Material Culture

This term the material culture presentations were described to the class as a "show and tell" session, and were compressed into a single class session. The decision to compress the session is in part of reflection of the collapse of material cultural items in the lives of the students. Three students brought ngarangar, three brought kiam, and two brought local fans. Six students had nothing to present, I opted not to penalize them in consideration of the collapse of material culture. This collapse is real, some students have no realistic access to items of traditional material culture.  I had those with the same item present at the same time, further compressing the presentations. The result was a class session that wrapped in sixty minutes.

Suzanne shows a Kosraean pahl, termed irip in Pingelapese

Kanoa with a Pohnpeian ahk

Junida with a Pohnpeian pwaht

AJ with a Pingelapese dil: fishing torch

Austin, Donovan, and Regina present the Pohnpeian kiam

As one student noted, "I left my kiam at home." Kiam actually do grow on trees and are traditionally made on location. I pointed this out and the student noted that they did not know how to make a kiam.

Nagsia, Alson, and Frankie with Pohnpeian ngarangar

There was some confusion as to whether kohwa referred to any ngarangar or only one with sakau in the ngarangar.

Alexander and Jelory with baskets.

There was a lack of clarity on the different basket styles and how they related to age and social rank, especially vis-a-vis functionality of the basket.