Futuna on June 30, 1993, and received a PhD from L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Her thesis--"Les Premiers Fruits: Parente, identite sexuelle et pouvoirs en Polynesie occidentale (Tonga, Wallis et Futuna)"--was prepared under Maurice Godelier and was passed with the French equivalent of cum laude or "with honours" ("avis tres favorable, avec les felicitations du jury"). See "Recent Books, Theses, and Articles" below for further details.

New Members

Thomas Malm is a doctoral student from Sweden studying at the University of Lund. His thesis topic concerns local-global articulations and sociocultural change in the modern Kingdom of Tonga. See "Research Notes" for further information.

Alexei Perminow is a doctoral student at the University of Oslo. His masters thesis, The Long Way Home: Dilemmas of Learning and Deciding on Kotu Island in Ha'apai, Tonga, is about to be published by Scandinavian University Press, Oslo.

Research Notes

Thomas Malm wishes to inform the membership of THA of his doctoral research plans: "My research project [for the doctorate] deals with the relation between local-global articulation and socio-cultural change in the modern Kingdom of Tonga......Since I am still in the planning stage for the research, I am open to any suggestions about what could be important to study and I would welcome ideas from other members of our Association. It would also be very interesting of someone in Tonga would like to co-operate with me in some way," He is interested in learning about and hearing from THA members. Contact him at Department of Social Anthropology, PO Box 114, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden; ph: 046 10 7000.

Book Reviews

Tongan Culture and History: Papers from the First Tongan History Conference 14-17 January 1987
Edited by Phyllis Herda, Jennifer Terrell, and Neil Gunson. Canberra: Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.

The field of Pacific studies has in recent years seen a very successful intermarriage between history and anthropology. This union is reflected in the title of this collection, Tongan culture and history. In fact, the papers represent the full spectrum of possibilities, from the strictly historical (eg. Powles, Wood Ellem), to the purely anthropological (Cowling on migration), with many different blendings of both disciplines. This provides quite a mixture, and although the editors have grouped the papers thematically wherever possible, there is little holding the collection together as a whole apart from the common Tongan focus. It is just unfortunate that a published collection cannot portray the sense of unity that the conference itself generated. Nor can it show the lively nature of the discussions that followed many of the papers, or the exuberance and enthusiasm of the oral presentations--some of which, as at subsequent Tongan History Conferences, included dance and song.

A foreword by Sione Latukefu describes how the original plan for a small history workshop in the Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies at the ANU developed into an international and highly successful conference, held in January 1987. This led to the institution of annual Tongan History Conferences (held to date in New Zealand, Tonga and Hawaii), and the formation os a Tongan History Association. The Tongan membership of this association is significant, and each conference has seen a considerable proportion of the papers presented by Tongan scholars. Only four of the sixteen papers published in this collection are by Tongans, but a further seven presentations at the first conference were also by Tongans. It is a pity that for a various reasons these could not be included in the final publication.

The collection begins with a thoughtful critique by Finau Kolo of notions of 'indigenous history', an issue that has risen in the field of pacific history in recent years. The question he addresses is whether European scholars should leave the writing of Pacific history to Islanders, and whether Western-educated Islanders can indeed produce an 'indigenous history'. Kolo concludes that "Historical perspective's of Pacific Islanders should.......be regarded as complementary to Western academic history' (p. 11). Gunson's paper also touches on this question, then proceeds to examine the 'shamanism' he argues is 'the oldest layer of religious belief and practice in Polynesia' (p. 14).

The remainder of the papers cover a lot of ground, and tend to fall into two categories: those addressing very specific topics and presenting finely detailed evidence and analyses, and more general overviews that draw together a wide range of sources. Some of the topics covered include the use of genealogy and mythology in Tongan historical research, a reconsideration of the chiefly ranking system, early gender relations, and the history of formal law and education. Since much of the previously published literature on Tongan history has a very strong chiefly bias it is refreshing that this collection balances works on chiefly history with studies of broader scope. If the second and subsequent Tongan History Conferences produce similar collections, eventually there will be a substantial and valuable corpus of material on Tongan history that will be an important contribution to Pacific studies. [This review was originally published in Canberra Anthropology; our thanks to Canberra Anthropology for permission to reprint it here.]

Reviewed by Helen Kavapalu

Thomas of Tonga, 1797-1881: The Unlikely Pioneer
by Janet Louisa Luckcock. Peterborough, England: Methodist Publishing House.

