PACIFIC NEWS FROM THE PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION
By Wendy Arbeit
The Pacific news below has been compiled by Wendy Arbeit for the quarterly newsletter of the Pacific Arts Association, Pacific Arts Quarterly (Fourth Quarter 1999). As this newsletter is now defunct, she kindly submitted it to the Oceania Newsletter.
PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT, a service provided by Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai'i at Manoa. PIR collects news about the Pacific basin on a daily basis from agencies and individuals throughout the region. All news articles below were carried by PIR and are reproduced with permission from the compiler, Al Hulsen, and the originating news sources.
For those of you online, do have a look at the Report’s web site, found at <http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/pireport/>. Besides current and past news, it has links to other Pacific basin-related topics such as atlas, currency, time, weather, as well as other news sources, and Pacific websites.
Other news sources who have kindly given their permission to reprint their articles are:
Saipan Tribune <http://www.tribune.co.mp>
Cook Island News Online <http://www.cinews.co.ck/>
The PNG National Online <http://www.wr.com.au/national/>
Post Courier <http://www.postcourier.com.pg/>
The Honolulu Advertiser <http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/>
Protecting Pacific Island heritage: Council of Pacific Arts’ presentation of a declaration to UNESCO in Paris
More than 2,000 distinct languages and dialects are spoken across the Pacific Islands. Cultures, which have evolved over centuries, are today under threat from the impact of rapid social and economic change, and risk becoming absorbed into the stereotyped mass culture promoted through media and information highways. Languages, oral traditions, music, dances, traditional knowledge (collectively described as 'intangible expressions') of this heritage are particularly at risk.
Pacific Island countries are aware of this peril. Most of them are already engaged, with very limited resources, in research, conservation and preservation programs.
A Symposium on the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of indigenous cultures in the Pacific Islands was held at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters in New Caledonia earlier this year. At this historic meeting, managers of cultural institutions from 21 Pacific Island nations met for the first time to work out appropriate tools to help them protect their vulnerable heritage. Although vast differences were revealed in existing levels of protection, the Symposium successfully found a common definition of heritage to be protected. Existing legal systems in the region were found not to address the crucial issue of protection against improper use of Pacific Island peoples' traditional living heritage. Appeals for specific legislation, in particular laws covering copyright, marks of origin and patents, were strongly voiced among the common requests.
Participants requested SPC, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and the Forum Secretariat to work together to organize seminars on drafting legislation in the Pacific. UNESCO was asked to consider sponsoring intellectual property Chairs in the regional universities, and SPC to add a legal adviser position to its Cultural Program.
The Declaration on the protection of traditional knowledge and expressions of indigenous cultures in the Pacific Islands lists the concerns of the Symposium. The Declaration was endorsed by the Council of Pacific Arts at its meeting held in Nouméa on 22-23 February 1999. It will be presented to WIPO and the Conference of the Pacific Community (French Polynesia, 18-19 October), for endorsement. It will also be submitted to the UNESCO General Conference (Paris, October/November 1999) by the UNESCO representative in the context of the implementation of UNESCO's 1999 program and will serve as a programming reference for the 2000/2001 biennium for the needs of the South Pacific sub-region.
For a copy of the declaration, please contact Yves Corbel, Cultural Affairs Adviser, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC); e-mail: YvesC@spc.org.nc
For additional information, contact: Sarah Langi, English Editor, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), B.P. D5. 98848, Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia; e-mail: SarahL@spc.org.nc
Madang hosts colourful Mask Festival
By Henrica Hufantour and Jackleen Tili
MADANG, Papua New Guinea (August 17, 1999 - The National) About 1,000 people braved the heat at the Laiwaden Oval here for the Tumbuan Mask Festival held over the weekend. The festival was held outside of Port Moresby for the first time in its five-year history. It was organized by the National Cultural Commission with assistance from the Madang provincial government.
National Cultural Commission executive director Dr. Jacob Simet said the festival is staged to promote the nation's mask cultures. He said Madang is home to some of the most interesting mask cultures in the country. Madang had four dance groups in the festival. They came from Kayan, Gamai, Awar and Toto villages all in the Bogia district. Also featured were the Soaring mask of East Sepik, the famous Dukduk mask of Duke of York Island, DDK mask dancers of Morobe, the Kilenge mask of West New Britain and the popular Asaro Mudman of Goroka. Besides the dancers there were eight singsing groups from Madang as well as a group of Milne Bay students who performed the famous Tapioka dance.
