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- The Interrobangs are four curious and resourceful women who create, explore, dress, debate, read, think, cook, design, and travel, and this blog is a record of our various adventures. Individually, we are Chelsie, Katie, Millie and Sarah.
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One part ?, one part !, four parts awesomeness.
Chelsie girlfriend, This post delights me and makes me shake my head in despair at the same time.
I was born in New Zealand and have traveled throughout the Pacific … the main geographical regions are: Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia and each have very different styles of dress, dress code and traditions. The feather cloaks for instance originate in Polynesia but are now most predominantly found in New Zealand in Maori traditional garb (and is VERY VERY special garment, revered and reserved only for a very select few to be selected to wear) because the Maori who came to NZ eight hundred or so years ago, came originally from Polynesia and they bought that tradition with them.
My parents worked in the Solomon Islands for almost 6 years and the dress code and garments are completely different. As are those of Tonga, Fiji, Kiribati and PNG etc. So… hopefully without being harsh, lumping everything together is as bad as saying that the style of the entire Americas , North, South and Central is the same.
On the other hand I am DELIGHTED that anyone even knows that there are NATIONS hiding out in the vast Pacific ocean and that the peoples there exist. It is so often a geographical region of the world that is a black hole as far as peoples general knowledge is concerned, as news from there is sparse indeed. When I saw the map my heart leapt with delight… it’s just that the map isn’t the whole story, yes?
Hi Kiwidutch,
I found the research for this fascinating as well, and I noticed that everything was also very lumped together, so I tried to keep this post general, and while doing so, I realize it is just that, very general. It would be interesting to do posts on individual islands, but I’m not sure how accurate all the portrayals would be, especially with so much content being Westernized post contact, and I don’t feel that I could give the subject justice.
Thanks!
We deal with the same issues in museums when it comes to the interpretations of cultures. For example, historically, there’s been a tendency to present “pan-Indian” representations of American Indians, which results in a very 2-dimensional portrayal that is highly inaccurate and doesn’t do justice to anyone. Luckily, fewer and fewer museums are choosing that route, instead focusing on institutional and cultural partnerships where communities and cultures are supported in presenting their own portrayals of themselves.
However, two points in defense of the resources Chelsie was able to find: First, while you don’t want to lump cultures together, the cultures of the Pacific (like the cultures of North America, Europe, etc.) do have connections. Specifically talking about the Pacific, ethnographic and oral history data shows the movement of peoples from one island to another, just as Kiwidutch mentioned. Therefore, although changes happen throughout cultures across geography and time, there are some “relative constants” (for lack of a better term) that can be used to begin classification/categorization of clothing. Second, the real stumbling block comes when you look at the available resources for this subject matter. There’s a big and important shift happening in the cultural sciences world where the European outsider who shows up and analyzes a people is disappearing in favor of a cultural narrative created and controlled by the people it speaks about. What isn’t readily available (and I look forward to when it is) is a discussion of Pacific Islanders clothing that focuses on changes due to culture, geography and time written by scholars and communities of those cultures. It’s a shame that most of the resources I find by googling some combination of “Oceanic/Polynesian/Pacific Islands Clothing” results in articles that are often very broad and somewhat loose in their discussions of cultures, but the same happens when I do a similar search for Europe. However, I appreciate Chelsie beginning to compile some of the resources so that, at least, the beginning of that story is shared.
Chelsie, use the text you mentioned in the email.. not problem.
If I get a moment I will expand some of this for you.. we have visiting relations at the moment so next days are busy but I will be back with more info soonest, promise.
Women in the Solomons for instance, in more remote areas even today will go topless, but their legs are always well covered, in fact even in the capital Honiara where more ” western” dress is worn, it’s considered very rude for a woman to wear shorts or even trousers. It’s not that your legs are not well enough covered, it’s that the space between your legs can be seen that’s considered offensive. That’s why I packed a stack of flowing floor length sun dresses for my visits there… Yes, of course there were tourists in bikini’s at the few larger hotels flaunting almost all, the locals won’t say anything but they DO find it offensive. It’s always worth doing as much homework as you can when visiting somewhere like this… luckily my parents filled me in before my first trip and also other friends and family who visited and we were all sensitive enough to the feelings of the Solomon Islanders to respect their dress code.
Himself is actually an Island fanatic and has travelled the Pacific even more than I have LOL!!! and he has such a passion that he has a ton of books on many of the island groups, some of these books very rare and limited editions too. I have some very detailed local knowledge from the places I have been to but Himself is a walking encyclopedia on this one as it’s his specialist subject.
We are planning a trip to Kiribati too… not soon, but not too far off either, and here’s another little snip of useless information: a pompous missionary decided that the Kiribati needed a written language, he also decided that he could simplify things by using the English language but thought they could do with only 16 letters. There is no letter “s” therefore in the Kiribati written language, and the letters “ti” are used in place of “s”. Thus the correct pronunciation of the country name Kiribati is in fact ” Kiri-bas”. And yes, we wince every time some newsreader mauls it.
Thanks!
Oh, I forgot to mention in my last comment too that in Solomon Island villages, protocol and good etiquite requires that outsiders must be specifically invited in, and clearance for that invitation comes from high up only (village elders). So getting such an invite is rarer than you think and should be respected as such. So.. whilst many of the (older) women in the village may be bare breasted, nothing is actually on show to the outside world. Visitors without invites never see the “real” village life, only that which is substantially more westernised on the outskirts of the capital or slap next to tourist traps (diving spots, or WWII sites usually in the Solomons)
In many other parts of the Pacific bare breastedness is long gone, or traditions of modesty have long long been in place already. Generally the cultures are more reserved than the west often likes to make out and firm religous beliefs (traditional, western or mixture of both) keep many clothing items modest too.
I’m not in any way slamming Chelsie’s post, In fact I think it’s fab… I too lament that information in general on the various Pacific Islands is not “out there” nearly as much as it deserves to be, and that as you say, everything is so often lumped generically together. People know that if this was done in Europe or Asia, it would not be a true reflection of the people there, so why do it in the Pacific?
btw I could give you a huge list of costume sites for just the Netherlands alone… you probably aren’t finding them because they are only in Dutch. Europe being split up by so many different languages definiately doesn’t help anyone reasearching clothing (or other) traditions… you are totally right though.. the more that gets shared the better, one day the picture will be complete, meantime any start in the right direction is excellent
http://www.roepstem.net/kleredrag.html
None of your comments have been slams – they’ve all been wonderfully thoughtful and informative. I think I’m a little on the sensitive side because a good part of my job is spent constantly walking the cultural narrative line, and it’s a tricky to balance on.