Si'oto'ofa: Tongan Language Revival Project

The Tongan population is an expanding population, beginning in the South Pacific and extending into the Western Hemisphere. The history of our people is complex but it gives us an understanding of our movements in this world. Although we are expanding, we aren't necessarily growing and it comes from our unspoken and unknown history. Because the generations before me grew up in different locations, different belief systems, and different times, our interpretation of culture and tradition has not only drastically changed our people but changed Tonga itself. Living in the diaspora means adapting to the environment and it's many complex factors. This process has put up barriers for our people to connect to our ancestors and gain an understanding of our indigenous knowledge. The first example of this is through our language. 

In Tongan culture, the family unit is the central unit of Tongan life. The word tokoua is understood today as "sibling" but in Tongan understanding means "other half."  Within the English language and knowledge system, if you refer to someone as your other half you are typically referring to your spouse or love interest. But in the Tongan language and knowledge system, your other half are the people who are cut from the same cloth as you. In the Tongan language, there isn't a word for cousins, they are also considered your siblings or one of your other halves. Extended family isn't a concept within the culture, we are all part of the bigger unit. With the decline of the use of our language in the diaspora, this one example shows to me how the adoption of the English language is changing our family dynamics as Tongans. 

Many Tongans perceive their identity through their family and genealogies and because we are still a fairly new civilization in this world, we are even able to trace our genealogy back to the pantheon of gods of the ancient Tongan religion. Still, Tongans in the US struggle with identity issues because of the different factors and influence of both industrialized living and social inequalities they face. On an individual level, it has been difficult or nearly impossible to have one unified identity and on a collective level, prevents our people from joining together to resolve the issues we face today. 

Language has been proven to be a direct correlation to the cognition of its speakers, our perceptions of this world are relative to our spoken language. Attached to every language system is the knowledge system of those creators. So providing the context to our language system might be the key in reviving traditional practices, unifying the Tongan community and getting Tongan youth to reach their highest potential in solving the unique issues of living in the 21st century. My proposal is to provide educational content in the form of entertainment, not only to engage our people but for them to understand the infrastructures we operate under. Right now, I've gathered a small team of Tongans who are professionals in their careers to start to develop this content. The goal is to have a platform for Tongans made by Tongans, especially those who have been able to reach their highest potential, for the new generation to see representation in different career fields, through this platform another aim is to create an online network to coordinate more efforts towards the overall life conditions of our community and providing healthy life options for all. 

The community I aim to benefit is the younger generation of Tongans. The goal is to get this group to simply think. If you can get a person to think, you can get them to feel. If they are able to make that connection between the two, from there is when you see action. There is something about the current education system that has created a decline in creativity and limits the curiosity of a child's mind, in building upon this project I hope to develop an educational tool to combat this. With my project in general, I hope to serve not just the Tongan community but also the Pasifika community here in the diaspora. One thing that we all have in common with living in the diaspora, is that we came here for opportunity that don't exist in the islands and the diaspora has the resources for us to find those.   

Salt Lake City and West Valley City have the largest and second largest population of Tongans of any city in the U.S., with one in four Tongan Americans living in Utah. I was born and raised in West Valley City, when my grandparents migrated here from Tonga, they chose Utah because of the Tongan community. This community isn't just the people I live among these are the relationships that have sustained my life. My knowledge doesn't just pertain to the people but also the environment they live in. The team I have gathered all identify as Tongan and have the cultural understanding of Tongan identity and life in 21st century America.

My current network for this project includes educators, community leaders and non-profit organizations. One partnership that I have gained primary support from is DIVA, a nonprofit organization based in Salt Lake City that focuses on starting conversations around topics of Diversity, Inclusion, Values, and Action within all communities of color. This organization has been helpful in seeing the parallels of the struggles that all People of Color are facing and how we can work together to overcome them.    

The solution provided at this time is the first phase of the solution to a bigger problem within the Tongan community. The passion, the drive, the knowledge, and the empathy are present but lacks the strategy and possibly the correct network to financially sustain the efforts needed. The current barrier that is being faced is having the right tools for success. The facilitation of an environment that connects intellect with creation would be beneficial in generating more effective efforts that this community has yet to see. 

Accessibility. The content in development will be made to share on social media and with the niche being Tongan youth and young adults. The age group that is already on social media. Because the main goal is for communication among the entire population, regardless of age, social media serves as the perfect platform to do so. There seems to be many attempts at providing cultural context to the practices we see today but they haven't been effectively carried out or direct any sort of action. This information has only reached those are truly searching for it and that is the few that make it to the academia field which is another minority group in this population. 

