SECRETS of TRADITIONAL POLYNESIAN NAVIGATION
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The Conflict Between Traditional Knowledge and Modernity in the Navigation of Polynesia
Journal of World Anthropology: Occasional Papers: Volume III, Number 2 48 “When earth and sky almost meet”: The Conflict between Traditional Knowledge and Modernity in Polynesian Navigation. Luke Strongman1 Abstract This paper provides an account of the differing ontologies of Polynesian and European navigation techniques in the Pacific. The subject of conflict between traditional knowledge and modernity is examined from nine points of view: The cultural problematics of textual representation, historical differences between European and Polynesian navigation; voyages of re-discovery and re-creation: Lewis and Finney; How the Polynesians navigated in the Pacific; a European history of Polynesian navigation accounts from early encounters; “Earth and Sky almost meet”: Polynesian literary views of recovered knowledge; lost knowledge in cultural exchanges – the parallax view; contemporary views and lost complexities. Introduction Polynesians descended from kinship groups in south-east Asia discovered new islands in the Pacific in the Holocene period, up to 5000 calendar years before the present day. The European voyages of discovery in the Pacific from the eighteenth century, in the Anthropocene era, brought Polynesian and European cultures together, resulting in exchanges that threw their cross-cultural differences into relief. As Bernard Smith suggests: “The scientific examination of the Pacific, by its very nature, depended on the level reached by the art of navigation” (Smith 1985:2). Two very different cultural systems, with different navigational practices, began to interact. 1 The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Journal of World Anthropology: Occasional Papers: Volume III, Number 2 49 Their varied cultural ontologies were based on different views of society, science, religion, history, narrative, and beliefs about the world. -
Polynesian Voyaging Society COPYRIGHT APPROVALS
OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS DRAFT AND PENDING ANY OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS PHOTO Polynesian Voyaging Society COPYRIGHT APPROVALS. Paia Kāne Program Improvement Section Office of Hawaiian Affairs 560 North Nimitz Highway, Suite 200 Honolulu, HI 96817 www.oha.org OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS DRAFT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PENDING ANY Contents Over 40 years ago, a small group of visionaries, Herb Kane, Tommy Holmes, and Ben Finney, founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), thus putting their dreams PHOTOinto motion begin- Executive Summary 2 ning with the Höküle`a , a double-hull canoe which eventually evolved into an internationally recognized symbol of Hawaiian culture and a reconnection to ancestral landsCOPYRIGHT via sailing voyages Introduction 4 to Polynesia. Purpose 4 The Polynesian Voyaging Society reintroduced the lost art of wayfinding byAPPROVALS. embarking on a series of long distance voyages starting with the construction of double hull ocean voyaging Scope 4 canoes. In 1975, the Höküle`a was built followed a few years later by the Hawai`iloa, and the Hikianalia in 2012. Polynesian Voyaging Society 5 Höküle`a as drawn worldwide attention since its voyage of rediscovery in 1976, retracing the routes of settlement used by Polynesian ancestors. Today, Höküle`a and its sister ship, Hikiana- OHA Sponsorship 5 lia, have chosen to not only promote Hawaiian culture, but to draw attention to the modern day problems that plague our Island Earth. Prelude to WWV 6 Their 2013 worldwide voyage is named Mälama Honua (Care for the Earth) and will cover a Funding 7 four-year span beginning with a training voyage around the Hawaiian Islands called Mälama Hawai`i with scheduled stops at 32 locations. -
June Program Guide
PROGRAM GUIDE | JUNE 2021 | VOL. 40 NO. 6 Two new films on traditional Polynesian navigation on PBS Hawai‘i Presents Wade Fairley, copyright Vaka Taumako Project Taumako copyright Vaka Fairley, Wade A Long Story That Informed, Influenced STATEWIDE BOARD OF DIRECTORS and Inspired Chair The show’s eloquent description Joanne Lo Grimes nearly says it all… Vice Chair Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox Jason Haruki features engaging conversations with Secretary some of the most intriguing people in Joy Miura Koerte Hawai‘i and across the world. Guests Treasurer share personal stories, experiences Kent Tsukamoto and values that have helped shape who they are. Muriel Anderson What it does not express is the As we continue to tell stories of Susan Bendon magical presence Leslie brought to Hawai‘i’s rich history, our content Jodi Endo Chai will mirror and reflect our diverse James E. Duffy Jr. each conversation and the priceless communities, past, present and Matthew Emerson collection of diverse voices and Jason Fujimoto untold stories she captured over the future. We are in the process of AJ Halagao years. Former guest Hoala Greevy, redefining some of our current Ian Kitajima Founder and CEO of Paubox, Inc., programs like Nā Mele: Traditions in Noelani Kalipi may have said it best, “Leslie was Hawaiian Song and INSIGHTS ON PBS Kamani Kuala‘au HAWAI‘I, and soon we will announce Theresia McMurdo brilliant to bring all of these pieces Bettina Mehnert of Hawai‘i history together to live the name and concept of a new series. Ryan Kaipo Nobriga forever in one amazing library. -
