‘I was forced here’: perceptions of agency in second generation ‘return’ migration to Tonga

ABSTRACT

Migrants’ adolescent children sometimes live for periods of time in their parents’ homeland; however, little attention has been paid to this in the literature on ‘return’ migration and transnationalism. This paper explores the experiences of overseas born Tongan youth spending time in high schools in Tonga, whether by choice or because they have been taken or sent due to concerns about their behaviour. The importance of these young people’s perceptions of agency in relation to their move is considered as a factor in their responses to their experiences in Tonga. Other factors shaping those experiences include their family situation, the school they attend and the wider attitudes in Tongan society towards these young people. The paper also considers the question of agency in relation to the cultural expectations these overseas born youth must learn to meet, which entail significant restrictions on their behaviour yet are also a means of strengthening their cultural identity and sense of belonging.

KEYWORDS:

• Tonga
• transnationalism
• migration
• youth
• agency
• cultural identity

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Tongan government for permission to conduct the research and to the school principals and teachers who gave their support. Thanks also to researchers Ebonie Fifita and Rebecca Tauali’i for their wonderful work in the Tongan high schools; also Hainoame Fulivai for her excellent interviews and project support including her work with Meliame Fifita on the project’s two Facebook sites. Special thanks to the youth who participated in the discussion sessions and to all the other Tongan participants who gave their time and, as always, their patience!

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Helen Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2379-6940

Notes

1. The research builds on previous research since 1994 on the Tongan diaspora (e.g. Lee 2003) and second generation transnationalism (e.g. Lee 2011) during which the issue of overseas born youth ‘returning’ to Tonga was often discussed by participants.

2. The talanoa sessions were filmed on a laptop and Rebecca Tauali’i kept notes on her observations of the group dynamics and individual students.

3. Some students with mobile phones also used these to take photographs and videos to contribute to the project.

4. The comparable literature suggests it is unusual for migrants’ children sent to high school in their parents’ homelands to have spent little or no time there while growing up.

5. All names of participants are pseudonyms.

6. As with some of the other students, Tangi invited the author to be her ‘friend’ on Facebook; many of her posts testified to her attachment to the school.

Additional information

Funding

The research on which this paper is based was funded by the Australian Research Council [Discovery Project grant number DP120103769], through La Trobe University.