item details
Overview
History
This doll was collected in Fiji in the 1960s. This was a period of immense expansion in international airline travel due to changing technology,and reduction in prices makingair travel more accessible for the masses. Subsequently it opened up places like the Pacific region as destinations for tourist leisure and recreation. Woodcarving in Fiji increased dramatically due to the large number of tourist visitors in the 1960s and other merchandise and products were developed to meet the demand of this new market. Dolls such as this were typical of the type collected by travellers as souvenirs or keepsakes.
Materials and construction
This is a male doll made from felt material. He is dressed in a Fijian police uniform. The doll is wearinga white skirtwith a serrated edge.It has short black hair and red lips, and is wearing a royal blue jacket with six yellow buttons. Across the chest is a red sash, and attached to the waist is a sash of red and blue.
Significance
This doll was collected by Augusta Bohmer (b.1912 - d.2009) during her travels in the 1960s. Augusta and her husband travelled extensively, including visits to Fiji - on business - and New Caledonia. In the 1960s flights to New Zealand from North America included a stop-over in Nadi. This dollis agood example of the influence of airline travel on the material representation of Pacific Islanders.
References
Bolabola, C. "The impact of tourism on Fijian woodcarving," Rajotte, F. and Crocombe, R. (eds.) Pacific tourism, as islanders see it. (Suva: University of the South Pacific Institute of Pacific Studies in association with South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1980)
Dierikx, M. Clipping the clouds : how air travel changed the world. (Connecticut: Praeger, 2008)
Gottdiener, M.Life in the air : surviving the new culture of air travel. (Maryland: Rowman Littlefield, 2001)
McLean, Gavin, 2012. "Barques, banana boats and boeings. Transport and communications, 1860s to the present day," Mallon, S.,Mahina-Tuai, K.and Salesa, D. (eds.)Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific.(Wellington, Te Papa Press, 2012).