“…As in other research on the anthropology of development and humanitarian aid (Atlani Duault, 2005; Revet, 2007, 2018; Agier, 2008; Atlani Duault and Vidal, 2009; Fassin and Pandolfi, 2010; Benadusi, Brambilla, and Riccio, 2011; Olivier de Sardan, 2011; Corbet, 2014a, 2014b), my objective is to analyse how humanitarian aid was received, from the perspective of its beneficiaries. Tongoans were not passive; on the contrary, they contested and resisted various components of the assistance, which attempted to change the architectural context of the island.…”