Pacific Research and Policy Centre

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Kūkū : a re-imagined fangufangu developed through a Kakala Design Framework : a thesis is presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of : Doctor of Philosophy in Design, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Ngā Pae Mahutonga, Pōneke, Aotearoa | Massey University, School of Design, Wellington, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 19 December 2025.
(Massey University, 2024-09-23) Kaulamatoa, Rachael
The fangufangu (nose flute) is a Tongan musical instrument that traces back hundreds of years. Each fangufangu possesses unique physical characteristics, contributing to its distinct sound. Highlighting its historical and cultural significance, one customary use was awakening nobility from slumber. Although rare today, practices of making and performing the fangufangu have been revitalized by Tongan communities in recent years. However, there is limited research on the fangufangu, particularly from a Tongan perspective. This practice-led creative research develops and applies a Kakala Design Framework to holistically and collaboratively explore possibilities of the fangufangu for modern musicians of the Tongan diaspora. The culmination of this research is embodied in Kūkū, a re-imagined fangufangu that enhances specific musical, tangible and visual aesthetics by harmoniously weaving notions of past, present and future. Through an analogue design approach, primary elements of form and material contribute towards enhancing instrument playability and sonic versatility to accommodate use across diverse musical environments and playing styles. Guided by an Indigenised industrial design process predicated on Tongan world-views and values, this exegesis reflects on the collaborative development of Kūkū with Tongan fangufangu practitioners.
Paradigm shifts in ancient kingship traditions in Tonga : a historical and anthropological examination of political practices and changes throughout the bipartite and tripartite systems of government 1550-1875 AD : the case of Hau : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University (Albany Campus – Auckland) New Zealand
(Massey University, 2019) Ilaiu, Siaosi Leini
This study of traditional Tongan kingship system focuses on the emergence of the hau authority and redesigned of the political history of this ancient society. The main purpose is to take a close look at key elements such as governorship, secular ruler, absolute sovereign, victor, champion or military skills etc, which propounded by competing views that have contributed or responsible for clouding the role and responsibilities of the hau in relation to the rise of the second and third divine dynasties of the Tu’i Ha’atakalaua and the Tu’i Kanokupolu. It is central to this work to rethink the information transmitted by oral tradition by assessing what is said about the origin and designation of the hau office. The purpose therefore is primarily to interpret in light of new evidence the positions of both oral tradition and academic revisionists, and to unveil some material that seems to be missing from the dialogue thus far on the hau. This work aims at restoring some sense of historicity to the understanding of traditional kingship in pre-European Tonga. The study examines the creation of the secular office of the hau, why there was the need to implement such a political development, and the recent debate amongst historians and anthropologists on the issue of ‘what is hau’. The debate started from a challenge on the orthodox version that stated the hau was a secular office created by the TT to take over the executive responsibility in about 1350 AD. A leading Pacific historian Niel Gunson argues that there was a system existed way before this date in which the TT title was open for challenge as a rule by a member of his peers. This idea was disputed in 1982 by another Pacific historian Ian Campbell who argues that there was no set rule for such challenge, it was instead a matter of having the means and opportunity. The study responds to the debate by arguing that there were paradigm shifts in the political history of Tonga that historians and anthropologists have been overlooking and as a consequence have misinterpreted, prolonging the dialogue needlessly. In the light of some new findings, I identify three-paradigm shifts that took place between 1350 AD and 1875 AD. It is the dynamism within this 500-year period that this thesis strives to resuscitate.
Selection for teaching in Tonga and Palmerston North, New Zealand : a paper presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University
(Massey University, 1986) Tongatio, Lesieli Pelesikoti
Teacher education in the Kingdom of Tonga has undergone many changes within the last two years. New directions in teacher development have included the introduction of a three-year diploma course for training primary and secondary teachers. This paper examines teacher selection processes used in Tonga in comparison with those used in Palmerston North. Section One introduces the paper by stating the concerns and the need for the study. A brief profile of Tonga Teachers' College and Palmerston North Teachers' College is presented. The research questions and the limitations of the study are stated. Section Two discusses the researcher's preparations for the research and describes her use of selected relevant literature on teacher selection and the techniques of questionnaire and interview. A brief note on the use of qualitative research methods is followed by a discussion of data gathering activities. In Section Three, the writer examines teacher selection processes used in Tonga by presenting responses to questionnaire and personal interviews as answers to the research questions. The same is done for Palmerston North Teachers' College in Section Four. Section Five presents the writer's discussion of each area investigated by means of the research questions. Following is a brief summary of the writer's conclusions to the study. The writer concluded that teacher selection processes in Tonga were not highly organised or structured, not extensive and not systematically conducted in comparison to selection processes used by Palmerston North Teachers' College. Tongan selection panelists were not well prepared and their functions not clearly identified or defined. Secondary students lacked adequate preparations before the selection interview and all sectors involved with teacher selection lacked co-ordination and clearly examined and stated criteria. Selection of teacher trainees in Tonga could benefit by co-operation between the various church education services and government to conduct a national selection programme whereby use of recruitment officers, vocational guidance counsellors and careers advisors would ensure that the best possible potential trainees are selected for teacher education; and, that this process should be highly organised, structured, extensive and systematically conducted. The section ends with a summary of the researcher's recommendations and final comments.
