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A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of D octor of P hilosophy Graduate Program in Anthropology York University North York, Ontario, Canada March 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Neither the droit d’auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes reproduced without the author’s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. 0-612-42782-X Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INVENTING HEALTH: TRADITION, TEXTILES AND MATERNAL OBLIGATION IN THE KINGDOM OF TONGA bV HEATHER YOUNG LESLIE a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Perm ission h a s b e e n gran ted to the LIBRARY OF YORK UNIVERSITY to lend or sell copies of this thesis, to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a > UN1VERSITE 6 YORK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES 1 recommend that the dissertation prepared under my supervision by HEATHER YOUNG LESLIE entitled INVENTING HEALTH: TRADITION, TEXTILES AND MATERNAL OBLIGATION IN THE KINGDOM OF TONGA be accepted in partial fulfillment of the req uirem en ts for the d e g r ee of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 1999 f Supervisor P. Van Esterik Recommendation concurred in by the following Examining Committee Chair M. Rodman R/wan Esterik ^ * * 1 ( -- _ N. Adelson a A. O'ReiUy— fZ? — - W. Giles T. G o rd o n / March 1999 EE) R2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A bstract This dissertation offers a localized, symbolic analysis of the tropes which organize mothers’ everyday practice on the Tongan atoll called Kauvai, with particular attention to the language, meanings and practices associated with ‘health’. I argue that as mothers, women are active agents in the invention of Tongan culture, figure in the production of a national image of traditional modernity and mediate a structural tension between the roles of sisters and wives. The role of the Tongan mother has yet to be theorized, and I examine her position, and the insights the Tongan mother can provide the analysis o f maternal work. Roy Wagner’s theory of the symbolic, instrumental creation of culture, which he called “invention”, is evident in the emergence of a system of Tongan governance which is equally traditionally Polynesian and modern. It is also evident in the classification of faito ’o fakatonga [traditional illness treatments] as a competitor with biomedicine, and in the emergence of a local understanding of health, which prioritises appropriate social relations and traditional Tongan cultural practices, identified as anga fakatonga. Insofar as Tongan health promotion and medical services include a strong focus on maternal child health issues, mothers are placed at nexus points between ‘modern’ medicalized ways of perceiving bodies, food, hygiene or risks, and the future generation, the children. As mothers therefore, women are key figures in the interpretation of medical and modernizing messages and directions for social practice. Despite the government’s official adoption of Western models for representing health, at the level o f everyday life in the village, ‘health’ is played out differently from the illness treatment and prevention focus associated with biomedicine. Locally, traditional practices, including notions of kinship, gendered roles of motherhood and traditional behaviour, counter the orthodox emphasis of biomedical health, and replace it with a more locally meaningful trope of ‘living well, according to anga fakatonga -the Tongan way’. As mothers, women are significant to the production of a national image o f traditional modernity, insofar as it is their duties as mothers, in addition to their kinship obligations which motivate much of the production of ceremonially significant textiles used to create and maintain the ties which bind together everyday and ritual life in Tonga. Mothering helps to mediate the structural tension between sisterly and wifely roles, insofar as the one person a father’s and mother’s side have in common is the child. Women emphasis their maternal obligations, as a means o f juggling the multiple calls on their textile wealth, personal labour and time. But in addition, examining mother’s practices demonstrates the way in which textiles, sometimes called women’s wealth, act to signify the obligation of the entire maternal kindred, through life and death. Finally, mothers in Tonga are ‘good mothers’, but their practice and priorities differ from a germinal feminist formulation (Ruddick 1989) for theorising mothering. For mothers on Kauvai, duty to family is a dominant trope, and traditionalism acts to protect, not ensnare the Tongan commoner woman. -IV- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A cknowledgements Some very special people made this dissertation possible. "Fakatapupea fakafeta / "to Vili and Toa’ila Maea Malohi, Loutoa Fifita, Sione Suli Talia’uli, the late Vasiti ‘Aholelei, Pauline Ngalu, Susana and Folingi Katoa, Paula Tuitavuki, Manu Ngalu, Heu’ifangalupe and the late Vake, ‘Ana and Sione ‘Ofa, Ika and Vaiola Katoa, Fane, Talahiva, ‘Eva and Folau Feimo’efi’afi, Tevita and Malia, Vitina and Fanguna Vaitohi: "pea 'ofa la h ia tu kimoutolu 'ae toko lahi 'oefetu’u fa k a ’ofa’ofa ‘aupito, he si’i motu 'oe Maka Fele’unga, ko H a’ano". The people of Kauvai have my undying love and hold all debts on my being an anthropologist. The children of the place of the Maka Fele’unga, especially Mauvai, Mahina, ‘liaise, Suli, Lolohea (Lisia), Vili leka, Sitaleki, Siaosi, Tuitu’u and the ongo mahanga Salote and Vunga, remain in my thoughts and heart. I miss you all terribly. Michael and Ceilidh Evans saved my life on more than one occasion. To Ceilidh, who is exactly the same age as my doctoral career, and who has never known a mother who was not also a student and a frustrated writer, I say thank you for being such a clever, beautiful and inventive person. I apologise Starshine, for all the times when I was distracted, or had “no time” to give you attention, and ‘push you up’ in the way that all children deserve. The final text could not have been completed without the selfless assistance of three people: A huge thank you to Jennifer Gustar for reading the text with a non-anthropological and constructive eye, for your friendship and for your brilliant laughter; to Leslie Butt for your supportive, intelligent discussions, and for pushing me to de-tangle my thoughts; and especially, to Mike Evans for his integrity and strong commitment to me and our academic future together.

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