According to Dr. Simet, lack of funds prevented the commission from bringing more mask dancers from other provinces. He said Madang was chosen from other venues because of its central location. Dr. Simet thanked the provincial government for the K 14,000 (US$ 5,012) it gave to help the commission stage the festival.
Dr. Simet said PNG had 125 mask groups but because of different beliefs and customs, apart from money, it was difficult to bring all the masks groups together for such an occasion. He described the mask culture as unique and an important symbol and identity of the clans in the country.
East New Britain may approve traditional shell money as legal tender
EAST NEW BRITAIN, Papua New Guinea (November 16, 1999 - Post-Courier). East New Britain (ENB) may soon start using traditional shell money, tabu, alongside the kina as legal tender in the province.
The East New Britain Provincial Assembly recently approved a government submission to carry out extensive research into the uses of tabu and the possibility of standardizing and mobilizing the currency as legal tender.
Deputy Governor and Commerce and Industry and Primary Industry Chairman Leo Dion, who presented the paper, told the assembly that the ENB people should be allowed to use their traditional money for trading purposes due to the rapid drop in the value of the kina.
He said in the paper that the use of tabu in the last century has expanded to include many more categories of expense and is accepted tender in churches, local level governments, village courts, local markets and Tolai trade stores. Mr. Dion said the widespread use of tabu in the province, therefore, should warrant adopting the use of tabu as its second currency.
Mr. Dion also told the assembly that there is an estimated K 6 million (US$ 2.2 million) worth of tabu available among the Tolais. He said the value is expected to increase with every purchase of tabu from outside and brought into the province. Mr. Dion also said that only one quarter of the K 6 million worth of tabu is in circulation while the other three quarters of it is stored away in rolls or wheels by the elder clansman in their storage houses.
He said the administration would conduct a proper study of tabu, particularly the spacing between the tabu shells, plus the length of a fathom. He said the study would also research the possibility of setting up a customary wealth bank, which would help to mobilize and control the tabu currency.
He said the central bank must also be consulted to recognize the tabu as legal tender in the province to allow it to be used more freely.
The Deputy Governor said part of the study would be done by a delegation of four to five officials from the province. He said they will have to travel to Malaita province in the Solomon Islands to see the operational structure and policies of the customary wealth banks there. He said the officials are also expected to visit Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, to study how the credit union league is mobilizing the customary wealth economy.
The assembly, which approved the paper, called on Mr. Dion to ensure that his division carries out the study urgently.
Where have all the Vaka gone?
By Mona Matepi
Cook Islands (Wed. Sept 1 1999 - Cook Islands News Online) Once they were the highlight of the biggest and the most successful cultural event hosted by the Cooks. Thirteen traditional vessels from here and around the Pacific, in a spectacular and memorable Vaka Pageant sailed into Avana passage, marking the opening of the 1992 Maire Nui Festival of Arts where indigenous faces from around the region of Australia to New Zealand, to Hawai'i, Tahiti and the Marshall Islands flocked to Rarotonga and proudly celebrated a revival of pacific cultures. WeekEnd looks back at the glory days of those canoes... and where they are today...
Of the eight vaka built by local taunga in Rarotonga and the outer islands, only two, the Takitumu and the Te-au-o-tonga have a maintenance programme. Three others lie in the orau (vaka house) neglected, and in disrepair. Their brief history, fading with the onslaught of woodborer and rotting sennit -of the wiry fibres of coconut husks dutifully prepared by entire villages of men, women and children.
Up Takuvaine road, Mauke islands vaka, Maire Nui shares a resting place with Aitutaki's 'Ngapuariki'. Both are ocean voyaging canoes built from the usually hardy tamanu but unfortunately untreated and therefore unprotected from rot. On closer inspection the debris and discarded beer cans in their hulls are obvious evidence of public carelessness of national property. Further along the back road in Avatiu, the war canoe, Vaka Uritaua, built to carry up to 100 people by the Ngati Uritaua tribe of Avatiu, lies half-in half-out of its above ground tomb. A large sheet of yellow canvas covers the exposed half, but the broken and rotting bows peep out as tall weeds grow in the space between her twin hulls. What is to happen to these remnants of the '92 arts festival is anybodies guess.
