The Future of Tokelau

The Future of Tokelau—the sequel to Tokelau: A Historical Ethnography by Judith Huntsman and Anthony Hooper—follows the history of this small Pacific nation from the 1970s to the 2006 referendum in which the Tokelauans voted to remain a dependency of New Zealand rather than become self-governing in free association with New Zealand. Over the course of this history, Huntsman, with assistance from Kelihiano Kalolo, astutely documents the mismatch of cultural assumptions, expectations, and values played out by officials, politicians, and Tokelau elders on a stage ranging from the coral atolls of Tokelau, the bland offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the monumental UN building in New York.