Tokelau forms of sociality resemble patterns common to other Polynesian societies, in that they have fostered what I have described elsewhere as a ‘sense of place’ (Hoëm 1999, 2004).^[4] This concept refers to peoples’ constant awareness of the social composition of a social situation, caused by a concern with social life in terms of social relationships (va, lit. the space between) and relative status positions (tulaga, nofoaga, see also Tcherkézoff 2008). All significant social groups, such as extended families or kin-groups (kaiga), the villages (nuku) and the atolls have their own gatherings or meeting fora, the fono. In such gatherings, the place to be seated (nofoaga) is determined by status position (tulaga) and the congregated group traditionally used to sit in a circle along the posts (pou) that uphold the roofs of the open-walled houses.

Determining who is eligible to occupy a position depends on the nature of the congregation. In village councils, only older men and family heads are eligible participants. In a family gathering, other principles are followed. Male elders in the villages as well as the senior men and women in extended families have the privilege of deciding how the lives of their dependants should be ordered. The elders can, for example, place a restriction (lafu) on plantation areas on the outer islets across the lagoon, thereby pronouncing them off-limits for a period. In other words, they control peoples’ access to their land-holdings. They may also ban individuals or families from the villages for improper behaviour, or order them to go overseas for more positive reasons such as to take up a scholarship. The moral universe is heavily influenced by Christianity, but the regulation and assessment of actual behaviour is also and ultimately carried out in terms of such notions as noa (free, unbound, improper) and tapu or more commonly ha (or sa) (off limits, restricted, forbidden, or sacred), (Cf. Hoëm 2004: Tcherkézoff 2008: Valeri 2008).

This brief description of mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion is presented in order to provide an illustration of how the villages are ordered; on the one hand, in terms of concepts of interlocking groups that ideally exist as a harmonious and well-functioning (teu, maopoopo) whole and on the other hand, how the actual processes of composing groups in terms of matching persons and positions are also commonly characterised by fierce competition and social exclusion.