Pacific Studies Journal
Abstract
As inherent in the title of this essay, we present a critical exercise in viewing Tongan arts from a Tongan lens by combining ontology and epistemology in both process and outcome. By ontology and epistemology, reference is made to ways of being as subject matters of creation and ways of knowing (or seeing and doing) as works of art and literature. The latter engages in the abstraction of the single level of reality with respect to the subject matters in both the creative and the consumptive processes, whether they be faiva performance, tufunga material, or nimamea‘a fine arts. Herein, we deal with Tongan arts, namely, performance, material, and fine arts, in terms of both mālie/faka‘ofo‘ofa beauty/quality and ‘aonga utility/functionality, focusing together on their internal or intrinsic and external or extrinsic qualities, with the former logically preceding the latter.
Recommended Citation
Lear, Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi, Adriana M.; Māhina, Manuesina ‘Ofakihautolo; Māhina-Tuai, Kolokesa Uafā; and Māhina, Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu, ‘Ōkusitino
(2021)
"SIO FAKATONGA ‘AE ‘AATI FAKATONGA: TONGAN VIEWS OF TONGAN ARTS,"
Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 44:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol44/iss1/4
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