Anthropologist finds cultural emphasis on group over individual might hinder democracy
When it comes to establishing democracy, a me-first attitude isn鈥檛 such a bad thing. In fact, it might be a necessity, according to Northern Illinois University anthropologist Giovanni Bennardo.
Bennardo spent the tail end of the summer in Tonga, the only remaining Polynesian monarchy. Budding democratic movements there have failed to take firm root, and Bennardo says the problem can be traced to a culturally ingrained way of thinking that always puts groups before individuals.
鈥淒emocracy puts the rights of the individual first, but Tongans are trained from birth to do the opposite,鈥� Bennardo says. 鈥淚n their society, the extreme importance is attributed to the group over the individual. The ego is highly constrained. That doesn鈥檛 mean they can鈥檛 understand freedom and democracy, but putting individuals ahead of the group is a tough task for them.鈥�
Bennardo won a $35,000 grant from the National Science Foundation earlier this year to continue his research on democratic movements in the Kingdom of Tonga. He spent a month there interviewing some of the country鈥檚 nobles, government representatives and church officials about their notions of democracy.
The interviews complement data Bennardo collected previously from the nation鈥檚 commoners as he examines how culturally informed ways of thinking might slow down democratic movements in Tonga. He is a specialist in linguistic and cognitive anthropology.
鈥淯ltimately, the research will inform policymakers and development specialists about difficulties they may encounter when encouraging democracy in countries with historically different ways of thinking about social and political hierarchy, including nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Cambodia,鈥� Bennardo says.
The Kingdom of Tonga consists of about 170 tropical islands. The nation boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the Pacific, with its 98,000 inhabitants receiving free education. The current monarch, King George Tupou V, is heir to a dynasty that goes back at least a millennium.
In November 2006, political riots broke out in Tonga鈥檚 capital city, leaving widespread damage from fire and looting and eight dead. While the debate between loyalists to the monarchy and the recently established democratic movement has been exacerbated, the legitimacy of the monarch system has largely gone unchallenged.
鈥淢y research has shown that among both commoners and the nation鈥檚 elite, Tongans feel that their cultural history is congruent with their monarchy,鈥� Bennardo says.
Bennardo鈥檚 latest research is an extension of work that began by examining the way Tongans conceptualize spatial relationships. He found they use a frame of reference that differs from Westerners. Unlike Westerners, Tongans typically don鈥檛 use themselves as a reference point but instead seek out an object of importance in their environment.
For example, a Westerner might describe a building location as 鈥渋n front of me,鈥� whereas a Tongan would describe it as being 鈥渢oward the church.鈥� In experiments, Bennardo asked test subjects to draw pictures of their island. They typically placed the major town in the center of the island, even when in reality it was at or near the coast.
Working with researchers in Germany and at UCLA, Bennardo demonstrated that this way of thinking also applies to concepts of time, kinship and social relationships, the latter of which is closely tied to the political realm.
鈥淥ne person, one vote is difficult to implement,鈥� he says. 鈥淭ongans aren鈥檛 accustomed to viewing themselves in terms of equality of individuals.鈥�
Bennardo found no major differences between the views of the country鈥檚 commoners and the elite. 鈥淢embers of the elite also talk about the group as paramount in the social fabric,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey say political change is inevitable but must occur slowly because the real Tongan way cannot be uprooted, which is a contradiction. Tradition is at odds with the concept of democracy.鈥�
Charles Cappell, a professor of sociology at NIU, is working with Bennardo on an analysis of social networks in Tonga. Lisita Taufa, a graduate student in anthropology who is from Tonga, and six NIU undergraduates also have participated in the project.
Source: Northern Illinois University
