عنوان

Art and identity in the Mariana Islands :

Number

TLets300724

Title Proper

Art and identity in the Mariana Islands :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Flores, Judy.

Title Proper by Another Author

issues of reconstructing an ancient past.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of East Anglia

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

1999

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

University of East Anglia

Text preceding or following the note

1999

Text of Note

The Marianas, a chain of small tropical islands in western Micronesia, were thefirst to be subjected to colonisation in the Pacific and are among the last to move intoself-governance. The islands were administered as a Spanish colony for 230 yearsfollowing establishment of a Jesuit mission in 1668. The United States claimed Guamduring the Spanish-American War in 1898, while Germany then Japan and finally theUnited States governed the Northern Marianas. This long period of colonisation largelyobliterated the native Chamorros' consciousness of an indigenous past. Rapid socialchanges that began in the 1960s had severely undermined the Chamorro sense of identityby the beginning of the 1980s. Counterforces, however, were beginning to take shape,driven by local as well as international movements.Using Chamorro art as a theme, this thesis traces the history of the native peopleand their cultural transformations which defined their identity as a continuing culturalgroup, despite their loss of an indigenous history. Recent social, economic and politicalchanges have triggered a movement to express their identity as a people separate fromtheir colonisers. Indigenous artists are involved in a renaissance of artistic creation thatdraws on perceptions of their pre-contact culture for inspiration. Chapters explore thebeginnings of a self-conscious cultural awareness and subsequent reconstruction of theirancient history, expressed through neo-traditional creations of song, dance and visual artforms. Their sources of inspiration and processes of creating identity symbols from anancient past are revealed through extensive interviews and fieldwork. Indigenous waysof looking at history and perceptions of both insiders and outsiders regarding validationof these art forms are discussed in terms of local examples which are compared to Pacificand global movements of decolonisation and identity formation. The text is referencedby an appendix of over 150 photographic examples of Chamorro art and artefacts frommuseums, historical documents and fieldwork

Spanish colonial art

Flores, Judy.

University of East Anglia

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y