Indigenous Navigation, Technology, and the Stars

这是NSF社会和经济科学在科学史上的“启动”资金，以支持PI作为NSF少数民族博士后研究员两年之后的研究。 它在与PI的机构分摊费用的基础上支持在非洲进行天文导航研究的研究基础设施费用（旅费和研究援助）。该项目利用了美国国家科学基金会博士后项目在突尼斯、斐济和美国的天文导航实践的研究结果。从这项研究中产生了一个关于采用或拒绝新技术背后的决策过程的理论;该理论将在这项初步研究中得到检验。 天文导航是一种利用恒星、太阳、月亮或其他天体来确定自己位置的实用方法。指南针和全球定位系统（GPS）已在全球普及，提供了精确的定位手段。然而，许多文化都拒绝这些技术，而赞成他们的传统导航方法，包括天文导航。这项初步调查旨在记录东非两个地点的航行实践：厄立特里亚的马萨瓦和肯尼亚的拉穆岛。在每个研究中心，将记录可用的当地导航方法和导航设备的详细信息。如果他们的导航有天体的一部分，那么将审查导航员及其社区的以下方面：人们如何学习导航，他们的技术是否被传授给下一代导航员;新导航设备和新技术的作用是什么;如何决定是采用还是拒绝新的导航技术;女性在航海中的作用是什么？研究方法涉及人种学领域的技术，包括正式和非正式的访谈和参与者观察。将通过数字图像、录像带、实地记录和录音记录当地的导航方法和文化。为了培养学生完成多地点研究项目所需的技能，学生将被要求参与该项目的几个方面：档案研究，实地考察，材料保存和文件。为了继续努力通过提供侧重于非西方文化和科学传统的课程来增加妇女和少数民族在科学领域的人数，该项目的成果将纳入关于非洲人类学和非洲科学、技术和医学史的本科课程。该项目将增加我们对非洲本土知识体系的了解，并对非西方文化中的科学，技术和医学历史做出积极贡献。它将比较目前的导航技术与伊本马吉德（公元1489年）记录的技术，为非洲和印度洋的航海史增添了新的篇章。它将首次记录厄立特里亚阿法尔人的航海技术。

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.