Conveying Navigational Knowledge

What is it about?

In 2007-08, I spent nine months in the Solomon Islands studying an attempt to revive traditional canoe-building, sailing, and navigation on Taumako, a remote Polynesian island. During most of my time on Taumako, no voyaging canoe was in operation; so I had no opportunity to observe the behavior of local sailors and navigators on interisland voyages in indigenous vessels. I did, however, get to travel via motor canoe to four of the five islands of the Outer Reefs in the Santa Cruz group with Clement Teniau, a respected navigator, and was able to question him about his navigational decisions as well as his basis for making them. Many of Teniau’s responses seemed to contradict what I had been told by other navigators and, in many cases, to be inconsistent with what he himself had said on other occasions. Yet, we always arrived at our destination. This paper describes those experiences and conversations, and explores my struggles to make sense of the experience.

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Why is it important?

Most ethnographic studies of navigation have relied on oral communication between the anthropologist and navigator to determine how way-finders locate their destinations. This article suggests that much of a way-finder's knowledge may be hidden from consciousness, and the spoken word may be inadequate to convey an understanding of the navigator's craft. We go on to suggest that a process akin to synesthesia may be a critical piece of the puzzle for many successful navigators.