Abstract:
In the Tongan culture, individuals who are considered feminine are called “leitī” – which has many definitions depending on the person required. Throughout history, it was translated as “man who acts as a woman”; “third gender woman” and recently a transgender woman. Exploring this understanding, this thesis aims to understand how do leitīs want to view, perceive, and constitute themselves within the twenty-first century.
Furthermore, there are strict gender roles in Tongan culture, with women fulfilling the weaving, cooking, and cleaning and men doing the manual labour outside (Kā’ili, 2017). The ‘usefulness’ (Hamer and Wilson, 2017) of leitīs is widely known, with families relying on them constantly to survive (ibid., 2017). Tracking the transformation of tā (time) and vā (space) of leitīs will help explore these perceptions of leitīs in Tonga. Utilising the tā-vā methodology outlined by both Māhina and Kā’ili, the aim is to explain that being leitī is indigenously Tongan and goes beyond Western conceptions of gender and sexual identities. For solutions in Tonga to be culturally appropriate and respectful, one must always look into the past to garner the reasons of the present to create solutions for the future. Furthermore, recognising the Diasporic leitīs and their exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking, this thesis also uses the Lesbian Rule methodology (Jantzen, 2001) to critique “queerly” how a Biblical verse is used out of its context, thereby illustrating Baden’s (2014) view of the bible as a cultural prop.
This thesis is an overarching literature review engaging with Pacific and Eurocentric concepts of gender and sexuality comparing and contrasting these ideas of faith, sexuality and culture using the Tongan culture (‛Ulungaanga Faka-Tonga) as an anchoring point. This thesis is a continuation of previous work I did (Tuipulotu-Tuinukuafe, 2019) and examines leitīs by alluding to their heritage through the Tongan deity Hikule‛o, and how this lineage encouraged them to navigate life’s many challenges, even in a post-Christian Tonga. Finally, it explores
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how the Tongan Leitīs Association and Miss Galaxy reinvigorate this lineage despite being in a moral-driven country such as Tonga. Merged with a re-reading of Scripture regarding the theological concept of Imago Dei (‘Created in the image of God’) this thesis reiterates the need to let a leitī see themselves as they are and that we, as people, should allow them to grow in beauty and truth – with life experiences being key to a secure identity.