Polynesian Seafaring and Navigation

Ocean Travel in Anutan Culture and Society

Richard Feinberg

After fourteen months of field research in 1972-73 and an additional four months of field work with the Anutans in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara in 1983, Richard Feinberg here provides a thorough study of Anutan seafaring and navigation.  In doing so he gives rare insights into the larger picture of how Polynesians have adapted to the sea.

This richly illustrated book explores the theory and technique used by Anutans in construction, use, and handling of their craft; the navigational skills still employed in interisland voyaging; and their culturally patterned attitudes toward the ocean and travel on the high seas.  Further, the discussion is set within the context of social relations, values, and the Anutan’s own symbolic definitions of the world in which they live.