item details
Overview
Urohs en Pohnpei (Pohnpeian skirts) are made on the Island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Urohs come in many different styles including appliqué, reverse appliqué, patchwork and more. Contemporary urohs are machine sewn, although older urohs were both hand and machine sewn. These skirts are the quintessential dress of lien Pohnpei (Pohnpeian women), and are worn at Pohnpeian cultural events such as mehla (funerals), kamadipw (feasts) and also on a daily basis. Urohs are worn by lien Pohnpei as well as other Micronesian women in the FSM and abroad.
Design and motifs
This urohs en Pohnpei was made by Margaret Ringlen from Souiso, Kitti in 2011. This style of urohs is the newest, most fashionable, and most expensive being made and worn today (2010-2012). It is black and covered with appliquéd purple satin weave flowers, green thread designs, and smaller purple thread flowers in a pattern that could be described as imitation lace. The elaborate detail is outstanding, and it is a wonderful example of the ever-evolving creativity of Pohnpeian women. This style of urohs, as the latest fashion, is in high demand especially for Pohnpeian women living in the diaspora. As an example of the finest quality of contemporary urohs, it makes an important addition to Te Papa’s Micronesian textile collection.
Significance
Historically Pohnpeian women have played an important role in cloth production. They produced dohr (banana fibre belts) worn by chiefly men and koahl (hibiscus fibre skirts) also worn by men in addition to their own likou meimei (breadfruit bark clothing). Although Pohnpeian women no longer produce dohr or likou meimei, they continue to produce koahl primarily for export to Guam and Hawai’i where they are purchased by cultural dance groups. Urohs are contemporary examples of women's work in Pohnpei that are worn on women's bodies, exchanged, gifted, bought and sold. These textiles play a significant role in larger exchange practices that seek to reinforce relationships between women, families and communities in Pohnpei and in the diaspora. Today, women perpetuate this power and their agency in the realm of textiles through the production and circulation of urohs en Pohnpei.
Acquisition History
This urohs was acquired by Te Papa agent Deeleeann Daniel in Pehleng, Kitti, Pohnpei in 2011.
References
Hambruch, Paul and Anneliese Eilers. 1936. Ponape. 3 vols. Vol. 2, Ergebnisse Der Sudsee-Expedition 1908-1920. Hamburg: Friederichsen, De Gruyter Co.
Kihleng, Kimberlee S. 1996. Women in Exchange: Negotiated Relations, Practice, and the Constitution of Female Power in Processes of Cultural Reproduction and Change in Pohnpei, Micronesia, Diss., University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Weiner, Annette B. 1992. Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving. Berkeley: University of California Press.