Humanities and Social Sciences

Anthropology Program

Tongan History Association Newsletter

Vol.5 No.2, November 1994

Auckland THA Conference is Regional and Comparative in Scope

The next THA conference--"Linking Our Sea of Islands"--will take place from January 26 to 28, 1995, at The University of Auckland. Participating scholars are experts in Samoan, Fijian, and Tongan culture and history. Topics and speakers include: Adrienne Kaeppler, "Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa as a Social System"; Roger Green, "Aspects of Linguistic and Archaeological Correlates for Rank, Status, and Social Organization in Ancestral Polynesian Societies ot Fiji-West Polynesia"; 'Okusitino Mahina, "The Western Polynesian Ancestral Homeland and Afterworid Pulotu: A Consideration of 'Text' and 'Form'; Malama Meleisea: "Land Reform in Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga"; Penelope Schoeffel: "Female Leadership and Women's Associations in Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga"; Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk, "Rank, Status, and Symbolism in Hairstyles of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa"; and Isimeii Cokanasiga, "Issues in Education in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa." Ian Campbell will introduce the entire conference. Each presentation will be responded to by one or more conference participants, and then the floor will be opened up to discussion. For further information, contact Dr. Elizabeth Wood Ellem, History Department, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand; PH 373 7599 ext. 7099 (a. h. 630 8803).

THA Historical Preservation Work Nearing Completion in Kolovai

In the last Newsletter, a notice was carried about THA intentions to preserve Kolovai as a national historic site. The site contains the grave of the first Tu'i Kanokupolu, Ngata, as well as an offshoot of the original koka tree against which the Tu'i Kanokupolu sat as he received a cup of kava and was installed in office. The plans--drawn up by Tevita Latukefu, brother of Dr. Sione Latukefu, President of THA--cail for the placement of a low stone wall around the koka tree. Nearby a memorial stone would be placed, and beyond that Ngata's grave would be terraced through a series of stone walls (see the plan published in THA Newsletter vol. 5, no. 1). This "Pangai Lahi Project" is now nearing completion.

Research Notes

Tupou Posesi Fanua's papers on Tongan culture and traditions are available in microfilm from the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. "Born of Tongan chiefly line in 1913, Tupou Posesi trained first as a nurse and, later, as a lawyer. In 1959 she was seconded by Queen Salote to work for the Tonga Traditions Committee. Until 1986 she travelled extensively in Tonga researching traditions. She has published two volumes of her collected Tongan legends, Po Fananga (1975) and Po Tatala (1982). Since 1982 she has had a variety of short stories and poems published in the journal Faikava. The two reels of microfilm in PMB 1058 span the years 1959-92 and include papers relating to the Tonga Traditions Committee, 195978, including weekly reports, 1962-75, and interview transcripts. Also included is correspondence, 1960-92; papers on Tongan kinship, genealogies, history and culture; drafts and manuscripts of Tupou's traditional stories, verse texts and other writings; papers on pandanus weaving and tapa cloth; interview transcripts, drafts and other papers relating to Queen Salote; and miscellaneous Tongan pamphlets and other publications" (taken from Pambu, 10/94). Inquiries can be directed to the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Room 7004, Coombs Building, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia; PH (06) 249-2521 and FAX (06) 249 0198 (email a.cunninghamicoombs.anu.edu.au.). .

The Journal of Pacific History announces an international essay prize: "'An annual prize of $A200 plus a three-year subscription to The Journal of Pacific History is offered for an academic essay in English or French on any aspect of the history of the Pacific Islands, preferably based on original research, and in length between 5,000 and 8,000 words, by a resident of any country enrolled in an accredited university as an undergraduate, bachelor of letters, master of arts, etc. (providing the author is not a member of academic staff). The winning entry may, with the author's consent, be considered for pubiication in the Journal. Entries should be received by mid-December each year. For further information contact: Journal of Pacific History, c/o Division of Pacific & Asian History, RSPAS, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Austraiia" (taken from the June 1994 Newsletter of The Centre for South Pacific Studies, University of New South Waies).

