Theorists of civil society often view civil society as a site for democratic education.
Civil society is supposed to assist democratic practice by offering people contexts in which
they practice promoting the common good. This article, following Nina Eliasoph ‘s intervention,
takes this to be a claim requiring ethnographic exploration. The article provides an ethnographic
answer to the question, What do people actually tell each other about the common good or
national well-being in civil society moments? To explore this question, the authors turn to how a
Samoan cultural group and a Maori cultural group rehearse and perform in a citywide high
school cultural festival in Auckland.
This article compares how migrant high school students and indigenous high school
students use performances of traditional songs and dances to explore their relationships to the
New Zealand nation. The article examines how the rehearsals take place, particularly who disciplines
whom and how different levels of expertise are displayed. The authors compare how
tutors circulate knowledge and discipline in the rehearsals with how the students perform their
relationships to the New Zealand nation on stage.