TUAIKAEPAU: “SLOW-BUT-SURE” – A SUNG AND DANCED POETRY OF TRAGEDY

Authors

Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi, Adriana Māhanga Lear, University of Wollongong
Sione Lavenita Vaka, Auckland University of Technology
Maui-TāVā-He-Akó, Tēvita O. Kaʻili, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i
Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu, ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, Vava‘u Academy for Critical Inquiry and Applied Research

Abstract

We critically examine Tuaikaepau “Slow-but-sure” as a sung and danced poetry of tragedy by Queen Sālote, in which she deals with her subject matter of artistic and literary creativity as a text in the broader context of history. Poetry and tragedy are respectively concerned with the mediation of ‘uhinga human meanings, and anga‘i-tangata sociality and anga‘i-manu animality, resulting in fakamā shame. Both poetry and tragedy are conducted in history, treated in Tonga (and Moana Oceania) in plural, temporal–spatial, collectivistic, holistic, and circular ways, as opposed to their treatment in singular, techno–teleological, individualistic, atomistic, and linear modes in the West. History is logically made up of events in the past, placed in front of people as guidance, and upon which the future is brought to bear, guided by past refined knowledge and experiences, where the illusive past and elusive future are constantly negotiated in the ever-changing present.

Recommended Citation

Lear, Pā‘utu-‘O-Vava‘u-Lahi, Adriana Māhanga; Vaka, Sione Lavenita; Kaʻili, Maui-TāVā-He-Akó, Tēvita O.; and Māhina, Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu, ‘Ōkusitino (2021) "TUAIKAEPAU: “SLOW-BUT-SURE” – A SUNG AND DANCED POETRY OF TRAGEDY," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 44: No. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol44/iss1/8