The Case of the Misplaced Ponchos

Speculations Concerning the History of Cloth in Polynesia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2391374
AutoresNicholas Thomas (0000-0002-6604-1599, Australian National University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen4
Número1
Páginas5-20
Fecha de publicación1999-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/135918359900400101
OpenAlexW2073961712
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas31
Referencias citadas9

Research in material culture studies has demonstrated that novel things can be assimilated to existing categories. This approach has implied that indigenous cultures in particular typically employ conservative strategies, in the sense that their recontextualizations of material culture aim to preserve a prior order, rather than produce a new one. This paper emphasizes instead the use of objects to create novel and distinctive values and social orders. It proceeds through discussion of the Polynesian garments known as tiputa or ponchos, which were originally made primarily in Tahiti, but came to be widely distributed in western as well as eastern Polynesia, where their adoption was associated with conversion to Christianity

Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies