article
The birth and growth of a Polynesian women's exchange network
Oceania • 65 (3) • Published In 1995 • Pages: 234-256
By: Small, Cathy.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is an article on the history of women tapa cloth manufacturing and exchange groups, called KAUTAHA, which first appeared in the early 1900s. Small discusses the expanding network of exchanges in womens' prestige goods in the region and more recently across the globe. She also discusses the ideology surrounding the exchanges, which are seen as 'giving warmth,' or what Small calls 'love gifts.' Western goods and cash became included in the exchanges and both kinds of exchanges increased by 1500 percent between 1920 and 1982. However the KAUTAHA work group died out by the late 1960s and was replaced by a different manufacturing arrangement, the TOU LANGANGA. Small marks the shift in manufacturing and exchange practices due to migration and she examines in more detail the transnational exchanges of the 1990s. In conclusion she comments on the theoretical import of such local practices in context of modernization and globalization.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- External migration
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Gift giving
- Internal trade
- External trade
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tongans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2006
- 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
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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
- Ian Skoggard; 2004
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1981-1995
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1875-1975
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tongatapu, Tonga
- NotesAdditional notes
- Cathy A. Small
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-256)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 38017490
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tongans