Archival Significance
Published in 1993, this is described as the first major book about the world of the Tonga people written for and with Tonga adults and children themselves, rather than an external academic study alone, distinguishing it from the earlier Rhodes-Livingstone Institute-era ethnographies of the same communities held elsewhere in this Archive.
Institutional Context
Published by Panos, Books from the South, London, in association with the International African Institute, the same institute behind AA-WEB-0107’s Seven Tribes of British Central Africa four decades earlier.
Content Summary
Presents the Tonga people’s own world, history and knowledge, developed collaboratively with Tonga communities.
Research Utility
Useful alongside AA-WEB-0120 and AA-WEB-0123 for researchers tracing Tonga history across the twentieth century, and for comparing this participatory approach against the earlier externally-authored ethnographic and resettlement studies held elsewhere in this Archive.
Abantu Archives Note
Held in-house. Geography recorded as Zambia / Zimbabwe, since the Tonga homeland spans the modern Zambia-Zimbabwe border along the Zambezi.