Performing Cultural Heritage with Tīfaifai, Tahitian “Quilts”

Abstract

Tīfaifai, the visually striking piecework and appliqué textiles (sometimes referred to as quilts) that islanders of Tahiti and other locations in French Polynesia have created for over 150 years, are increasingly part of a public cultural heritage discourse. Focusing on appliqué tīfaifai, the most popular form in the Society Islands for many decades, I examine the contemporary role of tīfaifai in conveying messages of cultural heritage in public places and events. My analysis draws from new materialism theory, performance studies and visual display concepts. As actants, tīfaifai have agency and are co-constitutive with people who may interact with them in various ways. A variety of performative contexts in which tīfaifai are displayed and used reveal the breadth of messages that are conveyed which reinforce and expand aspects of Māʻohi cultural heritage and identity. A biographical approach to tīfaifai as a form of material culture is included to illustrate the ways in which the actions of people, government policies, economic circumstances and other impactful phenomena have led to the contemporary role of tīfaifai as both objects and symbols of cultural heritage. This study aids in understanding how cultural heritage may be understood and performed by local communities through the medium of a continuous, evolving textile tradition.