The Association of Social Anthropologists of Oceania has established a Pacific Isiand Scholars Fund to provide financial support for the participation of indigenous Pacific Island scholars at the ASAO annual meetings. Airfare costs and conference expenses are awarded to the selected individual. Contact Bob Franco, Department of Social Science, Kapi'olani Community College, University of Wasai'i, 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96816, UA; PH: 808 734 9784; FAX 808 734 9151; email: bfrancoQuhuniz.uhcc.hawaii.edu (from ASAO Newsletter, 9/94). Note that the next annual meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists of Oceania at Clearwater Beach, Florida, USA, from February 22 to 25, 1995. For turther particulars about the meeting, contact Terri Aihoshi, PO Box 384975, 68-1744 Laie Street, Waikoloa, Hawaii 96738-4975, USA; PH 808 883 9667.

ASAONET: "'Mike Lieber has just floated ASAONET, a listserv-based operation with the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) as its focal point. In fact, this means that it is a net for association members and businesses, for anthropologists interested generally in the Pacific, and any others who think they might be interested. For further information contact: Dan Jorgensen, Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6a 5C2 or contact ASONET directly through the email address: listserv @ unicvm .uic.edu or listserv @ uicvm .bitnet.

People

Many of you will have met Stephanie Lawson at the 6th THA Conference in Tonga or know her from Australian National University, where she has had an appointment at the Peace Centre, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. She has now completed the manuscript of a book called Tradition Versus Democracy in the South Pacific: Fiji, Tonga, and Westem Samoa and she hopes to have it published within the next two years For information about her publishing plans, contact her at the Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia (fax: 61 6 249 8857).

Edgar Tu'inukuafe's A Simplified Dictionary of Modern Tongan (published by Polynesian Press in 1992 and 278 pages long) may be purchased for NZ$29.95 plus postage from Polynesian Press, PO Box 68446, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand. The book is distributed in the USA through the University of Hawaii Press. Write: UH Press, 2840 Kolowalu St., Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. The US price is unknown. Edgar is also publishing educational books on Tonga for children. He has published, for example, a bilingual preschool book and some bilingual story books; and he has also published another Tongan language book for the children public.

In September 1994, Dr. Francoise Marsaudon started a two-year research position in Marseille, where a new interdisciplinary Oceania research center has been created by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and been placed under the directorship of Maurice Godelier. Dr. Marsaudon's research project is on Kinship, Gender Identity and Power in Western Polynesia.

Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk has moved to the Florida State University to begin a program in Oceanic Art in that university's Department of Art History. Beginning in September 1995, the Department of Art History at Florida State University will offer an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Oceanic art history. Anyone with an interest in pursuing such a degree, or wanting to know more about these breaking developments at Florida State University, should write to Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk, Professor, Department of Art History, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA; PH 904 644 4281.

Recent Articles, Theses, Videos

Bataille-Benguigui, Marie Claire. 1994a. Le Cote de la Mer: Quotidien et Imaginaire Marin aux lles Tonga. In the collection "lles et Archipe," no. 18, Institut de Geographie, CRET, Centre de Recherche sur les Espaces Tropicaux, Universite de Bordeaux III.

__________________________1994b. Pecheurs de Mer, Pecheurs de Terre: La Mer dans la Pensee Tongienne. Etudes Rurales 127-28 (1992), thematic issue "La Terre et le Pacifique," ed. J. F. Bare, pp. 55-73.

__________________________1993a. Parure et Valeur d'Echange, le Tapa en Polynesie. In Le Grand Atlas de /'Art. Encyclopaedia Universalis Ed., pp. 510-11. 1993b. Man-Fish Relationship in the Therapy of Conflict. In SISWO Publication, No. 14, ed., E. K. Hicks, Actes de la Conference Internationale "Science and the Human-Animal Relationship," Amsterdam March 1992, pp. 209-19.

__________________________1992a. "Pecheurs de Mer, Pecheurs de Terre: La Mer dans la Pensee Tongienne." Etudes Rurales 127-28:55-73.. . 1992b. Paquets a double enveloppe et Cuisson au four a pierres chaudes en Polynesie Occidentale. In Cuisines du Monde, Gestes et Recettes, eds. F. Duosin and S. Monzon, pp. 70-104.

