Cultural Construction of Nature on a Coral Reef Island of Satawal, Micronesia

Abstract

The Satawalese (Central Caroline Islands, Micronesia) conceptualization on the nature is described with special reference to the division of time, folk-orientation, folk-taxonomy, and taboo observances. Sidereal, lunar, and celestial movements and natural phenomenon such as the wind direction, precipitation, riping of breadfuit, and fish run are combined together to make the timereckoning and folk-orientation system of the island. Folk-taxonomy of marine life and the associated food observances as metaphors well reflect the maritime tradition of the people in which profound knowledge and marine lore are accumulated. Individual sets of these folk knowledge are examined as the hypothesized tripolar and circulation models. Land and sea are regarded as being opposed each other in terms of odour of the two areas but both regimes are neutral to the heavenly world. Odours related to human sex and female blood are also avoided by the supernatural beings controlling the land and the sea. These three domains figure a tripolar model of odour. Pwuupw has three meanings: triggerfish (Balistidae), the southern Cross (Crux) and the space allocation in the navigational knowledge of Pwuupwunapanap. The polysemic use of pwuupw suggests the integrated conception of nature as a circulation model between the sea and the heaven. The study of indigenous knowledge and cultural construction on the nature is also essential to an understanding about on-going degradation processes of the environment.