NEW DATE and ROOM

Hot off the research desk! We have managed to get PhD student Kasia Cook to report about her research. Having spent the past three years interviewing the German-Tongan diaspora, Kasia has agreed to present her main findings to the Auckland Goethe Society.

The work of emigrant German businessmen and traders in Tonga during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries spawned economic growth and industrial progression which is still impactful in the Islands today. Yet perhaps their most important influence on the world has come through their descendants. Today, individuals with German-Tongan heritage living around the world contribute in meaningful ways in their communities, nations, and the wider world. This presentation focusses on the modern German-Tongan diaspora, and the historical events which have led to its international growth and the statements of identity by descendants found therein.

Kasia, who received her previous degrees from Brigham Young University in the US, has recently handed in her PhD thesis here in Auckland on the German-Tongan diaspora, written under the supervision of James Bade, now Professor emeritus of German at UoA.

The talk will be held in English. Drinks and nibbles will be supplied.