This new biography, written by a descendant of the Rev. John Thomas, is unabashedly celebration of his life and work. Dr Luckcock's agenda is made clear at the beginning and again at the close: to rehabilitate the memory of John Thomas, to give him finally his due. Her prime targets here are social scientists and historians who dismiss missionaries as "destroyers of flourishing primitive societies, replacing their proper indigenous mores with quite alien, Victoria middle-class values" (p. 7). In this century, "it has become fashionable to discredit early 'fundamentalist' Victorian Missionaries........, even by church historians, so Thomas has again disappeared from view" (p. 141).

Dr Luckcock's account relies heavily on Thomas's official and private journals, as well as on Mrs Thomas's memoir and journals. Thomas is placed resolutely in a largely papalangi context, amidst fellow missionaries, supervisors, and Australian church officials, We are taken behind the scenes of the mission and given a rare glimpse of the intrigues and troubles brewing within the mission itself and between the Tongan mission and its parent organisations abroad.

Nowadays the notion that history can be impartial and "objective" is viewed by some as old-fashioned. There is no way of telling how it really was, because there is no one unified narrative that can capture all the varied experiences and "voices" of the past. So Luckcock's project holds some interest in this "postmodern" age. Where her approach becomes limited, I believe, is in her failure to consider adequately the Tongan context and the agents operating on the other side of the intercultural encounter that missionisation occasions. For example, she attributes the dramatic jump in numbers of converts between 1829 and 1832 to Thomas's efforts alone, without considering the boost in Taufa'ahau's conversion gave to the missionary enterprise (pp. 85-86). Of course, there is no agreement among sociologists, anthropologists, and historians, the very demons Dr Luckcock singles out for censure, that people who are being colonised (whether merely culturally, through missionaries, or politically and economically) retain a significant level of control over their own. So, despite her recoil from these same people, Dr Luckcock might find some allies in these quarters.

Where the sociologists, anthropologists, and historians would probably part company with her is in her insistence upon conceiving the history of religions in religious terms, which implicitly (and in some places, such as the second appendix, explicitly) she does. Reading Dr Luckcock's study of Thomas reminds us that historiography is always cultural, regardless of who writes the history. Also, in a "postmodern" moment, all stories are equal; and so, to the extent that Dr Luckcock's story reflects Thomas's own, it becomes an important contribution to our understanding of the period upon which she concentrates, 1826-1841.

The book can be ordered from the Methodist Publishing House, 20 Ivatt Way, Peterborough PE3 7PG, Peterborough PE3 7PG.

Reviewed by Aletta Biersack

EDITOR'S NOTE: Book reviews are invited from all THA members. Send them to: Salote A. Fukokuka, USP Centre, PO Box 278, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, or Aletta Biersack, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene 97403, USA

Recent Books, Theses, Articles

Campbell, Ian. 1991. "Constructing General Histories." In Pacific Islands History: Journeys and Transformations, ed. Brij Lal. Canberra: Journal of Pacific History, pp. 46- 59. (Hereafter, PIH.)

Gailey, Christine W. 1992. "State Formation, Development, and Social Change in Tonga." In Social Change in the Pacific Islands, ed. A. Robillard. London: Kegan Paul, pp. 322-345.

Grijp, Paul van der. 1993. Islanders of the South: Production, Kinship and Ideology in the Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga. Leiden: KITLV Press.

Islanders of the South is an ethography of the kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. This is the first book which examines the interplay of Polynesian and Western ideas within contemporary social and economic practices.

The book provides, first, an account of contemporary Tongan society and the main means of subsistence: agriculture, fishing, and manufacturing. An analysis of the kinship system, with its economic, political, and ideological dimensions is intertwined with a discussion of Tongan attitudes on life and death, marriage and divorce, social rights and obligations, migration and remittances. Later chapters deal with the crucial question of land ownership and the circulation of gifts. The aim is to investigate how Tongans live together and how they experience their relationship to nature and to one another. A large number of genealogies, biographies, and case studies help convey this aspect.

Effects on Tonga of global developments--predominantly capitalist in nature--are expressed in the commercialisation of the means of subsistence. Such changes accompanied by technological development and rising living standards (by Western criteria) are often regarded as progress. The author raises doubts about this ideology of progress by referring to aspects of nature and culture in Tonga which are disappearing or are in danger of doing so. Up to now Tongans have been able to preserve the circulation of gifts and economic self-sufficiency to a large extent.

Copies of these can be ordered from KITLV Press, PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, PH 31-71-272372, FAX 31-71-272638. The price is quoted at NLG. 45.00.

-----. 1993. "Christian Confrontations in Paradise: Catholic Proselytizing of a Protestant Mission in Oceania." Anthropos 88:135-152

Gunson, Neil. 1992. "Ani Introduction to Pacific History." In PIH, pp. 1-13.

Helu, 'I. Futa. 1992. "Democracy Bug Bites Tonga." In Culture and Democracy in the South Pacific, eds. R. Crocombe et al. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, pp. 139-152.

