147
THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT OF THE ARTS OF OCEANIA:
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MICRONESIA
Karen L. Nero
Nelson H. H. Graburn
Department of Anthropology
University of California
Berkeley, California
Introduction
This paper focuses on the artistic continuities and revivals
of contemporary Micronesia, with some comparisons drawn from other
parts of Oceania. Illustrations are mainly drawn from the range of
cultural centers in Palau: from traditional bai clubhouses,
through revivals and museums, to the commercial, Polynesian
Cultural Center-like institution found presently only on Ponape.
The forms and functions of these institutions are described,
with a focus on: (1) their place in the contemporary array of
institutions, and (2) their relationships of maintenance and promo-
tion to other associated art forms. From these and other examples
we conclude that there are three main ideological attitudes towards
the arts: (1) tradition and continuity, retaining the arts in
their functioning social contexts, (2) preservation of the arts in
museums and like contexts, and (3) the commercialization of old and
new arts. These attitudes are not considered to be a temporal
sequence: all co-exist and may be present to different degrees in
the types of institutional centers discussed. It is also to be
noted that the three attitudes are somewhat in conflict, and that
the first--tradition and continuity--provides the basis for
resistance to both museumification and commercialization. However,
modern communications and institutional experiences have raised the
degree of self-consciousness such that even the traditional func-
tional context of the arts is coming to be seen in an increasingly
"touristic" manner, as a kind of museumification. On the other
hand, the promoters of commercialism often claim that this is the
only viable means of preserving culture and the arts, though the
new institutional settings may in themselves be destructive to
tradition and continuity of meaning.
Traditional and Contemporary
Cultural Centers of Micronesia
Centers of community ritual, political, and artistic activi-
ties were almost universal in the traditional cultures of Oceania,
and have often been labeled "men's houses"--such as tambarans in
the Sepik areas, long houses in Asmat, and marae in Polynesia.
148
In Palau, Western Micronesia, the meeting houses are called bai.
These bai served both as the major expressions of the material arts
in most villages and as primary locations for other artistic
activities--dancing, narratives, and the making of crafts--as well
as serving as secular centers for both men and women. This section
of our paper will discuss the continuum of existing bai from the
most traditional--both in artistic expression and institutional
context--through the institutional and artistic modifications of
the last few decades, to the most recent forms or equivalents which
are permeated and motivated by non-traditional cultural values,
such as museumification and commercialism.
Traditional Bai in the Modern Setting: Palau
Traditional bai were erected, maintained, and used by men's
associations of a socio-political character. These were the
meeting houses of a series of clubs which existed in geographic and
functional complementarity to one another (Jernigan 1973, McKnight
1978). Several months of the year, the clubhouses were taken over
by corollary women's clubs. These houses were built on raised
stone platforms with pitched thatched roofs. The most spectacular
artistic expressions were the painted relief carvings on the huge
gables on either end of the bai, the corners of the exterior, and
along interior roof beams. As these bai lasted some years and took
a tremendous amount of labor and materials to build, the builders
usually worked for years on construction, and only in later life
became master builders or architects. Thus, each master builder
might design and produce only five to seven bai in his lifetime
(Robinson 1978). Traditionally, construction of the bai was
supported by another community beaten in warfare, or by reciprocal
arrangements among the clubs.
Under previous colonial administrations beginning with the
Germans, the clubs were repressed and their functions transferred
to other, introduced institutions. Most of the older bai have been
destroyed by wars or the elements; few have been rebuilt in the
traditional form of architecture. It is important to note that the
story content of the painted relief carvings found on the interior
beams of bai used to be both traditional and contemporary to the
construction of the bai, incorporating both the past and the
present. However, those paintings found in recreated bai only
illustrate the past. By now, only one 19th century bai remains,
serving its traditional purpose as a community meeting house.
