OF DAFFODILS AND HEILALA: UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL CONTEXTS IN PACIFIC LITERATURE*

you tell me that you want to give me your kakala i haven't the courage to keep it l wish to thank the conference organisers for inviting me to share some of my thoughts and feelings about writ ing in general and my own writ ing in particular. For over twenty years my creative writ ing has helped me remain sane and able to attend to those things that women who are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, partners, lovers, teachers, writers, managers, and many "others " generally must attend to. My writ ing is my soul and saviour, my escape, and talking about it is similar to exposing oneself; so l apologise at the outset if l say something that might offend. (This last sentence is characteristically uttered by a Tongan speaker who is about to address a gathering). l received the education of a Tongan woman, not that of an American or Australian. My early education, almost entirely in the Tongan language, provided me with the knowledge, skills and values of my culture. Later, through school and university, I learned about the cultures of New Zealand, and through marriage, the cultures of the United States. This new knowledge and new understanding were different from my own, but I have acquired them mainly from working at a regional university in the South Pacific. They have combined to shape me, my view of myself and my view of worlds of people and places that I encounter from time to time. At one level I belong to my kainga, a very large extended kin group scattered around the globe