New Zealand aid and the development of class in Tonga : an analysis of the banana rehabilitation scheme : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts, Department of Sociology, Massey University
(Massey University, 1988) Needs, Andrew P
This thesis examines the bilateral aid relationship between New Zealand and Tonga. Its central purpose is to examine the impact aid is having in transforming Tongan society. This involves a critique of both development theory and of New Zealand government aid principles. The understanding of development and the application of aid by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs remains greatly influenced by the modernisation school of thought, which essentially blames certain supposed attributes of Third World peoples for their lack of development. Dependency theorists challenged this view, claiming that Third World poverty was a direct result of First World exploitation through the unequal exchange of commodities. This has had some influence on the use of aid as a developmental tool, but has failed to supercede modernisation theory as the dominant ideology. The theory of articulation of modes of production transcends the problems of both modernisation and dependency schools. Its main thrust is that the capitalist (First World) mode of production does not immediately dominate the non-capitalist (Third World) mode but rather interacts with it. Such a conception takes cognisance of the influence of indigenous modes in creating new social formations. This is demonstrated through an analysis of the New Zealand financed Banana Rehabilitation Scheme of Tonga. In order to understand the effect of New Zealand funded aid projects in Tonga, the Banana Rehabilitation Scheme, the largest project funded at present, was used as a case study. The research method demanded a fieldwork component which entailed three months in Tonga in order to collect both historical and archival data only available there. The main fieldwork component was a series of interviews with a cross section of scheme members and other significant actors related to the scheme. This study of the Banana Rehabilitation Scheme shows that the redistributive aims Of New Zealand aid have been undermined by a greater concern with productivity. Emphasis upon the latter has meant that the project has been reoriented in favour of giving greater assistance to those who can produce bananas most easily, those who already had access to land, capital and labour. This category of growers is as much a product of the indigenous social structure of Tonga as of forces impinging from outside. Although through the banana scheme large amounts of money are being pumped into the Tongan economy, its redistributive effects are minimal. The structure of the scheme is such that many of the major benefits accrue to the already advantaged.
An econometric analysis of the determinants of growth in the Kingdom of Tonga, 1970-1998 : a research thesis submitted in partial requirement for the degree of Master of Applied and International Economics at Massey University
(Massey University, 1999) Faletau, Siosaia Tupou
The importance of determining the factors that contribute to economic growth is vital in the case of Tonga because of the benefits and advantages it provides for the people and their future development. The main objective of this study is to analyse and investigate empirically the macroeconomic factors that promote economic growth and development in Tonga. Economic theories and various studies have presented the variables that may affect growth. These include investment (domestic and foreign), labour force, exports and imports, fiscal policies, tourism receipts, private remittances, foreign aid and its various components. Foreign resources such as aid and private remittances play an important role in the development of small island economies and Tonga's heavy reliance on these factors may also explain their contribution to growth. The study uses a neoclassical production function to examine the relationships between economic growth in Tonga and the proposed determinants listed above. The cointegration method of Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag is utilised in the analysis. The empirical evidence indicates that factors making a positive contribution to economic growth in Tonga are the growth in exports, tourism receipts, openness to trade, government consumption expenditure, bilateral aid, grant aid and imports. The loan aid, multilateral aid, technical co-operation grants and private remittances, while significant in most cases, show a decline over time. Natural disasters and external market shocks have a strong adverse effect on Tonga's growth rate. The issue of macroeconomic management is stressed in this study as the key role to be played by the government in order for the available resources to be allocated to the productive sectors of the economy. This can be undertaken through setting stable macroeconomic environment, introducing and maintaining growth-oriented policies and structural reforms in some of the key sectors of the economy. Research should be concentrated on high value niche products and promoting technological development to support the diversification in the export and tourism sectors. Measures should also be adopted to monitor the effectiveness of utilising foreign aid projects, as current aid flows show a decline.