In New Zealand, the Maori equivalent is the marae, which
consists of a building and meeting ground, both of which are tapu
(taboo, sacred). Most of the marae have been built in the past 100
years for sub-tribal functions. Others, in the past 60 years, like
those we shall see for Micronesia, have been erected for tourist
and commercial purposes.
149
Less ornate meeting centers were common throughout the
Caroline Islands. Some of these are still constructed for their
traditional non-commercial purposes, even when the Carolineans
migrate to form a community on another island, such as in Saipan.
Today, dances and other cultural activities occur more
frequently in other institutional settings, such as churches or
schools. Although clubhouses may be used for their traditional
socio-political purposes, the new pan-Palauan political institu-
tions, such as the Palau legislature, have their own non-traditional
buildings. Some of the focus of political events has shifted to the
new institutions and buildings.
In 1976 a new club bai was built in Koror, Palau, by a Koror
young men's club. At first this was the most functionally tradi-
tional of a group of new community centers in Koror, although the
architecture was changed, with concrete walls and floor and a bar
for contemporary parties. This bai was used for Palauan gathering
in Koror, with both modern and traditional chanting and dancing.
Since 1978, however, it has served a dual function as it is also
used as one of the most popular nightclubs for modern music and
dancing.
Community Center Bai
In contrast, the Trust-Territory constructed Civic Center bai
in Palau is used for totally American-influenced activities.
Except for a painted gable reminiscent of the bai and its roof
line, the architecture is predominantly American--a cement block
structure with interior stage. Similarly, the elders' center in
Kolonia, Yap, is American built and supported. Traditional
activities, crafts and dancing, may also be found within.
In these community center bai, both the architecture and
activities which take place there reflect considerable American
influence. This cultural influence is also reflected in the values
which have led the Micronesians to erect buildings which last
longer and which are easier to build. Erosion of the clubs'
support by wage labor constraints, and availability of new con-
struction materials, are other major factors.
Re-creation of Traditional Cultural Centers
Somewhat the reverse of the above type of institution are the
increasing number of cases where the local population attempts to
re-create in almost exact detail cultural-community centers whose
forms have been lost. At Melekeok, Palau, the people are now
clearing ground for the construction, or re-creation, of the
Melekeok double-gabled bai, of which style there is no extant
representative. The form is traditional, and it is hoped that it
will create an atmosphere for both traditional and modern activities
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and arts. However, the motivations behind it are not traditional:
there is a self-conscious attempt to re-create history or preserve
an ethnic past, as indicated by the fact that major funding for the
project comes from the U.S. sponsored Office of Aging and from the
Palau Historical and Cultural Preservation Commission. Until
destroyed by a typhoon, in Koror there was a modified double-bai
which served as a pan-Palauan cultural center and which contained a
museum within its partially enclosed interior.
A more famous and complete case is the recreation of the
Gogodala Cultural Center in the Fly River area of New Guinea. As
reported by Crawford (1975), this is a re-erection of a traditional
men's house, the last of which had been destroyed due to missionary
activities forty years previously. Though built mainly with local
labor, Crawford used the nationally-owned resources of power saws,
bulldozers, and outboard motors in the construction. The center
has provided the setting and psychological stimulus for the revival
of many traditional arts and ceremonies that had not been performed
for more than a generation. It is important to note that the
center is also a contemporary functioning center, providing the
setting for current community activities such as gambling, drink-
ing, and the showing of Kung Fu movies (Schiefflin 1978) as well as
revival of the traditional arts and cultural history lessons for
the community's children. The revived portable arts, originally
created out of "ethnic pride," are now finding their way into the
commercial art markets, and dealers are beginning to influence the
forms and selection of which items in the new/old inventories are
produced. The men's house, therefore, also became a center for the
display and sale of commercial arts.
