Maori Arts

One of the things that most catches my attention as to the classes of this course is the different cultures and peoples we have met during the year, lately we have talked about New Zealand and specifically the Maoris.

The Maori are a native people of New Zealand, they arrived over a thousand years ago from Hawaki, and they are currently 14% of the population New Zeeland, but this post is focused on the Maori art

Maori art consists mainly of sculptures that are representative of their culture,  which primarily is inspired by the human body but using more stylized and geometric figures , but animals are also represented in a strange way.(Normally sculptures with motifs) There are exceptions that are of religious character as the Marakiahu sculpture, who is a mythical marine with a human face and forked tongue, which is depicted with hands on belly, as shown in the following image.

Another feature of this culture is their artistic dance.  Their traditional dance is called haka , which formerly was done as a war dance , but currently in the Maori culture is performed as a dance of welcome to visitors, to give them importance .

                                       

I want to highlight the haka dance of the Maori culture becasue I love the way they connect with their inner warrior with his land with bravery. When looking at this dance we can realize that it is very effusive and a bit daunting given the nature of war, but it seems to me a clear cultural brand that characterizes them and gives them the stamp of a native people , showing their more natural side in order to make other people  interested in this people.

To end up this post I want to highlight as in the previous post  that you often do not see the part of the iceberg that is underwater, so in this post I wanted to highlight the arts that I like and that, sometimes, we forget the importance of them for this people.

Surviving in the Australian Outback

In this Unit  we have to read a book, and the one that I chose was "The Rabbit-Proof Fence". This book is about  three mongrel girls who escaped in 1931 after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff. These three girls were Molly, Daisy and Gracie, all they daughters of aboriginal mothers and white men fathers, and they wanted to come back to Jigalong where they lived with their maternal families. The girls crossed the Australian desert following the rabbit-proof fence that guided them to their hometown. 

First of all, is important to highlight that this was a true story. That really happened. Those girls survived around 9 weeks walking across the Australian Outback and running away from Moodoo, the keeper who was following them. The children went to distant houses searching for some food, and when they did not have anything for eating, they killed some rabbits or another little animals and eat them in the nights, taking care of did not leave any traces on the road.

 When I finished reading the book I imagined what would happened if was I the one who had to cross the Australian Outback? I became curious. So, I searched some information about how to survive on the desert.

"When things go wrong in the bush, staying alive shouldn't be a matter of luck; it should be about knowledge" says Bob Cooper, an Australian survival instructor. "Mother Nature is not cruel, but she is unforgiving and doesn't tolerate fools", he adds.

Bob advises, "you should  write down five major wilderness survival priorities: water, signals, shelter, warmth and food. Then muse on them." In all of Bob's research, he has come across no evidence of anyone starving to death in a survival situation in Australia.

This is a very interesting interview, so I share it with you. Hope you like it :)

Interview: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/outdoor/skills/2012/05/bush-survival-skills-guide-to-staying-alive

Invisible Women

            A few weeks ago in class we stumbled upon an image of the classic Disney princesses with texts that shed light on the message they actually send. An incredibly sexist message for girls and boys who may perceive that women can accomplish their goals by having just one asset: physical beauty.

            So, this made me think about how women are portrayed in movies, which led me to find out that many times their presence is omitted. Or even worse: they are only shown in relation to the opposite sex.

            Actually there is a test named after Alison Bechdel, an American cartoonist who in 1985 had a character in her comic strip who mentioned the rules for a movie to be considered non-sexist.

 Extract of the 1985 comic strip which introduced the Bechdel Test Rules.

            Bechdel Test Rules:

            1) It has to have at least two named women in it.

            2) They must speak to each other.

            3) Their conversation must not be about a man.

            Well, it seems pretty simple. However, when you watch a movie, a series or read a book while bearing this in mind, the results are mind blowing. Many very famous films fail the test, such as:

The Original Star Wars Trilogy 

There are only three named female characters and they never speak to each other.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 

It has three women, but they never meet nor speak to each other in the ten hours it lasts.

The Social Network 

When the writer of this movie was consulted about how female characters were portrayed, he said that the women were prizes.

Finding Nemo 

Even though Dory is a strong female character, she only converses with males.

            And the list goes on and on, but even if a movie fails to pass the test it doesn't necessarily mean its writers are chauvinistic. The astonishing amount of films that lack female character development only demonstrates how women are underrepresented and just not taken into consideration at the time of telling a story.

            For more information on movies that pass or fail the Bechdel Test, please visit bechdeltest.com where you will find a complete list of films along with their classification.

            Now, I'd like you guys to think about your favorite movies and series. How is their female character development? Do they pass the test?

WE KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW

Game of Thrones is a really good TV series, but I’m not going to write about that, haha! I choose that title because it’s perfect for the topic that I will explain now.

Today in classes, when the movie ends, we started to talk about the natives of our country. What we know about them? Are we proud of them?

The answer for me was: WE KNOW NOTHING. First, because I was thinking in the next episode of GoT (TWO WEEKS! WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR TWO WEEKS!), and last, obviously, because when Mr. Villa asked us about some words of Rapa Nui, the answers were horrible :( we definitely don’t know about our culture, our country, our roots. So when you’ll read this blog, you will know EVERYTHING :D. Well, not everything :(, but some things about Rapa Nui :)

•        Rapa Nui or “Tepito Ote Henua”, is the farthest island of a continent in the Pacific Ocean. The first habitants of the Island came from Marquesas’s Island in the VI century leaded by the Ariki (King) Hotu Matu’a.

•   The Island was discovered (for the occidental world) in 1722 a Dutch navigator called Jakob Roggeveen.