My approach to the issue is not only aimed to resolve the social issues within the community but also the environmental issues of this community. There are currently conservation efforts being made to clean the city's air because there are points within the year that Utah's air pollution can reach unhealthy levels. This mainly affects the west-side communities of Salt Lake County, West Valley City being a mentionable community being that it is the second state in the US with the biggest population of Tongans. I take a strategic stance in applying a dimension of urbanization within the online community that exists in the development of cities to address this issue. The idea behind this comes from wildlife conservationist, Joe Walston, who argues that increasing urbanization may provide a new hope for biodiversity preservation and poverty alleviation. There is an element that exists in the development of cities that facilitates the generation of ideas, because cities generally have the ability to hold more people in a given area there is more human interaction. In return, this element stabilizes the community because it addresses the issue around population which is consumption. With great populations comes increased consumption rates however there are limited resources. I believe this stabilizing force is the access to vital resources. As we transition into a technological society, we can apply the types of infrastructures in place in a physical city into an online community and network. 

My expectations with this project is that it enables positive actions from the community.   

For the next year, I hope to see and bring about more awareness of the solutions that need more attention within my local community. Social media has served as a great tool for our people to voice their opinions and for our community to receive real feedback on the issues we as a community face. Still, these issues have been apparent for quite some time and with the advancement of our communication through social media it is time for action to truly take place. With this project, in the next five years I hope to develop this content into a product, software or model as an educational tool that can be incorporated into our learning systems, formal or informal. My impact goal is to provide quality education for Tongans, then furthering this by working with more organizations to develop it for all people of color for more effective learning outcomes.  

Right now the work involved is mainly groundwork that I'm doing on my own, I'm measuring my current progress with meeting personal timelines. With the broader outlook, I think that one measurable indicator would be the participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age).

The content that is being developed right now is being constructed to appeal to the Triune Brain. In short, the Triune Brain refers to the three levels of the human brain: the R-complex aka the Reptilian brain, the Lymbic system, and the neocortex. Each part having domain over different processes of our behavior from physical activity, emotion, and operation. This is the framework in which we are working to connect our thoughts and emotions to develop into action. Our consciousness is our head lamp, the more we're aware of this, the brighter it shines. The third party research that I'm currently in the work of gives context to the research of our people done by foreigners and connects it with the knowledge that is only known and understood by the natives of that culture. The short term outcome I'm seeking out is the intentional conversations that must be had to identify long term solutions, a long term outcome would be social awareness on a communal level that can bring together our people. 

The obvious technology I'd be using would be the technology we use today such as cell phones, computers, video editing software, etc. But what I want to put to use in my solution is the Tongan art of Talanoa. This is a communication style that utilizes the indigenous Tongan sense of symmetry. The quality of proportionality, balance or similarity is important within Tongan culture. The term talanoa is made up of the two words, the word "tala" refers to tell or talk and term "noa" refers to zero or the state of zero (nothing). Talanoa typically refers to a group of people who talk collectively but actively by critically sorting out subjective differences until a common ground is reached, defined as a noa, the state of zero point or balance. This state of balance serves a form of objective knowledge. This form of technology is what is mainly being used to guide the intentional conversations that this project is working to facilitate.

Right now, nothing has been formally decided as far as being an "official team." It's mainly been a group of Tongan professionals who have agreed to help fill in the gaps in the research that I have conducted thus far in creating this content. They have supported the work in a non-monetary way in providing valuable knowledge that may prove useful in providing true, accurate, effective, and non-biased content. The fields in which they work range from Pacific Island Studies, Anthropolgy, Psychology, Education, Politics, and Health. One thing that I plan on incorporating is Tongans of different sexual and gender identity. The conservative political climate of Tonga reflects the attitudes towards this group, hostile sentiments have been made towards advancements in gender relations and sexuality. Homosexuality for males is still considered illegal in Tonga and therefore stigmatized here in the Tongan community in the diaspora. Partnership with the Tongan Leitis Association is another effort being made to be more inclusive and show that they are visible group within this community. 

As I mentioned earlier, the group DIVA, is where I have gained most of my support in conducting this project. This group focuses on all people of color and the injustices we live under within the current infrastructure, their leadership team is a team of educated women of color. Being able to talk about the Cultural Appropriation within the Pacific Islands on their platform is actually what kicked started this journey. The director of Inclusivity and Equity of that organization, Miyalla Tarver, is a good friend of mine and is actually the one who invited me to speak with DIVA. Having this partnership has been beneficial in understanding the similar systemic issues that different communities have faced and their ways of overcoming them.