__________________________1992c. Dit et Non-dit des Femmes dans la Peche aux lles Tonga. Anthropologie Maritime, Cahier No. 4, Actes de la Table-ronde, "Statuts et Fonctions des Femmes dans les Communautes Maritimes et Fluviales, May 14-15, 1990, pp. 159-67.

__________________________1991a. Tenure Maritime et Gestion des Ressources aux lles Tonga. In La Recherche face a la Peches Artisanales. Symposium International Orstom/lfremer, Montpellier 3-7 juillet, 1989, 2 vols., pp. 825-33. 1991 b. Un des Effets de l'lnsularite: les Migrations aux lles Tonga, Polynesie Occidentale. Actes du colloque international de Brest (Nov. 1 989), "Territoires et Societes Insuiaires," pp. 231-38.

__________________________1989a. La Peche artisanale aux lles Tonga: Antagonisme entre Projets de Developpement et Traditions. Aquatic Living FResources 5:1-13.

__________________________1989b. Des Techniques de Peche ritueiles aux lles Tonga (Polynesie occidentale). Anthropozoologica. Special number 3, Actes du colloque international de Compiegne, November 1988. "Animal et Pratiques Religieuses, Manifestations Materielles," pp. 181 -86.

Burley, D. V. 1993. Chiefly Prerogatives Over Critical Resources: Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Symbolic Landscapes in the Ha'apai Islands, Kingdom of Tonga. In Culture and Environment: A Fragile Coexistence, eds. R. W. Jamieson, S. Abonyi, and N. Mirau. Calgary: University of Calgary, Archaeological Association, pp. 347-53.

___________ 1992. Archaeological Research in the Ha'apai islands Kingdom of XTonga: Activities of the 1991 Field Season. MS on file, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, and Prime Minister's Office, Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

___________1991. Archaeological Research in the Ha'apai Islands Kingdom of Tonga: A Report on the 1990 Field Season. MS on file in Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, and Prime Ministers Office, Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

___________In press a. Settlement Pattern and Tongan Prehistory: Reconsiderations from Ha'apai. Joumal of the Polynesian Society.

___________In press b. The Temple of Faleme'e: Archaoelogical and Anthropological Contexts of a Pre-Christian God-House in the Kingdom of Tonga. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology.

___________n.d. As a claim to Power: The Royal Tombs of Mala'e Lahi and the Reconfiguration of Tongan Kingship in the 19th Century. Antiquity. Campbell, lan. 1994. The Doctrine of Accountability and the Unchanging Locus of Power in Tonga. Journal of Pacific History 1:81-94.

Dickinson, William R., David V. Burley, and Richard Shutler, Jr. 1994. Impact of Hydrolsostatic Holocene Sea-Level Change on the Geologic Context of Island Archaeological Sites, Northern Ha'apai Group, Kingdom of Tonga. Geoarchaeology 9:85-111.

van der Grijp, Paul. 1993a. Women's Handicrafts and Men's Arts: The Production of Material Culture in the Kingdom of Tonga. Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes 97:15969.

________________1993b. Cognatische verwantschap en gemeeschappelijk grondbezit in Polynesie: Een vergelijkende studie van de 'kainga' in Futuna, Uvea en Tonga. lCognatic kinship and common property of land in Polynesia: the societies of Tonga, Futuna and Uvea compared (co-author: Francoise Marsaudon). In Culturen van gemeen bezit, eds. H. Marks and J. van de Ven. Special issue of Focaal-Tiidschrift voor Antropologie 20:10330.

________________1993c. After the Vanilla Harvest: Stains in the Tongan Land Tenure System. Journal of the Polynesian Society 102:233-53. .

________________1993d. The Making of the Modern Chiefdom State: The Case of Tonga. In Politics, Tradition and Change in the Pacific, eds. P. van der Grijp and T. van Meijl. Special issue of Biidragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 149:661-72.

Gunson, Niel. 1993. Understanding Polynesian Traditional History. Journal of Pacific History 28:1 39-58.

