Tonga

People migrate to improve their well-being, whether through an expansion of economic and social opportunities or a reduction in persecution. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a very stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health reducing the net benefits of migration. However, to truly understand the effect of migration on mental health one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would have been had they stayed in their home country. The existing literature is not able to do this and typically settles for comparing the mental health of migrants to that of natives in the destination country,which takes no account of any pre-existing differences between these groups. This paper overcomes the selection problems affecting previous studies of the effect of migration on mental health by examining a migrant lottery program. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a lottery used to choose amo...

In 2015, the Paris Climate Change Agreement was adopted, and in the ensuing years, countries, along with researchers, civil society and industry have been debating how to implement concrete action to address the climate challenge. The link between climate change and human security was first recognised in the early 2000s. This paper examines how climate change has exacerbated uncertainty and instability in vulnerable populations in different regions. It achieves this by looking at diverse national and local experiences through multiple policy lenses, namely, the proliferation of extreme weather events, coastal erosion and sea level rise, internal displacement, cross border migration, and climate change as a threat multiplier. It looks at specific cases in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands and the Levant to understand how human (in)security is being affected by climate change. It also addresses the future of global climate policy by assessing the current state of climate policies in light of the Paris Agreement. Global action on climate change is urgent. While many developed countries like to avoid notions of climate justice and differentiated responsibilities, the reality for the most vulnerable countries is that supranational policy is crucial if they are to tackle the climate challenge at home. This paper emphasises the importance of having meaningful and focused national climate adaptation and mitigation policies in place in order to address both the avoidable and unavoidable impacts of climate change on the economy, the culture and ultimately the security of a country.

This study finds that as climate change plays an increasingly important role in discussions of security, comprehensive strategies are needed to respond to climate-induced security threats and geopolitical (in)stability both nationally and around the world. The Paris Agreement was a good first step in driving countries to commit to curbing emissions and drafting climate adaptation action plans. We now need the global climate regime – including countries, industry, and researchers – to step up to the plate and implement effective policies if we are to limit the serious impacts of climate change. The findings in this paper aims to contribute
to the global debate around security and climate change.

The impact of widespread international labor migration on the family in Tonga is examined. The author describes how migration has affected gender and kinship relations. She also examines the ways in which church and state ideologies encourage the development of the nuclear family, while overseas labor migration creates a need to maintain extended support systems among family networks.

To explore the knowledge and attitudes underlying contraceptive use and non-use among Tongan adults and investigate the potential acceptability of contraceptive implants. A mixed methods study was conducted that used two focus groups and a short self-completed survey (n=109). Participants were recruited from a Tongan non-governmental sexual and reproductive health clinic. Contraceptive method discontinuation was high among the study group, with reasons for discontinuation often relating to misconceptions circulating in the community about the side effects of contraceptives. A high proportion (38%) reported using 'natural' contraceptive methods. A total of 47% of survey participants reported having heard of implants and 37% indicated they would be willing to try them. Current Tongan contraceptive uptake and continuation is hampered by misconceptions about side effects of methods and their risks, particularly among long-acting and reversible methods. Contraceptive implants may...

This baseline builds on the previous localisation baselining work in Vanuatu. The international humanitarian sector is currently developing ways to measure progress on localisation following the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. This has also been a key issue for humanitarian actors in the Pacific region. Generating an evidence base on localisation is important in order to demonstrate what change is happening and the impact it is having. This report provides a baseline snapshot of localisation in Tonga.

This article examines the teacher preparation experiences of preservice teachers in six international contexts: China, Fiji, Kiribati, Mexico, Samoa, and Tonga. More specifically, it looks at the value-added components in an international teacher education program, with an emphasis on effective teaching and employability. Theoretically the study is based on Strauss and Corbin's (1998a) substantive grounded theory and Patton's (1997) Theory of Action Framework. Verbal and non-verbal forms of feedback were identified as essential aspects of the international preservice training experience. Cultural diversity, teaching English as a second language, collaboration, and exposure to a different educational system were identified among several components as advantages to individuals who conduct their preservice teacher training in international settings. Abstrak Artikel ini mengkaji pengalaman pelatihan calon guru di enam konteks internasional: Cina, Fiji, Kiribati, Meksiko, Samoa...

