1. Tala e Fonua
Tala e fonua means "telling of the land and it's people"
In this section, we will discuss and explore the foundational principles upon which tala e fonua can be understood:
1. The concept of fonua (the land and its people)
2. The tā-vā philosophy of space and time
3. The relationship between myth and history
After engaging with this material you will:
1. Be prepared to engage with various stories from the oral Tongan tradition.
2. Be able to reflect on your own relationships in space and time with greater depth.
The Three Fonua
The term fonua expresses an ecological sense and awareness of the interconnectedness and interdependence between humans and the environment. At a deeper level, this ecological awareness is expressed in a cyclical way through the concept of the "three fonua"[2]:
1. The first fonua is the placenta of our human mother. It nourishes and grows us until we are born.
2. When we are born, the second fonua or "mother earth" nourishes, grows, and sustains us.
3. Finally, when we die, we are buried in the earth and placed into the tomb, or womb of mother earth.
In this sense the land and the people (fonua) become so tightly interwoven that they are in some sense indistinguishable from one another.
Va and Tauhi Va
"Vā is the space between, the between-ness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space that is context, giving meaning to things. The meanings change as the relationships/the contexts change."
--Albert Wendt, Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body [4]
Va, translated literally, means space. But it is not an inert space or an empty vaccum. Rather, one can think of va as the vessel in which various things can be held in their varied relationships (at a particular point in time). The symmetries and tensions that arise between things due to their positioning within the va (in relation to each other) determine the overall state of harmony within the social context.
As Refiti says in his exposition on va [5], "vā is the potentiality of space". This highlights that va is not just about the relationships that are or that have been, but the space of potential symmetries and possible relationships that things could be arranged in based on their many facets and aspects.
This allows us to understand the practice of tauhi va- cultivating the space- as the intentional practice of shaping the actuality of those relationships, based on an understanding of the fullness of their potentiality and an aesthetic vision for a harmonious state that one wishes to create between them.
Tevita Ka'ili writes, "scholarship and writings on the Tongan notion of vā are mainly associated with tauhi vā (or tauhi vaha'a) – the art of creating and maintaining beautiful social relations... [T]auhi vaha'a may have originated from the tradition of keeping up good relations between ancient Tongans and their gods... In the area of social duties, tauhi vā is intricately connected to the performance of social duties."
Kaili further explores what makes social relations beautiful in the context of ta-va theory, writing: "For Tongans, relations of exchange that are symmetrical (potupotutatau) create mālie, beauty. In contrast, relations of exchange that are asymmetrical (potupotukehekehe) produce tāmaki, disharmony. [Figure to right]. The tā-vā theory of reality also argues that conflict is a permanent aspect of reality (Māhina 2007). Harmony and disharmony are both expressions of conflict. Specifically, harmony is a manifestation of conflicting relations that are symmetrical, and disharmony is an expression of conflicting relations that are asymmetrical."
Ta-Va Theory
To address ta-va theory, we must also speak about the Tongan notion of ta or time. A notable feature of the way that Tongans talk about time rhetorically is that the past is placed, not behind us, but in front of us. Ha'ofa writes, "In the Fijian and Tongan languages, the terms for past are gauna i lin and kuonga mu'a, respectively- gauna and kuonga meaning "time" or "age" or "era", and lin and mu'a meaning "front" or "ahead". When Fijian and Tongan preachers or orators point their fingers to the past... [they] point ahead. The conception of the past as ahead or in front of us is not mere linguistic construction. It has an actual historical basis in the documentation of our oral narratives on our landscapes." [7]
As Tongans, we keep the past always visible to us in our orientation towards time. But moreover, the Tongan sense of time is highly non-linear: it is cyclical and relationally defined. Ka'ili writes:
"In Tonga, people value the collectivistic and circular arrangement of tā and vā. In contrast, most people in the West privilege the arrangement of time and space in individualistic and linear manners. For example, in the West, people highly value their individualism and the linear marking of time from past (back) to future (forward). In Tonga, the aim of the collective arrangement of tā and vā is to bring all the numerous entities into harmony and beauty. For example, Tongans strive to create harmony and beauty within their large communal kin. Disharmony within a collective group is labeled as "tokolahi kovi," a collective group that is bad. Not only is tā-vā collective and communal but it is also arranged in a circular fashion. The intersection of time in space creates a circular arrangement of tā-vā. The Tongan art of lalava, decorative lashing, illustrates the Tongan ordering of time in space. In the art of lalava, the criss-crossing sennit cordages mark time (tā) in an intersecting, circular, and plural fashion."
A primary goal of Tongan culture and of the Tongan worldview is to arrange relations of time and space (and indeed to arrange the sense of time and space itself) in a way which produces beauty, harmony and social wellbeing.
Myth and Metaphor
Myths can be used to justify, explain, or express a certain social or natural order. But importantly, they can also be used to create a certain kind of social and natural order. Specifically, myths and stories are one of the instruments through which ta and va can be culturally arranged: stories shape human action and thus their environment, which in turn drive the need for stories to explain the world around us. Thus, just as the people and the land are in cyclical relationship with each other, so are the stories of the people and the land an integral part of that cycle.
The ancient stories of the Tongan oral tradition rely highly on metaphor, or heliaki [8]. Heliaki reflects the symmetrical intertwining or intersection of two different things. This means that the use of metaphor within tala e fonua clarifies the relational and cultural landscape of meaning in which ancient Tongans understood their lives and histories.
This allows us to understand our history through these stories, though any attempt to unravel our history from these carefully woven stories into a linear and singular picture entirely misses the point of tala e fonua.
As an example of tala e fonua, the story below is given by Okusito Mahina [9], along with its general interpretation:
"The theme of the myth, as interpreted within the ecology-centered cultural and historical mode, is structured on the oppressive nature of the Tu'i Tonga imperial rule, symbolized by the winds (matangi) blowing from Tonga. The Tu'i Tonga's oppression was allegorized by Lekapai's confrontation with the winds, and the killing and eating of Sangone and the burying of its shell. This was then followed by a period of intense diplomacy and alliance formation through treaty, symbolized by Fasi'apule's visit and the exchange of fine mats."
