essay
Hawaiian art and society: traditions and transformations
Transformations of Polynesian culture • (45) • Published In 1985 • Pages: 105-131
By: Kaeppler, Adrienne Lois.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Kaeppler examines changes in design of feathered cloaks ('AHU'ULA) worn by people of high rank and relates it to changing social relations in Hawaiian society. She identifies two transitional periods, at either end of Kamehameha I's reign. Cloaks were a symbol of genealogical prestige and conferred sacred protection during ceremonies and in battle, where their high collars did afford some real protection. The introduction of firearms made the cloaks obsolete as armor, however they continued to serve a ceremonial function. As chiefs became more powerful the tributary supply of feathers became more plentiful, resulting in chiefs giving away extra cloaks to lesser chiefs for status verification. The sacred color of red lost its preeminent symbolic status to yellow, a color of real political power, because yellow feathers were most rare and more difficult to obtain. Kaeppler also discusses the changes in ritual paraphernalia associated with the change in the principal god from Lono, the god of fertility, to Kuka'ilimoku, the god of war.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Animal by-products
- Special garments
- Visual arts
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Hawaiians
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2003
- 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
- essay
- 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 ; 2002
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1778-1823
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Hawai'i, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Adrienne L. Kaeppler
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-131)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Hawaiians