Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs"Small's commentaries are graceful, informative, and seasoned by a very deep knowledge of Tongan culture. This book includes one of the sanest and most convincing arguments that I have read for experimentation in the writing of ethnography, which is supported by the text itself as an exemplar of a modest, theoretically unpretentious experiment that works very well indeed." George E. Marcus, Rice University"While a few Californians may be aware of the Tongan immigrant population in their midst, most Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a 'transnational' perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem successfully to manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings." Library JournalThis book documents the momentous social phenomena of mass migration from agricultural ex-colonies and ex-protectorates to the industrial world. Cathy A. Small provides the poignant perspective of one extended family and one village in the Kingdom of Tonga, an independent island nation in the South Pacific which has lost one third of its population to migration since the mid-1960s. Moving between Tonga and California, Small chronicles the experiences of a family from the village of 'Olunga. Some members stayed and some migrated to California, in successive waves in the 1960s-1990s. Through their lives, she presents a striking picture of Tongan culture in the United States. Returning to 'Olunga with family members and their American-born children, Small shows what happened to village life and to kin relationships thirty years after migration began." |
Contents
Departures | 3 |
Arrivals | 51 |
Returns | 121 |
Tradition | 171 |
Travels Ahead | 183 |
Anthropology in a Transnational World | 206 |
Notes | 221 |
Bibliography | 237 |
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Aisake Alyssa American anthropologists asked Atu and Malia Atu's Australia baby bark bush California cash Census changes chapter church coconut cultural relativism culture dance daughter earned economy eldest Emma Eseta and Manu ethnography Fiji Finau friends funeral girl global green cards household identity immigrants important income kautaha kava kids labor land Latu living look Malia and Atu Manu's married mats migration Moala neighbors Nuku'alofa Olunga overseas relatives overseas Tongans Pacific palangi Palu Palu's pandanus parents percent population relationships remember remittances Samiu Sara school fees Seini Sela sister social stay in Tonga story talk tapa cloth tapa-making tell things told Tongan Funerals Tongan island Tongan migrants Tongan village Tongan-Americans Tongatapu traditional wealth Tuʻi Tonga U.S. Government United Vava'u week woman women write Zealand