WOMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR PURSUIT OF WEALTH IN TONGA: A STUDY IN SOCIAL CHANGE. (VOLUMES I AND II) (SOUTH PACIFIC).

摘要

The dissertation determines the forces which have shaped the development and social dynamics of three women's cooperative associations in the Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific: (1) the kautaha, an indigenous pre-1960 institution for the production and exchange of traditional bark-cloth wealth, (2) the tou langanga, the contemporary bark-cloth production organization that replaced the kautaha, and (3) the fakalakalaka or "moving forward" groups, a planned and overseas funded "self-help" organization, comprised of a country-wide confederation of village women's groups that conduct income-raising activities for village and home improvement.;The comparison of the two contemporary organizations reveals how two very divergent institutions, in principle, function in the same social and economic environment. The analysis shows that, given the same social context, a planned and overseas funded development institution and an indigenous traditional wealth group will both reproduce the identical dynamics as the society at large.;I ultimately direct my analysis of women's association to a critique of "development planning," which assumes its potential to plan social change. I argue that the forces responsible for social change are at a depth beyond the ability of planners to influence. I suggest the "development" enterprise should be redefined in light of its limitations.;For each case, my analysis demonstrates the mechanism through which larger historical forces in the society came to shape the internal structure of the institution and its change over time. Comparison of two successive generations of traditional wealth institutions shows how one institution was transformed into another. The analysis demonstrates that the breakdown of traditional social structure in nineteenth century Tonga--the impetus for the birth and growth of the kautaha--ultimately created the conditions for its death and replacement, in post-World War II Tonga, by a new institution for the production of traditional bark-cloth wealth.