Tongan Women and Migratory Circuits of Wealth and Value(s)

Abstract

Wealth transfers are key to the “how” and “why” of contemporary global population migration. For example, remittances are much-analyzed and fiercely-debated transfers of wealth from migrant populations to their home countries. Yet wealth can be transferred in the opposite direction – from homeland to hostland – and in various different forms. Using an ethnographic approach to understanding the impact of migrant’s (micro) decisions on wider (macro) global practices, this paper records, compares and contextualizes the global movement of things carried, left behind, pined for, and (re-)created by transmigrants. It seeks to nuance our understandings of the “who” of contemporary migration by tracing the role and cross-cutting paths of traditional wealth from the Kingdom of Tonga between groups of Tongan migrants who live in, and move between New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Hawai‘i. The case study illuminates Tongan women’s choices about carrying and creating objects of value that reify homeland gender and labor practices, while also affording them a role in impacting global wealth transfers that both entwine and eschew cash remittances. <strong></strong>

Engaging with Tapa and Ngatu

“…The practices behind these Tongan treasures are centuries, if not thousands of years old. In Tongan culture, the making of koloa faka-Tonga is considered women's work, a space of gendered wealth production (both economic and social) and knowledge sharing (Addo, 2004;Addo, 2009). A central part of Tongan culture and identity is the gifting of this traditional form of wealth, primarily ngatu (painted mulberry cloth) and other handmade goods such as fala and kie (woven mats from pandanus), at special kavenga (large celebratory ceremonies).…”

“…This wealth includes contributions from women's work, koloa fakatonga (identified above), alongside the outputs of men's work, ngaue, that can consist of agricultural items such as pigs and yams. Both forms of gendered wealth are given at kavenga; however, the women's version of what is gifted has been maintained in a more traditional format as ngatu and mats, unlike the men's work which is nowadays more likely to be replaced with money (Addo, 2004). The gendered aspects of this gifting process are distinct but intertwined, and explains why the gifting of koloa is of interest to most family members, regardless of gender.…”

Pasifika diaspora connectivity and continuity with Pacific homelands: Material culture and spatial behaviour in Brisbane

“…Gershon (2007, 474‒75; 2012) elaborates on the significant Pasifika family webs that interconnect people in Pacific Island homelands and diasporas allowing for the continued exchange and circulation of cultural knowledge and resources. Addo (2015; 2016; 2017) further discusses the importance of material culture in the migratory circuits of wealth and value passed onto generations of Tongan women across the diaspora, interconnecting them to their island homeland of Tonga.…”