A Multi-Site Ethnoastronomical Investigation of African Stellar Navigators and Their Communities

国家科学基金会已将其对“非洲恒星导航员及其社区”研究项目的支助延长到第三年。 这是对非洲天文学传统之一的研究--利用星星导航的传统。 今天和古代的非洲一直是几种天文学形式的所在地，包括艺术表现，石圈日历和占星术。 在Holbrook博士完成了对北非突尼斯的初步实地调查后，恒星导航被选为研究重点。 调查显示，居住在Kerkennah群岛的渔民利用恒星导航在夜间到达他们的渔场。该项目的目标包括拍摄渔民使用恒星导航。 由此产生的视频片段将包括在一个天文馆展示恒星导航员和他们的技术背后的物理，数学和天文学。 其他目标包括继续研究恒星导航和引进技术之间相互作用的各个方面，更多地了解导航员及其社区，拍摄恒星导航的实际情况，并继续在突尼斯以及斐济和美国的其他两个实地发表有关研究结果的文章。额外一年的资金对于返回突尼斯和完成安纳波利斯档案馆的研究很重要。

NSF has extended its support of the research project "African Stellar Navigators and Their Communities" for a third year of study. It is a study of one of Africa's astronomy traditions - the tradition of using the stars for navigation. Africa today and in antiquity has been the site of several forms of astronomy including artistic representations, stone circle calendars, and astrology. Stellar navigation was chosen as the focus of study after Dr. Holbrook completed a preliminary field site investigation of Tunisia, North Africa. That investigation revealed that the fishermen living on the Kerkennah Islands use stellar navigation to reach their fisheries at night. The goals of the project include videotaping the fishermen using stellar navigation. The resulting video footage will be included in a planetarium show featuring stellar navigators and the physics, mathematics, and astronomy behind their techniques. Other goals include continuing to study the various aspects of the interaction between stellar navigation and introduced technologies, to learn more about the navigators and their communities, to film stellar navigation in action, and continue to publish articles of the findings in Tunisia and at the other two fieldsites in Fiji and the United States. The extra year of funding is important for making a return trip to Tunisia and completing research in the Annapolis archives.