Hau'ofa, Epeli. 1994. Thy Kingdom Come: The Democratization of Aristocratic Tonga. The Contemporary Pacific 6:414-428.

Helu, Futa. 1993. Identity and Change in Tongan Society since European Contact. Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes 97:187-94.

James, Kerry. 1994a. The Rhetoric and Reality of Change and Development in Small Pacific Communities. Introduction to Pacific Village Economies: Opportunity and Livelihood in Small Communities, ed. K. James. Special Issue, Pacific Viewpoint.

___________1994b. The Prodemocracy Movement in Tonga. Pacific Affairs.

___________1994c. Effeminate Males and Changes in the Construction of Gender in Tonga. Pacific Studies 17:34-57.

___________In press. Right and Privilege in Tongan Land Tenure. In Land, Custom and Practice in the South Pacific, eds. R. G. Ward and E. Kingdon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kirch, Patrick V. 1989. Monumental Architecture and Power in Polynesian Chiefdoms: A Comparison of Tonga and Hawaii. World Archaeology 22:206-22.

Latukefu, Sione. In press. The Pro-Democracy Movement in Tonga. Journal of Pacific History.

Marsaudon, Francoise. 1993. Cognatische verwantschap en gemeeschapeilijk grondbezit in Polynesie: Een vergelijkende studie van de 'kainga' in Futuna, Uvea en Tonga." [Cognatic kinship and common property of land in Polynesia: The societies of Tonga, Futuna and Uvea compared (co-author: Paul van der Grijp). In Culturen van gemeen bezirs eds. Hans Marks en John van de Ven, special issue of Focaal-Tiidschrift voor Antropologie 20:10330.

__________________ 1992. La geographie du surnaturel chez les polynesiens des lles Tonga (Pacifique Sud). Annales de la Fondation Fyssen 7:33-47.

__________________ 1990. Book review (in French) of E. N. Ferndon, Early Tonga as the Explorers Saw It, 1616- 1810. L 'Homme 113 (XXX- 1) :194-96.

Morton, Helen. in press. Review of Paul van der Grijp's Islanders of the South. Canberra Anthropology.

Perminow, A. Aleksej. 1994. Contribution to Pacific Village Economies: Opportunity and Livelihood in Small Communities, ed. K. James. Special Issue, Pacific Viewpoint.

Tu'inukuafe, Edgar. 1992. A Simplified Dictionary of Moden Tongan. Auckland: Polynesian Press (see Research Notes).

Valeri, Valerio. 1994. A Brief Rejoinder on Tongan Diarchy. History and Anthropology 6:411 -1 8.

____________ In press. On Female Presences and Absences in Heavenly Places. Oceania.

Further Information on Theses on Tonga by Thomas Maim and Paul van der Grijp

Bloomfield, S. A. 1986. Is Health What We Want?: A Conceptual View of Traditional Health Practices in Tonga with Special Emphasis on Maternal Child Health and Family Planning. M.S. thesis. School of Social and Economic development, University of the South Pacific.

Claessen, H. 1970. Van vorsten en volken: Een beschrijvende en functioneet-vergelijkende studie van vijf schriftloze vorstendommen. Ph.D. diss., University of Amsterdam.

Conner, J. B. 1983. Polynesian Basketry. M.A. thesis, University of Auckland.

Faka'osi, Sione Lanivia. 1993. Land Tenure System: Changes and Constraints in Tongan Society. M.A. thesis in Sociology. Canberra: Australian National University.

Kavaliku, S. L. 1966. Educational Reorganisation for National Development in Tonga. Ph.D. diss., Victoria University of Wellington.

Mafi, T. V. 1973. The Role of Education in National Development in Tonga. M.A., University of London.

Mahina, 'Okusitino. 1992. The Tongan Traditional History: Tala-e-fonua. A vernacular ecology-centered historico-cultural concept. Ph.D. diss., Australian National University.

Marsaudon, F. 1993. Les premiers fruits: parente, identite sexuelle et pouvoirs en Polynesie occidentale (Tonga, Wallis et Futuna). L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris). Ph.D. (Incorrectly cited as Les premieres fruits in the previous THA newsletter.)

