Diarchy and history in Hawaiʻi and Tonga
Valerio Valeri
Chapter from the book: Siikala, J. 2021. Culture and History in the Pacific.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Siikala, J. 2021. Culture and History in the Pacific.
This paper treats a well documented case of tension between diarchic and monarchic tendencies — that of ancient Hawaiʻi. The instability of diarchy in Hawaiʻi is contrasted with its stability, until the late eighteenth century, in another Polynesian society, Tonga. These different solutions correlate with the different place that a properly historical representation of kingship — that is one that recognizes discontinuities in time, that does not abolish time by making the present identical to the past — have in the two societies.
Valeri, V. 2021. Diarchy and history in Hawaiʻi and Tonga. In: Siikala, J (ed.), Culture and History in the Pacific. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-12-6
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Published on Sept. 29, 2021