Description
Book SynopsisMost Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a transnational perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem to successfully 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.Library Journal
The central idea of Voyagesthat Tonga and all Tongans exist at this moment in time in a transnational spacecomes through vividly and powerfully, and the durability of this image is testimony to the success of Small''s experiment in ethnographic writing.The Contemporary Pacific
Voyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American
Trade Review
Voyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American studies.
* International Migration Review *
Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs provide[s] valuable ways of thinking about migration, the nature of difference and flexible and sometimes transient identities....Small's book is full of experiential moments and turning points – expected and unexpected – in the lives of potential and actual migrants.
-- John Connell * Journal of Pacific History *
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 examines Tongan migration to the United States in a transnational perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem to successfully 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.
* Library Journal *
The central idea of Voyages—that Tonga and all Tongans exist at this moment in time in a transnational space—comes through vividly and powerfully, and the durability of this image is testimony to the success of Small's experiment in ethnographic writing.
* The Contemporary Pacific *
Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Author's NoteI. Departures
1. Portrait of a Migrating Village
2. Why Migrate?II. Arrivals
3. Coming to America
4. One Family's Story
5. Palu, the One Who Left
6. An Anthropologist over TimeIII. Returns
7. Going Home: Tongan Village Life in the 1990s
8. Distant Family
9. Finau, the One Who Stayed
10. TraditionIV. Travels Ahead
11. The Meanings of Tongan Migration
12. Anthropology in a Transnational WorldV. Revisiting Globalization
13. California Dreams
14. Back to the Islands
15. Reflections on and of GlobalizationAppendix: Tongan Population and Migration EstimatesNotes
Bibliography
Index
