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Chuukese travellers and the idea of horizon
Author(s) -
Peter Joachim
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8373.00121
Subject(s) - atoll , horizon , space (punctuation) , pacific islanders , narrative , sociology , demography , computer science , geology , oceanography , mathematics , art , population , geometry , literature , reef , operating system
Travelling, as movement, has always been a tradition of atoll islanders. Their travels continue to identify the ways in which atoll peoples understand, appropriate, and manipulate space and boundaries. This paper argues that travelling is as relevant to islanders today as in the past and examines meanings in Chuuk islanders' travel. ‘Horizon’, the space ‘out there’, is a metaphorical model of space for atoll peoples with many traditions of travel. ‘Horizon’ is also a dual concept. The horizon is the space within which the islander traveller is located that is ‘strange’ and ‘foreign’. It is also the horizon, as a defined space, that locates and brings those strange and foreign forces into the places of atoll residents and across familiar boundaries. The narrative traditions of Chuuk islanders will be used to explore these dual formulations of horizon and the different terms for travelling among an atoll people. Discussion will focus on how islanders define the boundaries of their horizon in their travels and the meanings that these boundaries give travelling or movements.