Moblo, Pennie. 1984. Hurricane in Tonga: The Cultural Definition of Natural Disaster. M.A. in anthropology, California State University, Sacramento, California.

Morgan, Chris. 1985. Competing Circuits in the Vava'u social Economy. Ph.D. diss., Australian National University.

Powles, Charles Guy. 1979. The Persistence of Chiefly Power and Its Implications for Law and Political Organization in Western Polynesia. Ph.D. diss., Australian National University.

Rogers, Garth. 1975. Kai and Kava in Niuatoputapu: Social Relations, Ideologies and Context in a Rural Tongan Community. University of Auckland. Ph.D. (Incorrectly listed as Kau and Kava .... in the previous newsletter.)

Spenneman, D. H. 1989. 'Ata 'a Tonga Mo 'Ata 'o Tonga: Early and Later Prehistory of the Tongan Islands. Ph.D. diss., Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.

Thaman, Randolph. 1975. The Tongan Agricultural System: With Special Emphasis on Plant Assemblages. Ph.D. diss., University of California at Los Angeles. *

Tuinukuafe, Karl. 1976. Overseas Trained Tongans and Their Contributions to the Modern Development of Tonga. M.A. thesis, University of Auckland.

Warwick, W. D. 1974. Tongans in Auckland: A Preliminary Investigation in a Tongan Community in the Central Urban Area. Ph.D. diss., Massey University (Parlmerston North) .

Wiemer, Hans-Jurgen. 1982. Agrarstruktur in Tonga: Eine Sozial- und Wissenschaftsgeographische Analyse der Relation von Landrecht und Landnutzung im Kontext wachsender Marktorientierung am Bespiel eines Inselstaates im Sudpazific. Dissertation Technische Hockschule Aachen.

Book Reviews

Campbell, I. C. 1992. Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.
By Aletta Biersack

As both the author and Dr. Sione Latukefu state in the Preface and the Foreword respectively, the only other comprehensive history of Tonga, A. H. Wood's History and Geography of Tonga, is now many years old and is restricted in its scope. Noel Rutherford's Friendly Islands presents no integrated history of Tonga and is more suitable for the specialist than for the general reading public. Campbell's book provides the first full-scale overview of (incorporating archaeological, historical, and cultural anthropological insights into) Tongan history, and it does so in a way that is accessible to the general reader. With the exception of the Rutherford anthology, this book is broader in scope than any previous text. It covers the periods addressed by Elizabeth Bott's Tonga at the Time of Captain Cook's Visits (1982), Elizabeth Wood Ellem's "Queen Salote Tupou lil and Tungi Mailefihi" (1981), Christine Gailey's From Kinship to Kingship (1987), Phyllis Herda's "The Transformation of the Traditional Polity (1988), Sione Latukefu's Church and State in Tonga (1974), 'Okusitino Mahina's "Religion, Politics, and the Tu'i Tonga Empire" (1986) and "The Tongan Traditional History: Tala-e-fonua" (1992), and A. H. Wood's A History and Geography of Tonga (1932) and presents far more systematically than Edward Gifford's landmark Tongan Society a coherent summary and reading of Tongan history.

In Island Kingdom, Campbell covers some well-traversed terrain: the rise of the Tu'iha'atakalauas and later the rise of the Tu'i Kanokupolus, the decline of the Tu'i Tonga, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, missionization and conversion, the conflict between Baker and Moulton and the traumatic character of the final decade of Tupou l's reign, the controversies surrounding Tupou II and Queen Salote's succession, the turmoil of the early period of her reign and the triumph of the final 20 to 25 years, and the modernizing efforts of His Majesty. Campbell succinctly and masterfully reiterates this narrative, augmenting it strategically with discussions of the reasons for the mass conversion of

Campbell, I. C. 1992. Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.
By Aletta Biersack