The Vaeakau-Taumako Wind Compass: a Cognitive Construct for Navigation in the Pacific
THE VAEAKAU-TAUMAKO WIND COMPASS: A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT FOR NAVIGATION IN THE PACIFIC A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Cathleen Conboy Pyrek May 2011 Thesis written by Cathleen Conboy Pyrek B.S., The University of Texas at El Paso, 1982 M.B.A., The University of Colorado, 1995 M.A., Kent State University, 2011 Approved by , Advisor Richard Feinberg, Ph.D. , Chair, Department of Anthropology Richard Meindl, Ph.D. , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Timothy Moerland, Ph.D. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I. Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Statement of Purpose .........................................................................................1 Cognitive Constructs ..........................................................................................3 Non Instrument Navigation................................................................................7 Voyaging Communities ...................................................................................11 Taumako ..........................................................................................................15 Environmental Factors .....................................................................................17 -
Polynesian Civilization and the Future Colonization of Space John Grayzel
Masthead Logo Comparative Civilizations Review Volume 80 Article 3 Number 80 Spring 2019 4-2019 Polynesian Civilization and the Future Colonization of Space John Grayzel Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Political Science Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Grayzel, John (2019) "Polynesian Civilization and the Future Colonization of Space," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 80 : No. 80 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol80/iss80/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Grayzel: Polynesian Civilization and the Future Colonization of Space Comparative Civilizations Review 7 Polynesian Civilization and the Future Colonization of Space John Grayzel Abstract Polynesian civilization was configured — prior to Western colonization — in ways similar to that sometimes described as necessary for humanity's interstellar migration into space. Over thousands of years and miles, across open ocean, a core population expanded to settle on hundreds of scattered islands, while maintaining shared identity, continued awareness and repetitive contact with each other. Key to their expansion was their development of robust ocean-going vessels and their extraordinary abilities to navigate across vast expanses of open water. The first half of the 1800s saw a surge in contacts between Polynesia and western missionaries and whalers, followed by significant depopulation due to disease and, after 1850, the imposition of Western political control. -
Nautical Cartography and Traditional Navigation in Oceania
13 · Nautical Cartography and Traditional Navigation in Oceania BEN FINNEY MENTAL CARTOGRAPHY formal images and their own sense perceptions to guide their canoes over the ocean. The navigational practices of Oceanians present some The idea of physically portraying their mental images what of a puzzle to the student of the history of carto was not alien to these specialists, however. Early Western graphy. Here were superb navigators who sailed their ca explorers and missionaries recorded instances of how in noes from island to island, spending days or sometimes digenous navigators, when questioned about the islands many weeks out of sight of land, and who found their surrounding their own, readily produced maps by tracing way without consulting any instruments or charts at sea. lines in the sand or arranging pieces of coral. Some of Instead, they carried in their head images of the spread of these early visitors drew up charts based on such ephem islands over the ocean and envisioned in the mind's eye eral maps or from information their informants supplied the bearings from one to the other in terms of a con by word and gesture on the bearing and distance to the ceptual compass whose points were typically delineated islands they knew. according to the rising and setting of key stars and con Furthermore, on some islands master navigators taught stellations or the directions from which named winds their pupils a conceptual "star compass" by laying out blow. Within this mental framework of islands and bear coral fragments to signify the rising and setting points of ings, to guide their canoes to destinations lying over the key stars and constellations. -
Polynesian Origins and Migrations
