Marcus fieldnote 1973-29-12

Transcript by George Marcus:

"I see rank here not being imposed on people as much as it is freely accepted by them (once again back to the idea of an obligation-oriented culture)—I notice the. Mildness of people. In matters of rank. A modern chief can be rather generous in accepting. His position—people give him lots of room. Isolation phenomenon of chiefs and big  me I have noted is. Related to this—something that others impose on him and he does not necessarily demand (there is a correlation between respect & isolation—applies to an aristocracy as well as big men), and the inverse: lack of respect & a great deal of familiarity (e.g, Tev Kaian Kanu when he failed to get the title—he was greatly criticized for not falling back into the mass rather than becoming an eccentric. Isolate as he did)—gentry nobles ride the fence like Fulivai [[noble estate owner and chief of Hunga island ]]. I’m sure this is more satisfactory to many highly respected men who are lonely in their isolation—have only the defined rules of. Priority to deal with those around them, including their own personal families(the real sense in which the ancient concept of tape, related to rank, applies in modern Tonga). In a sense paying respect is more active, animated than receiving it like a passive statue/being.  In fact, modern. Chiefs attempt to plays down their positions by not encouraging extreme forms of respect or. playing them down in situations (e.g. a noble can ‘fai kava’ with anyone who wants to come)—attempt to break the isolation which people. Impose on him—the phenomenon that Goffman called role distancing.  Technically, the noble’s matapules are the masters of. Protocol and are there to act as buffer, and as rep of people to to impose. Their will of isolation on the noble—thus there can be a fundamental opposition between noble and. His matapules in his attempt to break out of isolation—the matapules are there to maintain tap side. Of the noble. Tonga is. Culture of service where servant is in control of his master—limits of tolerance are crossed when leader takes more than people wish to give him.  Technically this is subtle because man of states is ‘ Faiteliha’—can please himself supposedly without limits, but there definitely are limits which are imposed negatively by positive roles of obligation (roles of obligation define by implication roles of master)."