PHIL 202-3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mabel Mckay, Signify, Desmond Tutu
PHIL 202
Ch. 2 Indigenous Traditions (pt. 2)
Cultural Expressions
• Art is about relationships
o Object is connected to its creator(s), to rituals, to the community, to stories
Weaving
• To intertwine, to connect
o Reinforce or create communal bonds
• Sacred thread
o Maori: Only girls
o Sacred test
o Rituals—sacred trust, gift from Niwareka
Weaving, cont’d
• Colours represent the basic forces of creation
o Black: realm of potential being, darkness from which the world emerged
o White: process of coming into being, energy that makes life possible
o Red: realm of being and light, the world itself
• The sacred thread runs not only through time and the various realms of existence,
entwining the Maori in the cosmos itself
Weaving, cont’d
• Spirit baskets
o Maori
• Tane: god of light and wisdom; went to heaven to bring back three baskets
of knowledge
1. Knowledge of ritual matters
2. Knowledge of acts of harm and aggression
3. Knowledge of peace and well-being
o Pomo
• Mabel McKay
1. Weaving part of healing practices
2. Reflected personal spiritual visions
Carving
• Masks
o African traditions: Masks are meant to bring a spirit to the community
• But only lesser deities, as the supreme deity is never depicted
o Mali: Antelope masks for agricultural ceremonies
• Dogon: represents hard work
• Bamana: horns represent sprouts of grain
o Process of creation
• Ritual of creation just as important as its use for intended ritual
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Totem Poles
• Pacific Northwest Coast
o Dodaem: heart, nourishment, kinship group
o Living thing: For some, to preserve is to interfere with the natural order
o Meaning depends on use: Support structure, status of power, stories
• Grizzly with human
o Symbol of self-preservation or survival
• Thunderbird
o Symbol of strength
Moko
• Maori
• Chiselled into the skin
• Markings identify the individual and the individual’s relation to the community
o May signify: education, personal or family rank, beauty, ferocity in battle
Moko, cont’d
• Link to ancestors
o Uetonga, Niwareka, and Mataora
• Carvings are a reminder of ancestors, obligations, respect, the power of the natural world,
boundaries between life and death
Buildings
• Ancestral Houses
o Maori
• Marae: religious and social home
• Whare whakairo: represents body of the ancestor
• Three points, and a shrine
o Location chosen for contact
o Function of the building
o Visible manifestations
Buildings, cont’d
• Hogans (Navajo)
o Not always religious
• Home—where daily rituals are preformed
o Blessingway song
• Divine and everyday matters
o Joining of the cosmic and the mundane
• Four deities/four support poles
o To build a hogan is to reproduce the origin of all things, and to
fulfill one’s ongoing (scared) responsibility to continually make
and remake the world
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Cultural expressions: art is about relationships, object is connected to its creator(s), to rituals, to the community, to stories. Weaving: to intertwine, to connect, reinforce or create communal bonds, sacred thread, maori: only girls, sacred test, rituals sacred trust, gift from niwareka. Moko: maori, chiselled into the skin, markings identify the individual and the individual"s relation to the community, may signify: education, personal or family rank, beauty, ferocity in battle. Moko, cont"d: link to ancestors, uetonga, niwareka, and mataora, carvings are a reminder of ancestors, obligations, respect, the power of the natural world, boundaries between life and death. Buildings: ancestral houses, maori, marae: religious and social home, whare whakairo: represents body of the ancestor, three points, and a shrine, location chosen for contact, function of the building, visible manifestations. Colonialism: the process whereby people move from one place to another and settle there, and the effects on those who were already living there, quests for power, religion used as justification.
