Indigenous
StudiesandCulturalDiversity
Volume1Issue

2 March 2024

Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Hokkaido University

ISSN 2758-1012

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
Volume 1, Issue 2, March 2024
Edited by GSI E-Journal Editorial Office, Hokkaido University
Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity (GSI), Hokkaido University
URL: https://gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/gsi/
Email: gsi@oia.hokudai.ac.jp
Phone: +81-(0)11-706-7324
Address: Hokkaido University Northern Campus Research Building No.3-106
Kita-21, Nishi-11, Kita-ku, Sapporo 001-0021, JAPANISSN 2758-1012

Table of Contents
1. Editorial Column: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3
Joe WATKINS, Editor-in-Chief, Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

2. Communicating Cultural Heritage Values and Empowering Source Communities byRedefining Museum Objects in North America and Taiwan  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5- Chia-yu HU, National Taiwan University Museum of Anthropology, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan- Pei-Lin Yu, Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise Idaho USA

3. Maritime Technologies and Coastal Identities: Seafaring and Social Complexity inIndigenous California and Hokkaido  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 30
- Mikael Fauvelle, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, SWEDEN- Shiro Sasaki, Upopoy, National Ainu Museum, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, JAPAN- Peter Jordan, Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Hokkaido University, JAPAN4. Insights from Early Career Researcher Representatives at the Sustainability
Research & Innovation Congress 2022 Asia Spotlight Event  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 53
- Sikopo Nyambe, Future Earth Secretariat, Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity,
Sapporo, JAPAN- Yen-Tzu Fan, Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TAIWAN- Cho Kwong Charlie Lam, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Mahmud Aditya Rifqi, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, JAPAN- Jessy Zgambo, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, JAPAN- Shiyu Deng, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Huishan Huang, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Jingyu Yao, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Milan Chen, Tamkang University, Taipei, TAIWAN- Anasuya Gangopadhyay, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, INDIA- Lambino Ria, Future Earth Secretariat, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, JAPAN- Sioen Giles B., Future Earth Secretariat, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, JAPAN- Kasuga Fumiko, Future Earth Secretariat, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, JAPAN5. Call for authors! Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 70
- Joe WATKINS, Editor-in-Chief, Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

1. Editorial Column:
Joe WATKINS, Editor-in-Chief, Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

Editorial
Column:Welcome to the Second Issue of Indigenous
Studies and Cultural Diversity
Joe WATKINS
Editor-in-Chief
Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

Welcome to the second issue of Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity.
We hope you are reading this because you like the articles we featured in our
initial issue and that you are here for more articles exploring Indigenous
issues in the contemporary world. If this is your first glimpse of our journal,
we hope you like what we have to offer.
As with any enterprise, our first issue helped us learn what it takes tobegin a new journal. We have learned from the experiences of many of ourcolleagues who have worked with other journals and have taken some of
their suggestions.
One of the things we grappled with was whether to standardize the3spellings and punctuation to a single specific style, or a regional one. For
the first issue, we decided to allow our authors to write in the style most
comfortable to them, and so you might have noticed the presences orabsence of the Oxford comma within a series of three or more items; you
might have also noticed additional letters in words like “behaviour” or“programme.” We have decided that, in this and future articles, we will beusing the Oxford comma for clarity, and will also use standardized American
English spellings. We know that many word processing programs spell
checking options include checking text in either British English or American
English (as well as other languages, of course). We’re uncertain whether thegrammar check portion of word processing programs will flag any missing
Oxford commas, but we will check into that.
Another issue we encountered during the production of our first issue
related to the adaptation of a particular publication and citation style.
Again, we were rather free in allowances during our first issue, but we havechosen to go forward and request that our authors utilize the APA Style
Guide, currently in its 7th Edition. Information on specific aspects of the APA
Style is available online for those not familiar with it, and it will take me a
bit to unlearn the style I have been using for decades based on the Society
for American Archaeology Publication Style Guide, but I will adapt. Change
is good, right?
We also wish to encourage our authors to write in a more accessiblestyle, one that is relatively free of specialized language and jargon. We arehoping that Indigenous readers will better understand our insights andperspectives if we do not write to academic peers in academic language. This
is not to say our authors should “dumb down” their writing by any means;rather we believe that our ideas should be available to the widest audience
possible, and the use of specialized language serves to segregate rather thanintegrate different people and different levels of understanding. Thankfully,
we did not encounter much jargon in the writings of our initial group of
authors.
We look forward to your continued exploration of the diverse
perspectives presented in our journal, and we welcome your feedback as
we strive to enhance the accessibility and impact of Indigenous Studies
and Cultural Diversity. Thank you for being a part of this intellectual andcultural dialogue.

42. Communicating Cultural Heritage Values and Empowering Source Communities by Redefining Museum Objects in North America and Taiwan- Chia-yu HU, National Taiwan University Museum of Anthropology, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan- Pei-Lin Yu, Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise Idaho USA

Communicating Cultural Heritage
Values and Empowering Source
Communities by Redefining
Museum Objects in North America
and Taiwan
Chia-yu HU1, and Pei-Lin Yu

2

1 National Taiwan University Museum of Anthropology, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan
2 Department of Anthropology,
pei-linyu@boisestate.edu

Boise

State

University,

Boise

Idaho

USA,

Abstract
Inclusive and ethical stewardship of movable cultural heritage in museums andrepositories is especially important with items that are subject to repatriation procedures.
Collaborative partnerships between Indigenous communities and cultural heritage stewards
can offer creative methods to resolve issues surrounding safety, security, preservation, andritual treatment of these items. There is a strong global need for cross-boundary comparative
studies to identify common challenges and innovative, inclusive strategies that transcend thevariable legal landscape. In this paper, we describe case studies from California, USA andsouthern Taiwan that overcame potentially conflicting situations and successfully craftedIndigenous-led solutions to local problems. The outcomes were revitalization and reconnectionof communities with their movable cultural heritage, as well as a transferable ethos andmethods for Indigenous-centered strategies.

Introduction: Museum Collecting as DeContextualization
In many contemporary societies, museums are specialized institutions that manage and care formaterial heritage. Archaeological and ethnographic artifacts preserved in museums are considered
to have special cultural and historical importance for humankind and have strong potential toIndigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024
https://doi.org/10.57519/iscd.00007
Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
https://gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/gsi/publication.html

5

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

revitalize communities and engage museum visitors (Shen, 2018). However, museum collections
by definition exist outside their original contexts. Preserved collections have been moved acrossgeographical boundaries as a consequence of human agency and spatial–temporal interactions.
Thus, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has adopted
the combined term “movable heritage” regarding museum collections in order to stress the diverse,
mobile, and migrated characteristics of these objects (UNESCO, 2016).
For those communities where movable heritage originated (hereafter, source communities),
removal from original contexts can be problematic to the integrity of cultural heritage such as
tangible archaeological and ethnographic items. In this article we define cultural heritage broadly asa legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are transferred frompast generations, maintained in the present, and bestowed for the benefit of future generations (sensu
Royal Ontario Museum Cultural Heritage Working Group, 2018). Thus, the heritage generated by acommunity remains connected to that source community. Many studies suggest that heritage often
acts as a fixed anchor to generate memory (Lambek, 1996). By extension, heritage promotes asense of belonging and constructs identity (Bloch, 1977), and produces influential social agencies
or political–economic powers in the contemporary world (Appadurai, 1981). The meaning or valueof heritage is dynamic and flexible in accordance with the ways that people engage with, re-work,
appropriate, and contest it (Bender, 1998; Cuno, 2008, 2012; Rowlands & Tilley, 2006).
Nowhere is this more true than for Indigenous peoples engaging with cultural heritage withina colonized geopolitical arena (Watkins & Nicholas, 2014). Although individual case studies ofmuseum-Indigenous collaboration are becoming more common (Nicholas, 2022), comparative
case studies are rare. Scholars and experts on all sides of this collaborative nexus are hopefulthat community-based initiatives can challenge - and ideally transform - colonial structures in
the research process without compromising the integrity of archaeological, anthropological, andhistorical studies (Nicholas, 2022; Varutti, 2012).
Cross-comparisons can highlight areas of divergence, affirm successful strategies, and focus
on shared challenges useful to all parties, especially given the compelling need for information
sharing and collaborative action among museums at a global level (Alsford & Hu, 2018). In thispaper, we compare case studies from two areas traditionally inhabited by diverse Indigenous
societies: the state of California, and the island of Taiwan. Despite major differences in histories,
cultures, and legal frameworks, these places and peoples have in common a colonialized past, a
tradition of scholarly work and museums related to Indigenous cultures, and continuing calls from
Indigenous communities for active re-contextualization of cultural heritage. We selected these twocases for their innovative approaches to problems that initially appeared to be destined for longterm conflicts. The objective is to frame the case studies in a way that highlights outgoing journeysof cultural items, identifies challenges to their recontextualization, and sets forth original, effective,
mutually agreed-upon strategies used for involving Indigenous communities in greater control overmovable heritage in museums.

6Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

Outgoing Journeys: From Source Community to Museum
Movable heritage that is managed in museums as displayable material artifacts exists within
a complex, multi-faceted matrix of values that links today’s life in meaningful ways with thepast (Chen, 2018; Smith et al., 2010). However, the actual movements of “movable heritage,”especially Indigenous heritage, from their countries of origin to museums are frequently embedded
in imbalanced power relations or colonial invasions. Most Indigenous communities haveexperienced serious political, economic, social, and cultural threats due to the strong influences ofexternal powers during the long process of colonization and globalization. Since the 19th century,
thousands of Indigenous artifacts have been collected and accumulated in museums, often without
the consent of the source communities, and treated and exhibited as exotic curiosities with little orno interpretive context (King, 2013).
With the advent of scientific archaeology, movable Indigenous heritage has been broadly
re-interpreted as evidence of cultural evolution or as ethnological specimens for material culture
studies. Therefore, de-contextualization has continued despite changing museum missions andobjectives. Today, movable heritage that becomes displaced from its original context can takedifferent pathways to a museum, whether through inadvertent discovery, research excavations,
donations, theft, purchase, or other processes. Thus, the issues involved with Indigenous connections
and rights regarding movable heritage in museums extend to present-day acquisitions.
Since the 1960s, movements for Indigenous rights and cultural revival have gradually
emerged, developed, and expanded in many parts of the world. Various claims to custody or title
lead to critical debates over Indigenous rights on cultural heritage, including issues of Indigenous
heritage stored and displayed in museums. These debates are influencing the legal spheres in which
Indigenous communities, museums, cultural heritage specialists operate today.