This article examines deep and contemporary history through analysis of the Tongan kava origin story, a kava chant, the rise of the kalapu ‘kava club’ in the twentieth century and the growing expansion of contemporary kava. It is argued that a key function of past and present kava practices is a ritual liminality of noa ‘neutralisation of protective restrictions’ that results from mediating mana ‘potency, honour’ and tapu ‘protective restrictions, set apart’. This is supported through ethnohistorical literature, song lyrics and ethnographic data. While the expressions, purpose, material and uses of kava evolve and change throughout time and space, from the titular ceremonies to the social rituals, they are connected through contextually specific mediations that establish noa. The kava origin story indicates a performance of mediations between ancient power relations, while the kava chant describes material culture alongside the establishment of the ritualised chiefly kava ceremony. Kalapu and the expanding contemporary kava practices today maintain connections to past practices while adapting to current circumstances such as global Tongan mobility and cultural diversity.

This thesis presents the results of an archaeobotanical study of agricultural development in the Kingdom of Tonga. Prior to this study, there has been no direct archaeological evidence for agriculture in Tongan prehistory. Through the implementation of systematic archaeobotanical techniques, this study aimed to fill this gap and address two key research questions: 1) whether early colonisers were dependent on introduced crops, or if human dispersal was fuelled predominantly by the exploitation of natural resources; and 2) whether archaeobotanical data can provide new evidence to examine the role of agriculture within the development of the maritime chiefdom in Tonga through agroecological modelling.
This research was divided into two main phases. The first involved the construction of a comprehensive comparative collection for macrobotanical (vegetative storage and fruit parenchyma and endocarp), and microbotanical (starch) components of economic and supplementary plant taxa from Tonga. As part of this, a study of the morphological attributes of starch and parenchyma was conducted that incorporated multivariate statistical analyses of diagnostic attributes. Two methods for taxonomic classification were suggested: automated classification using Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) of starch, and the use of an Identification Flowchart Key for parenchyma.
In the second phase of research, archaeobotanical data from three sites on Tongatapu, representing three different time periods in Tongan prehistory, is presented. Macrobotanical and microbotanical remains were extracted from these sites using flotation, wet-sieving and bulk stratigraphic sampling and compared to a comprehensive reference collection using a combination of SEM and light microscopy. Sampled cultural deposits at Talasiu (2750-2650 cal BP), Leka (1300-1000 cal BP) and Heketa (800-600 cal BP) present new insights into the role of plant taxa within late-Lapita, the Formative Period, and early stages of the Classic Tu’i Tonga chiefdom. Modelling using techniques from Human Ecology, specifically agroecology, replicated past production systems using measures of system efficiency such as nutritional value of taxa, labour investment and productivity in terms of yields. These were compared to expectations based on current literature, and a revised chronology for agricultural development and links to social complexity is presented.
This study demonstrates that multivariate statistical analysis and identification flowcharts enable the discrimination of starch and vegetative storage parenchyma from most Tongan plant taxa based on metric and nominal morphological attributes. When applied to archaeobotanical data these techniques indicate that most staple cultigens and some supplementary or famine foods were brought to Tonga within a few hundred years of initial Lapita colonisation. Late prehistoric introductions likely included the sweet potato (Ipomoea
v
batatas) by 600 BP, transported via East Polynesia through the extensive trade networks of the developing Tongan state. Modelling past production systems linked decreased system nutritional efficiency over time to horticultural specialisation in primary crops and increasingly centralised government on Tongatapu. Critically, this analysis modelled the high nutritional efficiency of Lapita subsistence, and linked this to the division of labour investment between both economic and supplementary species within a decentralised social hierarchy.

Language death has received a great deal of scholarly attention since late 1980s.) are important labors in the field calling the scholarly world and language enthusiasts to the sad realities of vanishing tongues and also exploring the causes of language death in different socio-political enclaves. This paper reviews the social mechanisms that engender language death in postcolonial countries with focus on the Pacific Islands. The paper shows that beyond the issues of colonization and it multifaceted effects, urbanity and the rise of urban vernaculars constitute new strands of endangerment to indigenous languages. Drawing on research facts from Tonga, the factors that endanger the language and the responses from concerned agencies to forestall language loss are enumerated.

