Post #53793 by OceaOtica on Sat, Oct 4, 2003 6:07 PM

it seems like a number of us are like minded about what the "umbrella" of tiki contains, though african and south american art has woven its way into tiki design from the start. as thor heyerdahl proved with the kontiki trip, south america is responcible for the whole shabang. its when people list items that are obviously native american totem, a chotchke ceramic shoe, or cowboy inspired mug as tiki that it gets a little frustrating.
the ren clark decapitated head, on the other hand, i believe has a place in the tiki "umbrella." some forms of savagery, such as cannibalism and trophy headhunting are part of the history that tiki derives its past and design from. look at the name of some of the drinks: "headhunters kula," "headhunter," shrunken skull," blood of the kapu tiki," "zombie," etc. there are a couple of other mugs based on these themes as well.
p.s. if anyone has a ren clark head mug for sale, let me know.