Indigenous Navigation, Technology, and the Stars

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This is an NSF Social and Economic Sciences grant in the history of science for "start-up" funds in support of research following the PI's two years as a NSF Minority Post-Doctoral Fellow. It supports on a cost sharing basis with the PI's institution research infrastructure costs (travel and research assistance) to perform research in Africa on celestial navigation. The project utilizes findings from the NSF postdoctoral project on the celestial navigation practices at sites in Tunisia, Fiji, and the United States. A theory of the decision-making process behind the adoption or rejection of new technologies emerged from that research; the theory will be tested during this preliminary study. Celestial navigation is a practical method of finding one's position by use of the stars, Sun, Moon, or other celestial bodies. The compass and the Global Positioning System (GPS) have spread globally and provide an accurate means of position determination. However, many cultures have rejected these technologies in favor of their traditional navigation methods including celestial navigation. This preliminary investigation seeks to document navigation practices at two sites in East Africa: Massawa, Eritrea, and Lamu Island, Kenya. At each site details of the local navigation methods and navigation equipment that is available will be recorded. If there is a celestial part to their navigation, then the following aspects of the navigators and their communities will be examined: how do people learn to navigate and are their techniques being taught to the next generation of navigators; what is the role of new navigation equipment and new techniques; how is the decision made as to whether to adopt or reject new navigation technologies; and what is the role of women in navigation? The methodology involves ethnographic field techniques including formal and informal interviews and participant observation. A record of local navigation methods and culture will be created via digital images, videotapes, field notes and sound recordings. In an effort to train students in the skills necessary to complete a multi-site research project, students will be asked to participate in several aspects of this project: archival research, fieldwork, preservation of materials, and documentation. In a continuing effort to increase the number of women and minorities in the sciences by offering courses focusing on non-Western cultures and scientific traditions, the results of this project will be incorporated into undergraduate courses on the anthropology of Africa and on the history of science, technology, and medicine of Africa. This project will increase our knowledge of African indigenous knowledge systems as well as make a positive contribution to the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-Western cultures. It will compare current navigation techniques with those recorded by Ibn Majid (in 1489 A.D.), adding another chapter to the history of navigation of Africa and the Indian Ocean. It will record for what appears to be the first time the navigation techniques of the Afar people of Eritrea.