As both the author and Dr. Sione Latukefu state in the Preface and the Foreword respectively, the only other comprehensive history of Tonga, A. H. Wood's History and Geography of Tonga, is now many years old and is restricted in its scope. Noel Rutherford's Friendly Islands presents no integrated history of Tonga and is more suitable for the specialist than for the general reading public. Campbell's book provides the first full-scale overview of (incorporating archaeological, historical, and cultural anthropological insights into) Tongan history, and it does so in a way that is accessible to the general reader. With the exception of the Rutherford anthology, this book is broader in scope than any previous text. It covers the periods addressed by Elizabeth Bott's Tonga at the Time of Captain Cook's Visits (1982), Elizabeth Wood Ellem's "Queen Salote Tupou lil and Tungi Mailefihi" (1981), Christine Gailey's From Kinship to Kingship (1987), Phyllis Herda's "The Transformation of the Traditional Polity (1988), Sione Latukefu's Church and State in Tonga (1974), 'Okusitino Mahina's "Religion, Politics, and the Tu'i Tonga Empire" (1986) and "The Tongan Traditional History: Tala-e-fonua" (1992), and A. H. Wood's A History and Geography of Tonga (1932) and presents far more systematically than Edward Gifford's landmark Tongan Society a coherent summary and reading of Tongan history.

In Island Kingdom, Campbell covers some well-traversed terrain: the rise of the Tu'iha'atakalauas and later the rise of the Tu'i Kanokupolus, the decline of the Tu'i Tonga, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, missionization and conversion, the conflict between Baker and Moulton and the traumatic character of the final decade of Tupou l's reign, the controversies surrounding Tupou II and Queen Salote's succession, the turmoil of the early period of her reign and the triumph of the final 20 to 25 years, and the modernizing efforts of His Majesty. Campbell succinctly and masterfully reiterates this narrative, augmenting it strategically with discussions of the reasons for the mass conversion of Tongans to Christianity, Tonga's position regionally and internationally, as this position has varied over time, the importance of education ever since the first conversions and including the work of 'Atenisi Institute, and a summary of the inception of the Pro-Democracy Movement.

Island Kingdom is a well-written, lively synthesis of unprecedented scope and mastery of the primary and secondary literature. Campbell does not purport to offer the final word on a number of important topics. Rather, he marshalls evidence and reviews and debates key points, closing each chapter with a small bibliography of important sources. The book offers numerous points of departure for later discussion and research, and will focus and stimulate debate in the future. In the meantime, lan Campbeli has made a major contribution in preparing a text that is both accessible to a general public and of sufficiently high calibre to take its place on the small shelf of books that all who are interested in Tongan cultural and political history, whether to obtain an overview or to pursue scholarly research, must consult.

Perminow, Arne Aleksej. 1993. The Long Way Home: Dilemmas of Everyday Life in a Tongan Village. Oslo: The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture and Scandinavian University Press.
By Aletta Biersack

The call for a greater focus on commoners in Tongan ethnography and history is as old as Shulamit Dekktor-Korn's "Tongan Kin Groups: The Noble and the Commoner View" (Journal of the Polynesian Society, 1974). No doubt in part because of the important role Queen Salote played as patron of anthropological and historical efforts, her interest in codifying elite practices and knowledge, and her sponsorship of particular scholar's efforts--ones such as Elizabeth Bott, Edward Winslow Gifford, Adrienne Kaeppler, and Sione Latukefu who have had a powerful impact on Tongan historiography and the anthropologist's perception of what there is to know about Tonga--the elite have continued to have a strong presence in scholarly writing on Tonga. Perminow's The Long Way Home takes its place among a distinguished yet still spare collection of master's and doctoral theses that focus on village life and "the everyday life of the king's subjects in a local community" (p. 5). That he located in Ha'apai (in a small village called Kotu) makes this contribution doubly rare, since very little work has been done in this part of the Tongan archipelago.