Legal Landscapes of Movable Heritage: Taiwan and theUnited States
Differing perspectives toward Indigenous heritage in Taiwan and the United States flowfrom the historic chronology, political setting, objectives, and scope of national laws. In Taiwan,
perspectives toward Indigenous heritage have shifted since the 1980s following related global
movements on Indigenous rights and cultural revival. The previously rigid policy of cultural
assimilation has shifted toward embracing multiculturalism. In 1982, Taiwan’s first version of the
Cultural Heritage Preservation Act was promulgated as official guidelines for heritage designation,
registration, and preservation. Several revisions have occurred within the past 40 years, and thelatest revised Cultural Heritage Preservation Act in Taiwan was passed and publicly promulgatedin 2016. This newly revised version classifies heritage items into two major categories: “tangible”
and “intangible” heritage.
Artifacts preserved in museums are often recognized and designated as tangible heritage under7

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

the category of “antiquities.” These artifacts can be further designated into three levels, namely,“general antiquities,” “important antiquities,” and “national treasures,” based on importance andvalue. To date, four Indigenous Taiwanese artifacts are registered as “national treasures” (among
approximately 300 total) and are preserved in museums.
In the United States, original culture groups are called “American Indian” or “Native
American” in congressionally enacted laws and regulations (Native Hawai’ian or Inuit and Yupik
peoples of Alaska are not specifically named in older laws). For the purposes of this paper, the term
‘Indigenous American’ and ‘Native Californian’ will be used except in the case of certain laws. The
United States government began efforts to protect movable Indigenous American cultural heritage
in 1906 with the Antiquities Act, intended to deter the looting of ‘antiquities’ from Indigenous sites
and impose a process of governmental permits to professionalize archaeological excavations. In
1979 the Archeological Resources Protection Act (1979) strengthened protections and penalties toprotect movable Indigenous heritage from desecration and illegal trafficking. Federal Regulation
36 CFR Part 79 establishes professional standards for management of museum objects andassociated records under federal care, or in museums that receive federal funds or permits. The
new NAGPRA rule, published December 2023, adds further requirements for museums suchas obtaining permission from Indigenous descendant communities in order to place artifacts on
exhibit(https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-americangraves-protection-and-repatriation-act-systematic-processes-for-disposition-or). These changes
strengthen Indigenous agency in the placement, treatment, exhibit, and public communication
regarding cultural items in American museums.
Unlike Taiwan, movable heritage in U.S. museums is not usually ranked in significance,
although locations of origin may be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Thisimplies that associated museum objects contribute to the characteristics that define a national levelof significance. The requirement for Indigenous consultation in the management of movable cultural
heritage is phrased as “should” in 36 CFR Part 79, thus making it discretionary for museums orrepositories subject to that law. A major shift occurred in 1991 with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (hereafter, NAGPRA), which established that human remains,
movable Indigenous heritage items from burial contexts, sacred items, and objects of cultural
patrimony must go through a consultative process with potentially associated Indigenous Americangroups in order to determine the most likely descendants and a process for long-term stewardship(usually ending in transfer of custody to a group or groups). NAGPRA governs both ‘discovery’situations in the field and items in museum collections (25 U.S.C. §§ 3001 and 43 C.F.R. § 10.2).
There are interesting contrasts between chronologies and sociopolitical arenas of movable
heritage protection of Taiwan and the United States. The U. S. government made relatively early
efforts to protect movable Indigenous heritage, yet success has been uneven due to uneven funding,the lack of penalties for violations, and most importantly, discretionary involvement for Indigenous
peoples until the 1980s. A special subset of movable heritage covered by the NAGPRA law (humanremains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony) is subject to more
stringent and prescribed consultation requirements. By contrast, Taiwan’s protective mandates
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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

were enacted somewhat later, but are flexible and potentially more inclusive.

Native California: Context and Case Study
The first case we discuss is the repatriation of a large archaeological collection at California
State University Sacramento (Sacramento State) in central California under NAGPRA. Native
California (the term preferred by Indigenous Californians) has a rich ethnographic and archaeologicallegacy, beginning with Western Stemmed Tradition immigrants before 11,000 years ago. Native
Californian communities adapted quickly to coastal, desert, forest, and mountain ecosystems. At
the time of Euro-American contact, more than 100 distinct language groups existed, and in someareas, populations were dense. Spanish entry at 1542 and colonization resulted in missionizationof Native Californian communities, enslavement and forced labor, and waves of epidemic disease.
A cycle of conflict and migration de-populated most Native Californian communities, and with
Mexican Independence the rancheros began extensive cattle-raising and the marketing of beef andhides. This introduced a horrific depopulating epidemic among Native Californians in the 1830s.
Caucasian-Americans pushed into the territory for extraction of furs, leading to the Cahuenga
Capitulation of 1847 and United States control. By the gold discoveries of 1849, the Native
Californian population was reduced to c.100,000.
The University of California was founded in 1868, heralding an era of ethnographic
documentation of Native Californians (Chartkoff & Chartkoff, 1984; Moratto, 2014). The infantscience of archaeology was practiced on Native Californian cultural sites, often illegally byamateurs, and while items excavated under the auspices of universities and museums were housedin repositories or placed on exhibit, most Native items likely ended up in private garages and attics.
With the explosive post-WWII growth of urban areas and agricultural development of theCentral and San Joaquin Valleys, highway construction frequently resulted in discoveries of Native
communities and burial grounds (Moratto, 2014). Community colleges grew to serve veteransand other working-class students, including archaeology programs. Passage of the National
Historic Preservation Act in 1966 required developers to evaluate the impacts of federally fundedor permitted projects upon cultural heritage sites, ushering in the cultural resources management
era and an urgent need for curation space. The passage of NAGPRA in 1991 requires American
institutions to consult with Indigenous Americans about the proper disposition of human remains,
grave goods, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony (25 U.S.C. §§ 3001 and 43 C.F.R.
§ 10.2).

Outward journey: From ancient cemeteries to Sacramento State
University
Since its founding in 1947 Sacramento State University has accumulated a large collection of
movable heritage resulting from donations, salvage archaeology projects for highways and other9Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

urban development, and anthropological research. In 1995, the university began a general inventory
to identify movable heritage items that were subject to that law, including human remains, funeraryobjects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.
More than 3,000 years ago, ancestral Native Californians buried their dead in a well-drained
terrace of the San Joaquin Valley. The burial ground was abandoned; then more than 1,000 years
later, new burials were added, in some cases intruding into the earlier burial ground. Women,men, and children were often wrapped in tule reed mats and buried with their belongings fromlife, including ornaments, musical instruments, and tools and weapons. The soil was highly stable,
preserving organic items for thousands of years. More than 1,000 individuals are estimated to havebeen buried at Site CA-SJO-91 (Smithsonian nomenclature).
In the late 1960s, construction on a major highway through the San Joaquin Valley destroyeda major section of the cemetery, and looters began to excavate by night. Concerned local
citizens contacted Sacramento State University archaeologists, who negotiated a temporary halt
to construction activities for rapid salvage excavations funded by the California Department ofTransportation (Caltrans) and conducted by Dr. Jerry J. Johnson and a University team (Johnson,1971). The resulting collection, curated at the Sacramento State Anthropology Department,
included the remains of nearly 1,000 individuals along with associated and unassociated funeraryobjects, totaling thousands of items.

Figure 1. Native Californian Groups Traditionally Associated with the Area of Site SJO-91.

Heritage negotiations and tribal expectations
In 2007, the College of Arts and Sciences received a request from a consortium of Native10

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

Californian groups to discuss the university’s progress in conducting inventories that are requiredby the NAGPRA law. Representatives from the Northern Valley Yokuts, the Tachi Yokuts, theTubatulabals, and the Southern Sierra Miwoks determined in coordination with the Sacramento
State Anthropology Department that the SJO-91 collection was highest priority because of its
relatively complete and accurate catalog, and good physical condition. Caltrans held title to theland at the time of excavation and was willing to fund the full NAGPRA process from inventory toa determination of cultural affiliation and, potentially, repatriation.
Anthropologists at Sacramento State University initially determined that more than 20 Native
Californian groups had lived in or near to the San Joaquin Valley before Euro-American contact.
Those groups were invited to consult about the SJO-91 collection, and ultimately five tribes
became closely involved with the NAGPRA consultations. Initial meetings and data searches did
not yield evidence for definitive or exclusive affiliation of any Native Californian group to the
SJO-91 collection. During initial meetings, it was agreed that there would be no photographs of thecollection or repatriation actions, therefore none are provided in this discussion.

Breakthrough and homeward journey: Shared stewardship of theancestors
As discussions proceeded it became clear that repatriation of this particular collection wasgoing to be complicated, as it was potentially linked with other very important concerns of Native
Californians, including land tenure and water rights. Consultations over two years did not resultin a clear determination of cultural affiliation, but the group persisted. In early 2009 the Native
Californian tribes caucused at Sacramento State and during a lively discussion determined thatthe decision was being framed the wrong way. Rather than asking ‘who owns the ancestors?’ they
maintained that ‘where should the ancestors be laid to rest?’ was the most important question. All
groups agreed that the ancestral remains and associated funerary objects should be re-buried as
closely as possible to their original resting place.
This was complicated, as the original area has been extensively developed and San Joaquin
Valley continues to be heavily impacted with high demand for real estate. The Tachi Yokuts had
worked in the past with the California Department of Fish and Game to re-bury a different collection
within the boundaries of a state nature preserve. Although the preserve was not close to the original
resting place of the SJO-91 cemetery, the tribes agreed that safety and integrity of the new burial
ground was of top importance and the state nature preserve was selected.
With the location now agreed upon, the consequences of repatriation to one or the other tribe
were largely the same. The consulting tribes were able to agree on two key breakthroughs: first,
that the original cemetery had been located in the traditionally associated territories of the Southern
Sierra Miwok and Northern Valley Yokuts. And second, that cultural interchange and movements
over thousands of years meant that the people and grave goods were potentially affiliated with anumber of local bands, tribes, and rancherias (see Table 1).

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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

Table 1. Native Californian Groups with Shared Group Identity and Likely Affiliation
with the SJO-91 Collection
Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California

Federally

California Valley Miwok Tribe, California

Recognized

Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians of California
Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California(also known as the Tachi Yokut Tribe)
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians
Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract)
Table Mountain Rancheria of California
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California
Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of
California
United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California
Wilton Rancheria, California
The Southern Sierra Miwoks of California

Not

Federally

Northern Valley Yokuts

Recognized

As the Southern Sierra Miwoks and the Northern Valley Yokuts are not currently recognized by

As United
the Southern
Sierra Miwoks
and theNorthern
Yokutsare not currently
recognizedtheStates government,
NAGPRA
procedures
didValley
not permit
the University
to repatriate
toby the United States government, NAGPRA procedures did not permit the University to repatriate
those two groups. However, all parties agreed that the federally recognized tribes would accept
to those two groups. However, all parties agreed that the federally recognized tribes would accept
repatriation of the SJO-91 collection on behalf of those groups, and this decision was documented
repatriation of the SJO-91 collection on behalf of those groups, and this decision was documented
the National NAGPRA Program. The tribes coordinated with Caltrans and Sacramento State
with with
the National
NAGPRA Program. The tribes coordinated with Caltrans and Sacramento State
University
tocreateculturallyappropriate
appropriate burial
burial containers
of oftraditional
materials
for each
University to create culturally
containersmade
madetraditional
materials
for eachancient
individual.
In 2011,
the Noticeof Intent
to Repatriate
published(National
ancient
individual.
In 2011,
the Noticeof Intent
to Repatriate
was waspublished(National
ParkPark
Service,2011),and laterthatpackagedremains
were weretransported
to their
final
restingService,2011),
andyear,later thethat carefully
year, the carefully
packagedremainstransported
to their
final
placeresting
and re-burieda ceremony
attendedattended
by representatives
from fromall associatedNativegroups,place andin
re-buried
in a ceremony
by representatives
all associatedNativeCaltrans,
and the University.
groups, Caltrans, and the University.

