The Sacred Volcano and the Extremely Large Telescope; Structural Violence and Conflicting Notions of Pollution at Mauna a Wakea, Hawai'i

神圣的火山和极大的望远镜；

• 批准号: 2788961
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Sussex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2788961
• 关键词: Sacred; Volcano; Extremely; Large; Telescope

Mauna a Wakea is a dormant volcano on the Island of Hawai'i that is named after the "sky father". Itis considered to be a sacred place and living relative to the native Hawaiians. The mountain is also apiko (umbilical cord, spiritual centre) of the land and therefore a powerful place that acts as the cordthat ties the ancestors to the living and the heavens to the earth. The native Hawaiians are not theonly people who have an interest in the mountain however. It also happens to be the best place forground-based astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere because it is the highest point in the Pacificand, as scientists like to put it, it has exceptionally low levels of 'atmospheric-, electronic- and light pollution' (Morrison, 1973). For this reason, 13 telescopes are already on the mountain and plans arein the works for the biggest one yet, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The kia'i mauna (nativeHawaiian protectors of the mountain) see it as their duty to ensure no more construction is evercarried out on the mountain, which has resulted in an ongoing conflict at Mauna a Wakea. I proposeto conduct ethnographic research at both Caltech (in Pasadena, California) and on Hawaii. Caltech isone of the organisations behind the TMT and I want to conduct interviews with the astronomers tocollect qualitative data on how they position themselves within this conflict. I want to examine inhow far astronomers are aware of the cultural context connected to astronomy, how they considerthe native Hawaiians' connection to Mauna a Wakea, and why they feel that scientific astronomyshould be prioritised over local beliefs. In Hawaii I want to interview people from organisations whofight against the building of the TMT and for the preservation of Hawaiian cultural beliefs. One of thetopics I want to explore through these interviews is how the astronomy practices are experienced asa form of cultural pollution by the natives. I want to examine how the obstruction of the Hawaiianpeople's connection to their land, spirits, and ancestors can pollute their societal awareness ofthemselves. I also propose a link between this pollution and structural violence, meaning injusticesproduced by systems that, among other outcomes, prevent the people it marginalises from gainingself-actualisation. Astronomy is generally considered to be non-polluting and non-violent, but that isgreatly dependent upon who gets to decide what is considered as violence or pollution. I will betaking lessons to gain an elementary proficiency in the Hawaiian language as the language is anessential part of the Hawaiian culture and cosmologies. Although I expect English to be the drivinglan-guage in the interviews, I think it is important that the interviewees feel free to use terms andsayings best expressed in Hawaiian, and that I can understand them. I also feel that, as an outsider,having knowledge of the 'Olelo Hawai'i shows I take the Hawaiian culture and its suppressionseriously and want to do my best at portraying their stories as authentically as possible. Whereastronomy is generally considered to be an equalising science, showing us where our collectivehistory and place in the cosmos is, this research aims to show the divide it can likewise create. Itcould change the way the general public considers astronomy and help give rise to ananthropological understanding of the field. It also has potential to be a contribution to the discoursesurrounding land ownership in colonised spaces. Public consciousness about colonial histories andthe questions surrounding land rights are increasing in public discourse and politics. I consider thestory of Mauna a Wakea to be a key example of this kind of topic and believe it has the potential toimpact how these questions are considered

莫纳阿瓦卡火山是夏威夷岛上的一座休眠火山，以“天空之父”的名字命名。它被认为是一个神圣的地方，与夏威夷原住民相比生活在这里。这座山也是土地的脐带(脐带，精神中心)，因此是一个强大的地方，充当着将祖先与生者联系起来，将天空与大地联系起来的绳索。然而，夏威夷原住民并不是唯一对这座山感兴趣的人。它碰巧也是北半球进行地面天文学的最佳地点，因为它是太平洋的最高点，正如科学家们喜欢说的那样，它的“大气、电子和光污染”水平非常低(莫里森，1973)。出于这个原因，山上已经安装了13台望远镜，目前正在计划建造迄今最大的一台--30米望远镜(TMT)。Kia‘i毛纳(夏威夷的土著保护者)认为，确保不再在这座山上进行任何施工是他们的责任，这导致了在莫纳阿瓦凯的持续冲突。我建议在加州理工学院(加州帕萨迪纳)和夏威夷进行人种学研究。加州理工学院是TMT背后的组织之一，我想对天文学家进行采访，以收集关于他们如何在这场冲突中定位的定性数据。我想看看天文学家在多大程度上意识到了与天文学有关的文化背景，他们是如何看待夏威夷原住民与毛娜a Wakea的联系的，以及他们为什么认为科学天文学应该优先于当地信仰。在夏威夷，我想采访一些反对修建TMT和保护夏威夷文化信仰的组织的人。我想通过这些采访来探索的一个话题是，天文实践是如何被当地人视为一种文化污染的。我想研究夏威夷人与他们的土地、精神和祖先的联系的障碍如何污染他们对自己的社会意识。我还提出了这种污染与结构性暴力之间的联系，这意味着体制产生的不公正，以及其他后果之一，阻止了被污染边缘化的人实现自我。天文学通常被认为是无污染和非暴力的，但这在很大程度上取决于谁来决定什么被认为是暴力或污染。我将通过学习来获得对夏威夷语言的基本熟练程度，因为这种语言是夏威夷文化和宇宙的重要组成部分。虽然我希望英语将成为面试的主要语言，但我认为重要的是，受访者可以自由地使用夏威夷语最好的术语和短语，并且我能够理解它们。我也觉得，作为一个局外人，了解了《奥列罗夏威夷秀》，我认真对待夏威夷文化及其压制，并希望尽我最大努力尽可能真实地描绘他们的故事。天文学通常被认为是一门平等的科学，它向我们展示了我们集体的历史和在宇宙中的位置，而这项研究的目的是展示它同样可以造成的鸿沟。它可能会改变普通公众看待天文学的方式，并有助于引起人们对该领域的非人类学理解。它也有可能对围绕殖民空间中的土地所有权的论述做出贡献。在公共话语和政治中，公众对殖民历史和围绕土地权的问题的意识正在增强。我认为毛纳守灵的故事是这类话题的一个关键例子，并相信它有可能影响如何看待这些问题