Answer
Cultural anthropology revolves around the study of human cultures, practices, beliefs, values and traditions. Cultural anthropology deals with the study of social structures, religion and politics of a particular community. Culture involves shared and learned behavior and beliefs of a society (Rapport). Cultural Anthropology can be classified into two themes. These are “Diversity” and “Change”. The environment or culture and upbringing of an individual make him or her diverse from other existing cultures. “Change” represents the ability of individuals to adapt and transform to a different physical, biological or cultural background (Haviland; Guest).
The Pacific Island’s collection of artworks present in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. consists of collections from five cultural regions of the Pacific ocean. These are Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and the South East Asian Islands. This essay describes the impact of culture on the artifacts of the Polynesian islands.
The Polynesian island artifact described in this essay is that of a female figure. This figure dates back to the early nineteenth century. The artifact belonged to the Tonga, Ha’apai Islands. It is made of whale ivory and was 13.3 x 5.1 x 3.8 centimeters in height, width and depth, respectively (Www.metmuseum.org).
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Figure 1: Female figure of Tonga
(Source: Www.metmuseum.org)
The ivory figurines of the Tongan islands represent either female goddesses or their important ancestors. These statues served as the sources in which the divine powers of the deities resided (Shaw and Wagelie). These vessels are also called “vaka”. These figures were kept in shrines and some were even worn by women of high ranking positions like female chiefs. They wore these figures as jewellery on special events. The artists of the Ha’apai islands created these figures. Some of the figures were also sent to the neighboring islands of Fiji, where they were also considered to be sacred and were worshipped. Thus, it represents the culture connections and indicates the similarity of cultures of neighboring regions (Gunson).
The artists of the islands created a rich varnish of the figurines by applying coconut oil and then subjecting them to a smoking process involving sweet tubers or sugar canes. This imparted a golden hue or sheen to the surface of the figurines, accentuating the natural texture of the ivory. The archipelago of Tonga has been found to be inhabited for 3000 years (Www.sciencedaily.com). However, the culture of the inhabitants of the island had undergone changes as a result of arrival of the European explorers. Before this invasion, the people of the island were always in contact with the inhabitants of the neighboring islands of Fiji and Samoa, thereby indicating cultural connections and overlaps. This is because the inhabitants of the neighboring islands also worshipped female figurines like those of the Tongan islands. In the Tongan culture, the women held a greater degree of social prestige than men, thereby indicating the abundance of figurines depicting female deities or ancestors (Nishitani). However, there were a change in such cultures or traditions following the Western influences.
Thus, the culture of the Pacific islands played an essential role in development of their society, which can also be determined from their art and other creative works.
Reference List
Guest, Kenneth J. Cultural anthropology: A toolkit for a global age. WW Norton & Company, 2013.
Gunson, Niel. "Sacred Gods from Polynesia." The Journal of Pacific History 49.4 (2014): 501-507.
Haviland, William A., et al. Cultural anthropology: the human challenge. Cengage Learning, 2013.
Nishitani, Makiko. "Kinship, gender, and communication technologies: Family dramas in the Tongan diaspora." The Australian Journal of Anthropology 25.2 (2014): 207-222.
Rapport, Nigel. Social and cultural anthropology: The key concepts. Routledge, 2014.
Shaw, Debora, and Jennifer Wagelie. "Studying artworks and their digital copies: Valuing the artist’s aura." International Journal of Education through Art 12.1 (2016): 57-69.
Www.metmuseum.org. "Female Figure | Work Of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art." The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., 2017. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.
Www.sciencedaily.com. "Sixty Headless Skeletons -- 3,000 Years Old -- Discovered In Pacific Ocean Archipelago Vanuatu." ScienceDaily. N.p., 2017. Web. 14 Nov. 2017.