In particular, Perminow focuses on intra-archipelago migration, particularly with respect to youth: their shifts from the village and largely to the capital island, largely for purposes of education. He accounts for this internal migration in terms of the "pushes" on unmarried youth deriving from the asymmetric relationships in the society--in particular, the father's "authority" and the mehekitanga's and sister's "respect" (p. 108 ff.)--as well as from the "pulls" of economic ambitions, the desire for education, and the lure of city life. In the course of exploring the "situation of youths," Perminow drops many ethnographic pearls: concerning the way cross-sex relations function in the kava ceremony, for example, the nature of the conjugal relationship as it differs from the brother-sister relationship, the distinction between pule and faka'apa'apa, and the differences and similarities between relatively formal and relatively informal kava ceremonies. Perminow makes an important contribution in examining in some detail a church response to a perceived threat to the foundations of Tongan culture in the form of drinking kava papalangi, iiquor. Here he makes use of Bourdieu's distinction between orthodoxy and heterodoxy (Outline of a Theory of Practice), arguing that the seminar-type event that the evangelists of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga run to counter any tendency toward drinking among youth provides an arena in which to reassert and render explicit what are perceived to be the founding values of Tongan culture and to stem any "heterodoxic" impulse that might emerge during a stay in Nuku'alofa and a brush with Tongan urban culture.

More broadly, Perminow's theme is "the process by which individuals become and remain part of or become alienated from a specific culture" (p. 10). In this enterprise, he is rightly suspicious of the sociological concept of "socialization," which can explore neither individual variation nor any resistance to normalizing pressures, much less any alienation from society. In focusing on "a dynamic potential for variation and change" (p. 13), Perminow makes the experiences of youth a window on historical processes. In so doing, he explores the relationship between structure and event, constraint and freedom, advocated in the work of Barth, Bourdieu, Giddens, Sahlins, and several others. This relationship is taken up specifically with reference to "a process of deciding" (p. 130). Here Perminow refutes the validity of the assumptions of the "action-centered" approach--that choices are, free, responsive to individual interests, and designed to maximize benefits--and focuses on the decision-making process per se, the "long way home" of his title. This allows him to discover "the empirical degree to which cultural conceptions expressed in the character of social interaction constrain the freedom of choice" (ibid.). Perminow concludes that "decisions are arrived at gradually, influenced by numerous factors during a prolonged period," and that though they tend to be culturally conservative, the door to introducing "cultural discontinuities" (p. 132) is always open. That being the case, along with Sahlins Perminow would insist that there is always "a risk for the revaluation of ideas in their use to engage the world" (p. 138) and that cultural transformation is one possible outcome.

In one sense The Long Way Home provides an ethnographic complement to Campbell's Island Kingdom, whose refrain is that in the last two centuries, whatever the changes, there have also been significant continuities. Perminow's work shows how, though contemporary Tonga is culturally plural, heterodox impulses are curbed by the unifying force of a very selfconscious representation that Tongans make to themselves about themselves--through elite and ecclesiastical pronouncements (and anthropologists' and historians' accounts?)--of who they are. This is a fresh, stimulating, and insightful contribution to the study of contemporary Tongan culture and to the changes taking place today. It would be interesting to see how far Perminow's treatment of intra-archipelago migration would take us in an examination of international migration and where we would have to draw the limits of its analytical power.

THA Membership and Addresses: An Update

Dr. Bataille-Benguigui, Dr. Marie Claire: (professional) Musee de l'Homme-Departement Technologie comparee, 17 place du Trocadero 75 116 Paris, and (home) 5 Passage Bullourde-H.2, 75 011 Paris.

Fanua, Tupou Posesi: PO Box 302, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

van der Grijp, Dr. Paul: Weezenhof 67-55, 6536 BG Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Hixon, Margaret: 43 Brooklands Road, Nelson, New Zealand.

James, Dr. Kerry: 591 Hahaione St., #B201, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825, USA.

Marsaudon, Dr. Francoise: Weezenhof 67-55, 6536 BG Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Mone, Flev. Havili: c/o Sia'atoutai Theological College, Tongatapu, Tonga

Morris, Avigail: Kibbutz Ketura, D. N. Chevel Eilot 88840, Israel

Morton, Dr. Helen: 2 Moran Street, Viewbank, Victoria 3084, Australia.

Moyle, Dr. Richard: Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1, New Zealand.

Teilhet-Fisk, Dr. Jehanne, Department of Art History, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA.

Tu'inukuafe, Edgar: 36 Sequoia Place, Sunnynook, Auckland 1310, New Zealand.

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