On the Edge of the Global Modern Anxieties in a Pacific Island Nation [Hardcover]

Life in twenty-first century Tonga is rife with uncertainties. Though the postcolonial island kingdom may give the appearance of stability and order, there is a malaise that pervades everyday life, a disquiet rooted in the feeling that the twin forces of progress and development and the seemingly inevitable wealth distribution that follows from themhave bypassed the society.Niko Besnier's illuminating ethnography analyzes the ways in which segments of this small-scale society grapple with their growing anxiety and hold on to different understandings of what modernity means. How should it be made relevant to local contexts? How it should mesh with practices and symbols of tradition? In the day-to-day lives of Tongans, the weight of transformations brought on by neoliberalism and democracy press not in the abstract, but in individually significant ways: how to make ends meet, how to pay lip service to tradition, and how to present a modern self without opening oneself to ridicule. Adopting a wide-angled perspective that brings together political, economic, cultural, and social concerns, this book focuses on the interface between the different forms that modern uncertainties take. This book has expanded my understanding of contemporary Tongan life. Anybody interested in Tonga, or Polynesia at large, and the scholar or layman passionate about gaining insights into how 'globality' is realized in very unfamiliar places will find precious material to treasure. Another valuable piece is added to the literature about Tonga, contributing to the understanding of its fascinating reality. On the Edge of the Globalby Niko Besnier is a compelling attempt to straighten misconceptions and render instead a comprehensive account of how immersed in a globalized world and in modernity the people in (and out of) Tonga actually are. Besides its profound insights, the book is also just pleasant to read, comprehensible even in its most theoretical parts, as entertaining as it lÄ