Responsibility
Culture Ministries Ota Joseph (OJ) who was co-ordinator of the Vaka project back then says governments role as far as organising and getting the fleet to the Maire Nui finished at the end of the event. "The responsibility of the vaka after the Maire Nui went back to their respective owners," he said.
Te-au-o-tonga was funded through a government grant of $269,000 (figure supplied by Ministry of Culture) under the banner of the newly formed Cook Islands Voyaging Society (CIVS). The twin-hulled ocean voyager had some assistance also from Epiglass. Sister vaka Takitumu cost a total $68,000 funded through Meatco's Pacific corned beef suppliers. Annual upkeep for both vaka are within $15,000 to $20,000 in materials to stop them from rotting. Since it was built, the Te-au-o-tonga has had a very public profile, from serving as a study project for school students, to joining the Peace Flotilla at the French bomb test site at Moruroa, and attending similar cultural festivities in other pacific countries. There's current plans to sail her to the millennium celebrations in Gisborne New Zealand.
But it's the echoes of the turou, the chanting, the proud tears and the dancing that brings back the question of where the idea of reviving the ocean voyaging tradition as a community-orientated project goes from here on. For the multitudes who bore witness to that emotionally charged occasion at the Vaka Village at Avana back in '92, it was the culmination of months and months of preparation.
Meaning
The ceremonial tree felling, the special rituals accompanying each stage of building the vaka, and community participation all gave meaning to the project. It was a special time for the country. Tourism was at a peak with accommodations busting at the seams, the economy holding its own and the celebrations spirit was in the air. Outside of Rarotonga, Island councillors had met to discuss their islands entry in the vaka pageant. The special tree was selected, privileged builders and crew hand-picked and physically and spiritually primed for the big event. After the '92 festival, only Atiu managed to secure preservation of its vaka. She's now a display piece at the Auckland Maritime Museum. Mangaia's Rangi-ma-toru had her share of publicity almost from day one. The crew sailed the vaka before the scheduled date and without the security of a radio, raising national alarm and fear for their safety.
The vaka was also used in a BBC documentary during its short-lived history. Eventually however, Mangaia decided to burn her rotten remains while Mitiaro sold theirs to a local businessman and subsequently, it too, rotted away over time at the Punanga Nui grounds.
Investment
Given the amount of community energy invested in the project, especially by those in the outer islands, vaka enthusiast Sir Tom Davis is saddened at what he sees now as public disinterest in the ancient art. "People are just not interested you know," he said. Furthermore he feels the canoes needn't have been in the state they are now. "If they could have raised five to ten thousand dollars a year, that would have taken care of the smaller canoes with someone to look after them: or they could've raised 10,000 to 20,000 a year to take care of the bigger vaka, like the Uritaua one... I might be low in my estimates but that would have been about right. It's what's kept Takitumu and Te-au-o-tonga going, what's stopped them from rotting," Papa Tom said.
The issue of ownership too, was a contentious one and after the Maire Nui '92, stalled decisions on the future wellbeing of the canoes didn't take into consideration time and how each day out in the open was disastrous for the vaka. Suffice to say that oil and paint or a preservative called evidure (a product made by Epiglass) would have done the trick according to Papa Tom. "But what we really need is a huge orau for the canoes, being out in the open weather is not good for them," he added. The rewards for many of us bystanders have been in the form of personal gratification and the feel-good effect of indigenous bonding. At the most, it was an educational experience in more ways than one. And so, even with the sad plight of the vaka today, the project was a flashback to the past and the historical migration and island hopping by our sea-faring ancestors within polynesia. Rightly for many too it was worth the effort. For the crews who sailed first to Avana, and for some, who sailed on to Samoa, Tahiti, Hawai'i, and New Zealand using the moon and stars and wave patterns as their guide the revival of this art of travel will long remain special.
Chimbu artist bags: German award
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (October 12, 1999 - The National) This year's German Mission Art Advancement Award was won by Philip Yobale of Chimbu, whose paintings celebrated the depth of Papua New Guinea spirituality.
The exhibition at the National Museum and Arts Gallery, entitled 'Where the Spirits Dwell' showcased the work of Mr Yabale and potter Kelly Kaikain from Rilyapos village in Enga Province, a full-time member of the Waigani Arts Center.