What we learned in CaliforniaͳͲThe intersection between the legal requirements of the NAGPRA law and strong andconsistent calls for action on the part of Native Californians provided the impetus for the University
and Caltrans to obtain funding and take action. All parties were required to adapt to unforeseen
circumstances. For example, at one meeting, several Native participants requested a viewing of
human remains in order to pray and offer respects. The University Museum managers responded
12

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

quickly to arrange a viewing of the remains of one woman and one man. However, the propermaterials for smudging, a form of prayer involving sage and tobacco smoke, were not available.
A quick request of a passing student for a cigarette allowed the use of commercial tobacco for thatoccasion. Thereafter, the museum maintained a ready supply of small food and drink items, Native
tobacco, sage leaves, matches, and abalone shells.
All had hoped for rapid and efficient repatriation, but the size and complexity of thecollection and the contested geographic and cultural affiliation, led to a years-long process. The
tribes considered this a learning opportunity and brought several younger members to assist in thedetailed documentation of burial items. Elders explained the spiritual significance, craftsmanship,
and function of these ancient objects to young tribal members, thus in the process of repatriation
with intent to rebury for time immemorial, the tribes were able to show the next generation objects
that they never would otherwise have seen.
The lack of clear cultural affiliation and the interests of various tribes in obtaining custodyover the collection appeared, at first, to be an insoluble problem. As time and meetings resulted
in no progress, some tribal members privately expressed the wish that the University would takeresponsibility for the decision. Yet once all consulting parties agreed that stewardship of theancestors involved finding the correct resting place, the official cultural affiliation became lessimportant than locating and agreeing upon that resting place. The agreement that the federally
recognized tribes would act on behalf, and respect the wishes of, the non-federally recognizedtribes in the repatriation process was a testament to the strong commitment and collaborative spirit
to overcome all obstacles for appropriate spiritual restoration of the collection to a final resting
place.
Finally, the reason that NAGPRA consultation was not initiated at California State University
Sacramento until 2007 speaks to the need for personnel with specific job duties and responsibilities
for consultation, a coordinated plan, and long-term institutional support. The recent updates to
Cal NAGPRA (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 8012) in 2021 included the closure of proceduralloopholes that allowed institutions to defer consultations and the addition of weight to traditional
tribal knowledge as expert opinion, among other changes. It is expected that these measures, as wellas the abovementioned new rule for National NAGPRA, will accelerate the rate of consultations,and broaden categories of items subject to the laws.

Taiwan: Context and Case Studies
The history of Taiwan’s current Indigenous communities extends back to at least 6,000 years
with the arrival of Neolithic SE Chinese peoples (Liu, 2016). However, evidence suggests thatH. erectus-affiliated populations were in the area by 30,000 years ago (Chang et al., 2015), andit’s likely that Neolithic cultivators encountered Pre-Ceramic hunter-gatherers already occupying
the island between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago (Hung et al., 2022). In Southern and Eastern
Taiwan, Neolithic societies evolved into large communities characterized by extensive cultivation,
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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024

megaliths, jade ceremonial objects, and burial grounds with slate slab coffins. By the time ofcolonial contact, Taiwan’s Indigenous languages probably numbered well over 30 (Blundell, 2011).
Taiwan is topographically very diverse, with mountains rising from sea level to nearly 4,000 m.
across a distance of only 145 km. The resulting ecosystem diversity influenced the high diversity oflanguage and cultures, as well as variation in social organization. The Paiwan and Rukai societies
occupied mountain/plain interfaces of the south, and are known for sedentized millet agriculture,extensive slate house communities (Chigiwa, 1960), and stratified societies of chiefly families andancestral posts, ceramics, and other markers of social rank.
The long history of colonial occupations of Taiwan began with creation of Fort Zeelandia
and a major trading port by the Dutch beginning in 1624. Spain had established a northern fort,
but in 1642, they ceded to the Dutch. In its 38 years of occupation, the Dutch colonial government
undermined and dismantled the Indigenous societies of Taiwan’s southern and western coastal
plains, subjecting them to forced labor and crippling taxation. With the advent of the Qing Dynasty
in 1644, Ming Admiral Koxinga and his forces fled to Taiwan. After ousting the Dutch occupation
forces, the Kingdom of Tungning largely continued Dutch practices. In 1683, the Qing Dynasty
annexed Taiwan, extending its control to the western coast and plains and northeastern Taiwan
over the next 200 years. The Qing government restricted Han migration to Taiwan primarily
to males, and for the majority of its rule Taiwanese indigenous women frequently married Han(primarily Fujianese) men. The seizure and/or occupation of Indigenous lands by private citizens
was discouraged although unevenly enforced (Barclay, 2018). Groups occupying coastal lands andthose suitable for agriculture were affected early, and quickly became assimilated.
Following the Qing dynasty’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded to
the Empire of Japan with the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. The Meiji Empire, desirous of therich resources of mountain forests, forcibly re-located Indigenous populations. Unlike the Qing
Dynasty, the Japanese administration also sought to re-educate Indigenous children, limit Indigenous
languages, forbade head-hunting and traditional tattooing, and brought Indigenous leaders to Japan
to introduce them to industrialized society. Indigenous societies lifeways and worldviews were
profoundly impacted by Japanese governance, culminating in the drafting of males into the war
effort from the 1930s to 1945.
With the establishment of a national university system, the first formal ethnology andarchaeology of Taiwan were carried out by far-ranging Japanese field scholars (Nobayashi, 2022).
Taihoku University in Taipei (now National Taiwan University) was developed as Taiwan’s premierinstitution and the Museum was established in 1928. Their scholarly work formed the foundationof Taiwan’s Indigenous anthropology today. With the ceding of Taiwan to the Allies in 1945, mostJapanese citizens including scholars were forcibly deported.
The ousting of the Kuomintang by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949 resulted in massmigration of mainland Chinese, and the onset of a repressive and corrupt government. From 1952
to 1987, Taiwan’s Indigenous societies endured the longest period of martial law in history, anda program of exploitation and repression under the White Terror. This was exacerbated by their
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already-marginalized status (Barclay, 2018). With the lifting of martial law and establishment ofa democratically elected government, Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples have pursued recognition,
self-determination, and sovereignty: the Government of Taiwan now recognizes certain rights
of Indigenous Peoples through the State Law for Indigenous Peoples (2001), the Regulation
Recognition of Indigenous Peoples (2002), the Fundamental Law of Indigenous Peoples (2005), andthe Education for Indigenous Peoples Law (2004). For an excellent summary of the complexitiesof transfers of colonial power and effects upon Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, see Barclay (2018).
Indigenous communities continue to advocate for land tenure and are actively engaged withmuseums for repatriation of items held in Taiwan, Britain, Germany, the United States, Japan,
and more (Alsford & Hu, 2018). Two Taiwan cases are discussed here: the first is the four-sided
wooden post of Muakaikai from the Kaviyang Village, while the other concerns the double-sided
stone post of Jupelan and Givruwan from the Vungalid Village. These two Paiwanese ancestral
posts are preserved in the Museum of Anthropology of the National Taiwan University (NTU)
in Taipei. The processes and effects of these two artifacts as national heritage present a uniquemodel for Indigenous heritage-making in Taiwan. In contrast to other procedures for nationaltreasures, the museum initiates negotiations with the source communities of related artifacts in
the Indigenous villages. Although different agents engaged in the process of heritage making andnegotiations had diversified motivations and expectations, the continuing dynamic interactions
and movements illustrate local creativity and vitality. These Indigenous heritage projects show anincreasing awareness of reviving cultural traditions and constructing local identities by representing
and reproducing ancestral heritage among Indigenous communities in Taiwan. For this reason,these two cases address the challenges and opportunities of alternative repatriation and other types
of work with Indigenous heritage with regard to Indigenous subjectivities, local negotiations, andempowerment of the source communities.

Outward journeys from tribal villages to the NTU Museum
The Paiwan people, a hierarchical society among Indigenous groups in Taiwan, traditionallyinstalled carved ancestral posts inside or in front of the chiefly houses as sacred objects andstatus symbols. These ancestral posts often have a carved human figure that represents one of thelegendary ancestors or village founders in the chiefly family. The wooden and stone posts housedin the NTU Museum of Anthropology are carved on multiple sides and are among the most uniqueand significant material examples currently preserved. The museum was originally establishedin 1928 by Dr. Nenozo Utsurikawa (in Japanese, 移川子之藏), the Chair Professor of the Instituteof Ethnology in the Imperial Taihoku University during the Japanese colonial period. As ananthropologist trained at Harvard University, Dr. Utsurikawa collected many items of Indigenous
material culture during ethnological fieldwork in Indigenous villages. The two Paiwanese ancestral
posts that are the subjects of this paper were accessioned into the museum in the early 1930s(MANTU, 2014).

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Figure 2. Map of Taiwan, showing the Paiwan Traditionally Associated Area.
Museum documents indicate that the four-sided wooden post was purchased in 1932 from aJapanese private collector named Mizuno, who may have been an antique dealer; there is no further
evidence regarding Mizuno’s acquisition of objects from the Indigenous villages. Nonetheless,historical records confirm that the post was originally erected in the Zingrur chief’s house at the
old Kaviyang (which literally means “hand palm” in the Paiwanese language). Old Kaviyang was
situated in a mountainous area and is one of the largest Paiwanese villages. The settlement has along history, and the name can be traced in Dutch and Qing Dynasty documents to approximately
400 years ago.
At about the same time that the four-sided post made its journey to Taipei, Dr. Utsurikawa
traveled to the old Kaviyang settlement to conduct his fieldwork in 1930 and 1931. He collectedgenealogical data of the Zingrur family and photographed the chief’s house and the village. The
Government-General of Taiwan used Dr. Utsurikawa’s investigations as the basis to designate
the Zingrur chief’s house in old Kaviyang as a historical monument on the national list in 1935,
particularly due to impressive carvings. The Zingrur chief’s house was one of two Indigenous
monuments recognized and appointed during the Japanese period. In 1936, Dr. Utsurikawa
published an investigative report regarding the Zingrur chief family and Kaviyang village. These
original field records strengthened the foundations for future anthropological studies and heritage16

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recollections in the source community.

Figure 3. Dr. N. Utsurikawa, former head of Taihoku Imperial University’s Institute of Ethnology,c. 1930. Seated right, wearing kimono. Photograph in the public domain.
The double-sided stone pillar was directly collected by Dr. Utsurikawa. Field records indicatethat he found the pillar standing in the abandoned Aluvan village of the Paiwan people (an oldsettlement of the Vungalid community) in 1929. The stone pillar was originally erected in front of
the Jialuvuan chief’s house and represented the leading status of the chiefly family as protector of
the territory. Two ornate human figures carved on two sides of the pillar depict the first male andfemale ancestors of the Jialuvuan chiefly family. Dr. Utsurikawa travelled to the relocated Vungalid
settlement and asked permission from Jupelan, the contemporary paramount chief of Jialulivak(renamed from Jialuvuan), to remove the stone post and transfer it to the university museum. With
the aid of the local government and officials, Utsurikawa moved the tall and heavy stone pillar fromthe mountainous village to the museum in Taipei. A few months later, he published the account offinding the pillar in the first issue of Southern Ethnology (1931), the university’s anthropologicaljournal.

