Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum

[randy_byers]

Via my brother: "Out of the Sea - Long Beach's Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum will focus on Micronesia."

"It's quite unique to have a museum devoted just to Micronesia," said Don Rubinstein, professor of anthropology and Micronesian studies at the University of Guam. "Although many museums in the U.S. and other countries have important collections of Pacific Islands art, Micronesia tends to get overlooked."

But the region has a colorful history. Micronesian ancestors settled in the area over 4,000 years ago. Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit Micronesia when he anchored in Guam in 1521. Contact with the West was sporadic until the early 19th century, when whaling and trade with Asia brought vessels into the region.

Micronesia was a major battleground in World War II. From 1941 to 1945, United States and Japanese military forces fought many battles in the Micronesian islands.

"For Micronesians, their relationship with the sea is paramount, and Micronesians often consider navigation and canoe building to be their greatest art forms," Anne d'Alleva wrote in her book "Arts of the Pacific Islands."

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Micronesia tends to get overlooked.

Compared to Polynesia, certainly. What about Melanesia (assuming there is such a thing)?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

It's a good question, and I'm not sure that Melanesia is as coherent an entity as Polynesia or Micronesia. Wikipedia identifies Fiji and New Guinea as Melanesian, and they certainly have a higher profile than any Micronesian island other than Guam and maybe Belau. Other Melanesian islands include the Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Oh, and Wikipedia says there's something called the Melanesian Spearhead Group that has had a trade treaty since 1993.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it isn't as coherent an entity, which is why I wrote "assuming there is such a thing". It's still a useful geographical term, and used as such; we just have to remember that it encompasses a variety of cultures without the kind of unities to be seen in Micronesia or Polynesia.

I just wonder where their place is in public consciousness. Certainly in the states we tend to be very Polynesian-oriented when we think of the Pacific Islands, partly because they're nearer and partly because of the impact of Hawaii.