At the opening Minister for Culture and Tourism Andrew Baing said artists who want to take a creative lead in PNG must show initiative and determination as well as creativity and sensitivity. Mr. Baing also commended the artists' drive, initiative and skills displayed during the exhibition. "These qualities are encapsulated in the life stories of these two artists, in which both artists have overcome many obstacles and hurdles to reach this point," Mr. Baing said.
Director of the National Museum and Art Gallery Soroi Eoe highlighted that there was a need for the Government to show ongoing commitments to the work of the National Museum, as it promotes PNG's contemporary heritage. "I also want to affirm the vital contribution of our artists, as they speak to us creatively about our societies, cultures and religions," Mr. Eoe said.
Hokule: a visit helps to inspire Mangarave carvers
By Bob Krauss
MANGAREVA, French Polynesia (September 17, 1999 - The Honolulu Advertiser). Heiva Keck, 24, who works on a black pearl farm here, is carving a wooden drumstick. If that sounds like child's play, consider this: Born on Mangareva, Heiva has never carved anything up till now, because the art of carving was lost here. Veteran Hokule'a crewmember Tava Taupu, a Marquesan now living in Hawai'i, has reintroduced woodcarving to Mangareva. Keck is one of his students.
Keck, an amateur musician, beats intricate rhythms on 10-gallon tin cans. So he chose to make a proper drumstick. "Tava taught me to pick wood that won't split and how to cut wood," he said. Most important, Taupu taught him to carve with his heart, to breathe life into the drumstick. The wood carving rage began after Taupu carved a 5-foot-high post in the image of the god Lono and placed it in front of Bruno Schmidt's house facing the lagoon. The Lono image is a gift to Schmidt, 65, from the Hokule'a crewmembers for letting them stay in his house while the canoe is at Mangareva. It has been about 150 years since a Polynesian god's image has stood in public view on Mangareva. Conch-shell blowing is also taking hold again.
Schmidt, among others, has asked for one after hearing a conch shell, called pu in Hawaiian, at the arrival of the canoe. This is where escort boat crewmember Maka Alohawaina comes in handy. He is from Kauai, a consultant on cultural projects, now working mostly on Kahoolawe. On Wednesday he carved a hole into a conch to make a mouthpiece for apu. He is also teaching people on Magareva how to make and play nose flutes.
Dancing is an important part of Mangarevan culture. Keck is a member of a group that dances traditional Mangarevan plus Tahitian and Hawaiian hula. He accompanies the hula on an eight-string ukulele he got in Tahiti. But it is not tuned like a Hawaiian ukulele. For Tahitian dances, they use tin-can drums. "We dance the story of our legends," he said of traditional Mangarevan performances. "We have many legends I can't remember." The group will dance today for a departure ceremony the people are preparing for Hokule'a. Canoe captain and navigator Nainoa Thompson said his crew will sail as soon after the ceremony as they get a favourable wind.
Community plays a vital role in keeping Pacific Island culture alive and kicking
Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea, New Caledonia, Press Release September 20, 1999
The conventional Western idea of a museum does not meet the needs of Pacific Island peoples when it comes to protecting their heritage, say professionals. The preservation of the Pacific Islands heritage has, in recent years, advanced considerably.
Heritage professionals managing the institutions forming the Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) are playing a leading role in new initiatives. They are bringing Pacific museums and cultural centers together to enhance their ability to identify, research, manage, interpret and nurture the cultural and natural heritages of the Pacific Island peoples through closer links with the communities they serve.
Museum Management and the Community was the title of the workshop organized in Port Vila by PIMA and the Vanuatu Cultural Center with the support of UNESCO, the World Heritage Center and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), from 17 to 20 August 1999.
According to the professionals:
Island cultural institutions are often hampered in their development by totally inadequate levels of public funding, handicapped by the low level of staff training and sometimes demoralized because of community indifference. This is the reality that has shaped the association's pragmatic approach.
The effect of the community's attitude was much debated at the workshop. Participants felt that the conventional Western museum model does not meet the needs of Pacific Island peoples because it focuses on the conservation and exhibition of cultural material. Pacific traditional cultures however are living and, above all, intangible.