Heritage negotiations and local expectations
These two Indigenous ancestral posts with unique and beautiful carvings have been preserved
and exhibited at the university museum in Taipei since the 1930s. They are only two of over
6,000 ethnographic specimens accessioned by the museum. Quietly standing in the gallery together
with other displayed objects, these two posts were scarcely noticed by visitors. The neglected
situation did not change until 2014 when the museum proposed a heritage project focused on
nominating these two ancestral posts for recognition as “national treasures” under the Cultural
Heritage Preservation Act. After the posts were successfully designated as national treasures, they17

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immediately became the focus of attraction in the museum.
Negotiations or agreements with Indigenous communities were not required in order toconsider the museum artifact as a designated national treasure: Indigenous artifacts or other artifacts
that have been institutionally accessioned into the custody of museums are frequently officiallyregistered in the heritage list of Taiwan based upon experts’ evaluations that use external standards
and without consultation with source communities. In this case, the NTU Museum took a different
strategy: to include Indigenous communities based on anthropological principles, concepts andunderstandings. In this way, various authorities and agencies dynamically interacted in the processof designating heritage. External authorities, such as museum curators, academic scholars, andofficers from the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, actively promoted advocacy and mediation. From
the Indigenous perspective, source communities expressed their internal considerations andexpectations under particular local contexts.
In this attempt to understand Indigenous opinions and expectations, heritage negotiations
for the two Paiwanese ancestral posts were officially initiated in 2014. The NTU Museum staff
who aggregated artifact-related records actively contacted and visited the Kaviyang and Vungalid
villages in Pingtung. Several tribal meetings discussed issues common to these two ancestral posts.
The old home settlements were visited by the museum curators and village elders to understand theoriginal living contexts of the artifacts. As with many other Indigenous villages, the Kaviyang andVungalid villages had been forced to relocate several times between the 1940s and the 1950s by theJapanese colonial government. The traditional mountainous settlements were abandoned, and theold slate-stone houses with supported wooden posts were destroyed. Currently, Paiwan settlements
of modern cement houses are typically located in low mountainous foothills.
For these reasons, most village members had lost many memories. They had never seen orheard of the four-sided or double-sided ancestral posts, absent from the villages for over 80 years.
Therefore, both communities emphasized recollecting memories and identifying the role of theancestral posts in the tribal negotiations. Only a few elders, particularly from the chiefly families
have the position, status, and authority to recall the memories of their ancestors. These individuals
traced family genealogies, cited legendary stories, and identified special features of the carved
ancestral posts.
In the case of the four-sided post from the Kaviyang community, the carved figure has been
identified as the female ancestor named Muakai (or addressed as “Muakaikai” in a highly respectfulmanner) after several long discussions during the tribal meetings. Muakai was the founder of theZingrur chief’s house based on the legends of the Kaviyang. An elder of the chiefly family who hadentered the house during pre-relocation times remembered seeing the four-sided post standing on
the house corner. In the other case, the carved figures on the double-sided post have been identified
during discussions as the female ancestor Jepulan and the male ancestor Givuruan. These ancestors
were the famous founding couple of the Jialuvuan family in the Vungalid community.
Another critical issue in discussions was willingness of the source communities to allow theirancestral posts to be designated as national treasures. The expectations of the source communities
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toward future relations and interactions with the original ancestral posts was also discussed. Bothcommunities generally expressed complex feelings regarding the heritization of their ancestral
posts. On one hand, they were proud of presenting their traditional woodcarving achievements andancestral wisdoms as national heritage. On the other hand, they regretted that the posts need to bepreserved in the museum, primarily due to concerns that these 200- or 300-year old, delicate andperishable artifacts need a well-controlled environment to avoid further deterioration.
Nevertheless, during the general committee meeting of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage theKaviyang and the Vungalid communities proudly agreed to participate in the heritage project.
Representatives of the chiefly families and tribal councils traveled far from the Indigenous villages
to attend the final committee meeting in Taipei, which was arranged by the Bureau of Cultural
Heritage on March 25, 2015. Tribal representatives actively expressed support for the official
designation of these ancestral posts to become “natural treasures.” The government officials
and heritage committee members were deeply touched and impressed by the tribes’ dignity andsincerity. Thus, the four-sided Muakai post and the double-sided Jupelan and Givuruan posts wereformally declared “national treasures” and registered in the national heritage list by the Bureau of
Cultural Heritage in Taiwan (2008).
However, these two Indigenous communities expressed additional expectations concerning
further heritage actions. The Kaviyang community asserted in the tribal meetings that the NTU
Museum should not hold the right to keep the Muakai post without paying serious attention to
stewardship responsibilities. The community agreed that the Muakai ancestral post should be treatedas a precious daughter of the Zingrur chiefly family, to be married out of the village. They proposedthat an appropriate traditional Paiwanese wedding ceremony should be held by the museum at
NTU. This symbolic gesture would present the Muakai post as an Indigenous bride legitimately
married to the museum and celebrate its new status as a national treasure in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the Vungalid community did not initially ask the museum to organize a reciprocal
event for the double-sided ancestral post of Jupelan and Givuruan. Making the journey back to
the old abandoned Aluvuan settlement, where the post originally stood, was first proposed during
the heritage negotiations. This old settlement had been assigned to be placed under the custodyof another Paiwanese community about 100 years ago during the Japanese period. No Vungalid
members had returned to the ancestral site since that time. Nevertheless, the Vungalid community
undertook an approximately six-month return journey. Afterward, they related to the Museumthat elders of the Jialulivak chiefly family dreamed that the ancestors residing in the stone poststated that they were sad to be left in the museum and wished to know the way home. Thus, newnegotiations began. The traditional ceremony for bringing the ancestral spirit home, and a sworn
siblings’ ceremony between the chiefly family association in the Vungalid community and the NTU
Museum, were arranged thereafter.

The breakthroughs: Building new relations through an Indigenous
wedding and sworn siblings’ ceremony
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Following the negotiation agreements in the Kaviyang tribal meetings, a unique wedding
for the Mukaikai four-sided post was hosted at the NTU campus on September 12, 2015. Over 80
Indigenous community members traveled from the mountainous village to Taipei for the wedding
arrangements. The wedding ceremony designed by the Kaviyang tribal associations aimed to
advocate for Paiwanese cultural traditions and express local agencies on cultural revival. For
example, a tall wooden swing, which is an extraordinary symbolic object for the chief family’s
wedding, was set up in front of the NTU Museum. Traditional ceramic pots, glass-beaded necklaces
and bracelets, and eagle feathers, metal pans, pigs, Indigenous wine, and Paiwanese ritual food(i.e., avai and cinavu; millet and taro powder dumplings, respectively) were produced as betrothal
gifts from the groom’s side (i.e., NTU) to the bride’s side (i.e., Kaviyang community).
Over 300 persons attended the wedding ceremony, including representatives and guests
from the university and the Bureau of Culture Heritage, Indigenous legislators, and Indigenous
Kaviyang community members. The first daughter of the current chief represented the symbolicbride of Muakai. The president of NTU represented the university to receive the symbolic bride.
The Minister of Culture was the official representative to witness the marriage. The wedding
ceremony with rich material symbols, beautiful singing and dancing, and colorful ritual costumes
expressed sincere feelings and pride toward the Paiwanese traditional culture. The entire wedding
process was planned to highlight the status of Muakai as the first female chief in the Zingrur family
and emphasize the cultural identity of the Kaviyang community. In addition, a special episode wasarranged by the tribal associations to magnify the status of the bride in the wedding. When two
tribal supervisors checked the betrothal gifts offered by NTU to the bride’s family, they commented
that the mountain hawk–eagle feather with seven zigzag patterns was inappropriately offered to theZingrur family: for a paramount chief’s family, the eagle feather should have nine zigzag patterns
rather than seven. Consequently, the NTU president was reprimanded and an additional metal wok
prepared beforehand was immediately offered by the NTU president to the Zingrur family as acompensation for the mistake. This meticulous episode shocked and amused the invited guests.
Many people were confronted with a need to rethink different cultural values on social status byobserving this intentionally arranged episode.
In the other case, a grand ceremony to call ancestral spirits and making sworn siblings wasarranged for the double-sided ancestral post of Jupelan and Givuruwan on October 15, 2016 at
the NTU Museum. The event was mainly organized by the Jialulivak and Luviliv families in the
Vungalid community. Approximately 160 Indigenous villagers traveled to Taipei to participate inthis ceremony. In contrast to many Paiwanese communities that have converted to Christianity,
the Vungalid community maintains traditional beliefs in the Paiwanese ancestral spirits and uses a
traditional female spirit medium (Pulingaw) to communicate with ancestral spirits. Thus, this ritualwas led by a senior Paiwanese Pulingaw, who invoked the ancestral spirits and asked permission
from the ancestors to conjoin the university museum with the Jialulivak (Jialuvuan) chiefly family
as sworn brothers. The male ritual hosts placed ritual grass as protections against evil for themuseum gallery. In front of the double-sided post, the female Pulingaw chanted ritual songs andoffered a pig, wine, and millet cakes to the ancestral spirits. For the first time, the museum allowed20

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animals, plants, and food and drinks inside the gallery.
With the ancestors’ permission, the first son of the current chief acted as representative of
the Jialulivak (Jialuvuan) chiefly family in the Vungalid community. Meanwhile, the dean of
the College of Liberal Arts represented the NTU Museum in the sworn brothers’ ceremony. The
Minister of Culture and Dean of Academic Affairs of NTU were official witnesses to the sworn
oaths. All representatives used Paiwanese wooden double-cups to drink millet wine and sharedmillet cakes to symbolize the constructed bodily bindings via liquid and food. In addition, two setsof prepared Paiwanese traditional costumes were exchanged between the Jialulivak family and themuseum as gifts for the sworn brothers.
These two national treasures ceremonies were fascinating stories reported in many major news
media outlets and attracted the attention of the general public in Taiwan. The idea of making heritage
identification via traditional ceremonies demonstrates the creativity and vitality of contemporary
Indigenous communities in Taiwan. However, these ceremonies are not merely recreational or
symbolic performances. Rather, these events are authentic rituals to build long-term relationships
between the museum and the two Indigenous communities. Messages of cultural recognition andproliferation were repeatedly transmitted throughout the rituals. Both ceremonies were concluded
with a banquet. In the convivial banquet, all participants shared Paiwanese avai, cinavu, and millet
wine. Special kin bonds between the two relative parties were built and affirmed by sitting, eating,and drinking together.

Figure 4. Building New Relations through Wedding Ceremony. In this image, the representative of
the Chieftain family presents traditional pottery to Muakai, while the president of National Taiwan
University, Pan-Chyr Yang, receives it, during the wedding ceremony. Photo 20150912-110627,
provided courtesy of the Department of Anthropology, National Taiwan University.

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Figure 5. Building New Relations through Sworn Siblings’ Ceremony. In this image, therepresentative of the Chieftain family and the Dean of the College of Liberal Art, National Taiwan
University, Jo-shui Chen, who is also representing the museum, are drinking together during theSworn Siblings’ Ceremony. Photo DSC6666, provided courtesy of the Department of Anthropology,
National Taiwan University.

