The State and National Foundation in the Maldives

Ahmad, Rizwan A.

Department of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT [email protected]

Cultural Dynamics 13(3):p 293-315, November 2001. | DOI: 10.1177/092137400101300303

The Maldivian state deploys an officialaccount of national origination which depicts the Islamic conversion of the islanders and the transcendence of jahiliyya(pre-Islamic ignorance). Encoded in this account are claims to legitimacy which culminate in the conflation of political and religious authority. This article explores how the foundational claims of the Maldivian state are subject to popular debasement, specifically through the juxtaposition of a popularunofficial rendition of national foundation.