Museum Bai
More overtly "modern" attitudes are being expressed in the
specifically museum meeting-houses that are being erected in
Micronesia, and the parallel usage of the forms of the haus
tambaran in the Sepik area for museums and tourist centers
(Gigibori 1976).  These museum buildings are also paralleled by
similarly "modern" attitudes towards art and artistic productions
in the Western mold. In other words, the whole art-museum complex
is solidly ensconced in the consciousness and activities of many
Micronesians of the 1970s. Much of the impetus for these museums
is Western, either directly, as in the case of the Palau Museum
which was originally directed by an American woman, or through
acculturated individuals. Pensile Lawrence, instigator and
director of the Ponape Museum, has worked directly with a number
of colonial anthropologists. The Palau MRuseum bai is constructed
adjacent to the Museum; it is traditional both in architectural
style and in the content of the relief-carved interior beam
paintings which are "traditional"--in a self-conscious way--
portraying no recent events or details of construction. Even
though influenced by Western ideals and "frozen" in a traditional
state for museum visitors, the museum bai may be spontaneously used
153
by local people for meetings. The Yap Museum is also constructed
in a "traditional" style, and may be utilized by the Yapese for
their daily activities: for example, women may sit under the eaves
and prepare pandanus for weaving, or children visit during their
lunch break from the adjacent elementary school. However, a
traditional Yapese men's house would not be used in such a manner.
An increasing number of Micronesians are actively supporting
museums and the reconstruction of traditional meeting centers, in
an effort to retain those arts and crafts which still exist. There
is a continuing effort to found a museum in the Marshall Islands by
the local women of Majuro. However, at times the filling of the
museums is another problem, as this entails removing the objects
from their social context and meaning, something which Micronesians
and other Pacific Islanders resist to this day (Guiart 1978).
In other parts of Oceania, the museumification process is
growing fast, for instance in Tahiti, where there are two brand new
museums. The first, The Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands, is a
general museum of history, ecology and ethnography; the second is
the new Gauguin Museum which celebrates the life of the famous
European artist in Polynesia, and the works of other "high" artists
in the area.
The Sale of Ethnicity
Full-scale commercialization of the local cultures and arts
has only recently come to Micronesia, modeled quite consciously on
the famous Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Such tourist-
oriented centers are both efforts to cash in on "exotic" cultures,
and to "preserve" living traditions (Stanton 1977). The Nett
Cultural Center on Ponape was begun by a Ponapean entrepreneur on
the P.C.C. model, although it is now run cooperatively by the
village performers. In eight "local style" houses different
traditional activities are "displayed" while the elders try to
teach members of the younger generation to counteract the massive
effects of acculturation. The aspects of life which are on view
(at $5 a head) include singing, dancing, craft production, food
preparation, and a sakau ceremony--and, of course, many items are
sold as souvenirs.
Paralleling this institutional sale of ethnicity is the com-
mercialization of some of the traditional art forms. The most
famous of these in Micronesia are the "storyboards" of Palau which
are derived from the carved and painted stories on the beams of the
old bai. This new form was first encouraged by a Japanese artist,
Hijikata, prior to the Second World War, and has now developed into
a major form of commercial art. The content is usually studiedly
"traditional," whereas, as we have seen above, the traditional
gables and painted beams used to include scenes absolutely current
to the peoples' lives.
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Another formal ethnic art that has grown out of the storyboard
tradition is watercolor painting, best exemplified by the works of
Charlie Gibbons. This resembles a kind of "art primitif" that uses
Western technique to show historical scenes of "ethnic content."
Conclusions
In conclusion, we wish to discuss the cultural attitudes which
lie behind the institutions and arts which we have described. It
is obvious that attitudes of commercialization, museumification,
and the self-conscious preservation and display of ethnicity--which
originated in the West--now pervade much of Micronesia, and indeed
Oceania as a whole (cf. MacCannell 1976).
The integral relationship of traditional arts with ritual and
social institutions is still strong in some areas, even though
these institutions are inevitably "flavored" or threatened by alien
attitudes. One of the most striking cases recently witnessed by
Graburn was the personal collection of Maori arts shown at Rawkawa
marae by Maui Pomare, the leader of one of the Maori sub-tribes.
