Dissertation Research: The Revival of Indigenous Navigation in the Marshall Islands

论文研究：马绍尔群岛本土航海的复兴

• 批准号: 0514594
• 负责人: Ben Finney
• 金额: $ 0.8万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0514594&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Revival; Indigenous; Navigation

Navigators in Oceania developed comprehensive systems for guiding their canoes across the ocean out of sight of land using non-instrumental methods that were based on observations and perceptions of environmental phenomena. Oceanic spatial orientation systems are based largely on the rising and setting points of stars, which serve as directional bearings to specific islands. Calibrated to this celestial framework, however, are other, less well-known methods of spatial orientation based on characteristic wind and wave patterns that have been developed into comprehensive systems of navigation within a few island societies. In particular, Marshall Island navigators remotely sense islands by detecting distinctive ocean swell transformations and then use these ephemeral 'landmarks' to guide their canoes. This system of navigation survives in the memory of elders who formerly learned and practiced navigation. They recently formed a community group called Waan Aelon in Majel (WAM; Canoes of the Marshall Islands) to revive canoe building and ocean sailing, and are currently working with an expert navigator to document traditional navigation and pass it on to the younger generation. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Hawaii-Manoa investigates how Marshallese navigators orient themselves at sea. It will generate and validate a cultural expert's model of indigenous navigation by comparing it to an oceanographic wave model and then testing it at sea, document the processes of the revival of navigational knowledge, and determine the extent of intra-cultural variation in navigational knowledge through the application of the cultural consensus model.The broader significance of this research, in addition to integrating the results into curricula for WAM's school of navigation and Marshallese schools, is an understanding of the decline and resurgence of indigenous knowledge in the context of a cultural revival of canoe building, sailing and navigation. This knowledge will provide policy makers in the Marshall Islands and throughout Oceania an example of the sustainability of employing traditional canoes for fishing and local transport.

大洋洲的航海家们开发了一套综合系统，利用非仪器方法，根据对环境现象的观察和感知，引导他们的独木舟越过海洋，离开陆地的视线。海洋空间方位系统主要是以恒星的升起点和落下点为基础，这些点是特定岛屿的方向方位。然而，根据这一天体框架校准的是其他不太为人所知的空间定位方法，这些方法以风和波浪的特征模式为基础，已在一些岛屿社会中发展成为综合导航系统。特别是，马歇尔岛的航海家通过探测独特的海浪变化来远程感知岛屿，然后使用这些短暂的“地标”来引导他们的独木舟。这种导航系统保存在以前学习和实践导航的长者的记忆中。他们最近在马杰尔成立了一个名为Waan Aelon的社区团体（WAM;马歇尔群岛的独木舟），以恢复独木舟建造和远洋航行，目前正在与一位专家航海家合作，记录传统的航海并将其传授给年轻一代。这篇论文由夏威夷大学马诺阿分校的文化人类学家进行研究，探讨马绍尔群岛的航海家如何在海上定位自己。该项目将通过将土著航海文化专家的模式与海洋学波浪模式进行比较，然后在海上进行测试，从而生成并验证土著航海文化专家的模式，记录航海知识复兴的过程，并通过应用文化共识模式，确定航海知识的文化内差异程度。除了将研究结果纳入WAM航海学校和马绍尔群岛学校的课程外，还了解了在独木舟建造、航海和航海文化复兴的背景下，土著知识的衰落和复兴。这种知识将为马歇尔群岛和整个大洋洲的决策者提供一个使用传统独木舟捕鱼和当地运输的可持续性的例子。