What we learned in Taiwan
Reconstructed relationships between the museum collections and their source communities
were not built merely via the ceremonies. Programs to reproduce the ancestral posts were also
proposed during the early heritage negotiations. Both the Kaviyang and Vungalid communities
proposed making duplicates of the ancestral posts preserved in the museum. Given that thecommunities felt that the delicate condition and preservation considerations for the nationaltreasures would prevent them from going back to the village, they wish to have scale reproductions
placed around in the village to remember and commemorate their ancestors forever.
Most members of the Kaviyang community converted to the Catholic religion long ago andare now strong Christian believers. When the tribal council decided to reproduce a new four-sided
Muakai post, they consulted with the Catholic priest of the village church. The priest positively
responded and highly supported the community’s desire to revive Indigenous traditions byremembering ancestors. To avoid offending the church, the tribal council did not invite a traditional
spirit medium to call for the ancestral spirit. Instead, they prayed and spoke to the Muakai post.
These actions fused Indigenous and Christian concepts of the spirits. The project of carving a new
Muakai post was assigned to a young carver living in the village.
The NTU Museum and Bureau of Cultural Heritage provided funding for the carving. The
original post was made from a wood of a long-leaf Chinkapin. However, finding a precisely similar
suitable wood is difficult at present. Eventually, a large trunk of red cedar tree was used to reproduce
the Muakai post. Although the reproduced Muakai post is not a precise copy of the original piece in22

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the museum, all of the distinctive features of the original post (e.g., six fingers and circles on knees)
have been represented. At present, the newly reproduced Muakai post is located in the living roomof the Zingrur chief’s house, beside the statue of the Virgin Mary. For those family members, theMuakai post is treated as a grandmother living with them. Every child entering the house makesa bow to Muakai. Every time family members dress up for ceremonies, they place a beautiful
headdress on Muakai’s head to show respect.
In the Vungalid community, the project of reproducing the double-sided stone post was
assigned to an Indigenous stone carver living in Dahou village. A huge piece of sandstone similar
to the original piece was used. At present, the reproduced double-sided post of Jupelan and
Givuruwan has been placed outdoors at the center of the Vungalid ritual ground. Another grandtraditional ceremony was held in the village ritual ground to erect the reproduced post. The spirit
medium (Pulingaw) explained that the reproduced post is a new domestic arrangement for theancestral spirits, which were called and subsequently traveled home from the Taipei Museum toattend rituals in the village.
The heritage projects for these two Paiwanese ancestral posts continue to develop and expand
beyond the original expectations of the museum and government heritage bureau. Generating fromthe preserved material heritage in the museum, significant Paiwanese ceremonies and reproduced
posts have been realized. Further movements and interactions are in continuous development:
for example, the Kaviyang tribal council are considering the reconstruction of a traditional styleancestral house, so that the Zingrur chiefly family can place the reproduced Muakai post within. The
Vungalid community is now seriously devoted to the revival of spiritual fortune balls in the Maleveq
ceremony, which had been banned approximately 80 years ago during the Japanese colonial period.
The revived Maleveq ceremony is planned to be held on the ritual ground where the reproduced
double-sided ancestral post stands. A multi-lingual film has been released to commemorate theseprocesses (Su, 2018).
In summary, these two ancestral posts are serving as the “sites of memories.” In the processesof designating national treasures and the continuing heritage movement, the ancestral memories
embody the connection between past and present. Various groups of people have generated actions
connected to and surrounding the posts.

Conclusion: Regenerating Spirit and Reviving Culture
These case studies from two very different settings highlighted outgoing journeys of cultural
items, identified challenges to their recontextualization, and described original, effective, mutuallyagreed-upon strategies to involve Indigenous communities in greater control over movable heritage.
This comparison clearly shows that the vitality and identity of the contemporary Indigenous
community should be priority concerns in the stewardship and management of Indigenous material
heritage, globally. Collaborative solutions for sovereignty over movable heritage, particularly
legacy collections like those mentioned here, will only grow in significance to source communities
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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 05–29, 2024with rising global conflict, migration, and climate-induced disasters (Giletycz et al. 2021).
In comparison with Taiwan, the United States NAGPRA law provides powerful legal
requirements and procedures for repatriation of a special class of human remains and objects suchas burial items, sacred items, and collectively owned cultural items. At the time of this writing,museums and government agencies are responding to the new rule for national NAGPRA whichbroadens scopes and definitions of categories of items subject to the statute. Yet enforcementbased requirements provide a ‘basement’ rather than a ‘ceiling’, and strict adherence could havethe unintended consequence of inhibiting creativity, flexibility, and empathy in implementation(Yu, 2008). Plans of Action and Memoranda of Agreement are useful instruments that can include
customized procedures and be enacted in lieu of standard NAGPRA requirements.
Although Taiwan has no law like NAGPRA, the designation of Indigenous museum objects as
National Treasures elevates their importance to national levels. The lack of stringent requirements
does not compel museums to act; yet this also offers substantial flexibility for parties to work
together toward highly innovative strategies for re-contextualizing museum objects and bringing
them home: physically, spiritually, or both. Local agencies and vitalities should be valued highly
compared with national or international standards, although in fact the two are complementary:national standards provide a rigid framework that local knowledge can build on. In our view, aprocess to address Indigenous objects that are not designated as national treasures, yet are still ofvital importance, should be pursued in Taiwan.
These stories of homeward journeys, from repatriation in the United States and nationaltreasure ceremonies in Taiwan, demonstrate that contemporary Indigenous communities possess
cultural wisdom and creative strategies that invigorate ancestral heritage, transmit cultural
traditions, and restore sites of memories. From these perspectives, material heritage in the formof archaeological and ethnographic items have agency that enlivens contemporary Indigenous
communities. The spirits or agencies embedded in material heritage are rekindled and disseminatedthrough various transformative methods. Moreover, these two cases mark significant milestones inthe transformation of rethinking and redefining museum collections as Indigenous heritage.
In conclusion, we affirm that heritage-making projects should aim to empower the source
communities. The growth of Indigenous museums and Indigenous museum experts are one way
to make this a reality (King, 2013; Wang, 2019), and locating museums and offices in source
communities is a highly effective way to rejuvenate contextual values (Toronto Declaration, Royal
Ontario Museum Cultural Heritage Working Group, 2018). Direct and committed engagement
between museums and Indigenous source communities can create highly innovative strategies tore-contextualize and revitalize museum objects, even under different legal frameworks. Such goals
can transform heritage making into a process that will empower source communities, serving as
an active channel to revive and transmit culture and build enduring relationships between heritage
stewards on the museum side and heritage keepers on the Indigenous side. We respectfully offer thisinformation as a contribution to efforts for self-determination of Indigenous peoples over movablecultural heritage, upholding laws governing the protection of movable heritage, and building lasting24

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relationships of mutual trust and respect between museums and Indigenous peoples.

Acknowledgment
Both authors express sincere gratitude to the Kaviyang and Vungalid communities of the
Paiwan People, the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California, the California Valley
Miwok Tribe, California, the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California, the Ione
Band of Miwok Indians of California, the Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California, thePicayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians of California, the Santa Rosa Indian Community of
the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California (also known as the Tachi Yokut Tribe), the Shingle Springs
Band of Miwok Indians and Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), the Table Mountain
Rancheria of California, the Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California, theTuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California, the United Auburn
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California, the Wilton Rancheria, California,
the Southern Sierra Miwoks of California, and the Northern Valley Yokuts for their leadership.
Their sincere and heartfelt efforts found strategies for original and successful approaches toinvolving Indigenous communities in control over movable heritage in museums, for building
self-determination of Indigenous peoples over movable cultural heritage, and for building lasting
relationships of mutual trust and respect between museums and Indigenous peoples. Thanks also to
National Taiwan University’s Cheng-Heng Chang and Chao-chieh Wu for coordinating regarding
Dr. Hu’s archives and photographic permissions, the California State University Sacramento, theCalifornia Department of Transportation, and the Taiwan Ministry of Culture for supporting theseendeavors. We appreciate the detailed comments of two anonymous reviewers, which improved
this paper.
Dr. Chia-yu Hu, the highly esteemed and visionary co-author of this paper, passed away in
2018. To her memory and ongoing legacy of important work, this publication effort is respectfully
and warmly dedicated.

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3. Maritime Technologies and Coastal Identities: Seafaring and Social Complexity in Indigenous California and Hokkaido- Mikael Fauvelle, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, SWEDEN- Shiro Sasaki, Upopoy, National Ainu Museum, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, JAPAN- Peter Jordan, Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Hokkaido University, JAPAN

Maritime Technologies and Coastal
Identities:
Seafaring and Social Complexity inIndigenous California and Hokkaido
Mikael Fauvelle

1, Shiro Sasaki

2, and Peter Jordan

1,3

1 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, SWEDEN, mikael.
fauvelle@ark.lu.se
2 Upopoy, National Ainu Museum, Shiraoi District, Hokkaido, JAPAN
3 Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Hokkaido University, JAPAN

Abstract
Complex watercraft were central to the functioning of many Indigenous coastal andisland communities around the world. These communities, however, are often assumed tobe small-scale bounded social entities adapted to local ecosystems, especially in comparison
to land-based agricultural societies, states, and empires. In this paper we seek to understandhow regional interactions helped create and sustain systems of Indigenous social and cultural
diversity by taking a fresh and comparative look at the “active” role played by local boatbuilding traditions in the networks and social dynamics of Indigenous coastal communities.
We argue that one critical yet often overlooked aspect of the use of watercraft is the capacity
for advanced boat technologies to have “transformative” impacts on local communities
by creating new kinds of social relations and networking opportunities. In this paper weundertake a comparative analysis of two Indigenous boat-building traditions, one in southern
California and the other in Northeast Asia. We examine how innovation in maritime watercraft
technology contributed to the formation of wide-ranging interaction spheres where participation
by Indigenous communities helped shape the history of the wider region. We suggest that
innovations in boat technologies led to positive-feedback loops of social intensification whichsignificantly contributed to the historical trajectories of both world regions.
Key Words: Innovation, Technology, Watercraft, Trade, Indigenous societies, HunterGatherers

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024
https://doi.org/10.57519/iscd.00008
Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
https://gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/gsi/publication.html

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“The first man in this world said that all the world is a canoe, for we are all one, andthat which we finish now is a canoe”-Fernando Librado Kitsepawit, on the launching of a newly built tomol in 1912, quoted
in Hudson et al (1978)

Introduction
Technological innovation is a powerful dialectic process that drives – and is driven by –societal transformations. In turn, this historical process shapes the deeper cultural trajectories ofcultures and societies (Schiffer, 2011; Jordan, 2015; Frieman, 2021). Throughout human history,
Indigenous cultures have often been at the forefront of major technological developments. However,in numerous histories and ethnographies that are typically written by outsiders, this capacity forinnovation is glossed over in favor of more static accounts of “traditional” communities who
reproduce ancestral practices. Maritime-oriented Indigenous societies provide one of the clearest
examples of the dialectical role of technological innovation in shaping social-historical trajectories,
as the capacity for people to leave dry land, exploit maritime environments, and connect with
distant cultures is largely dependent on the successful development of new technological skills andpractices.
Chief among these material interventions is the boat, which has allowed humans to exploit new
resources and travel to new locations throughout the Late Pleistocene and possibly before (Cassidy
et al, 2022). One critical and often overlooked aspect of the use of watercraft is the transformative
ability of boats to amplify the impacts of social connections with distant places by allowing for
longer, larger, and more frequent interactions. In this paper we emphasize Indigenous contributions
to the history of watercraft innovation and explore how the development of new forms of watercraft
technology in different areas of the North Pacific served to greatly transform the scale and characterof previously localized interaction networks, embedding emergent Indigenous identities into wider
political-economic systems with wide-reaching local and regional consequences.
Our analysis aims to present a preliminary – and in many ways “exploratory” – analysis. The
goal is to highlight deeper research potentials, both regional and comparative, which lie beyond
the scope of this paper. We compare and contrast examples of Indigenous seafaring technologies
from two different hunter-fisher-forager societies situated on opposite sides of the North Pacific:
the Chumash of southern California, and recent and historical cultures from Hokkaido, Sakhalin,
and the Sea of Okhotsk, including the Ainu and antecedent cultural formations. Each case-study
highlights striking similarities in the technologies used to construct new kinds of sewn-plank boats,
which offered larger and more sea-worthy vessels and enabled the expansion of maritime networks
and open-ocean travel within emergent “World Systems” (Fitzhugh et al., 2016; Hudson, 2004;
Wallerstein, 1974).
These emerging insights contradict traditional narratives of hunter-gatherer locality and31

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boundedness and highlight the need for new work on the transformative potentials of maritime
technological innovations. We conclude that the innovation of the sewn-plank boat technology
in both regions created new opportunities for voyaging, but also greatly expanded the ability ofemergent local leaders to exploit trading and raiding voyages to increasingly distant locations
for their own socio-political agendas. The combination of sea-based trading and raiding can beviewed as a form of Indigenous Maritime Mode of Production, similar to the social formations seenin Bronze Age Japan and Scandinavia (Hudson, 2022; Ling et al., 2018). Across both Northeast
Asia and the interior of western North America, the historical trajectories of many sedentary andagricultural populations were affected by these intensive maritime exchanges, showing the degree
to which hunter-fisher-foragers from the “unruly peripheries” of the North Pacific Rim could engage
and interact – often on their own terms – with a diverse suite of neighboring cultures, including
complex agrarian societies that had emerged over previous millennia.