46 POLYNESIAN CULTURE HISTORY From what continent they originally emigrated, and by what steps they have spread through so vast a space, those who are curious in disquisitions of this nature, may perhaps not find it very difficult to conjecture. It has been already observed, that they bear strong marks of affinity to some of the Indian tribes, that inhabit the Ladrones and Caroline Islands: and the same affinity may again be traced amongst the Battas and the Malays. When these events happened, is not so easy to ascertain; it was probably not very lately, as they are extremely populous, and have no tradition of their own origin, but what is perfectly fabulous; whilst, on the other hand, the unadulterated state of their general language, and the simplicity which still prevails in their customs and manners, seem to indicate, that it could not have been at any very distant period (Vol, 3, p. 125). Also considered in the journals is the possibility of multiple sources for the vast Polynesian culture complex, but the conclusion is offered that a common origin was more likely. The discussion of this point fore shadows later anthropological arguments of diffusion versus independent invention to account for similar culture traits: Possibly, however, the presumption, arising from this resemblance, that all these islands were peopled by the same nation, or tribe, may be resisted, under the plausible pretence, that customs very similar prevail amongst very distant people, without inferring any other common source, besides the general principles of human nature, the same in all ages, and every part of the globe. -
Herb Kane Dies at Age 82"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Kawainui_Kane Herb Kawainui Kāne Herbert "Herb" Kawainui Kāne (June 21, 1928 – March 8, 2011), considered one of the principal figures in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaiʻi. Kāne played a key role in demonstrating that Hawaiian culture arose not from some accidental seeding of Polynesia, but that Hawaiʻi was reachable by voyaging canoes from Tahiti able to make the journey and return. This offered a far more complex notion of the cultures of the Pacific Islands than had previously been accepted.1 Furthermore, he created vivid imagery of Hawaiian culture prior to contact with Europeans, and especially the period of early European influence, that sparked appreciation of a nearly forgotten traditional life. He painted dramatic views of war, exemplified by The Battle at Nuʻuanu Pali, the potential of conflicts between cultures such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships are dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as bucolic quotidian scenes and lush images of a robust ceremonial and spiritual life, that helped arouse a latent pride among Hawaiians during a time of general cultural awakening.2 Early life and education as an artist Kāne (kɑh-nay) was born in the community of Paynesville, Minnesota in the United States.3 His father, who was also named, Herbert, worked in family poi business, and became a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy), then traveled the US in a Hawaiian Band. He 1 Emory, Kenneth P. -
“Moana” Educator's Guide
Created in partnership with the Educational Team GRADES 2–6 hree thousand years ago, the greatest sailors in the world voyaged across the vast Pacific, discovering the many islands of Oceania. But then, for a millennium, Ttheir voyages stopped – and no one knows why. From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes “Moana,” a sweeping, CG-animated feature film about an adventurous teenager who sails out on a daring mission to save her people. During her journey, Moana (voice of Auli’i Cravalho) meets the once mighty demigod Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson), who guides her in her quest to become a master wayfinder. Together, they sail across the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous monsters and impossible odds, and along the way, Moana fulfills the ancient quest of her ancestors and discovers the one thing she’s always sought: her own identity. Directed by the renowned filmmaking team of John Musker and Ron Clements (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Princess & the Frog”), produced by Osnat Shurer (“Lifted,” “One Man Band”), and featuring music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i, “Moana” sails into U.S. theaters on November 23, 2016. CONTENTS Standards Alignment Chart.....................3 Teacher’s Background Information.....................4 Resources................................................................11 What You Can Do........................................................12 Lesson 1: The Hero’s Journey.........................................13 Lesson 2: Music and Rhythm of the Ocean......................19 Lesson 3: Wayfinding using Earth’s Natural Elements..........................................24 Lesson 4: Caring for Sea Turtles.........................31 Glossary.........................................40 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Walt Disney Studios would like to take this opportunity to thank Further Explore Moana’s World the amazing teams that came together to develop the “Moana” Educator’s Guide. -
Hawaiian Star Compass Wa'a Alaka'i Hōkūle'a E'ala