Pacific Island cultural centers, especially those in smaller islands with inadequate resources, need to be developed in such a way to allow this heritage to grow and be shared. The center should be open to artists, crafts people and the community at large, rather than just be a collection of works of heritage for display, it was felt. It needs to be a living place, a place of exchange and dialogue, especially between various island communities of the same nation, drawing people together.
A cultural center must also be linked into the educational system to teach the young, who are more in danger of losing their culture, and build a special relationship with teachers. There was no suggestion that the centers should turn away from the tourist clientele, which is often a major source of revenue for cultural institutions. On the contrary, trading, an essential part of traditional island life, in particular where crafts are concerned, has a place in a center.
The workshop, in its analytical approach, recognized the diversity of the situations encountered in the Pacific Islands. Who in the region can build an institution on the scale of the Noumea Tjibaou Cultural Center? And who would want to even if funding were available? The symposium stressed the need to design centers accommodating specific cultural identities and heritage protection priorities.
The Tjibaou Cultural Center emerged from a political will in New Caledonia to foster a rebirth of Kanak culture after the Matignon Accords. As a curator of major collections, the Tjibaou Center, like the national museums of Papua New Guinea, Fiji and French Polynesia, has a conventional conservation activity, although its focus is more on contemporary artistic expression than some other institutions. It does, however, have a wider calling. It pursues the above objectives and this undoubtedly makes the Tjibaou Cultural Center one of the most fascinating regional experiences.
The Port Vila Cultural Center in Vanuatu focuses on collecting oral tradition in the country's islands through a network of community fieldworkers and foreign researchers, anthropologists, archaeologists and ethnomusicologists. This is a vital task in Vanuatu because traditional culture is not only extremely rich and diverse but also under threat. The Port Vila Center where the oral tradition material is gathered has become a data bank providing ni-Vanuatu with information on their traditional culture, unless the material is kept in the private ("tabu") store at its custodian's request.
The Museum in its physical form is, therefore, only the most visible part of an intense activity essentially designed to meet the needs of ni-Vanuatu themselves. The same logic has prompted the Port Vila Center to help set up many smaller centers in island communities for the purpose of protecting specific identities. These centers are often very modest buildings, used for meetings, traditional festivities and craft activities.
These three examples represent a range of options with different "dimensions", but all with the common goal of serving the community. Museums and cultural centers in the Pacific Islands are certainly not temples or monuments to lost societies. They are more intangible and need to adapt to the evolving culture they are serving.
Most of the discussion therefore focused on the development of a novel concept of the cultural institution, while not neglecting discussion on management techniques, the preparation of strategic plans, seeking funding, managing human relations in the enterprise and disaster preparedness planning.
Each participant therefore acquired new knowledge and good development ideas for their institutions. The cultural officers from Nauru and Futuna who had come to obtain food for thought on center design benefited from current experience and are now in a better position to evaluate the needs of their communities and detect possible obstacles.
The fact, however, remains that, in many island countries and territories, the development of cultural institutions, as desired by both the professionals and the communities, is rarely backed up by political support. Governments basically see their museums as a tool for developing tourism; few countries have a cultural policy setting clear goals for museums and cultural centers.
PIMA operates on a regional level with UNESCO and SPC support in pursuit of its ambition to promote a new attitude to heritage in the region. The Association wishes to strengthen the communication network that exists between professionals in the region, mainly through the PIMA Newsletter. It will work at community level and in particular with young people towards protecting Pacific peoples' heritage, and continue training cultural institutions' staff. It plans to draft a code of ethics for island heritage management in the Pacific and to collaborate with governments and regional organizations concerning heritage.
The SPC Cultural Programme finds PIMA an appropriate partner for action in the heritage area. The SPC is sure that the Association has the skills to meet its objectives and wishes to respect Pacific Islanders' own choices in the cultural development arena; it is certain that this process of reflection will lead to a new concept of the Museum, which has already aroused the curiosity of many heritage specialists from outside the region. After helping get the Association off the ground, the SPC will keep up its endeavours to provide logistical support and raise its profile regionally and internationally.
The PIMA meeting, held immediately after the workshop, produced a list of activities for the Association until 2003.
Following are the highlights from this list:
Jodi Bacchiochi, Secretary-general, PIMA,
C/o Fiji Museum, P.O. Box 2023, Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji
Tel: +679 315 944 fax: +679 305 143 email: fijimuseum@is.com.fj