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SIUELI ‘OE PASIFIKI: JEWEL OF THE PACIFIC – A SUNG POETRY OF PRAISE AND RIVALRY
Full text linkWe examine “Siueli ‘oe Pasifiki” “Jewel of the Pacific,” as a great work of art and literature in poetry of viki/sani praise and fetau rivalry, by Queen Sālote, concerning the mediation of human meanings in language through sustained symmetry and harmony in the production of beauty, which, in turn, results in warmth and fieriness in the creation of climatic elation. The mediation of human meanings is achieved by the artistic and literary device heliaki, defined as “metaphorically saying one thing but historically meaning another,” as in her treatment of siueli jewel, as a heliaki metaphor, for Tonga. Queen Sālote’s affective and effective use of the three types of heliaki, namely, heliaki fakafetongiaki qualitative epiphoric heliaki, heliaki fakafekauaki associative metaphoric heliaki, and heliaki fakafefonuaki constitutive metonymic heliaki, in the treatment of her subject matter in the creative process is critiqued for both its beauty or quality and its utility or functionality
TONGAN HOA: INSEPARABLE YET INDISPENSABLE PAIRS/ BINARIES
Full text linkWe dissect hoaism as a fundamental in Tongan philosophical thinking and feeling that is based in the concept and practice of hoa as inseparable yet indispensable pairs/binaries, with examples taken from across nature, mind, and society. From a tāvāist philosophical perspective, everywhere in reality, as in nature, mind, and society, is intersection, and there is nothing above and beyond connection and separation. This is derived from the general tāvāist fact that all things in reality stand in eternal relations of exchange, giving rise to order and conflict, both having the same logical status, when equal and opposite identities, entities, or tendencies meet at a common point, defined by a state of noa 0 or zero-point. The same applies to the mata-ava eye-hole, as a hoa pair/binary, where both are everywhere in reality and there is nothing over and above mata eye, and ava hole
VAKA, FALE, MOE KAVA: BOAT, HOUSE, AND KAVA – MANA STRUCTURES, MANA SPACES
Full text linkOur collective aim in this essay is to critically examine the fakafelavai intersection, or fakahoko connection and fakamāvae separation, of the vaka boat, fale house, and kava in terms of both art work and art use. The vaka boat and fale house are associated with tufunga the material arts of tufunga fo‘uvaka boat-building and tufunga langafale house-building, and kava with faiva the performance art of faiva inukava kava-drinking; all bearing immense material–physical, psychological–emotional, and social–cultural significance. All three are variously associated with the ceremonial as tapu structures and places possessing mana power and ivi energy of great potupotutatau harmony and faka’ofo’ofa/mālie beauty/quality, having some therapeutic, hypnotic, or psychoanalytic affects and effects. Herein, kava was created at the intersection, or connection and separation, of the vaka boat and the fale house, where the vaka boat is a fale fakafo‘ohake upside-down house and fale house a vaka fakafo‘ohifo downside-up boat, all associated with the natural elements, such as the winds and waves
TUAIKAEPAU: “SLOW-BUT-SURE” – A SUNG AND DANCED POETRY OF TRAGEDY
Full text linkWe critically examine Tuaikaepau “Slow-but-sure” as a sung and danced poetry of tragedy by Queen Sālote, in which she deals with her subject matter of artistic and literary creativity as a text in the broader context of history. Poetry and tragedy are respectively concerned with the mediation of ‘uhinga human meanings, and anga‘i-tangata sociality and anga‘i-manu animality, resulting in fakamā shame. Both poetry and tragedy are conducted in history, treated in Tonga (and Moana Oceania) in plural, temporal–spatial, collectivistic, holistic, and circular ways, as opposed to their treatment in singular, techno–teleological, individualistic, atomistic, and linear modes in the West. History is logically made up of events in the past, placed in front of people as guidance, and upon which the future is brought to bear, guided by past refined knowledge and experiences, where the illusive past and elusive future are constantly negotiated in the ever-changing present
SINO, ‘ILO, MOE ONGO: BODY, KNOWING, AND FEELING
Full text linkThis essay critically examines the intersection of sino body, ‘ilo knowing, and ongo feeling. The latter two are considered indivisible tendencies situated in the former, which is, in turn, taken merely as a vaka/hala medium/vessel/vehicle. The authors address examples from Tongan faiva performance arts of ta‘anga poetry, hiva/fasi music, and lea oratory, in which this topic is highly developed and refined, in contrast to academia, where it is largely, if not, entirely unexplored. By drawing on the Indigenous Tongan Tā-Vā Time-Space Philosophy of Reality, the critique is placed in the Indigenous Tongan thinking and practice of ‘atamai mind and mafu/fatu heart. By nature, we both “know” with the mind and “feel” with the heart things “out there” in reality. This involves their mediation through sustained tatau symmetry and potupotutatau harmony to produce mālie/faka‘ofo‘ofa beauty/quality and ‘aonga utility/functionality, transforming them from a condition of felekeu/fepaki chaos to a state of maau/fenāpasi order
