Patterns of
the Ancients: Fijian Tapa cloth
A traditional
art form meets
20th Century economics
by Mara Jevera Fulmer
Assistant
Professor/Program Coordinator in Graphic Design
C.S. Mott Community
College, Flint, MI
(Formerly Art Director for The University
of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji)
page 5
A Woman's Art
The
Fijian tapa is one area of traditional life that
is a creation made wholly by the hands of
the women. In the painted patterns are woven
the stories they tell one another as the women sit
together by
day or by lamplight, sharing their duties
in the
communal life of the village. Their patterns
evoke i yalo, a
spirit, an aura of a presence stronger than
the sum of the whole of the women whošve created the
piece at hand.
Though the men are the traditional rulers,
with the exception of women born to a chiefly status,
the women of the village are the gears that make the
communal clock tick forward. With the complex support
created from the village, there is a system where one
will always find food or sustenance. In the Fijian
village there are no orphans for the children belong
to the village and the mataqali (family clan). The
villagers share the duties of cooking, washing, fishing,
gardening, weaving of mats, the care of the children
and for the old.
There are no wars for the warriors to
fight and the men must find purpose in competing in
a new world of business, formal government, and economics.
In recent times, the Fijian government has found a
place for a modern warrior in the area of international
politics and Fiji has become a large contributor to
peacekeeping forces around the world. In addition,
Rugby payers who reach the level of international play
are accorded a status akin to war heroes.
Economic and Government
Control
Since gaining independence from the
United Kingdom in 1970, Fiji has undergone tremendous
changes in the focus of its economy. Sugar cane, a
mainstay of the Fijian agricultural export products
continues to play a large role in the economy, as does
the export of gold from mines in the interior of the
main island, Viti Levu an more recently on the second
largest island of Vanua Levu.
But tourism has had the biggest impact
on the the social, economic and developmental growth
of this small island nation of just 750,000 people
and around 300 islands. With nearly half the population
consisting of descendents of Asian Indians imported
to Fiji approximately 100 years ago as indentured labourers
to work the sugar cane plantations, the Fijians have
fiercely defended their right to control their destiny,
including maintaining control of the government by
constitutional means.
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This article was originally presented in October 1994, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, NY.Revised May 1998.
Copyright 1999 Mara Jevera Fulmer. All Rights
Reserved.