Indigenous Watercraft and Technological Innovation
Indigenous maritime technologies carried ancient settlers to all corners of the globe andallowed for the exploitation of a wide range of different environmental regions. Various formsof watercraft such as the hide boat, plank boat, reed boat, and various forms of composite log
boats were all innovated at different points of time by Indigenous communities to meet various
environmental and social challenges. These boats were often accompanied by a range of sailingand fishing technologies that allowed for highly efficient mastery of maritime resources andenvironments. In many cases, more recent sea-faring traditions – including those of Europe – havefrequently adopted and appropriated Indigenous traits, technologies, and naming conventions. For
example, the modern kayaks used around the world are based on boats used by Inuit, Yup’ik,
and Aluet peoples, and circular shell fishhooks based on Polynesian and Pacific North American
examples have recently become popular among modern sports fishers (McKenzie, 2007; Promjinda
et al., 2008). Understanding the history of human adaptations to island and coastal environments
thus requires an examination of Indigenous contributions to maritime technological traditions.
The scale, diversity, and legacies of Indigenous seafaring skills, technologies, and marinebased lifeways are often underemphasized in broader narratives of world history, which typicallyhighlight European voyages of discovery and maritime expansion. Within these dominantnarratives, Indigeneity can be defined in terms of the emergent and asymmetric relationships thatemerge between colonial powers and local communities who become politically and culturally
marginalized (Béteille, 1998; Karlsson, 2003; Watkins, 2005). For example, when we think ofhistorical ships of colonization, the standard narratives depict the galleons and caravels of European
powers rather than the double-hulled canoes that carried Polynesian settlers across nearly half ofour planet’s surface area. Thankfully, recent scholarship has started to challenge this unfortunate
trend by acknowledging the huge impact that Indigenous maritime innovations had on both regionaland global histories.
Moreover, there is a growing appreciation of how riverine- and marine-based societies
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engaged in regional interaction networks. Writing about early 19th century North America,
Hämäläinen (2008) has shown that that the Comanche were understood both by themselves andtheir neighbors as an expansive imperial power that extracted tribute from other Indigenous groups
as well as Euro-American states. Likewise, Bassi (2016) has argued that the Wayuu and Cunapeople of coastal Columbia used a combination of diplomacy, trade, and the threat of conflict toform a cosmopolitan Indigenous society that dominated sections of the Caribbean during the late
18th century. These examples show that Indigenous people were hardly historical bystanders toperiods of ancient globalization, but instead were active participants in global interactions who
often engaged with non-Indigenous states and empires on a peer-to-peer basis. In this paper weseek to contribute to this growing body of scholarship by showing how technological innovation
allowed two Indigenous maritime communities to affect the histories of their respective regions
and adjacent areas.
To address these imbalances, this paper seeks to explore how Indigenous communities
generated innovations that shaped their historical trajectories as well as their capacities to engage
with neighboring societies and surrounding regions. Specifically, we focus on sewn plank boats
such as the Chumash tomol, the Ainu itaomacip, or the Tongva ti’at. These boats represented
considerable sifts in maritime technology compared to the dugout, birch-bark and reed boats
that typically preceded them. By sewing wooden planks together and caulking the seams anddrill holes with resin, ancient people were able to construct new kinds of vessels that had larger
capacities and improved sea faring capabilities. Although dugouts and reed boats are often highly
seaworthy, the V-shaped hull of the plank canoe confers a major advantage in terms of speed,
allowing for much longer and more efficient voyages (Cassidy, 2021; Fauvelle, 2011; Fauvelle,2014). These improvements came at a “cost” – inherently more complex construction techniques
require significantly higher investments in terms of labor, the sourcing, preparing and integration ofdiverse materials, manipulation of social networks to acquire these resources, plus the acquisition,
mastery and sustained teaching of the skills and knowledge required to evolve and maintain viableinter-generational traditions (Jordan, 2015).
Once equipped with larger vessels, individuals, kin groups or other social collectives would
have been able to harness the potential of the new maritime technologies for a wide array of initialand more emergent strategies and opportunities. In numerous contexts, these historical dynamics
frequently meant that ownership of plank-built vessels – and their broader socio-political potentials– was controlled and manipulated by aspiring individuals or interest groups who were able tomuster the skills and resources required to build, crew, and exploit the vessels’ broader affordances.
Sponsorship of increasingly skilled and elaborate boat construction by wealthy patrons may thus
have provided an important mechanism through which elites could nurture and then consolidate
political power in early maritime societies. We present two case-studies – set in southern California
and Hokkaido – to examine the extent to which innovation of sewn-plank vessels was associatedwith the formation of new kinds of societies, in which long-range maritime interactions became
pivotal to the emergence of larger maritime socio-political systems, which in turn, enabled new
kinds of elite identities to be negotiated.
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Figure 1. Map of North Pacific Rim showing location of the core areas for the Chumash, Tongva,
and Ainu case-studies as well as major areas of interaction. These boundaries should be considered
open ended as many interactions reached far beyond the regions depicted here.

Comparative Analysis of North Pacific Sewn-Plank Watercraft

Figure 2. Map showing California’s Channel Islands with Chumash, Tongva, and European place34

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names.

Case-Study 1: Chumash Sewn-Plank Boat Traditions in Southern
California
For maritime societies few items are as important as the boat. From Scandinavia to the North
Pacific, both modern and ancient seafaring people have depended on reliable watercraft for theirlivelihood and often organize many aspects of their political, social, and ritual lives around canoes
and canoe symbolism (Ling et al., 2020). In southern California, the Chumash referred to the plankcanoe (tomol in Chumash, or Ti’at in Tongva) as the “house of the sea” and considered it the mostimportant item that any individual could possess. No one could become a chief without owning aplank canoe, and the knowledge involved in building a plank canoe was a closely guarded secretavailable only to members of the elite brotherhood of the tomol (Hudson et al., 1978). In modern
times, plank canoes have become important symbols of contemporary Indigenous organizations. In
the past several decades, both Chumash and Tongva tribal members have built and regularly paddle
plank canoes into the waters of southern California.
Plank canoes were used by two different groups in southern California, the Chumash andthe Tongva. Chumash territory includes the Northern Channel Islands (see Figure 2) and the arearoughly corresponding to modern day Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, while Tongva lands
include the southern Channel Islands and modern-day Los Angeles County. The Chumash word
for a plank canoe was tomol, while in Tongva a plank canoe was called a ti’at. During the Late andHistorical periods (circa 1300 to 1804 CE), both groups lived in sedentary villages that contained
many hundreds of individuals, with a few major villages having populations over one thousand(Gamble, 2008; Johnson, 1988). These population levels were supported through hunting, fishing,and gathering in rich marine and terrestrial environments (Fauvelle & Somerville, 2021a, 2021b).
The Chumash were politically organized into hierarchical territorial polities with hereditary chiefs
often controlling multiple settlements. Trade was a major focus of Chumash elites, with craftspecialists producing millions of shell beads which were exchanged throughout southern California
and used as money in day-to-day transactions (Fauvelle, 2024; Gamble, 2020). The hierarchicalnature of Chumash political and economic organization has led many scholars to consider themas one of the ancient world’s most complex hunter-gatherer societies (Arnold, 2001; Arnold et al.,2016; Fauvelle, 2013; Gamble, 2008).
The southern Californian plank canoe was one of the most advanced watercrafts ever built
in pre-colonial North America, equaled only in terms of speed and cargo capacity by the “great
canoes” build from massive cedar logs on Pacific Northwest Coast (Ames, 2002). Most of what weknow about the plank canoe comes from Fernando Librado Kitsepawit, a Chumash man who built
a plank canoe for the American ethnographer J.P. Herrington in 1912 (Hudson et al., 1978). Librado
Kitsepawit listed the materials needed to build the plank canoe, including pine or redwood logs split
into boards, milkweed rope to sew the boards together, and a resinous asphaltum (bitumen) and35

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024

pine pitch mixture known as yop for caulking and waterproofing the ship. As described by Librado
Kitsepawit, the largest canoes could be up to 9 meters long and could carry over a dozen people,
although smaller canoes (circa 4 to 5 meters) with smaller crews were more common (Gamble,
2002; Hudson et al., 1978). Librado Kitsepawit noted that the asphaltum required to waterproof
the canoe could not be found on the Channel Islands, meaning that islanders needed to acquirecanoe construction materials through trade with the mainland (Fauvelle, 2011, 2014; Fauvelle &Perry 2019, 2023; Hudson et al., 1978). Due to the high-value materials and intensive labor needed
to construct a tomol, plank canoes were one of the most expensive items in the material cultureof Chumash society (Fauvelle, 2011, 2014). It is estimated that over 500 labor hours went into
the construction of each plank canoe (Fagan, 2004; Hudson et al., 1978). These costs made tomol
ownership out of reach for the average family and restricted their use to high-status elites andchiefs (Arnold, 2001; Hudson et al., 1978).

Figure 3. Chumash tomol design. Drawing by Mikael Fauvelle
Based on an analysis of canoe planks, drills, and caulking plugs, Gamble (2002) has argued
that fully formed tomols were in use in the Chumash area by at least 600 CE. It is possible that
prototype or composite canoes may have existed before this, and woodworking tools from the
Early Holocene on San Clemente Island suggest that some form of advanced boatbuilding may
have occurred during the Early Holocene (Cassidy et al., 2004). Nonetheless, it is clear that by themid first millennium CE southern Californian mariners were making long-distance trading voyages
in plank canoes. This timing corresponds well with increases in regional social and economic
complexity. Unequal grave good distributions in burials from the late first millennium BCE givesome evidence for early social ranking (Gamble et al., 2001), but these inequalities increase during
the second half of the first millennium CE, leading way to the formation of fully fledged territorial
chiefdoms by sometime after 1150 CE (Arnold, 1995, 2001). It is highly likely that the innovationof the plank canoe went hand in hand with these political and economic transformations, placing afast and reliable, yet highly costly, watercraft into the hands of the political elite (Fauvelle, 2011).
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As we shall see below, these transformations affected areas far beyond coastal California, withisland goods procured by chiefly tomol owners reaching markets across much of the American west
(Smith & Fauvelle, 2015).