LOFIA, KOE KUMI TU‘I: THE SEARCH FOR A KING – A SUNG AND DANCED POETRY OF TRAGEDY
Full text linkWe examine in this critical essay a sung and danced poetry of tragedy by Kaliopasi Fe‘iloakitau Kaho about the people of Ha‘apai leaving for Tongatapu in search for their king Tāufa‘āhau. By making good use of the three types of heliaki, “metaphorically saying one thing but historically meaning another,” he talks about the deep sadness of the people of Ha‘apai, in thinking and feeling they have been deserted, promoting them to leave in search of their most beloved. Out of both frustration and desperation, they were determined and committed to embark on their mission, using whatever means and irrespective of conditions. By putting it in the context of the long history of both regional empires and local kingdoms, we argue that, while Tāufa‘āhau remained King of Ha‘apai, he was now also King of all Tonga, marking the rise of the fourth kingship, viz., Tu‘i Tupou
LOTO, TU‘A, MOE FALE: INSIDE, OUTSIDE, AND HOUSE
Full text linkWe focus in this critical essay on the Tongan fale house in terms of both its loto internality and tu‘a externality, in which the parts and the whole are combined by means of process and outcome, with a multiplicity of faiva performance, tufunga material, and nimamea‘a fine arts. The house and house-building are categorized as a material artwork and material art, respectively, and are associated with the material arts of: tufunga lalava kafa-sennit-lashing which is a form of interior design, tufunga tō‘akau kakala sweet-smelling-flower-planting, tufunga tō‘akaufaito‘o medicinal-plant-planting, and tufunga tō‘akaukai eating-plant-planting as types of tu‘a exterior design. Although these fine and material arts making up interior and exterior design are themselves forms of arts, they are in this context associated with decoration as a form of both beautification and consumption, i.e., artwork and art use
SIO FAKATONGA ‘AE ‘AATI FAKATONGA: TONGAN VIEWS OF TONGAN ARTS
Full text linkAs inherent in the title of this essay, we present a critical exercise in viewing Tongan arts from a Tongan lens by combining ontology and epistemology in both process and outcome. By ontology and epistemology, reference is made to ways of being as subject matters of creation and ways of knowing (or seeing and doing) as works of art and literature. The latter engages in the abstraction of the single level of reality with respect to the subject matters in both the creative and the consumptive processes, whether they be faiva performance, tufunga material, or nimamea‘a fine arts. Herein, we deal with Tongan arts, namely, performance, material, and fine arts, in terms of both mālie/faka‘ofo‘ofa beauty/quality and ‘aonga utility/functionality, focusing together on their internal or intrinsic and external or extrinsic qualities, with the former logically preceding the latter
FAIVA LOVA‘A‘ALO: PERFORMANCE ART OF ROWING
Full text linkAs authors, we critique the performance art of faiva lova‘a‘alo rowing, which lies in proximity to the performance arts of faiva lovavaka boat-racing, faiva kakau swimming, faiva uku diving, and faiva fānifo surfing, specifically, and faiva faifolau voyaging, faiva toutaivaka navigation, and faiva toutaiika deep-sea fishing and shallow-sea fishing, generally. The latter two, viz., deep-sea fishing and shallow-sea fishing, are known as faiva toutailoloto and faiva toutaimamaha, respectively. All the faiva faifolau, faiva toutaiika, faiva toutailoloto, and faiva toutaimamaha belong in the ha‘a toutai professional class of long-distance navigators and both deep-sea and shallow-sea fishermen. The performance art of rowing, like the performance arts of boat-racing, swimming, diving, surfing, voyaging, navigation, and fishing, is concerned with the elements, notably, the waves and winds mediated by means of body, boat, and surfboard through connection and separation, i.e., intersection
‘ATAMAI-LOTO, MOE FAKA‘OFO‘OFA-‘AONGA: TONGAN TĀ-VĀ TIME-SPACE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND–HEART AND BEAUTY–UTILITY
Full text linkThis collection of critical essays seeks to explore as a text some key aspects of Tongan concepts and practices of the sino body, ‘atamai mind, and loto heart, on the one hand, and faiva performance, tufunga material, and nimamea‘a fine arts, on the other hand, in the broader context of Indigenous Tongan Tā-Vā Time-Space Philosophy of Reality. These physical–bodily, psychological–emotional, and social–cultural, and artistic and literary aspects will be reflected upon at the fakafelavai intersection, or fakahoko connection and fakamāvae separation, of ontology (i.e., ways of being) and epistemology (i.e., ways of knowing) and of beauty/quality (i.e., what is of knowledge) and utility/functionality (i.e., what does of knowledge). As inseparable but indispensable temporal–spatial, formal–substantial, and functional–practical entities, ontology and beauty/quality are considered to be taking the lead over epistemology and utility/functionality, in that logical order of precedence