article
Power on the extreme periphery: the perspective of Tongan elites in the modern world
Pacific viewpoint • 22 (1) • Published In 1981 • Pages: 48-64
By: Marcus, George E..
Abstract
Marcus examines Tongan social relations within two distinct periods of Tongan integration into the capitalist world system, 1875-1965 and 1965-present (1978). The earlier period is marked by a centralized monarchy, weak parliament, land-based hereditary nobility; and a smallholding peasantry, with secure tenancy and spotty participation in commercial agriculture. Education, Christian congregations, and government bureaucracy provided avenues for the emergence of a new elite. Commerce was in the hands of a small group of half-caste families of mixed European and Tongan descent. In the latter period, shortage of land and increasing population, prompted significant migration, estimated by Marcus to be nearly a quarter of the total Tongan population, to settle in core states and maintain links with homeland kin. Marcus discusses how both new and old elites participate in this new transnational order and its impact on the Tongan state, culture and identity.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2006
- Region
- Oceania
- Sub Region
- Polynesia
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard; 2004
- Field Date
- 1972--1978
- Coverage Date
- 1875-1978
- Coverage Place
- Tonga
- Notes
- George E. Marcus
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 64)
- LCCN
- 64053119
- LCSH
- Tongans