Traditionally Contemporary? Understanding Urban Fijian Masi Volume I Katrina Talei Igglesden Dissertation Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas School of Art, Media and American Studies University of East Anglia July 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. 2 Abstract This research investigates how the contemporary use and significance of Fijian barkcloth (masi) in Suva, the capital of Fiji, has been adapted from its traditional use and practices and how this urban environment has created new ways of distributing, displaying and presenting it. I aim to explore the notion that contemporary masi practices, while superficially divergent from those historically, still reflect and pay homage to the traditional customs and codes that made masi culturally significant in the past. Masi is made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera). A laborious process, the bark is beaten to produce sheets of cloth of varying thicknesses and sizes and then decorated using one (or a combination of three) technique, depending on the type of masi being made. Historically one of the most pervasive exchange objects in Fiji, masi is a female iyau (valuable) and still plays an integral role in Fijian cultural practice. In particular, this research looks to the dynamic and fast-moving urban scene in Fiji and its many global diasporas, especially in terms of urban contemporary Fijian fashion and the presence of ‘masi couture’, and examines masi’s increasingly modified modes of display. The term ‘Urban-Fiji’ will be introduced and speaks to masi’s twenty-first century creative adaptability. Perhaps the first study in which urban Fijian masi is understood in terms of its adaptation and transformation, specific ‘Urban-Fiji’ (diasporic) case studies assist in exploring ‘non-traditional’ uses and resulting artistic practices. 3 4 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………..3 Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………..…….5 List of Figures……………………………………………………………………..see vol. II Preface………………………………………………………………………………………7 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………....…8 Orthography and Glossary………………………………………………………...………10 Maps…………………………………………………………………………………….....11 Chapter 1 – Understanding Fijian Masi………………………………………..………13 Introduction: The ‘Aztec’ Dress……………………………………………...……………13 Barkcloth in Fiji……………………………………………………………………………15 Masi in Fijian Culture……………………………………………………………...………25 Understanding Masi Today……………………………………………………….…..……30 Contextualising the Study……………………………………………………….…………35 Structure of the Thesis…………………………………………………………..…………41 Chapter 2 – Fashion in Fiji: Masi’s Newest Urban Pathway…………………….……43 Adi Litia Mara Dugdale’s Wedding Gown……………………………………………..…43 Fashion…………………………………………………………………………………….46 Haute Couture, ‘Western’ Fashion Systems, and ‘Non-Western’ Fashion Centres……….49 Fiji’s Fashion Industry, 1960s to Present………………………………………………….56 Chapter 3 – Fashion in Fiji: Designers, Gender and Performance…………………...79 Fiji’s Established Fashion Designers……………………………………………………...79 Gendering and Re-gendering Masi…………… ………………………………….………96 The Theatricality of Masi and Fashion…………………………………………………..100 Re-presenting Cultural Pathways in Contemporary Fijian Fashion…………………..…110 5 Chapter 4 – ‘Urban-Fiji’: Masi, Modified Modes of Display and 21st Century Creative Adaptability………………………………………….………..……119 Urban Displays – Suva’s Market Place…………………………………………………..121 Urban Displays – Fiji Museum Exhibitions……………………………………………...126 Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific…………………………………………………………….131 Shows and Events – COP23……………………………………………………………...134 Fiji Rugby Union and Masi Designs……………………………………………………..152 Productions, Activations, Installations………………………………………………...…157 Masi Maidens…………………………………………………………………………….161 Fabricating Fashion?.…………………………………………………………………….167 SaVAge K’lub……………………………………………………………………………174 Fashion Events and Beauty Pageants…………………………………………………….182 Chapter 5 – Global Pathways: Masi on the World Stage…………………………….187 Case 1 – Fiji Airways (2012-2013) ……………………………………………………...188 Case 2 – Nanette Lepore (2013) …………………………………………………………208 Two Case Studies: Discussing Fiji Airways and Nanette Lepore………………………..217 Ownership, Copyright and Intellectual Property…………………………………………217 Diasporic Communities vs. Source Communities………………………………………..224 Chapter 6 – Always Traditional, Always Contemporary…………………………….229 Conclusion: ‘Buli Bridal’ and Urban Cakaudrove Masi…………………………………229 Masi’s Continuing Use and Value…………………………………………………...