The Tonga people who are found in different parts of southern Africa and speaking a distinct set of languages have been the subject of varying degrees of research and interpretations. Ethnic terms including Thonga and Tsonga have been used to refer to a group often seen to have no meaningful relationship with the individual groups referred to as Tonga. Being subjected to a range of meanings and definitions, Tsonga as a term used to identify a group living in South Africa is often attributed to denote solely the name of a language, and through this common perspective its speakers are consequently stripped of any form of ownership in identity through its associated criticisms, as the term is seen to have been brought into use by missionaries in the late 1800s. The Tonga people, including the Tsonga and some other early tribes that are found in various parts of southern Africa near rivers and lakes, and at areas that have much archaeological significance, indicate a very early pattern of settlement at regions in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa respectively. The history of the migrations of African people from different parts of Africa into southern Africa is put into perspective through the present research. This paper investigates the history of the Tonga people to determine their early periods of settlement, and focuses on the regions and activities of the Beja Tonga in particular. Documented research shows the term Tonga had referred to old inhabitants of Mozambique prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in Africa. Subsequent names as Thonga and Tsonga were extracted from this old name that was used to refer to the Tonga people of southern Mozambique. Seen to bear derogatory or undesirable connotations, and a desire to ascertain ethnic identities that were impacted by colonial rule, the name Tonga fell into disassociation in the South African context, being supplemented by Tsonga. Among South African Tsonga-speaking groups an association with an ancient group know as the Beja Tonga is survived through the history of the Maluleke who are one of the subgroups of the N'wanati clan, who essentially had an ancient empire encompassed by the dynastic kingdoms of Tongwe, Manyika, Makwakwa, and the Mondlane, with other smaller states comprised of various subject tribes that carried distinct linguistic aspects and effectively referred to as Tonga.

The South Pacific forms a cohesive region with broadly similar cultural attributes, legal systems, and colonial histories. A comparative analysis starts from the assumption that these countries should have similar criminal justice policies. However, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Tonga are retentionist death penalty outliers in the South Pacific, a region home to seven other fully abolitionist members of the United Nations. In this article we use the comparative method to explain why PNG and Tonga currently pursue a different death penalty trajectory than their regional neighbours. Eschewing the traditional social science explanations for death penalty retention, we suggest two novel explanations for ongoing retention in PNG and Tonga: the law and order crisis in the former, and the traditionally powerful monarchy in the latter.

Le mythe d'Héraklès en Occident, de Dionysos en Inde, depuis le haut archaïsme grec jusqu'à l'époque romaine permet d'appréhender comment les anciens ont toujours voulu repousser plus loin les limites du monde connu. Les terres, les îles découvertes sont rarement accueillantes, souvent habitées par des monstres anthropophages. Les héros du parcours que sont Héraklès, Dionysos ou les Maui tongiens ont pour mission de contrecarrer les forces démoniaques afin que ces terres et ces îles passent de l'état de "nature" à l'état de "culture". En repoussant toujours plus loin les "eschatiai" du monde insulaire connu, les Maui ont ainsi réalisé, selon la tradition orale, le peuplement des Tonga

The draft paper as at 24th April which is updated from the draft made for the oral presentation session (5th April 2017 does not contain any references and text errors needed corrections). The paper is still being worked on with more sections being added with some aspect areas clarified in more detail. Others are being reviewed. Due to the closure of the Parliament in the UK early for the snap elections, the text is still unfinished and will be resumed for the new Parliament session with no end date set yet. The document is best viewed by a download to Microsoft Word as web browsers tend to muddle the layout. Please note that the ice sheet mass balance changes occur mainly in nearby Iceland, Jan Mayen and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rather than Greenland itself. (High viscous, low nucleation events pushing very cool, effusive, almost 'solid' lava incursions vertically up like the Mascarene volcanism of Mauritius are rare anomalies from a misaligned hotspot influencing further afield - and therefore far less likely.)

The MIRAB economic model of Pacific island microstates was developed in the mid-1980s by the New Zealand economists, Bertram and Watters, and dominated the literature on the economics of small island nations until alternative models were proposed two decades later. Nevertheless, it is still an influential theory. MIRAB is an acronym for migration (MI), remittance (R) and foreign aid (A) and the public bureaucracy (B); the main components of the MIRAB model. The nature of this model is explained and the importance of distinguishing between the two processes involved in it (one based on foreign aid and the other on overseas remittance) is emphasised. Evidence is given of the importance of migration and overseas remittance for the functioning of some Pacific island microstates, such as Tonga. Yet, it is argued that no single model adequately typified the economic situations of Pacific microstates because of their diversity. Even economies that have been classified as MIRAB economies can be very different. The newer SITE and PROFIT models have similar limitations. In order to understand adequately the economic situation of Pacific island microstates (including their economic vulnerability, their sustainability, and political merchantabilities), it is necessary to take a more holistic approach which takes account of historical, cultural and environmental factors. This is illustrated by the case of Nauru.

