Several myths surrounding Fijian traditional art

This was an An informal talk to the Oceanic Art Society, Sydney, Australia, on 24 September 2014. It was given at a book launch for my book "Traditional Fijian Artefacts". Rather than attempting a sales pitch or a survey of everything in the book, I chose to discuss myths surrounding Fijian traditional art. In the wonderful classic film “The man who shot Liberty Valance”, Ford has a newspaper reporter say “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” It was a great line, and certainly myth often overwhelms the facts. There are a lot of examples surrounding traditional Fijian art. In writing this book, whenever I met some of these highly suspect received wisdoms, I have tried to find the evidence for the truth. Even so, it is not always possible, and we are left to theorise—but we must make it very clear that we are theorising, and not present it as though it is known truth.

The art of Fij i has been overshadowed, particularly in the eyes of Western collectors, by the dramatic (male) figurative art of island New Guinea and its neighbours, and of the Eastern Polynesians and their Hawai'ian and Maori descendants. Here it is argued that in their housebuilding, shipbuilding, and weaponry Fijian men were unsurpassed in the Pacific, as were Fijian women in the areas of bark-cloth making and figuring, fantastically-formed pottery, and beautiful and utilitarian mats and baskets.Aesthetics were important but went hand in hand with meaning and social function.

Archaeology in Oceania, Vol. 48 (2013): 154–165, 2013

We present results from four field seasons in Fiji focused on rock art research. We recorded previously noted sites and surveyed particular areas in search of new ones. The results tend to confirm the scarcity of Fijian rock art, as our research has produced a total of 23 sites. Nonetheless, this fact implies some interesting aspects. First, there are at least two different traditions of rock art in Fiji, which we have broadly defined as a Polynesian-based tradition and a collection of unique cases. In spite of the small size of the sample, the Polynesian-based tradition shares a series of conventions that allow us to detect patterns.

2010

s. Taveuni Palms •. Tavaro Falls figuro 1. General location of the visited sitos. 1, Tatuba 3. Vatu vola vola no vu 1. Vola Creek 4. Loaloa point

This paper reviews: Chiefs and Governors: art and power in Fiji. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge. 7 June 2013 – 19 April 2014. Curated by Anita Herle and Lucie Carreau. http://maa.cam.ac.uk/maa/chiefs-governors/. Chiefs & Governors: art and power in Fiji. By Anita Herle and Lucie Carreau. Cambridge, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 2013. 130 pp., illus. ISBN 978-0- 947595-19-7. £15.00stg.

The Journal of Asian Studies, 2008

Anthropologica, 2000

Abstract: How and in what cultural arenas do women contest, contradict or invert dominant ideologies of gender? This article examines how myths told by women in western Viti Levu, Fiji, represent a site of resistance (Abu-Lughod, 1990) wherein hegemonic understandings of gender are contested. This is achieved through a "transformation of signs" (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke and Roberts, 1978) that sees authoritative male figures depicted as powerless, challenges a spatial order that privileges men, and attacks an order of knowledge that declares vision the dominant mode for the apperception of knowledge. By contravening dominant meanings, these myths present a "rupture of representation" (Sharpe, 1995) that subverts reigning constructions of truth. I argue that anthropology's understanding of the legitimizing role of myth must be tempered by an appreciation of its potential as a "risk to the sense of signs" (Sahlins, 1987: 149). Resume: Comment et dans quels domaines culturels est-ce que les femmes contestent, contredisent ou inversent les ideologies liees a la condition sexuelle? Cet article examine comment les mythes racontes par les femmes de l'Ouest de Viti Levu, Fiji, representent un site de resistance (Abu-Lughod, 1990) ou les perceptions hegemoniques de la condition sexuelle sont contestees. Cette contestation s'accomplit par une <<transformation de signes>> (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke and Roberts, 1978) qui voit les figures d'autorite masculines depeintes comme sans pouvoir, qui defie un ordre spatial qui privilegie les hommes et attaque un ordre de connaissance qui prend pour acquis le mode dominant de perception de la connaissance. En s'opposant aux significations dominantes, ces mythes presentent une <<rupture de representation>> (Sharpe, 1995) qui subvertit les constructions reconnues de la verite. Je soumets que la comprehension anthropologique du role legitimant du mythe doit etre temperee par une reconnaissance de son potentiel comme <<risque du sens des signes>> (Sahlins, 1987: 149) Aucoin, Pauline M. 2000. Blinding the snake: women's myths as insubordinate discourse in Western Fiji Anthropologica 42 (1) (2000): 11-22.

2019

Many people, whose knowledge and support I have truly appreciated and been humbled by, have contributed to this book and I am greatly indebted to them all. Even though I feel that I could not have completed this work without them, I do want to point out that this study remains my sole responsibility, which means that I am to blame for errors or omissions. The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded the three-year (2011-14) research project entitled Fijian Art: political power, sacred value, social transformation and collecting since the 18th century

2015

This paper analyses three key films of the Maori Renaissance, which, in addition to being art forms in themselves, depict ritual song, traditional dance, martial arts, tattoos, carvings, and mythical storytelling. Moreover each film has both drawn from and generated debate about the roles of religion, ritual and cultural performance in the negotiation of resources and identity for indigenous peoples against a background of post-colonial late capitalism. In Once Were Warriors, the central problem is conceived in terms of a loss of the traditional means of disciplining male aggression and attempts to revitalize them, including the teaching of haka (war dance) and the martial arts of taiaha (spear) to young offenders and the adoption of tattoos resembling traditional moko by local gangs. Whale Rider in contrast, has a peaceful rural setting but also emphasizes the teaching of haka to young males as an initiatory rite for potential leaders. Both films have been criticized for their emphasis on gender and their silence regarding economic and political forces, although Whale Rider's enactment of mythical connections between human and animal communities suggests subtlety in the transmission of animist religion. Te Rua, exploring Maori efforts to repatriate ancestral carvings from European museums, suggests the power of the carvings themselves and highlights the virtues of consulting with one's community more than martial arts. Taken together, these films suggest that while traditional myth, art, and ritual are central to the shaping of Maori post-colonial identities, their precise role is a subject of intense scrutiny and debate.

Pacific arts, 2021

In 1959, a serialised, illustrated encyclopaedia, The Book of Knowledge, published a photograph captioned "Fijian islanders preparing for a feast," suggesting to readers that butchering a turtle prior to cooking was a common sight in the 1950s and a cultural practice among modern-day Fijians. However, the photograph had been taken around the turn of the century by a British colonial official, Basil Thomson, and published elsewhere by him and others in the intervening fifty years. How much post-World War II illustrative photography of Pacific Islanders in encyclopaedias was misleading in this manner? How much illustrative (particularly photographic) material from an era long past was presented mid-century as being evidence of contemporary life in the Pacific? Or, was preparing a turtle for a feast a long-standing tradition and, therefore, the date of the photograph immaterial? This paper investigates these questions within the context of the creation of The Book of Knowledge and other such compendia, as well as Euro-American stereotypes of Fiji and the Pacific.