TY - MANSCPT AU - Morris,Avigail ED - Universiáš­at Ben-Guryon ba-Negev. TI - Playing to a new rhythm: an ethnography of female games and sports in the Kingdom of Tonga PY - 2001/// KW - Feminism and sports KW - Tonga KW - Women KW - Social conditions KW - Tongans KW - Games KW - Sports KW - Academic theses KW - lcgft N1 - A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-247) N2 - "This study examines the role of games and sports in the dynamics between cultural tradition and change in the Kingdom of Tonga. The research focuses on both traditional and modern gender roles in concepts of femininity, particularly in terms of their influence on the local adaptation of western games and sports. The analysis shows how Tongan girls have reinterpreted and modified these activities so that the experience of the game both reflects and reinforces aspects of appropriate female behavior based on the old order and at the same time serves as an "active agency of change" (Turner, 1986). The process of modernization and development, which the Kingdom of Tonga has experienced over the last century, has introduced to many changes in regards to concepts, attitudes and values associated with being a Tongan female. Traditional notions of gender roles and concepts of femininity, which stem from a complex union between traditional chiefly values and those introduced by Christianity, are still regarded by most Tongan females as central to the process of female socialization"--Abstract ER -