Makiko Nishitani - Desire, Obligation, and Familial Love: Mothers, Daughters, and Communication Technology in the Tongan Diaspora

2020 University of Hawaii Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nishitani, Makiko, author.

Title: Desire, obligation, and familial love : mothers, daughters, and communication technology in the Tongan diaspora / Makiko Nishitani.

Description: Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020007874 | ISBN 9780824881771 (cloth) | ISBN 9780824883607 (pdf) | ISBN 9780824883614 (epub) | ISBN 9780824883621 (kindle edition)

Subjects: LCSH: TongansAustraliaMelbourne (Vic.)Social life and customs. | Women foreign workersFamily relationshipsAustraliaMelbourne (Vic.) | TongansAustraliaMelbourne (Vic.)CommunicationCase studies. | Mothers and daughtersAustralia.

Classification: LCC DU122.T66 N57 2020 | DDC 305.899/48209451dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007874

Cover art: A girl on a desktop computer in a lounge room, surrounded by photographs of kinship members. Photo by author.

University of Hawaii Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources.

When I went to a Tongan church for the first time in Melbourne, I went by taxi because I was not familiar with Australias public transport system. I had introduced myself to the minister by email, and he had told me that I could come to the Sunday service. I still remember the big friendly smile of a Tongan lady who welcomed me as I opened the thick wooden door of the church. She prompted me to have a seat with women in my generation. The minister had already told the young women to look after me. I was not alone from the beginning. The minister and one of the women asked, How did you get here? Where are you staying? I told them the name of the hotel and explained that I had caught a taxi. My response shocked them; they would arrange for someone to take me home, they said. I felt bad, so I tried to say no thank you, but the minister smiled and said that the members of the church lived in different suburbs across Melbourne, so he was confident that he could find someone who lived close to my hotel. The family who offered me a lift that day continued to pick me up to go to church for youth group activities and Sunday services, and also took me to various other events, especially until I went to live with another Tongan family. I relate this anecdote to illustrate that my fieldwork has indebted me to Tongan people for their caring natures and kindnesses. Although I cannot name them, my sincere gratitude first goes to all of those who let me share their experiences throughout the project. I have altered their names and identifiable information to protect their privacy. In particular, I thank Pele for trusting me, letting me viii stay in her house, and introducing me to her extended family members. I am also grateful to Neti, Mele, Luisa, Lasini, Rose, and many others in Australia, and to families who let me stay in their homes in Tonga.

Much of the work in this book has been written at La Trobe University. I thank the collegial environment created by members of the Department of Social Inquiry. My sincere gratitude goes to Helen Lee, who became my mentor more than ten years ago. I am grateful for her generous support and practical advice during my fieldwork for this book, her invaluable advice, and her comments and feedback on numerous manuscript drafts. I thank John Taylor and Gwenda Tavan for their constructive feedback on the earlier version of this manuscript. I am indebted to Raelene Wilding for the influence of her seminar on my theoretical thinking. Discussions with the members of the seminar, who include Cathrin Anderson, Carolina Hernandez, Senem Mallman, Caitlin Nunn, Marby Villaceran, were invaluable in developing my thinking about migrants sociality. I am grateful for the friendships I have developed with Elisabeth Betz, Elizabeth Chapman, Ashley Greenwood, Lisa Hatfield, Kate Johnston-Ataata, and Alex Pavlotski. Thank you to my mentor Tarryn Phillips for positive encouragement, especially while revising this manuscript. I also acknowledge the Japanese academic community in Melbourne for its valuable support, especially Yoshio Sugimoto, Kaori Okano, and Lidia Tanaka.

In Japan, I acknowledge Satoshi Tanahashi, who first introduced me to Tongan culture by recommending that I read Helen Mortons Becoming Tongan, and Makoto Ito, who mentored me while I was in Japan. I am thankful for the continuous support and mentorship of Naoko Fukayama, Norio Niwa, Makoto Kobayashi, and many others from Tokyo Metropolitan University.

I thank Niko Besnier and Alan Howard as well as the two anonymous readers of the draft of this manuscript for the University of Hawaii Press. Each reader provided valuable feedback and helped me clarify the contributions I can make to theories of anthropology and migration studies. I am especially grateful to Niko Besnier for making the time to discuss the books title with me and for providing feedback to some of my revisions.

The research for this book would not have been possible without generous funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship at La Trobe University. I also acknowledge that this book was completed with the assistance of a La Trobe University Social Research Platform Grant. ix

This manuscript has been edited by a number of people: Ashley Greenwood, Katie Poidomani, and Teresa Castelvetere. I thank Helen Glenn Court for her invaluable editorial suggestions that improve my writing. At the University of Hawaii Press, I am thankful to executive editor Masako Ikeda for considering my book proposal and for her efforts in seeking possibilities for its publication, to the editorial board members, and to managing editor Grace Wen. Two sections in chapter 6Communication Flows and Three Diasporic Dramaswere first published in 2014 as Kinship, Gender and Communication Technologies: Family Dramas in the Tongan Diaspora in the Australian Journal of Anthropology. I thank John Wiley and Sons for permission to include this article. The compilation of indexes was undertaken by Elizabeth Nelson.

I thank my parents, Yoshimitsu and Yukari Nishitani, for believing in me and letting me pursue what I would like to do. I also acknowledge my grandfather, Shigeru Matsubara, who passed away at the age of ninety-eight in February 2019. He was a great supporter of my career. I only wish I could show him this book. I am deeply indebted to my in-law family members in Australia who have offered me invaluable support, especially caring for my child when I was preoccupied with work. I am thankful to my husband, Bruce, and my daughter, Yuri, who are always filled with positive energy.

My research and personal life have been shaped in many ways by Tongan peoples generosity and love, and I am deeply indebted to them. I take full responsibility for my errors and imperfect representation of peoples lives. However, I hope that the Tongan womens voices and their experiences portrayed in this book are meaningful to Tongan and wider Pacific communities and can contribute to our anthropological understanding of migratory experiences and the cultural specificities of generational changes. x