Missionary attitudes towards Tongan material culture

Abstract

This paper argues that in the case of Tonga, missionary views on material culture were manifold and the responses of Tongans equally diverse. The gift of objects was often seen as a token of conversion, but it was also a powerful way to forge alliances between Tongans and missionaries and between the latter and their chiefly benefactors. Objects started playing a role in the meshwork of religious denominations, in relations with emerging imperial powers and in local and international politics (Mills 2015). in order to facilitate conversion, some missionaries made attempts to understand indigenous culture, though others seemed to express either sympathy or outright disgust for local practices. In either case, and often without realising it, they became ethnographers of Tongan society, recording aspects of life in their host country, and describing how objects had come into their possession, both haphazardly and intentionally.