Case-Study 2: Ainu Sewn-Plank Boats in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the
KurilsFigure 4. Northeast Asia Location Map – historical locations of Ainu languages and dialects [ca.
1945; (Zgusta, 2015)]
Sewn boats were also used on the other side of the Pacific by mariners in Hokkaido, Sakhalin,
and the Kurils. Boat technologies have an extended history across the Japanese archipelago, andindeed across Maritime Northeast Asia and the Pacific Rim more generally (Cassidy et al., 2022),with very early indirect evidence for ancient seafaring skills extending back to the Palaeolithic
dispersal of Homo sapiens into the Ryukus and palaeo Honshu (now Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu)
and from there into Hokkaido. Somewhat later, dugout canoes of varying scales are frequently
recorded in Jōmon contexts, and their use may have seen increased use in the Late and Final
Jomon as part of the intensification of long-distance exchange networks. Evidence of composite
plank boats being used alongside dugout canoes appears during the following Yayoi Period (CE250-710) (Habu, 2010). Further North, in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kurils, the Ainu peoples
recorded in historic and ethnographic sources, used a wide range of wooden and bark vessel types
and technologies (Fitzhugh & Luukkanen, 2019). While some types of dugout canoes and plankboats are seen in ethnographic records on the Nivkh, Ul’chi, Nanai, and Evenki (Levin & Potapov,
1961), the Ainu have peculiar types that cannot be seen among the surrounding groups.
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In Hokkaido, the Ainu employed different boat types and constructions for different purposes.
These included “Yarchip” (yarcip)1 expedient elm bark canoes (Fitzhugh & Luukkanen, 2019) usedin lakes and rivers. In addition, more robust dugout canoes, called “chip” (cip), which were paddled
or punted, were also used for inland waters. The Ainu also used built-up versions of dugouts called“mochips” (mocip) which consisted of hollowed-out tree trunks with extender planks stitched downeach side (Landor, 2012). Finally, larger “itaomacip” sewn-plank boats were built in two basic
variants (see below). It is assumed that these sewn-plank composite boats evolved, via initial useof extender planks, from the older and original dugout canoe tradition. However, each of the boats
occupied a different functional and social “niche” and so the Ainu made and used the different
types and used them in different contexts, rather than one replacing the other over time.

Figure 5. Top – Late 19th C diagram of a traditional Ainu sewn-plank (lash-planked) canoe; Bottom– example of a larger Ainu sailing canoe, with possible Japanese influences
Source: Landor, 2012/1893: pp. 37- 39. Public domain image. It should be noted that sewn-plankboats were not exclusively used by the Ainu, but similar technologies were also shared across the
Sea of Japan (Tezuka, 1998).

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The largest itaomacip boats were built explicitly for seafaring purposes – they were usedmainly for trading voyages as well as to hunt sea mammals in the open ocean (Ohtsuka, 1999).
The term itaomacip (or in Ainu ita-oma-cip) describes a “boat with a board”. However, the Ainu
itaomacip uses particular construction techniques, which are unique to Hokkaido and have not beenrecorded in other regions of Japan. The planks are sewn with whale beard (baleen) and other vine
plant cordage. These ocean-going vessels were built in two different formats (Landor, 2001/1893).
The smaller and more traditional lashed plank canoes were made of nine sections of wood lashedtogether. A partial dug-out canoe section formed the concave bottom of the boat. To this were added
the side pieces, three planks on each side, sewn together and caulked, and set at an angle of about
170˚. Finally, two more pieces of wood were set at the prow and stern, meeting the side planks atright angles. Overall, these canoes were typically 10 to 15 feet long and around 3 to 3½ feet. For
structure and rigidity, two cross pieces were lashed horizontally. These laths both strengthened theboat structure but also projected outside the edges of the vessel to provide anchor points for oars.
A larger variant – called a “sailing canoe” may have had some Japanese elements incorporated.

Figure 6. Early depiction of the larger variants of the Ainu sewn plank boat technology in northern
Japan. Kodama TEIRYO (painted ca 1751-64). Title “Scenes of the Ezo Fishing Grounds” (Publicdomain work of art from Wikimedia Commons)
The deeper historical origin of both these larger sewn-plank boats is rather unclear. The
tradition may date back to the beginning of the Okhotsk Period (circa CE 500-1000), when there isevidence that maritime focused societies on the Okhotsk Sea began participating in long-distancing
seafaring (Yamaura, 1999). Rock art from this period, depicting rowing crews on long boats, bears
a remarkable similarity to depictions found throughout Bronze Age Scandinavia (Yamaura, 1998).
As in California, the adaptation of sewn plank canoes in northeast Asia appears to correlate withincreased regional interaction, with the Okhotsk culture from Hokkaido conducting raiding andtrading voyages south to Honshu and northwards into the circum Sea of Okhotsk and Lower Amur
River. Raiding via sea provides one point of difference between these two case studies, as it wasan apparently much more important activity in Northeast Asia than in precontact California, wheremost documented warfare took place via land routes (Gamble, 2008; Hudson 2022).
Whatever their precise origins, the Ainu continued to use these unique sewn-plank boats
for marine hunting and fishing well into the 20th century, with a lively boat-building tradition
continuing today among Ainu communities dwelling on the island of Hokkaido (Ohtsuka, 1999).
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Modern reconstructions of the Ainu itaomacip are based on both Indigenous traditions as well
as detailed drawings of boat construction found made by Shimanojo Murakami in the early 19th
century (Murakami et al., 1990/1823; Ohtsuka, 1999). In addition, pictographic representationsof 19th to early 20th century Ainu log and plank boats can be found as small carvings on Ainu
ikupasuy prayer sticks, where there are hundreds of examples of the sticks and frequent depictionof these boats, often with accompanying images of large fish and marine mammals (Fitzhugh &Luukkanen, 2019).
One detailed description of the itaomacip boat-building tradition can be based on analysis
of a modern replica built by Ainu craftspeople for the 1989 World Congress of Indigenous People
and described by Ohtsuka (1999). The core of the itaomacip was made from massive katsura(Ceridiphyllum sp.) tree logs, which were dug out and expanded by filling the cavity with boilingwater heated with hot stones. The sides were then raised using drilled boards split from pine woodand tied together with hemp rope. Planks were tightly bound to prevent leakage, and it is unclear
to what degree the ship was caulked. Both pine pitch and mineral bitumen, however, were usedhistorically as a waterproofing material in the Sea of Okhotsk (Deryugin et al., 2018). The dugout
core and sewn plank sides of the itaomacip proved to be a highly seaworthy design that allowed
Ainu seafarers to trade far and wide across the often stormy, frigid, and fog-bound waters of the
Sea of Okhotsk.
In general, then, the impact of watercraft innovation in northeast Asia can be seen in thehistory of emergent political complexity with growing integration of Sakhalin, Hokkaido, and the
Kuril Islands into the Northeast Asian “World System”, which is in many ways similar to thedevelopments we have noted for the Chumash and Tongva. Although we do not know exactly
when the first itaomacip was built, it is clear that by around 500 CE the ancient inhabitants of
the region were engaging in long-distance seafaring and intensive hunting of pelagic fish and sea
mammals (Yamaura, 1999). Such extensive maritime activity likely required advanced watercraft
designs such as sewn plank boats. The Okhotsk culture spread across the wider region between
400 and 1000 CE and was characterized by sedentary villages with large pit houses, a maritime
focused economy, and widespread trading and raiding networks that reached into Honshu Japan aswell as mainland Asia (Yamaura, 1998, 1999). These characteristics compare well to the complex
hunter-gatherer chiefdoms of southern California and the Pacific Northwest. While the Okhotsk
phenomena was distinct from what would later become the Ainu culture, it is likely that many of themaritime traditions and technologies that would characterize coastal Ainu society had antecedents
during this time.

40

wide across the often stormy, frigid, and fog-bound waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.
In general, then, the impact of watercraft innovation in northeast Asia can be seen in thehistory of emergent political complexity with growing integration of Sakhalin, Hokkaido, andthe Kuril Islands
into theNortheast“WorldSystem”,
which
is in30–52,
many 2024
ways similar to
Indigenous
Studiesand Asian
CulturalDiversity
Vol.1(2) pp.
the developments we have noted for the Chumash and Tongva. Although we do not know
exactly when the first itaomacip was built, it is clear that by around 500 CE the ancientinhabitants of the region were engaging in long-distance seafaring and intensive hunting of
pelagic fish and sea mammals (Yamaura, 1999). Such extensive maritime activity likely
Comparative
Analysis: Chumash and Ainu Sewn-Plank Boat Traditions
required advanced watercraft designs such as sewn plank boats. The Okhotsk culture spread
across the wider region between 400 and 1000 CE and was characterized by sedentary villages
Table
1. Social and Technological Comparison of Sewn Canoes
withTomol/Ti'at

Itaomacip

Sewn Planks
V-shaped hull
Dugout core
Sails

Yes
Yes
No
No

Yes
Yes
Yes
Sometimes

Specialized and Esoteric Knowledge

Yes

Possible

High-Value Materials

Yes

Yes

Launching Rituals

Boat Design

Boat Building

Yes

Yes

Heat treating wood
Boats and Society
Elite Sponsorship

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Long-distance trade

Yes

Yes

Use of trade currency
Contemporary Culture

Yes

Possible

Symbol of Revitalization

Yes

Yes

Regular Voyages

Yes

Sometimes

Design Elements

Design Elements
Several similarities
and differences
betweenthe
theCalifornian
Californian andHokkaido
traditions
canSeveral similarities
and differences
betweenand
Hokkaido
traditions
can bebe highlighted. First, both the southern California tomol and Ainu itaomacip share the use ofhighlighted. First, both the southern California tomol and Ainu itaomacip share the use of sewn12 than would have been possible using a single
plank technology to construct larger and faster craft
dugout log. Both designs, of course, would have required considerable technical knowledge andinvestment in labor time and materials, likely requiring construction specialists and potentiallyelite sponsorship in order to build. In terms of design features, however, the itaomacip retained
the central use of a dugout core, while the tomol and ti’at had evolved into a new design space
and were entirely built from planks. This may have made them lighter but created new costs as thesouthern Californian plank canoe seems to have required much larger amounts of pitch for caulking
and waterproofing the seams between the planks. Another cost may have been structural weakness
which may have limited tomol vessel length, while itaomacip could be built in larger proportions– the vessel constructed in 1989 was 13.5 meters in length (Ohtsuka, 1999), which would makeit several meters longer than the largest known tomols. Finally, another key difference is that thelarger Ainu sailing boats of the itaomacip often made use of a double sprit sail, which was an
unknown technology in North America.

