The Commercial Construction of ‘New Nations’

Abstract

This article considers the instrumental role of commodity marketing and mass consumption in producing nationality as a dimension of personal and collective identities. It asks: if nation-ness and nationality no longer necessarily refer to political identities, then to what sort of imagined communities, if any, do they refer? It addresses this question in part through a discussion of commercial images from Papua New Guinea, one of the ‘new nations’ of the South Pacific.

Homo Nationis: The Psychosocial Infrastructure of the Nation-State Order

“…Contrary to the homogenization thesis in the globalization debate, internationally converging incomes are reported to lead to diverging consumer behaviour (de Mooij 2000). Finally, in a partial reversal of the causal arrow, Foster (1999) argues that while commodity marketing and mass consumption are nationally specific, they also play a significant role in producing nationally distinct consumption styles that may rival political identities in defining a nation.…”

Name, Shame and Blame: Criminalising Consensual Sex in Papua New Guinea

“…They have led the nation towards forging a national identity, 216 and a citizenry focused on self-improvement along the lines of local adaptations of global modernity, increasingly nuanced by local versions of Christianity. 217 They assert their rights to own their own persons and capacities, make their own economic and social choices of action, immerse themselves in a growing consumer culture, 218 resist the claims of less fortunate kin. They are becoming, to an extent, the 'possessive individuals' of the Western Pacific.…”

“…They are becoming, to an extent, the 'possessive individuals' of the Western Pacific. 219 But they are not merely turning their backs on 'custom' while still espousing the rhetoric. 220 The performance of this 'incipient individualism' 221 may be only partial, their position of advantage still 'fragile.'…”

“…121 He considers that, even after World War II, native courts and the development of laws based on custom were strongly resisted, and systems were imposed from Canberra: 216. 121 Ibid.,218. In fact, the legal system has been inherently dysfunctional from the early days of administration, with its motive forces being extraneous objectives, fear and paradigms-in defence of Australian interestsrather than the need to develop law and legal structures having intrinsic cultural meaning. 122 In New Guinea, the establishment of the western legal system included the principle that the tribal institutions, customs and usages of the aboriginal natives of the Territory shall not be affected by this Ordinance and shall, subject to the provisions of the Ordinances of the Territory from time to time in force, be permitted to continue in existence in so far as they are applicable, apply to the Territory.…”

“…We know that the Crown instigated the appeal because its lawyers considered that the trial judge had made 'an error of law in a matter of principle of such importance that the judgement should not be permitted to stand as an authority.' 218 But we do not know what the Public Solicitor's opinion was. There is no record in the Crown Prosecutor's file and no reference in the case decision to defence counsel's argument.…”