Austronesian Language and Culture Mapping
David Blundell, National Chengchi University
pacific@berkeley.edu

Over the past few years, groups from the University of California, Berkeley, and other agencies have setup the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI), to connect areas of the world through a commonality of digital geographic information systems (GIS). From these projects, scholars have utilized a technical information network with parameters to chart global spatial temporal data. The initiative is to link geographical sectors of the world as modular areas of research with trans-regional thematic objectives such as linguistics, religions, and trade routes. Research data is indexed for retrieval and displayed on a map-based interface. By registering metadata for each data set with the ECAI Metadata Clearinghouse, material on remote servers, maintained by individual scholars or by academic institutions, is located by users over the Internet.

This project is a model for future language mapping because it combines the generation of a digital version of older printed language maps with the collection of data on contemporary languages areas. The ECAI Austronesia Team digitally scanned and vectored the Language Atlas of the Pacific Area (Wurm and Hattori 1981 & 1983). These maps serve as a base for going back and moving forward in time with dynamic (time-enabled) map techniques capable of showing visually the changes in language location.

The language and culture mapping project is an example of GIS research with methodological advances to chart Austronesian languages.

Key words: Austronesian languages, Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI),
geographic information systems (GIS), temporal spatial charting.

Web Implementation of a Language and Culture Atlas
Jeanette Zerneke, UC Berkeley
jlz@berkeley.edu

ECAI affiliated projects collect language information from many different sources and present it in a variety of formats. Information about language usage, migration of speakers, locations of individual speakers and cultural groups as well as location of artifacts, which include written words, manuscripts and inscriptions, are all collected and mapped.

Several examples of language information usage in ECAI projects will be demonstrated showing the types of data collected, how it was processed, and ways it is used in web based projects. For the Pacific Language Mapping site, the maps in the Language Atlas of the Pacific are presented in multiple formats as a resource for others to use. The maps are presented as large scanned jpg images, tiled images, GIS shapefiles, and incorporated in TMJava dynamic map displays. In other projects, overlapping map layers can be used to show variations in language usage over time and give an indication of language migration. Other examples show how language maps are used to navigate to related resources or integrated with a variety of resources to profile a cultural area.

Nineteenth-Century Pacific Expansion: Out-Migration of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders Aboard American Whalers
Susan Lebo, Bishop Museum,
slebo@bishopmuseum.org

Thousands of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander young men and boys shipped aboard American whalers during the nineteenth century. Their voyages carried them to shores throughout the Pacifc, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Some departed alone or with a few others, but not until mid-century did they leave in large numbers aboard the same vessel. Voyages of exploration lured some while the opportunity to earn wages and obtain foreign goods encouraged many to sign on as seamen. Many found themselves exposed to harsh climates, foreign diseases, and dangerous working conditions, or stranded on foreign shores with few resources and insufficient money to return home.

Not until the mid-1840s did the Hawaiian government acknowledge that this out-migration of young males was contributing to the dramatic decline in the Native Hawaiian population. While the passage of laws regulating the shipping and discharging of native seamen helped stem the intentional stranding of Native Hawaiian seamen on foreign shores, many chose to remain abroad. Some of them settled with family or other islanders in communities around the Pacific or Atlantic rims.

In this paper I briefly explore primary resources and research methods relevant for identifying the nature, magnitude, and socio-political impacts of this out-migration of native men on their home communities. I place special emphasis on examining materials pertaining to Native Hawaiian seamen in the American whaling fleets.

Additional Speakers:

Maile Drake, Bishop Museum, maile.drake@bishopmuseum.org