essay
Remembering freedom and the freedom to remember: Tongan memories of independence
cultural memory: reconfiguting history and identity in the postcolonial pacific • Honolulu • Published In 2001 • Pages: 37-57
By: Lee, Helen Morton.
Abstract
In this paper, Lee examines the official history of modern Tonga and the people's own memory of that history, and what she calls the tension between historical reconstruction and social memory. She focuses on the history and memory of Tonga's modern monarchs, especially their founding father King George Tupou I (d. 1893), who established Tonga's constitution. Tongans truly regard their modern constitutional parlimentary government and legal code as the underpinning of their freedom, sovereignty, and identity. However, this history has been recvently challenged in response to rapid social change and the rise of prodemocracy movements.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2006
- Region
- Oceania
- Sub Region
- Polynesia
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard; 2004
- Field Date
- unknown
- Coverage Date
- 1830-1997
- Coverage Place
- Tonga
- Notes
- Helen Morton
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-57)
- LCCN
- 00049758
- LCSH
- Tongans