{"id":369867,"date":"2022-06-07T06:06:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=369867"},"modified":"2022-06-07T06:06:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T20:06:52","slug":"chuuk-charter-school-aims-to-revive-loom-weaving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/chuuk-charter-school-aims-to-revive-loom-weaving\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuuk charter school aims to revive loom weaving"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Portions of back strap looms built for\u00a0Akoyikoyi School. (HABELE FOUNDATION)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An innovative charter school is re-introducing old cultural skills to students on Weno, capital of the most populous state in the Federated States of Micronesia.<\/p>\n

A distinctive form of backstrap loom weaving was once ubiquitous across the Caroline Islands, today\u2019s Federated States of Micronesia. Now the intricate work of crafting these textiles endures only in the small outer islands strung distantly between Chuuk and Yap. The Akoyikoyi School is looking to change that, hoping to bring loom weaving back to Chuuk Lagoon.<\/p>\n

The effort was made possible in part by the donation of a handcrafted warp board, backstrap looms, peripheral weaving tools, and thread from Habele. Funding was generously provided by the Matson Foundation of Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Akoyikoyi is a tuition-free charter school accredited by the Chuuk State Department of Education. Community involvement is an important component of Akoyikoyi school so parents are required to attend PTA meetings to stay informed and involved in their children\u2019s education. The school combines both Chuukese and English native speaking staff who are needed for proper bilingual instruction and cross-cultural awareness.<\/p>\n

Habele is a nonprofit, established by former Peace Corps volunteers, that works across Micronesia to serve students and schools. Habele\u2019s support of cultural skills developed in Yap from its sponsorship of after school mentorship programs using traditional techniques, such as carving and weaving, to imbue students with a sense of accomplishment and community participation.<\/p>\n

Aware of Habele\u2019s WeavingConnections program, which supports Outer Island weavers who have migrated to the United States, Akoyikoyi asked Habele for a loom of the sort still used in the Western Caroline Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis school year we started a traditional skills class,\u201d explained Clark Graham, of Akoyikoyi. \u201cThe students are learning to weave coconut fronds for roofing. Plans call for them to learn how to weave other things, including coconut baskets to carry food and also the round basket used to carry breadfruit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Student at\u00a0Akoyikoyi School practicing leaf weaving. (HABELE FOUNDATION)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He explained that having \u201ca tyr (Chuukese for \u201cloom\u201d) would be another step in the learning process, allowing participating students to get more in touch with their traditional arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A personal connection adds further significance to the project. Graham\u2019s son Curt’s \u201cpaternal great-grandmother was the last woman in Penia to use a tyr. \u201cWhen she died, the loom was placed in her grave,\u201d recounts Graham \u201cThat marked the end of such weaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penia is a village on the northeast shore of Weno. This timeline of weaving\u2019s decline in the Chuuk Lagoon appears consistent with published reports. In his widely cited Material Culture of Truk, American anthropologist Frank M. Lebar observed that, by his 1947 fieldwork \u201cweaving had all but disappeared on Truk.\u201d LeBar identified only eight older women among his interviewees on Romonum, a lagoon island, who \u201cknew some or all of the processes of weaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be a small part of this,\u201d said Habele founder Neil Mellen, himself a former Peace Corps volunteer who taught on the Outer Islands of Yap. “The credit goes to the educators at Akoyikoyi, the weavers from Yap\u2019s Outer Islands who worked with Habele to document the weaving equipment, and the Matson Foundation who had the generosity to pay for the raw materials and shipping.\u201d (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An innovative charter school is re-introducing old cultural skills to students on Weno, capital of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":369872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}