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Tuhinga 14: 11 - 24
ABSTRACT: This article examines the manufacture of a set of Tokelau toki (hafted adzes) in New Zealand. The toki are usually thought of as functional tools, but they are also a medium through which the politics of relationships, knowledge transfer, and cultural identity can be negotiated. This analysis focuses on cultural production processes outside the usual public forums of galleries, literature, dance, and performance. The manufacture and documentation of these toki provide insights into the disjunctions of cultural meaning in transnational contexts, and considers the implications these disjunctions have for museums and their approach to authoritative ethnographic representation.
KEYWORDS: Tokelau, Tokelauans, New Zealand, adzes, toki, transnationalism, knowledge, cultural politics, cultural politics, cultural production, identitiy, ethnography