Book

Fijian material culture: a study of cultural context, function, and change

Bishop Museum Press (232)Published In 1968 • Pages: vi, 193

By: Tippett, Alan R. (Alan Richard).

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document discusses change and continuity in Fijian material culture (with particular emphasis on clubs, boats, turtle fishing nets, and houses) in order to explore the contexts in which the object belonged, the people who made and used them, and the institutions that gave them value. For example, clubs were extensively used not only as weapons of war, but also as sacred objects in times of peace. Likewise, boats and turtle fishing nets had both secular and sacred contexts. With the advent of Christianity and British colonialism, most of the artifacts lost their sacred functions. Consequently, war clubs were gradually replaced by imported guns, and traditional temples and other sacred places became sites for building churches.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Shipbuilding
Boats
Water transport
Dwellings
Architecture
Building interiors and arrangement
Sacred objects and places
Avoidance and taboo
Division of labor by gender
Missions
External trade
External relations
Cooperative organization
Environmental quality
Fishing
Fishing gear
Weapons
Military organization
Animism
Prayers and sacrifices
Ethos
Warfare
Aftermath of combat
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Bau Fijians
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Oceania
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Polynesia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Missionary
Anthropologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem ; 2017
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1941-1961
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1839-1961
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Fiji
NotesAdditional notes
Alan Richard Tippett
Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-189)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
68022460
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Material culture--Fiji
Fiji--Social life and customs