LEADER 03731oam 2200673Ia 450 001 9910781459503321 005 20240112220443.0 010 $a0-8047-7764-0 024 7 $a10.1515/9780804777643 035 $a(CKB)2550000000041056 035 $a(EBL)735407 035 $a(OCoLC)742367612 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000524584 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12223079 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000524584 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10547393 035 $a(PQKB)10391990 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000592274 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12214458 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000592274 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10735827 035 $a(PQKB)11494782 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC735407 035 $a(DE-B1597)563873 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780804777643 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL735407 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10484214 035 $a(OCoLC)1198931489 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000041056 100 $a20101007d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdamedia 200 10$aOn the edge of the global $emodern anxieties in a Pacific island nation /$fNiko Besnier 210 $aStanford, CA $cStanford University Press$d2011 215 $a1 online resource (327 pages) 225 1 $aEast-West Center Series on Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-8047-7405-6 311 0 $a0-8047-7406-4 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aContents; Figures, Tables, Charts, and Maps; Note on Tongan Orthography and Transcription Conventions; Preface; 1. Straddling the Edge of the Global; 2. Tonga's Modernity; 3. Consumption and Cosmopolitanism; 4. When Gifts Become Commodities; 5. Modern Bodies on the Runway; 6. Coloring and Straightening; 7. Shaping the Modern Body; 8. Reconfiguring the Modern Christian; Conclusion: Sites of Modernity; Notes; References; Index 330 $aLife in twenty-first century Tonga is rife with uncertainties. Though the postcolonial island kingdom may give the appearance of stability and order, there is a malaise that pervades everyday life, a disquiet rooted in the feeling that the twin forces of "progress" and "development"-and the seemingly inevitable wealth distribution that follows from them-have bypassed the society. Niko Besnier's illuminating ethnography analyzes the ways in which segments of this small-scale society grapple with their growing anxiety and hold on to different understandings of what modernity means. How should it be made relevant to local contexts? How it should mesh with practices and symbols of tradition? In the day-to-day lives of Tongans, the weight of transformations brought on by neoliberalism and democracy press not in the abstract, but in individually significant ways: how to make ends meet, how to pay lip service to tradition, and how to present a modern self without opening oneself to ridicule. Adopting a wide-angled perspective that brings together political, economic, cultural, and social concerns, this book focuses on the interface between the different forms that modern uncertainties take. 410 0$aContemporary issues in Asia and the Pacific. 606 $aCulture and globalization$zTonga 607 $aTonga$xSocial life and customs 607 $aTonga$xCivilization 615 0$aCulture and globalization 676 $a996.12 700 $aBesnier$b Niko$0174571 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910781459503321 996 $aOn the edge of the global$93702995 997 $aUNINA