…..230 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….235 6 Preface During the writing up process of this thesis, there were times in which I was unable to see the wood (or more appropriately here, bark) for the trees. At one of those times, and quite by coincidence, my father sent our family a number of old home movies which he had recently digitised. Not knowing what I would find, I opened one and began to watch. What greeted me were some of the faces of my childhood – many of whom shaped who I am today and who are no longer with us. Probably most poignantly for the path I have been travelling with this study, I found myself viewing an evening in my childhood home with my Fijian family (both blood- and diasporically-tied to each other) in the middle of a sigidrigi evening, my Aunty Maraia leading the singing of popular Fijian songs composed by my grandfather. At a time when I was grappling with why I was following this pathway, those videos reminded me of why I am here doing this work. I was raised in ‘Urban-Fiji’ surrounded by the culture, values, things and people who make up the social and cultural fabric of my being. That one video from my father brought everything back into focus and reminded me that my journey is not just for me, but for my family and ancestors on whose broad shoulders I stand. Although this PhD journey began in 2011, there hasn’t been a time in my life when I haven’t been following a culturally minded pathway. My earliest memories involve ‘Fijianness’ and learning what it means to be included in this dynamic culture, both in Fiji and elsewhere. In May 2011, I came to Norwich to work on the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council-funded research project called Fijian Art: Political Power, Sacred Value, Social Transformation and Collecting Since the 18th Century (2011-2014; AHRC grant no. AH/I003622/1) and through that project I was able to spend time with and have access to the UK-based museum collections that grounded this doctoral research. I initially began this study intending to create a corpus of Fijian masi from the historical to the present day, but along the way it adapted to focus on the understanding of urban Fijian masi and its enduring significance to Fijian people. While looking for one thing through this research, I found something else. Today, I see my own reflection in much of what I have done in the last 7.5 years: as a child of a Fijian diaspora, I have based my research on examining masi’s role and significance in the diaspora of ‘Urban-Fiji’ in the hopes that one day future diasporic Fijian children may read this, feel connected to their culture and, like me, be proud of their traditionally contemporary Fijian identity. 7 Acknowledgements This research has been generously funded by the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Oceania, Africa and the Americas. I am grateful to Professor Hooper and the SRU for the opportunity to undertake this research by way of a studentship and maintenance awards and I also thank the SRU staff and students for the valuable experiences gained. Special thanks go to Lynne Crossland for being a constantly shining light, a safe haven and sympathetic ear. My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisors, Professor Steven Hooper and Dr Karen Jacobs for their unwavering support of this project and their belief in my ability to take multiple pathways of discovery before finally landing here. The sage advice, professional wisdom, and many laughs will continue to serve me well into the future. As an aside, it was a privilege to be able to also work alongside both of them during the Fijian Art research project and be able to view them as colleagues as well as mentors. The Fijian Art research project afforded me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise and for which I will always be grateful. I was very lucky to work on the project and contribute to Fijian arts and culture studies so early in my career. Project members Dr Anita Herle, Dr Lucie Carreau, Dr Andy Mills, and associate member Fergus Clunie, provided encouragement and support for the duration of the project which has continued to date. While not a member of the project, I wouldn’t have been on the project if it were not for the guidance of Dr Carol E. Mayer, my mentor at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada), and her belief in me. It was through her that I was introduced to both Hooper and Herle and it was with her that I first encountered Fiji in a Western museum when she invited me to be her student intern after meeting her at a Club Loloma event hosted by my Vancouver Fijian diasporic family in 2002. This thesis would not have been possible without the support