Economic, Religious, and Social Practice of Giving: A Microanalysis of Donating in the Kingdom of Tonga

Abstract

This chapter focuses on donating to the church on the part of Wesleyan Methodists in the Kingdom of Tonga. It illuminates the dynamism and tension emerging between religious faith and economic practice. Quantitative analysis of income and expenditures are combined with qualitative observations of villagers' actions and discourse in this microanalysis of donating events, which seeks to comprehend the situation from point of view of the local adherents. It concludes that what might appear in Tonga on the surface to be a purely competitive practice is actually a complex blend of competition and cooperation, with the latter probably having a larger role than the former in these transactions.

Citation

Higa, N. (2011), "Economic, Religious, and Social Practice of Giving: A Microanalysis of Donating in the Kingdom of Tonga", Obadia, L. and Wood, D.C. (Ed.) The Economics of Religion: Anthropological Approaches (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 31), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-263. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-1281(2011)0000031013