Futa, we miss you [1]
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 14:45. Updated on Sunday, May 25, 2014 - 22:00.
Futa is gone, and it is hard for his family, for everyone in Tonga and for his friends living thousands of kilometers away to realize he's not here anymore.
Marie-Claire met Futa in 1974, in the first days of 'Atenisi, at the time when the first copy machine was being set to copy courses in the kitchen. Ben met him in 1983, when he taught sociology at 'Atenisi and understood the spirit of the place and the strength Futa inspired, through his teaching as well as his presence, his availability and the exchanges you could have with him. We would talk about everything subject in this big living-room with turns of talk that were very much codified and sentences heavy with meaning but always sprinkled with jokes, all the time drinking tea offered by Kaloni.
We came back to Tonga, more than once. And we shared again family times with Futa and Kaloni, for one of Virginia's birthday, for an 'umu or some other feast, sometimes 'Epeli Hau'ofa was present, and it was always joyful.
This friendship continued its course in France when Futa came in 1988 in Paris with Kaloni and the band, for a series of art performances nights. On these nights, the audience discovered one of many aspects of Polynesia that they didn't know until then, along with the kava ceremony and the Tongan dances at the end of which we pushed people to dare get on the stage to congratulate the dancers and put bills on their shining shoulders to show their admiration.
In 1991, Futa was invited in Paris by our research group of the National Center for Scientific Research to give several lectures at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme and the Musee de l'Homme. It was one of the rare occasions when French anthropologists and Polynesian academics could discuss together. One of Futa's communications dealt with "Brother/Sister and Gender Relations in Ancient and Modern Tonga", another with "Identity and Change in Tongan Society since European Contact". He also gave a conference in Bordeaux. During this same trip, Futa was invited by P. Van Der Grijp to give a talk at the Anthropology Department of Nimegue University and at the Tropenmuseum of Amsterdam in
the Netherlands.
That year, the tough winter had hit us earlier than usual and Futa, despite our strong command to wear warmer clothes, firmly stood his ground about the tupenu, notwithstanding the cold - he had come to talk about "Tongan identity" and insisted on wearing the tupenu no matter what, finally returning with bronchitis but proud and happy.
We deeply miss him.
Marie-Claire Bataille-Benguigui & Georges Benguigui