Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs
While a few Californians may be aware of the Tongan immigrant population in their midst, most Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small (anthropology, Northern Arizona Univ.) examines Tongan migration to the United States in a "transnational" perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem successfully to manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings. Although this does not add much that is new to the anthropological literature, the chapter on "The Meanings of Tongan Migration" will show many nonspecialists why immigrants are willing to live in "hovels" in the United States and work two or more jobs: "these same people have fine houses and are important figures in the village when they go home for two or three months each year." For academic and larger public libraries.?Glenn Petersen, Baruch Coll., CUNYCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.