This collection of sacred, ritual and heirloom objects has been in
his family's possession for centuries. The collection includes
carved figures, clubs, axes, ceremonial fishhooks, and feather
cloaks; one of the pieces was brought to New Zealand in the
original Maori immigration. Each object, though beautiful by any
standards, has its own history and "genealogy" of owners: the
collection formed a mnemonic history of the hapu (descent group),
rank, marriages, and claims to rights of Manui's ancestors and
sub-tribe. The display was given to a group of anthropologists and
art historians visiting his marae for the weekend--at the end of
which many of us were moved to wish that all such objects could be
returned to the people and families whose lives they order and
represent.
Similarly in Tonga, huge tapa sheets are still made for
ceremonial exchange, marriage gifts, markers of rank, etc., along-
side the more commercial t     arts (Kooijman 1979).  It is the
traditional objects of similar significance which are still in use
that the present Micronesians will not give up to museums.
The preservation and production of art objects for traditional
purposes is now paralleled, if not overtaken, by their preservation
and re-creation for contexts and purposes outside the original
social setting, notably for museums. The relationship between the
objects and the audience is thereby de-personalized even if the
objects are better physically preserved. Hence the relationship
between the maker and the appreciator/audience is also de-
personalized, independent of on-going social ties. That an
increasing number of the people of Micronesia are swayed to hold
these attitudes tells us that their whole life is becoming more
"Westernized" and their attachments to art objects more "single-
stranded."
157
The new museums of Palau, Ponape, Tahiti, and elsewhere in the
Pacific contain two kinds of objects:
(A) A few remaining "traditional" objects which are being
saved from physical oblivian by being housed in alien institutions,
such as the important chief's mat in the Ponape Museum. This
artefact comes from the family of the curator, and might not
otherwise be assigned to a museum.
(B) Re-creations and models of traditional items which, like
some of the museums themselves, are specially constructed with
traditional forms, such as the model chief's canoe in the Ponape
Museum, or the huge Marquesan canoe now at the Tahiti Museum.
These objects, like the bai-like forms of the museums which
house some of them, exemplify the modern attitude of reverence for
the past as past (MacCannell 1976, Block 1977) and mark for their
cultures the sense of historical change rather than being contem-
porary expressions in themselves.
The commercialism, exemplified by the P.C.C.-modeled institu-
tions and the storyboards already discussed, has also permeated
most of the contemporary production of tourist arts and crafts
which are on sale almost everywhere.   This trend allows for a
greater degree of individual creativity which is valued by the
Micronesian artists. The production of contemporary crafts for
tourists contains both elements of livelihood and the self-
consciousness of ethnicity in an increasingly mixed-up world. For
example, women of Yap weave pandanus baby baskets for use locally
and for sale in the handicraft cooperative. The production of
handicrafts is sponsored by commercially-minded islanders who make
them, as well as by entrepreneurs, local prisons (in Palau),
cooperatives, and Community Action Agencies.
The integration of "ethnicity," commercialism, and the new
cultural identity of modern Micronesia is taking a number of forms.
For instance, a Palauan-owned store in Saipan is decorated with a
bai-motif gable, sign of Palauan identity among the predominantly
Carolinean and Chamorro community.
The arts and traditions of many Fourth World peoples are
marked by the appearance of traditional forms in new contexts:
certain forms, themes, color schemes, and stereotyped content are
now selected and used as markers on all sorts of local institu-
tions. The functions and the rest of the forms of these
institutions are in no way traditional (Graburn 1976, 1979). Thus
the Micronesians are struggling to develop a meaningful identity
and set of cultural expressions while they are also trying to take
their place as an independent people amongst the many other new
nations of the modern world.
158
NOTES
1This paper is jointly written, but most data comes from Nero's
field research in Micronesia, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979-80. The
paper was originally delivered at the Kroeber Anthropological
Association Berkeley Meetings, 6 M4ay 1978.
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