Maneaba

The maneaba (also mwaneaba) is the community meeting house of Kiribati and the heart of village life. It is usually the largest building in a village, and its thatched roof has been called the largest single cultural artefact in the country, visible from the air. Tuvalu's equivalent, from the shared history of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony, is the maneapa or ahiga.

Construction

A traditional maneaba stands on slabs of coral and is built mainly from coconut and pandanus trees, with a large roof of coconut wood tied with coconut-fibre string and thatched with pandanus leaves. Researcher Kerry Whincup records that it uses no nails, screws or glue. Joints are made with wooden pins, fitted joinery and coconut-husk string (te kora), each with its own specified lashing; some knots are very complex. Husks are soaked under the lagoon sand for about three months, then the fibre is dried and rolled into string by hand. Men build and repair the maneaba, and women make the string.

Key parts include:

• Boua: coral supports.
• Tatanga: horizontal beams forming the low eaves.
• Boutabu and boua ni kaua: vertical posts.
• Oka: diagonal roof beams carrying slats (kaukau and bwai ni kakori).
• Te rau: pandanus thatch lashed to the slats.
• Te taubuki: the ridge pole, hauled into place at about 12-13 m (39-43 ft).

The floor is spread with fine coral stones covered with coarse palm-frond mats (inaai). Three traditional styles, Tabontebike, Tabiang and Maungatabu, differ in the proportions of length to width and in the number and placement of beams. Size depends on the expected users, the land and the builder: the Atanikarawa maneaba on Tabiteuea North is about 40 by 20 m (130 by 65 ft), and the Catholic maneaba at Koinawa on Abaiang about 60 by 17 m (200 by 55 ft).

Social role

Old men (unimwane) sit in hereditary clan positions (boti) around the edge, and the post each family sits against reflects social hierarchy; disputes over these places can be serious. The building is the basis of island and national governance, and the national parliament is named the Maneaba ni Maungatabu ("Maneaba of the Sacred Mountain").

Modern change

On South Tarawa nearly all meeting houses now use imported materials, Eita being an exception. Iron roofs need less maintenance and carry status, but Whincup notes that they heat up quickly, drown out speech in heavy rain and reduce the passing on of building skills; concrete floors are uncomfortable for long meetings. Even so, thatch remains common in Kiribati: in the 2018-19 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 55.5% of household records listed thatch or palm leaf as the main roof material.