-----. 1988. "Tonga in the 1990's." In The Kingdom of Tonga, ed. G Tanham. Washington, DC: Office of the Secretary of Defence.

James, K E 1992. "Christianity in Oceania, a review of John Barker, ed, Christianity in Oceania." Oceania 63:172-181.

Latukefu, Sione. 1992. "The Making of the First Tongan-Born Professional Historian." In PIH, pp. 14-31.

Marsaudon, Francoise. "Les Premiers Fruits: Parente, identite sexuelle et pouvoirs en Polynesie occidentale (Tonga, Wallis et Futuna)" or "First Fruits: Kinship, sexual identity and power in western Polynesia"

In the doctoral thesis "First Fruits" ('Les premiers fruits'), the author tries to demonstrate how the Polynesian society of Tonga has organised the relations between the social order, kinship, and the representations of the intimacy of the person: the body, its substances and the sex-difference (gender). The symbolic gesture of the offering of first fruits is the starting point of the analysis. Crucial aspects of the demonstration are the analysis of the kainga concept--kinship group as well as principle of identity--and the brother-sister relationship in the domestic and the political domain. The thesis is based on the fieldwork material of the author, historical data, and a comparison between Tonga and the societies of Wallis and Futuna, also in Western Polynesia. The author shows how Tonga society constructed in the long run ('longue duree') a sacred hierarchal order, in transforming the structure of kinship groups, remodelling the representations of the person as well as what is sexually at stake herein.

-----. 1986. "Le travail des femmes dans le royaume polynesian de Tonga." In Cote femmes: Approaches ethnologigues, eds. D Champault and J Jamin. Paris: L'Harmattan, pp. 175-192.

Perminow, Alexei. In press. The Long Way Home: Dilemmas of Learning and Deciding on Kotu Island in Ha'apai, Tonga. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.

Conferences, Workshops

October 20-23, 1993: The Impact of American Anthropology's Involvement in American Micronesia. Venue: Tokai University, Hawai'i. Contact: Tisfa Hickson, Outreach Coordinator, at Hawai'i; ph: 808 956-2652

October 27-29, 1993: Land in the South Pacific World, Noumea, New Caledonia, organised by the Association Coordination pour l'Oceanie des Recherches sur les Arts, les Idees et les Litteratures (CORAIL) "The CORAIL group will hold its 6th pluridisciplinary colloquium under the patronage of the Universite Francaise du Pacifique, in Moumea, on the theme 'LAND' in the south Pacific world, in its artistic, geographical, historical, juridical, literary, scientific, social and cultural aspects" (from "Newsletter 28 of the Pacific History Association"). Contact: CORAIL President Bernard Capecchi, GPO Box 4885, Noumea, New Caledonia. FAX: Universite Francaise du Pacifique: 687 254829.

December 1-3, 1993: "Colonial Inheritance: The Pacific Islands Since Independence'" convened by Brij V. Lal and Hank Nelson. Venue: Division of Pacific and Asian History, Research of Asian and Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, December 1-3, 1993. From the conference announcement: "This conference aims to look at the colonial records of the departing powers and assess the value and utility of what was left to the new states. This is not to advocate a broad rewriting of all the colonial period, but to scrutinise states at the point of transition, to assess the material and non-material assets of the going concerns. It is to invite comparisons, and to ask for an evaluation of colonial records and legacies in the light of subsequent events."

December 5-10, 1993: Pacific Islands Political Studies Association will have a conference covering national politics, regional and international politics, local government. Venue: Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Inquiries to Ron Crocombe, Box 130, Rarotonga, Cook Islands; fax: 682 21315.

Notes from the Editor's Desk

Several members of the Association have asked me to publish the members' addresses in the Newsletter. If you have any objection to my publishing your address, let me know. As of the next newsletter, the policy will be to publish all members addresses in the Newsletter except the address of those members who have requested that their address be with held.

I am preparing a list of all the papers that have been given at THA conferences that have been published. If you have given a paper at a THA conference and published it, please tell me the paper's title, what conference it was given at, and where it was published.

My address is: Aletta Biersack, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.

DON'T FORGET: MEMBERSHIP DUES ARE DUE! THOSE WHO FAIL TO RESUBSCRIBE WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE MAILING LIST FOR THE NEWSLETTER, SO SEND YOUR PAYMENTS IN NOW!!

Let others know you are doing and have done! Submit information to the THA Newsletter

Name:

Address:

Occupation:

What research on Tonga do you do or have you done?

Have you published any papers or books on Tonga?

Are you seeking information on any matters pertaining to Tongan culture or history?

Send to: Aletta Biersac, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA; FAX 503 346 0668.

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