•  At the beginning, the construction of Moais was the principal activity of Rapa Nui. There are different sizes of statues (4-10 metres). Those are the symbol of the Island, carved in volcanic rock to embody the spirit of their ancestress.

•  The typical foods are mostly seafood like tuna, lobster, shrimp, and “rape rape”, a small lobster that is exclusive of the island.  

•   The Island now: Well, Rapa Nui is part of our territory since 1888. The economy is based in fishing and tourism. Actually, there are a lot of activities you can do there. Go to restaurants, tours around island; go to the museum, etc.

I hope you like my post J. Here are some pages where you can find more information of the Island and a kind of “dictionary” Rapa Nui-Spanish.

Bye!!

- Dictionary

- http://www.descubreisladepascua.com/acerca-de/historia

- http://www.educarchile.cl/ech/pro/app/detalle?ID=130459

Tattoos. Counter-culture or mainstream?

In Today's class we started to see The Māori culture, when the class finished, the professor told us if we can look for information about The Māori tattoos and their meaning. I came home and started to investigate. In my process I could not ignore a idea that started to grow in mi mind.  How tattoos, that had a very powerful significance are now for some people just decoration?

For example. In the  Māori culture the tattos are called Tā moko and are often placed on the face. For the Māori  this tattoo is a taonga (treasure) which the purpose and applications are sacred. Every moko contains ancestral/tribal messages specific to the wearer. These messages tell the story of the wearer's family and tribal affiliations. A moko’s message would also contain the wearer’s ‘value’ by way of their genealogy, and their knowledge and standing in their social level. We can identify the Tribe status of a person determining where is located his tattoo.

The male facial tattoo  is generally divided into eight sections:

-Ngakaipikirau (rank). The center forehead area

-Ngunga (position). Around the brows

-Uirere (hapu rank). The eyes and nose area

-Uma (first or second marriage). The temples

-Raurau (signature). The area under the nose

-Taiohou (work). The cheek area

-Wairua (mana). The chin

-Taitoto (birth status). The jaw

It is very hard to know the specific meaning of the tattoos. Maori culture  is very complex, and sometimes the Moko have secret meanings known only for the members of the clan. 

If you want more information about this you can visit http://history-nz.org/maori3.html

By the history of tattoos we can say that they have a strong cultural content. In some cultures are seen as symbols of rebellion, just like the Yakuza (mafia) in Japon. For all Yakuza members, large tattoos show a excessive self-confidence and pretentiousness. Dragons and tigers (knows for being strongs) are good for threatening another Yakuza member. Generally larger tattoos mean a stronger person.

On the other hand in India, henna tattoos are an important part of wedding ceremonies. Family and friends draw intricate mehndi pattern in the hands and feets of the bride. Normally has the name of the groom interwoven into it. The groom is expected to find his name in the pattern. If he is unsuccessful, the myth is that the bride will control the marriage. Another myth is surrounding the color of the henna. The popular belief is that the deeper the color, the stronger the bond between bride and mother-in-law.

Nowadays tattoos don't have to have a special meaning. You can do it because you feel that is beautiful, or because inspire you something. Is hard to denied that tattoos have become a new expression of art. 

The majority of people don't see it like a stigma anymore, especially the younger generations. But is this a good thing? What do you think about tattoos become more a trend instead of having a deeper meaning? And finally, would you like to get a tattoo?  

About the Stolen Generation

Before the start of the process of colonization in Australia, over 400 Aboriginal people lived freely in their territories, each with distinct cultural characteristics and their own geographical location.

In 1770 James Cook took possession of two-thirds of Australia on behalf of the Crown of the United Kingdom, bringing with them religion, traditions and diseases. The impact of this ended with many Aboriginal people enslaved and their women abused. Born of this, miscegenation.

But what happens between 1910 and 1970 is something that the  Rabbit-Proof Fence book describes  (and leaves impacted all readers of the book):This is the cruelty that settlers took to mestizo children, being separated from their mothers and bring them to churches or schools where they were teached to be effective servants of the settlers.

What I want to explain with this task is the suffering that many Aboriginal families lived, which were battered, disintegrated of its members and abused. This as I said, occurred in most of the processes of conquest, but something that I have never seen or heard about the last centuries after these processes is to someone who apologizes for it.

The following video is a recording of a speech by the Prime Minister of Australia; Kevin Rudd  where he proclaims, publicly for the first time in history, Aboriginal forgiveness for the pain and damage caused in the past.

It was recorded in 2008 and I would like you to see.

 “That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.”

After this speech, Aborigines danced and sang at the opening of the Australian parliament and Aboriginal elder Matilda House gave a traditional greeting to MPs and senators gathered for the new parliamentary session.

Faced with an incident some time ago, this process might have forgotten. But it was perhaps necessary for them to apologize (with the aid measures) to build a future as Australian community.

Here is another video that shows parts of the movie (set in the book) and explains this process that the Australian population apologizes.

(I recommend  you  watch this  completely, it is very interesting).

  What do you think about this?, i'm waiting your opinions.

By Fernanda San Martin B. 

Elizabeth The Virgin Queen

                      Elizabeth The Virgin Queen

Nowadays its easy and familiar to find women in the power and handling issues than 500 years ago was only for men.

Elizabeth was a independent and strong woman, she made for herself all things of her empire, furthemore she controled a very big one, and never had a problem with that.

Nowadays there are women like Elizabeth everywhere, they are taking the control of a lot of thing and do it  very well. The "Machista" vision its today a piece of the past.

All this is show in the movie like the reality and its like this. On the contrary part it was trying to create a relation ship between Elizabeth and a England Corsair, that part of the movie it wasn´t true, because a relationship between Elizabeth and a corsair was imposible.