Voyaging Petroglyph Artwork “We were born to be free and the canoe is a symbol of that freedom because it allowed us to go where we needed to go to exercise our beliefs and culture. Everybody on the canoe is important; everybody has a job with all of those jobs working in unity to accomplish the voyage. The canoe is a symbol of coming together and for that we honor the canoe.” ~ Kauila Clark, Native Hawaiian Artist HAWAIIAN STAR COMPASS Traditional Polynesian navigators depended on all of the natural elements in order to navigate. They used the stars and when those were obscured they used other indicators such as the waves, the wind, the birds, dolphins and other sea life. That created a close tie between the people and nature and reinforced their trust in Io, the Creator. Traditional Navigators today must develop that same close connection to nature. The Hawaiian star compass, developed by Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson, is not a physical compass, but a mental construct that helps the navigator memorize the rising and setting positions of stars, flight paths of birds, directions of the waves and other signs in nature needed to find their way. In the center of the Hawaiian star compass is Manu (Bird) with his beak, tail and outstretched wing-tips pointing midway between the four cardinal directions. WA‘A The wa‘a is the Hawaiian word for the traditional carved canoe with the distinctive outrigger (spars attached to a shaped log or float parallel to the hull) that helped stabilize the canoe. The single-hull version served as the workhorse for Native Hawaiians and their Polynesian ancestors and was used for recreation, fishing and short trips around the island. -
Volcanoes: the Ultimate Light Show How Pele’S Molten Legacy Is Reshaping Hawai‘I
2011 VOL.6, NO.1 T H E K A H A L A june–december 2011, vol.6, no.1 CONTENTS Volume 6, Number 1 Features 34 Starship Hawai‘i Ancient Polynesians were prolific explorers, navigating the high seas using the stars as their guide. This art of “wayfinding” was all but lost until Höküle‘a, a double-hulled canoe, took its maiden voyage, and with it Nainoa Thompson, the young navi- gator who carried this maritime legacy into the modern age. Story by Rita Ariyoshi Photos by Monte Costa 44 Following the Sun ON THE COVER Blazing trails: Like a painter’s brush, the rising and setting sun transforms Hawai‘iloa, a tra- ditional Polynesian the landscape with a dazzling display of light, shadow and color. voyaging canoe, Three artists paid tribute to this spectacular cycle in 10 large-scale was built to endure oil paintings commissioned exclusively for The Kahala. long journeys across the ocean. Art by Saim Caglayan, Thomas Van Stein and John Wisnosky Pictured here near Kalaupapa, on Native Hawaiian proverbs from “‘Ölelo No‘eau,” by Mary Kawena Pukui the north shore of Moloka‘i, Hawai‘iloa often sails alongside its sister vessel, the world-famous Hökülea‘a. To read about the remark- able renaissance of Polynesian naviga- tion, see “Starship Hawai‘i” on page 34. Photo by Monte Costa 2 You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for Begin your own tradition. the next generation. 5 / , CONTENTS Volume 6, Number 1 6 Editor’s Note Departments 12 PROFILES: Recipe for Dessert Fragrant island ingredients make sweet treats in the hands of Executive Pastry Chef Michael Moorhouse. -
Ancient Hawaii 1 Ancient Hawaii
Ancient Hawaii 1 Ancient Hawaii Part of a series on the History of Hawaii Timeline • Ancient • Provisional Cession • Kingdom of Hawaii • Provisional Government • Republic of Hawaii American Hawaii • Territory • State of Hawaii Hawaii portal • v • t [1] • e Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian human history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. After being first settled by Polynesian long-distance navigators sometime between 300 and 800 CE, a unique culture developed. Diversified agroforestry and aquaculture provided sustenance for Native Hawaiian cuisine. Tropical materials were adopted for housing, and elaborate temples (called heiau) were constructed from the lava rocks available. A social system with religious leaders and a ruling class organized a Petroglyphs at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park substantial population. Captain James Cook made the first known European contact with ancient Hawaiians in 1778. Many people traveled with him to the Hawaiian Islands. Polynesian Triangle Hawaiian history is inextricably tied into a larger Polynesian culture. Hawaiʻi is the Northern apex of the Polynesian Triangle, a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: the Hawaiʻi islands, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and New Zealand. The many island cultures within the Polynesian Triangle share similar languages derived from a proto-Malayo-Polynesian language used in Southeast Asia 5,000 years ago. Polynesians also share cultural traditions, such as religion, social organization, myths, and material culture. Anthropologists believe that all Polynesians have descended from a South Pacific proto-culture created by an Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) people that had migrated from Southeast Asia.