Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde: Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde, 15.2012/2013(2014)

Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde, 15.2012/2013(2014)

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Zeitschrift

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-717768

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-717768

Persistenter Identifier:: BV047109142

Titel:: Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde

Untertitel:: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde München

ISSN:: 0936-837X

Erscheinungsort:: München

Verlag:: Verl. d. Staatl. Museums für Völkerkunde

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1988

Signatur:: LA 4770

Lizenz:: Rechte vorbehalten - Freier Zugang

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-717861

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-717861

Persistenter Identifier:: 1696937799043

Titel:: Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde, 15.2012/2013(2014)

Untertitel:: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde München

Erscheinungsort:: Berlin

Verlag:: Verl. d. Staatl. Museums für Völkerkunde

Erscheinungsjahr:: 2014

Zusätzliche Information:: Reproduktion

Signatur:: LA 4770

Lizenz:: Rechte vorbehalten - Freier Zugang

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenheft

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 15, 2012/2013

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenartikel

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Female Figures from Aitutaki: Traces of Genealogy and Descent

Sonstige Person:: Appel, Michaela

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

often did not make a difference between male and female god figures (see for instance the de- scription of a female deity in note 40). It also means that it could have reached London early enough to have been acquired there by Johann Georg Wagler fourteen months later, in June 1825. And it would explain its assumed origin from Tahiti.18 Interpretation of Aitutaki Sculpture As we do not know anything about the significance of the Munich female figure, an interpreta- tion can only be attempted by means of comparison with anthropomorphic and non-anthropo- morphic representations from Aitutaki, and other Cook Islands like Rarotonga, Mangaia and Atiu, as well as from Rurutu and Ra’ivavae in the Austral Group.19 Hjalmar Stolpe (1890), Charles Read (1891), and Colley March (1893) were the first scho l- ars who compared and discussed the forms of Polynesian and especially »Hervey Island« or- naments and came to the conclusion that its meaning was related to human origin and descent. Te Rangi Hiroa’s famous work on the »Arts and Crafts of the Cook Islands« (1944) is still in- dispensable. And more recently the topic of genealogical symbolism in Polynesian images was further elaborated, for instance, by Adrienne Kaeppler (1982), Anita Volland (1987), Alfred Gell (1995), and Anne D’Alleva (1996). Anita Volland (1987) has pointed out a genealogical concept of time and existence for East- ern Polynesian societies. In her opinion genealogies play a central role in the thinking of Poly- nesians because they have a major influence on many areas of life. The social emphasis on de- scent lines and the complexity and ambiguity of the rank system of Eastern Polynesian soci- eties made the preservation of personal and, in many cases, group genealogies indispensible to the interpretation of land-rights and kinship statuses, including hereditary political positions. Thus, in many areas an individual’s personal genealogy could turn out to be his or her most pre- cious possession (Volland 1987: 117). Central to Eastern Polynesian societies was a complex of institutions that linked kinship, land, and rank. The descent group was a corporate unit consisting of descendants of a known ancestor, a group in which affiliation could be established through either male or female links. 18From a portion of a letter discovered by David King we know that at least one Polynesian idol, probably from Tahiti, was brought back from the voyage of the first ship sent out by the London Missionary Society. It was the ship Duff, captained by James Wilson, which reached Tahiti in 1796 and returned to London in July 1798 (Griffin 1822: 138). The letter was written on July 4, 1799 by Thomas Haweis, »father of the South Sea mission« and director of the London Missionary Society, to Joseph Banks, offering him an idol of toa(iron wood or casuarina): »I don’t know whether an image in toa wood of a female, whether goddess or native, but sufficiently ugly would be acceptable to you. If you will please to tell me, I shall convey it to you« (King 2011: 206 (287)). The letter documents that at least one female figure was brought back from Tahiti to England before missionary activity really started and the family idols of Pomare II, King of Tahiti, reached there in 1818. In fact, Banks and Haweis did not only know each other, but their correspondence suggests that Banks was kept well informed on the activities of the London Missionary Society and that his influence on the British government was directly responsible for the ascendancy of the Society in the Pa- cific Islands (Strauss 1964: 247; see also Gunson 1965). 19The Austral Group lies in the Southeast of the Cook Group and comprises the small islands of Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai, (also known as Tupua’i), Ra’ivavae and Rapa. 252

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