| Author | : Simon Kooijman |
| Publisher | : BRILL |
| Total Pages | : 186 |
| Release | : 2023-06-26 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 900454495X |
Pacific Tapa
| Author | : Roger Neich |
| Publisher | : University of Hawaii Press |
| Total Pages | : 170 |
| Release | : 2005-01-31 |
| Genre | : Art |
| ISBN | : 9780824829292 |
Auckland Museum's collection of tapa cloth from around the Pacific is one of the most extensive in the world and it forms the basis of this comprehensive survey.
Staying Fijian
| Author | : Rod Ewins |
| Publisher | : University of Hawaii Press |
| Total Pages | : 430 |
| Release | : 2009-07-31 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0824860500 |
Barkcloth, or masi, is the traditional art form of the women of Vatulele Island. Its manufacture continues to flourish, even increase, while many other arts are declining, despite the fact that most of its functional roles have been usurped by Western cloth and paper. This book explores this apparent paradox and concludes that the reasons lie in the ability of its identity functions to buffer the effects of social stress. This is so for not only Vatuleleans but all Fijians. It is argued that the resultant strong indigenous demand has caused the efflorescence in barkcloth manufacture and use, contrary to the common assumption that the tourism market is the "savior" of art. This cultural vigor, however, has social costs that are explored here and weighed against its benefits. Rod Ewins locates a very local activity in both national and global contexts, historically, sociologically, and theoretically.
Unwrapping Tongan Barkcloth
| Author | : Fanny Wonu Veys |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 273 |
| Release | : 2017-01-26 |
| Genre | : Design |
| ISBN | : 1474283314 |
Tongan barkcloth, made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, still features lavishly in Polynesian ceremonies all over the world. Yet despite the attention paid to this textile by anthropologists and art historians alike, little is known about its history. Providing a unique insight into Polynesian material culture, this book explores barkcloth's rich cultural history, and argues that its manufacture, decoration and use are vehicles of creativity and female agency. Based on twelve years of extensive ethnographic and archival research, the book uncovers stories of ceremony, gender, the senses, religion and nationhood, from the 17th century up to the present-day. Placing the materiality of textiles at the heart of Tongan culture, Veys reveals not only how barkcloth was and continues to be made, but also how it defines what it means to be Tongan. Extending the study to explore the place of barkcloth in the European imagination, she examines international museum collections of Tongan barkcloth, from the UK and Italy to Switzerland and the USA, addressing the bias of the European 'gaze' and challenging traditional gendered understandings of the cloth. A nuanced narrative of past and present barkcloth manufacture, designs and use, Unwrapping Tongan Barkcloth demonstrates the importance of the textile to both historical and contemporary Polynesian culture.
The Art of Clothing: A Pacific Experience
| Author | : Susan Kuchler |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 228 |
| Release | : 2014-05-22 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1134056656 |
The Art of Clothing: A Pacific Experience is a collection of richly textured and tremendously engaging empirical studies of cloth and clothing in colonial and post-colonial Pacific contexts. By challenging readers to reconsider the very nature of the materiality of clothing, the editors productively situate this volume at the intersection of a number of ongoing interdisciplinary projects that are coalescing around an interest in cloth and clothing. The book as a whole speaks lucidly to issues of current concern in a wide range of academic fields - including cultural studies, material culture, Pacific history, art history, history of religions, and museum studies.
The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art
| Author | : Bruno David |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 1185 |
| Release | : 2018 |
| Genre | : Art |
| ISBN | : 0190607351 |
Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.
Developments in Polynesian Ethnology
| Author | : Robert Borofsky |
| Publisher | : University of Hawaii Press |
| Total Pages | : 448 |
| Release | : 2019-03-31 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 0824881966 |
Development in Polynesian Ethnology assesses the current state of anthropological research in Polynesia by examining the debates and issues that shape the discipline today. What have anthropologists achieved? What concerns now dominate discussion? Where is Polynesian anthropology headed? In a series of provocative and original essays, leading scholars examine prehistory, social organization, socialization and character development, mana and tapu, chieftainship, art and aesthetics, and early contact. Together these essays show how history, anthropology, and archaeology have combined to give a broad understanding of Polynesian societies developing over time--how they represent a blend of modernity and tradition, continuity and change. This book is both an introduction to Polynesia for interested students and a thought-provoking synthesis for scholars charting new directions and posing possibilities for future research. Scholars outside Polynesian studies will find the perspectives it offers important and its comprehensive bibliography an invaluable resource.
Tides of Innovation in Oceania
| Author | : Elisabetta Gnecchi-Ruscone |
| Publisher | : ANU Press |
| Total Pages | : 365 |
| Release | : 2017-04-07 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1760460931 |
Tides of Innovation in Oceania is directly inspired by Epeli Hau‘ofa’s vision of the Pacific as a ‘Sea of Islands’; the image of tides recalls the cyclical movement of waves, with its unpredictable consequences. The authors propose tides of innovation as a fluid concept, unbound and open to many directions. This perspective is explored through ethnographic case studies centred on deeply elaborated analyses of locally inflected agencies involved in different transforming contexts. Three interwoven themes—value, materiality and place—provide a common thread.
Made in Oceania
| Author | : Peter Mesenhöller |
| Publisher | : Cambridge Scholars Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 185 |
| Release | : 2016-11-14 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1443887722 |
Both anthropologists and conservation scientists are fascinated by Oceanic barkcloth, or tapa, as it is known by its generic Polynesian term. Historic tapa designs are often living cultural heritage, but today’s objects also combine content, form and tradition in new ways and are intimately connected with the social and cultural identity of individuals, groups, and even nations. With tapa being completely alien to European traditions, conservation scientists are challenged by the material and its restoration and preservation. Questions of adequate presentation in exhibitions touch upon both disciplines, particularly when cultural requirements of the source communities come into play. This volume brings together presentations given at an interdisciplinary symposium on the social and cultural meanings, conservation and presentation of Oceanic tapa, organised and hosted by the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum of World Cultures and the Institute of Conservation Sciences, Cologne, in 2014. By presenting new, international, cutting-edge research from both disciplines, Made in Oceania offers unique insights into current museum practice, and connects historical research with recent social and cultural developments in the Pacific.