The MIRAB model of Pacific island micro-economies was developed in the mid-1980s by the New Zealand economists, Bertram and Watters, and dominated the literature on the economics of small island nations and economies until alternative models were proposed two decades later. Nevertheless, it is still an influential theory. MIRAB is an acronym for migration (MI), remittance (R) and foreign aid (A) and the public bureaucracy (B); the main components of the MIRAB model. The nature of this model is explained and the importance of distinguishing between the two processes involved in it (one based on foreign aid and the other on overseas remittance) is emphasised. Evidence is given of the importance of migration and overseas remittance for the functioning of some Pacific island microstates, such as Tonga. Yet, it is argued that no single model adequately typifies the economic situations of Pacific microstates and micro-economies because of their diversity. Even economies that have been classified as MIRAB economies can be very different. The newer TOURAB, SITE and PROFIT models have similar limitations. In order to understand adequately the economic situation of Pacific island microstates (including their economic vulnerability, their sustainability, and political merchantabilities), it is necessary to adopt a more holistic approach which takes account of historical, cultural and environmental factors. This is illustrated by the case of Nauru.

This paper argues that Tongan gangs are ‘alternative families’ that inter-generationally transmit street-related normative behaviour. Young Pacific Islander people growing up in disadvantaged families and neighbourhoods are often classified ‘at risk’ of joining gang affiliations (Nakhid 2009: 113). Absent parental control and social support can result in a search for alternative protection and belonging. Drawing on data derived from multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Tonga, New Zealand and Australia between 2011 and 2013, including 60 interviews with young Tongans on ways of self and social identification, it will be argued that young people from malfunctioning social backgrounds are likely to join gangs as ‘alternative families’. It will be illustrated, that similar to inter-family learning, older gang members teach younger ‘siblings’ the ‘family rules’. In such environments, processes of becoming and accompanied aspirations are marked by the street and street-related normative behaviours. By looking at two case studies and the historical origins of contemporary Pacific oppositions, it will be argued that ‘gang families’ transmit normative behaviours inter-generationally.

This study explored the mental health-related beliefs and practices of Tongan Traditional Healers and Tongan workers in the Western-style mental health services in Tonga. The groups showed very different explanatory models and treatment methods for mental health difficulties. A variety of methods, similar to those reported in other Pacific communities, were used by the Tongan Traditional Healers. The Traditional Healers had a negative view of the Western-style system, feeling it did not address the real issues in mental health that they considered more culturally and spiritually-based. Western-trained staff were generally more accepting of traditional healing, and incorporated aspects of Tongan culture into their practice, but did not typically include traditional healing practices. This study aimed to inform efforts to foster more synergy and collaboration between traditional and western healing approaches in Tonga and with Tongans elsewhere. The results may be relevant to other Pa...

This article explores the Zimbabwean Tonga`s daily experiences after their displacement from the well-watered and ecologically rich Zambezi River plains due to the construction of the hydroelectric power generating Kariba Dam in the late 1950s. The Southern Rhodesian government displaced the Tonga to the adjoining infertile, arid, wildlife infested, and tsetse fly ridden uplands of Binga District where some of their new villages and fields were nestled adjacent to national game sanctuaries. These unplanned dislocations exposed the Tonga to poor harvests, crop marauding animals and the tsetse induced livestock disease, trypanosomiasis or nagana. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks' game wardens enforced a stringent wildlife conservation system within these game sanctuaries and even outside. Such regulations foreclosed the Tonga`s rights to harvest firewood, herbs, and vegetables from these ecologically diverse conservation zones. Some of the uplands` well watered and fertile areas with rich dark soils, chidhaka, were found within the game sanctuaries. Therefore, I argue, the Tonga`s displacement to this untamed landscape coupled with exposure to an unfamiliar regime of state centered ownership and control of wildlife compromised their livelihoods and undermined their access to natural resources. What they understood to be ordinary gathering and hunting while living under the colonial state`s minimal gaze in the pre-displacement era by the Zambezi River became poaching punishable by state violence and fines in the uplands. This study is informed by archival records, newspaper reports, policy documents and oral sources with diversely situated Tonga men and women.

This report describes and discusses the results and findings of a survey and focus group discussion of the Tongan Diaspora in Australia undertaken as part of a broader study funded by the Australian Research Council: Australian Diasporas and Brain Gain: Current and Future Potential Transnational Relationships. The investigation of the Tongan Diaspora took place alongside research on the Macedonian, Italian and Vietnamese Diasporas. The project was implemented in collaboration with a number of community partners as well as between researchers from four Universities including the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia, La Trobe University and Victoria University as the
administering University. A key feature of the project is its inter disciplinary approach that brings together researchers with diverse disciplinary backgrounds including anthropology, political science, economics and geography. As such, the design of the project methods
sought to capture multiple dimensions of what diasporas mean in the Australian context through the varied perspectives.