Comparative study in the net barter terms of trade and income terms of trade of the Pacific Island economies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Economics at Massey University
(Massey University, 1995) Soakai, Robert Matafonua Fotu
It is suggested by the so-called P-S thesis that countries whose exports based upon traditional primary products will continue to face deterioration in their terms of trade. It is upon such a proclamation, that challenge the author to launched an investigation to the validity of such a claim and its applicability to the case of Solomon Islands, Tonga and Western Samoa. The early researcher in this area shows that countries whose exports dominate by exporting traditional primary commodities tend to have more instability in its terms of trade than those who are exporting manufactured goods. However one of the most staggering finding of this research is. The terms trade of the three island economies seem to be deteriorate, at same time their purchasing power seems to be on the positive side. What it means that, despite the deterioration in the country's terms of trade their incomes seem not deter at all by such a movement. This is sound controversial to the P-S thesis but there was other trade incentive that came in to play when these countries' terms of trade deteriorate. However, perhaps it is enough to mention here that such deterioration in the terms of trade might mean so little when one take into account major factors that hammered these small island's economies. Factors like, drought, hurricane, poor quarantine service, has fueled the problem of deterioration of the terms of trade. Empirical test was carried out to examine the impact of the Net Barter terms of trade movement on the income (Gross Domestic Products). Result revealed was un-intrigue. Conclusion was drawn and there is a strong need for change in the export haves of the three island economies. Policies need to change to encourage regional trading. A change to the trade agreement (e.g., SPARTECA) that govern the trade activities of the island nations, is necessary. Such a change will help the island nations to compete with its trading partners effectively and competatively.
Beginning teaching : the recruitment, selection and expectations of trainee teachers in Tonga : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Education at Massey University
(Massey University, 1984) Tongati'o, Lesieli Pelesikoti
It has been over a hundred years since schools were established in Tonga, yet the Tonga Teachers' College is only forty years old. Thus teacher training is still in its early stages of development. Although there has been little change within the college over this period, it is moving towards growth and development in both its academic and professional capacities. The following thesis discusses the implications of teacher recruitment, selection and training within an education system aimed at raising the quality of its standard of education. Before attempting to discuss teacher education in Tonga, the social, political and physical contexts within which education operates, must be considered. These conditions have moulded the present form of teacher education. After considering these factors in Chapter Two, Chapter Three reviews the history of the Tonga Teachers' College, in relationship to Tongan social history, its aims and objectives, curriculum content, professional development, student intake and staff appointment. This chapter includes a comparative study of teacher education in some South Pacific countries in which similarities and differences in teacher education programmes and developments are discussed. General trends and methods are highlighted when comparisons and contrasts are made with teacher education in Tonga. In Chapter Four, the researcher considers teacher recruitment in Tonga. The writer proposes that teacher recruitment should be treated as an innovative means of improving the qualities of teacher trainees. Viewed from this perspective, new developments may be quickly and effectively implemented. Vocational preferences of senior secondary school students are examined to determine whether these students place teaching highly in their career priorities. Case studies of secondary school students and untrained teachers are compiled to discover the criteria used for the recruitment and selection of teachers and to provide in-depth information about these groups, from which teacher trainees are recruited. Chapter Five contains a discussion or the expectations which teacher trainees place on their training programme, followed by consideration of the methods of training and then finally discusses evaluations made of the training programme. Case studies of second year students at the Teachers' College and. of probationary assistant teachers are used to elaborate on the extent to which some of these expectations may or may not have been realised. Chapter Six contains the writer's reflections on some problems encountered with procedures and method carried out during the research project. This is followed by a concluding commentary on the results of the study and recommendations, aimed at improving teacher education in Tonga, are made.
