The organization of ideological diversity in discourse: Modern and neotraditional visions of the Tongan state

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn current cultural anthropology, under the influence of postmodernism, considerable attention is given to the multiplicity of interpretive perspectives with which people contend in making sense of their daily experiences. In this article I examine diverse representations of the nation‐state in Tonga and other Pacific microstates. My focus is on the configuration of ideological diversity in the Tongan Magistrate's Courts compared with configurations of traditional and modern nationalist ideologies in other Tongan political domains and in other Pacific nations. Some contemporary anthropological accounts represent ideological diversity as plural, fluid, and rapidly changing. Other accounts of ideological diversity emphasize the oppositional structuring of ideas and the power struggle for ideological domination. I argue that it is useful to think of an ecology of ideas, in which multiple ideas move across discourse domains, becoming implanted in hospitable discourse environments, much as plants move into new environments.