Unfolding the Moon

by Bolton, Lissant

• ISBN13: 9780824825355
• ISBN10: 0824825357
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr

Summary

In the first decades after independence in 1980, kastom-indigenous knowledge and practice-became a key market of ni-Vanuatu identity. However, it was almost entirely concerned with men. Then in 1991 the Vanuatu Cultural Centre initiated a project that focused on women's knowledge and skill in producing plaited pandanus textiles (mats) on the island of Ambae in north Vanuatu. This acknowledgment that "women have kastom too," widely welcomed by rural ni-Vanuatu, was an important step in establishing women's kastom. Lissant Bolton's account of this important but undocumented period considers the circumstances that led to these events and analyzes their effects on Ambae.

Author Biography

Lissant Bolton is curator of the Pacific and Australian collections, British Museum.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xiii
History / Kastom	1	(25)
Kastom in the National Arena	26	(25)
Women without Kastom	51	(16)
Ples	67	(11)
Ambae: On Being a Person of the Place	78	(28)
Plaiting: ``The Reason That Women Came into the World''	106	(24)
Dyeing: Designs, Power, Status	130	(22)
Making Textiles into Kastom	152	(31)
Conclusion: Women with Kastom	183	(10)
Epilogue	193	(4)
Notes	197	(8)
Glossary	205	(4)
Bibliography	209	(14)
Index	223