A study on the functional properties of taro starches from Tonga : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Food Technology at Massey University
(Massey University, 1993) Havea, Palatasa
This study compared the functional properties of three taro starches extracted from selected cultivars, one from each of the three most commonly grown taro genera in Tonga. The selected cultivars were Alocasia macrorrhiza var 'Fohenga', Colocasia esculenta var 'Lau'ila', and Xanthosoma saggitifolium var 'Mahele'uli'. Cassava starch, a commercial product from Thailand, was studied together with the taro starches for comparison purposes. Freshly harvested taro corms/cormels were peeled, washed, ground into pulp. The taro pulp was washed with excess water and filtered with a cheese cloth. The solid pulp was discarded, and the water-starch mixture (starch milk) was collected in a settling tank. The starch was held for 10-24 hours to allow the starch to settle, and then the supernatant liquid was discarded. The Xanthosoma starch was successfully isolated using this method. For the Alocasia and Colocasia, the starch could not be isolated from the starch milk due to the presence of a mucilaginous material, and it was separated using a bowl centrifuge. The starches were dried, in a hot-air drier and then purified to remove trace of protein, fat, and fibre. All the taro starch granules were similarly polygonal in shape but the granule sizes were different. The Xanthosoma starch granule size (5-30μm) was similar to that of cassava starch granules (5-35μm). The granule sizes of Alocasia (0.5-3μm) and Colocasia (0.5-6μm) were very small, smaller than rice starch granules. The amylose contents, determined using an iodometric blue value colorimetry method, were 12.1, 13.6, 19.8, and 27.4% for Alocasia, Colocasia, cassava, and Xanthosoma starches respectively. The gelatinization temperatures for the starches were determined using sensory evaluation, hot stage microscopy, Brabender Amylograph, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) methods. The gelatinization temperatures were approximately 69, 70, 75 and 80°C for cassava, Alocasia, Xanthosoma and Colocasia starches respectively. The gelatinization temperature ranges for Xanthosoma and Colocasia were similar to that of cassava starch, but Alocasia starch showed relatively wider temperature range. The viscosity of the Xanthosoma gelatinized starch paste was much higher than the other starches but showed greater breakdown on heating. The strengths of the starch gels were determined by measuring the rheological modulus G* of the gels using a Bohlin Rheometer, and the penetration strength test using an Instron. Both tests showed that the Xanthosoma starch produced a much stronger and higher viscosity gel than all of the cassava, Alocasia and Colocasia starches which produced gels with similar strength. The relative order of gel clarity from qualitative sensory evaluation, from highest to poorest clarity, was cassava, Xanthosoma, Colocasia, then Alocasia. The storage stability of the starch gels was evaluated by studying the crystallisation using DSC, and measuring the syneresis occurring during storage at 5 and 22°C. The Xanthosoma starch gel was extremely susceptible to crystallisation and syneresis during storage, compared with cassava, Colocasia, and Alocasia gels which had similar stabilities on storage. The freeze-thaw stability of the starch gels was studied by subjecting the starch gels to repeated freeze-thaw cycles. The Xanthosoma starch gel was extremely unstable with freeze-thaw treatment. The Alocasia and Colocasia starch gels were similar to cassava starch gel which was more stable with freeze-thaw treatment. The Xanthosoma starch, because of extremely high viscosity and gel strength, could be used in food products that need high viscous texture but require no further storage. The Colocasia and Alocasia starches, because of high digestibility due to very small granule sizes can be used in baby food formulations, which are either heat treated or frozen.
The changing roles of graduate women in Tonga : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Social Science) in social anthropology at Massey University
(Massey University, 1989) Kupu, Lesieli Ikatonga
This thesis examines the roles of graduate women in modern Tonga and how they differ from the women's traditional roles. A survey of a group of graduate women and how they perform at work, at home and in the community was undertaken. This was to investigate their own perceptions of the place graduate women have in their own society. Evidence from the study indicates that graduate women have changed in the ways they fulfil their roles. At work they are no longer confined to "women's work", but they are beginning to take up prominent positions in the office. This has had an impact on their relationships with their male superiors and both their male and female colleagues. At home, graduate women have become "providers" for their family, and that has given them a say in the family as a decision-making body. In church and community functions, there is a marked decrease in active participation but an increase with financial contributions. In conclusion, the graduate women know that their roles are changing. This change is determined by a combination of factors. While these factors liberate the graduate women from the pressure of social obligations, the same means of liberation have also isolated them from other social groups in Tongan society.
An empirical study of beliefs about work in Tonga : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Human Resource Management at Massey University
(Massey University, 1997) Lopeti, Mele 'Anitoni Lauteau Lucy
The aim of this research study was to identify the predominant beliefs that employed Tongan people hold about work, and to investigate the relationship between beliefs about work and selected demographic variables. The first step was to determine whether the instrument used to measure beliefs about work in the Tongan cultural context is a valid and appropriate measure. The sample consisted of 804 employed Tongans from Tongatapu, Vava'u, Ha'apai, 'Eua and Niuatoputapu islands. The sample was limited to Tongans employed mainly by government sector organisations that have an identifiable personnel function within paid employment in the formal economy of Tonga. Buchholz's Beliefs About Work Scale was used as the measure of employee attitude in the present study, using the same scales that have been developed in previous studies. This study attempted to replicate the five dimensions of the Beliefs About Work Scale and extend findings concerning beliefs about work in the Tongan context. It was concluded that the measurement of beliefs using the five dimensions from the Belief About Work Scale was not a valid and appropriate measure in Tonga. The results of the analysis revealed three factors of beliefs about work in Tonga. This suggests the need to sort out appropriate definitions and measurement in favour of research on indigenous samples, rather than simply applying results from countries of different cultural settings. Of the three factors of beliefs about work in Tonga, the highest mean scores were obtained on the humanistic belief system, then the work ethic, and the lowest mean scores were obtained on the leisure ethic. The analysis of variance of the factor scores revealed differences in beliefs exist in relation to gender, age and job level. Marital status and length of employment did not appear to be related to beliefs about work. These are discussed in this research study.

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