Unit 9 Essentials

Spiritual power or authority that accumulates in persons, objects, and places across Polynesia and beyond; concentrated in chiefs, sacred objects, and important sites; transmissible through gifting and descent

Hawaiian system of sacred restrictions (from Polynesian "tapu/taboo"); certain objects, colors, foods, and behaviors were forbidden to commoners; yellow feathers were kapu to ali'i (chiefs) only; abolished in 1819

Hawaiian chiefly class; the only rank permitted to wear feather cloaks (ahu 'ula); accumulated mana through genealogy, warfare, and gifting; ruled under the kapu system

Hawaiian feather cloak; made from knotted 'o'o and mamo bird feathers on fiber netting; red and yellow = sacred rank; worn only by ali'i; each cloak took years to accumulate enough feathers

Hawaiian bark cloth (equivalent to tapa); made from wauke (paper mulberry); beaten with carved beaters that stamp geometric designs; used for clothing, bedding, ceremonial wrapping; production collapsed after 1820s missionary contact

Bark cloth made across the Pacific from paper mulberry inner bark, beaten until it felts; called kapa (Hawaii), hiapo (Niue), masi (Fiji), siapo (Samoa); used for gifting, ceremony, clothing, and social exchange

Niuean term for tapa (bark cloth); Niue hiapo shows curvilinear geometric patterning that absorbed European quilt symmetry during the contact period; central AP Unit 9 example

Samoan term for tapa; characterized by geometric patterns derived from the laufala (pandanus leaf) grid; Fatu Feu'u uses siapo geometry in his contemporary acrylic paintings

Fijian bark cloth; a central medium for chiefly gift exchange; masi and woven mats (i'ie) are presented at important political events including the 1953 gifting to Queen Elizabeth II

Fijian woven pandanus mat; among the highest-value traditional gifts; presented alongside masi in the 1953 gifting ceremony; encodes chiefly rank and political relationship

Fijian chiefly protocol governing gift exchange and political alliance; the 1953 presentation of mats and tapa to Queen Elizabeth II operates within vakavanuatū — it is a political act, not mere hospitality

Monumental carved stone figures on Rapa Nui (Easter Island); carved from tuff at Rano Raraku quarry; represent deified ancestors (aringa ora = "living faces"); face inland to protect the community

Stone platform on Rapa Nui on which moai stand; concentrates the ancestor's mana; moai face inland across the ahu toward the community they protect

Red scoria (volcanic stone) topknot placed on some moai; indicates high rank or chiefly status of the ancestor represented; not all moai have pukao

Rapa Nui term meaning "living faces" — the moai are understood as the living faces of deified ancestors, not statues or memorials; the mana of the ancestor resides in the image

Māori facial tattoo; unique to each individual; encodes genealogy, tribal affiliation, and rank; carved into the skin (not merely applied); a primary form of identity documentation in Māori culture

Māori meeting house (literally "big house"); the building IS the body of a named ancestor — ridge pole = spine, rafters = ribs, façade = face; interior carved panels depict specific named ancestors (poupou)

Carved ancestor panels lining the interior walls of a wharenui; each depicts a named ancestor; alternates with tukutuku (woven lattice) panels; the community sits among their ancestors during meetings

Woven lattice panels in a Māori wharenui; made from kiekie and pingao fibers; alternate with carved poupou ancestor panels; geometric patterns encode cosmological knowledge

Both the mortuary ceremony AND the carved objects displayed during it in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea; openwork carvings of fish, birds, and human figures; displayed once, then destroyed or sold — impermanence is the point

Ancestor pole carved by the Asmat people of Papua New Guinea from a single mangrove tree; stacked ancestor figures represent recently deceased community members; carved to motivate headhunting raids; left to rot after ceremony

The wing-like projecting element on an Asmat bis pole, carved from the mangrove root; protrudes horizontally from the main shaft; represents a canoe prow or phallus depending on interpretation

Cook Islands staff god representing Tangaroa (sea god); wooden core wrapped in fiber binding with small deity figures; the divine power resides in the wrapping, not the wood; missionaries collected and destroyed many

Sea god and creator deity across much of Polynesia; to'o staff gods represent Tangaroa; associated with the ocean, fishing, and creation; prominent across Cook Islands, Samoa, and Māori traditions

Large-scale Marshall Islands navigation chart covering multiple island groups; made from palm midribs, pandanus fiber, and cowrie/cone shells; encodes swell patterns and island positions as mnemonic — not a visual map

Smaller Marshall Islands navigation training chart for a single island group; used to teach navigators to read ocean swell patterns; often more geometric/abstract than the larger rebbelib

Polynesian and Micronesian non-instrument navigation using star positions, wave patterns, bird behavior, cloud formations, and phosphorescence; encoded in navigation charts; a sophisticated science, not guesswork

Torres Strait Islands turtle-shell mask; worn horizontally on top of the head (performer looks through open mouth); represents ancestor turtle spirit; used in male initiation; made from hawksbill turtle shell, feathers, human hair

Carved human figure representing a deified ancestor in Polynesia (especially Marquesas and New Zealand); characterized by large round eyes and squatting posture; Marquesan tiki carved from tridacna shell as high-value pendant

Giant clam shell; rare and high-value material in Pacific exchange networks; used for the Marquesan female figure (tiki) pendant; its rarity signals the wearer's elevated social status

Polynesian word for tattoo (from which English "tattoo" derives, introduced by Cook's voyages); a mark applied by puncturing skin with a comb-like tool and pigment; encodes social identity, rank, and genealogy

Artificial island complex built on tidal flats near Pohnpei, Micronesia (ca. 700–1200 CE); 92+ islets connected by canals; basalt log-stack walls with no mortar; seat of the Saudeleur dynasty; "city in the ocean"

Ruling lineage of Pohnpei, Micronesia, that built and governed Nan Madol; used the complex as a ceremonial and administrative center; name means "rule from Madol Powe"

Feather of the huia bird (now extinct), worn by high-ranking Māori individuals; visible in the Lindauer portrait of Tamati Waka Nene; the bird's extinction (due to European over-collection) adds historical poignancy to this visual marker

Hawaiian/Micronesian term for deity or god; the Nukuoro female deity is an akua — not a portrait of a human being; kept in men's houses and used in healing rituals; reductive carved form distinguishes Micronesian from Polynesian style

Dispersal of a people from their homeland; Fatu Feu'u is a Samoan diaspora artist living in New Zealand whose paintings negotiate identity between Samoan traditional visual culture and the contemporary Western art world