Critiki is dead - General Tiki

J JasonMa Tiki Socialite Joined: Jun 05, 2017 Posts: 112	J JasonMa Posted posted on Tue, Sep 6, 2022 3:58 PM in reply to leevigraham Those are fair questions. The best take on it I found was from a Atlantic podcast that included a department head at the University of Hawai'i. The tl;dr version of it is that if tiki si fantasy and not reality, that it should use fantasy images and not images of the Polynesian gods. That made a lot of sense to me (his other significant objection was the hypersexualization of Polynesian women in tiki, something I don't have an issue with avoiding). More details are in a post I made at the time: https://tikicentral.com/viewpost.php?post_id=799062 Combining that with the discussions with my family (largely my aunt, who's native Hawaiian and is active in Hawaiian culture issues) has helped me to understand that while the local tiki bar isn't the biggest issue facing Polynesian culture right now, that doesn't mean it gets a pass for its use of culture and its important to understand the difference between the fantasy and the reality of what its based on. Because of all of that (and more) my "middle ground" has been to lean more into the adventure/nautical/early aircraft/etc. side of tiki and away from some of the true "tiki" images. I'm not saying I'm 100% perfect on this, but I'm focusing on not collecting mugs or other images that are using the images of the Polynesian gods (for example, if I go to Smugglers Cove I probably won't buy their signature mug, because its a pretty like-for-like image of Ku, the Hawaiian god of war.). I'm not saying others can't or shouldn't buy it, but its not what I want to include or support. Also when I can point things out in a helpful way, I do. Last time I was at our local tiki bar in Denver, Adrift, they were using "come in and get lei'ed" on one of their signs. Play on words, not particularly harmful, but that usage was something my aunt mentioned that can rub some native Hawaiians the wrong way. So I politely pointed that out to them, telling them they hadn't made a major mistake or anything but it might be a better reflection of the culture to not use that. They seemed to appreciate the feedback. Do I think my aunt or my other family members who are native Hawaiian would have the tiki collection I have? No. But I like to think (hope?) that if/when they visit they aren't going to see anything in my collection that raises their hackles.

Those are fair questions. The best take on it I found was from a Atlantic podcast that included a department head at the University of Hawai'i. The tl;dr version of it is that if tiki si fantasy and not reality, that it should use fantasy images and not images of the Polynesian gods. That made a lot of sense to me (his other significant objection was the hypersexualization of Polynesian women in tiki, something I don't have an issue with avoiding). More details are in a post I made at the time:

https://tikicentral.com/viewpost.php?post_id=799062

Combining that with the discussions with my family (largely my aunt, who's native Hawaiian and is active in Hawaiian culture issues) has helped me to understand that while the local tiki bar isn't the biggest issue facing Polynesian culture right now, that doesn't mean it gets a pass for its use of culture and its important to understand the difference between the fantasy and the reality of what its based on.

Because of all of that (and more) my "middle ground" has been to lean more into the adventure/nautical/early aircraft/etc. side of tiki and away from some of the true "tiki" images. I'm not saying I'm 100% perfect on this, but I'm focusing on not collecting mugs or other images that are using the images of the Polynesian gods (for example, if I go to Smugglers Cove I probably won't buy their signature mug, because its a pretty like-for-like image of Ku, the Hawaiian god of war.). I'm not saying others can't or shouldn't buy it, but its not what I want to include or support.

Also when I can point things out in a helpful way, I do. Last time I was at our local tiki bar in Denver, Adrift, they were using "come in and get lei'ed" on one of their signs. Play on words, not particularly harmful, but that usage was something my aunt mentioned that can rub some native Hawaiians the wrong way. So I politely pointed that out to them, telling them they hadn't made a major mistake or anything but it might be a better reflection of the culture to not use that. They seemed to appreciate the feedback.

Do I think my aunt or my other family members who are native Hawaiian would have the tiki collection I have? No. But I like to think (hope?) that if/when they visit they aren't going to see anything in my collection that raises their hackles.

Post #805385 by JasonMa on Tue, Sep 6, 2022 3:58 PM