Unwrapping Tongan barkcloth : encounters, creativity and female agency / Fanny Wonu Veys
- Bib ID:
- 7336447
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Veys, Fanny Wonu, author
- Description:
-
- London ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017
- xxi, 227 pages, 16 numbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
- ISBN:
-
- 9781474283328 (hardback)
- 1474283322 (hardback)
- Invalid ISBN:
-
- 9781474283304 (electronic book)
- 9781474283311 (electronic book)
- Summary:
-
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 in exhibitions, by anthropologists and by art historians, very little is known about its history. This book provides a unique insight into Polynesian material culture by exploring the rich cultural history of barkcloth. Arguing that the manufacture, decoration and use of barkcloth are vehicles of creativity and female agency, it places the materiality of textiles at the heart of Tongan culture. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research over twelve years, Veys uncovers stories of ceremony, gender, the senses, collecting, religion and nationhood, from the 'birth' of barkcloth in the 18th century right up to contemporary Polynesian culture today, revealing not only how Tongans made (and still make) barkcloth, but also how it defines what it means to be Tongan. Extending the study outside of Tonga to explore the place of barkcloth in the European imagination, Veys addresses the museum collections of Tongan barkcloth held worldwide, from the UK to Italy, Switzerland to the USA, addressing the bias of the European 'gaze' and challenging traditional gendered understandings of the cloth.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Subject:
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2017
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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