Transformative Socio-Economic Capacities of Advanced Watercraft
Trajectory 1: Chumash watercraft in the emergent Western North America “World System”

As outlined in the Introduction, sewn canoes represent important technological achievements
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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024

that emerged from – and further shaped – local culture-historical trajectories. In both regions, theuse of these vessels coincides with increases in socio-political complexity, with more technicallycomplex canoe designs leading to greater chiefly involvement in sponsoring canoe construction.
Coupled with the increased ability to engage in sea-going trading, these developments led tohigher degrees of social stratification, increased sedentism, and the formation of chiefdom-likesocieties. The details of these changes are better understood in California, in part due to our better
understanding of the chronology of boat innovation in that area (Arnold. 1995; Fauvelle, 2011;
Gamble, 2002). Importantly, these transformations were not limited to the immediate regions
surrounding southern California. On the contrary, the Tomol voyages conducted by entrepreneurial
elites on both sides of the California Bight were part of new inter-regional connections that spannedWestern North America, including land-based agricultural societies who have traditionally been
considered as more “complex” than the hunter-fisher-forager canoe users who we have focused onin this paper.
Other archaeological data include shell beads produced primarily on Santa Cruz Island insouthern California were one of the most widely circulated trade goods in pre-colonial North
America (Smith & Fauvelle, 2015). During the historic period, these beads were often used as
money, facilitating everyday transactions, and serving as a unit of account for debts (Fauvelle,
2024; Gamble, 2020). In the Chumash region, hundreds of highly standardized Olivella biplicata
cupped beads were strung on threads and measured to set lengths to denote various values. Overthe course of the late period, millions of these beads were produced on Santa Cruz Island andexchanged across western North America (Smith & Fauvelle, 2015; Zappia, 2014). These beads
were used as money as far afield as the American Southwest, where the Zuni referred to strings ofOlivella shells as hishi and used different lengths of bead strings to conduct exchanges (Frisbie,
1974). California shell even reached as far as the Mississippi region, with 13,948 Olivella damashells from the Pacific Ocean being found at the Sprio Mounds site in Oklahoma, a distance ofover 1,800 km from the closest Californian coasts (Kozuch 2002). These interactions took placeon the borders and peripheries of complex state-level polities, including the Mississippian world of
the mid-west and Mesoamerican states of Central Mexico, that were increasingly interconnectedduring the period of the Medieval Warm Period between 800 and 1300 CE (Pauketat, 2023; Smith& Fauvelle, 2022). Given the magnitude of this exchange and the distances involved, it should beclear that shell bead production by Indigenous Californians impacted the economies of societies far
beyond their immediate neighbors.
Shell beads made in coastal California were being traded across the American West from the
Early Holocene and onwards (Fitzgerald et al., 2005). Production and exchange of beads increased
drastically towards the end of the millennium CE when the production of shell beads became
dominated by highly specialized artisans working on Santa Cruz Island (Arnold & Graesch, 2001).
This raises the question of why bead production became concentrated on the islands when Olivellashells are found widely across the mainland coasts. One possible answer brings us back to theinnovation of the sewn plank canoe. Of all the materials needed for tomol manufacture, only theplanks themselves could be readily found on the islands (Fauvelle, 2011, 2013; Hudson et al., 1978).
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This means that islanders depended on cross-channel trade to acquire the bitumen and milkweedneeded to build and maintain their canoes. As Fauvelle has argued elsewhere (Fauvelle, 2011,2012, 2013, 2014; Fauvelle et al., 2017), it is likely that islanders intensified the production of shellbeads after 500 CE in order to alleviate trade asymmetries caused in the increasing importance ofboat building. By the Late Period (circa 1300 CE), highly skilled bead specialists on the islands
had cornered the market for bead production, making Santa Cruz Island in particular the “mint” forshell money traded across the wider region.
We can thus trace a direct line from the innovation of the plank canoe on the coast of California
to the increasing importance of shell money across wide regions of western North America. Not
only was the plank canoe necessary to carry out the trade that carried millions of shell beads
from the Islands to the mainland, but the need by Chumash islanders to finance plank canoes
also drove the intensification of the island bead industry. These developments had important
implications across the American West. As discussed by Smith and Fauvelle (2015), shell beads
were one component of an intensive interaction sphere which linked the political economies ofboth California and the Southwest. As shell beads flowed east, important goods such as textiles
and ceramics flowed west, linking the prestige exchange networks of both regions. Indigenous
seafaring on the Channel Islands, therefore, was just the first step in a wide-reaching exchange
network that impacted historical trajectories across much of the continent.
Trajectory 2: Ainu watercraft in the emergent Northeast Asia “World System”

Strikingly similar dynamics can be identified in Maritime Northeast Asia (see Fitzhugh, 2022,
pp. 404-412 for an extended discussion). First, the innovation of sewn-plank watercraft probably
grew out of long-term trends towards increased inter-regional trade and exchange networks that had
started to impact Hokkaido in the late and Final Jōmon and draw it into larger maritime interaction
spheres. The Epi-Jomon, Satsumon, and especially Okhotsk Cultures involved increased maritime
trading and raiding by coastal people across Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the circum Sea of Okhotsk,
and into the Lower Amur. There would have been powerful drivers for innovation within existing
vessel traditions, resulting in larger and more seaworthy watercraft that enabled different actors
and communities to extend their range across northeast Asia. In turn, these new technological andvoyaging capacities created new niches for Indigenous communities as traders and intermediaries,
with furs, kelp and dried salmon moving from Hokkaido down to Honshu. Simultaneously, a wide
range of exotic goods were not only channeled from Honshu into Hokkaido, but also from theAmur River down Sakhalin and into Hokkaido and Honshu. Links with the Kurils, Kamchatka,
northern Okhotsk Sea shores and even Chukotka may also have played a role (Amano, 1978; c.f.
Hudson, 2004; Yamaura, 1999).
Other archaeological lines of evidence find parallels with the use of abalone shell currency
beads in California. In Rebun, shell bracelets from Okinawa and shell bead production workshops
in the Epi-Jōmon, hint at more formalized trade networks emerging around this time (Hudson,2021). Abalone shells from Rebun Island may also have functioned as a trade currency across from
Okinawa to Hokkaido, although these trade shells were not as formalized as in the California case-43

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024

study (Hudson, 2022). Ocean-going vessels were not only used for trade, however, as groups fromthe sea of Okhotsk also disrupted shipping and trading routes through piracy and mainland raids,
the result of which can be seen in the construction of fortresses in the Amur River area (Yamaura,
1999). Although these societies had smaller populations and were more loosely integrated thantheir agricultural neighbors, mobile watercraft technologies amplified their ability to affect thepolitical economic and security situation of greater northeast Asia.
Some historical documents show that the Ainu plank boat, itaomacip, played active roles, whenthe Ainu extended the range of their subsistence and commercial activities. The Ainu occupied thesouthern part of Sakhalin by the 13th century (Nakamura, 2014) and migrated to Kuril Islands in the
16th century after a century or more of unpopulated period (Fitzhugh, 2019; Fitzhugh et al., 2016).
The first encounter between the Mongolian and Ainu warriors on Sakhalin is recorded in 1264. At
the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century the Ainu often fought against Mongolians
in Sakhalin and even advanced into the continental side. One can guess that the Ainu used plankboats to cross the La Perouse Strait (from Hokkaido to Sakhalin) and Tatar Strait (from Sakhalin
to the continent), though, unfortunately, there is no concrete evidence on the boats Ainu used toadvance to Sakhalin.
Archaeological evidence of a sustained Ainu presence can be found on the Kuril Islands
and even in Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian Cossacks, who conducted exploration and conquestof Chukotka and Kamchatka in the 17th century, witnessed the Ainu living at the southern end of
Kamchatka. When I. Kozyrevsky and D. Antsiferov landed on Shumshu Island (the first islandfrom Kamchatka) and encountered Kuril Ainu in 1711 and 13, they met an Ainu who had comefrom Iturup (Etorofu) Island (Akizuki & Abe, 1968; Znamenskii, 1929). Ethnographic records
written by S. P. Krasheninnikov and J. G. Georgi show us how enthusiastically the Kuril Ainu
conducted the voyage along the islands, and how they deeply depended on the trade and exchangewith the Hokkaido Ainu. Their ethnography reveals that commodities from Honshu and Hokkaido,e.g., clothes made of cotton and silk, knives, pots and other iron products, accessories (may be, they
were glass beads), lacquerware, tobacco, and other daily utensils, supported to maintain the Ainu
culture of the Kuril Islanders in the 18th century (Georgi, 1777; Krasheninnnikov, 1949). Certainly,
both Kuril Ainu and Hokkaido Ainu boarded on the itaomacip to go trading as well as hunting sea
mammals and fishing big fish.
Some excavated wood vessels found at the archeological sites in Akkeshi Town and TomakomaiCity, are considered as a bottom part of the itaomacip2. At a glance, they seem to be simple dugout boats. However, one can see some small holes on the upper part of both sides of the boat andunderstand that some pieces of board were sewn onto the body with a cord, which passed throughthe holes. Boards and oars were also excavated. According to a preliminary analysis by AMS-14C
dating, a boat excavated at a site near Akkeshi Town is presumed to be constructed as early as
the mid-17th century or later (Paleo Labo Co., 2020). This means that the boat was used almost
at the same times when the Russians began to contact the Ainu on the Kuril Islands. At that time
Hokkaido Ainu were still active to set sails to various regions including Matsumae, northern partof Honshu, and Kuril Islands to engage in the trade, because the Matsumae clan still did not have44

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024

enough power and authority to subdue the Ainu. The Akkeshi kotan (kotan means a village in Ainu
language) was a regional center for the Ainu in the eastern Hokkaido and southern Kuril Islands inthe 18th and 19th centuries. For example, Ikotoi, who was a chief of this kotan in the late 18th century,
had much authority over the people of these regions and had kinship ties with chief families in
Kunashiri and Iturup Islands (Matsumae, 2015/1790; Mogami 1972/1790). He supported someJapanese explorers including Tokunai Mogami to conduct field research in Kunashiri, Iturup, andUrup Islands, launching his own ship (Mogami, 1972/1790).
There are many records and much evidence on the itaomacip of the Hokkaido Ainu inhistorical documents, pictures, archeological findings, and museum collections. For example, inan ethnography (Ezo seikei zusetsu) written, drawn, and edited by Shimanojō Murakami, Rinzō
Mamiya, and Teisuke Murakami, a process of making itaomacip is clearly described in sentencesand depicted in illustrations from a rite for cutting trees to sailing into the ocean (Murakami et al.,1990/1823). These descriptions and depictions tell us how the Ainu people construct the plank boatand how they properly used some kinds of boats and ships for fishing, hunting, and trading. Whenthey would go to Matsumae to participate in the ceremony for meeting the lords of Matsumae, they
constructed a larger ship named uymam cip, which had special decoration at the bow.
On the contrary, there is little evidence on the boats and ships of the Kuril Ainu. However,some real models seen in a collection of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, are the precious examples of the itaomacipof the Kuril Ainu. Three items (No. 809-10, 809-14, and 809-22) were registered as a museum
collection in 1840. No. 809-10 is a large model, which is more than 1m long and which is made ofsome planks sewn by baleen strings. It represents an ocean-going ship because it has a mast, ropes
for setting sails, and five pairs of oars. No. 809-22 is a similar ocean-going-boat. No. 809-14 is amodel of a dugout boat with sewn planks. These three models were collected in the expedition of
the Russian fleet led by I. G. Voznesensky along the Kuril Islands in 1839 (Sokolov, 2014; SPbAinu Project, 1998). This fact means that the Kuril Ainu used some kinds of itaomacip to engage
in hunting, fishing, and trading in the mid-19th century.
The Ainu itaomacip has long been a main transportation tool for moving on the river andocean, which vitalized intercourse and exchange of the people, extended commercial areas, andpromoted regional political integration. More research on the timing and technological developmentof watercraft innovation in northeast Asia is certain to expand our understanding of the reach of
Indigenous maritime systems in the region.

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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 30–52, 2024

Conclusions: Research Outlook

Figure 7. Flow chart depicting the dialectic process of maritime socio-technological innovation

We started by arguing that boats provide an excellent example of the capacity for new kindsof technology to transform societies and shape historical trajectories. These transformations had
both local and more wide-spread effects, as seen in how the ancient people of the Sea of Okhotsk
and California’s islands and coasts clearly influenced, and were influenced by, more traditionallycomplex societies in their greater interaction spheres in Japan, northeast Asia, and the American
Southwest, and even the wider Mesoamerican world of which the Southwest was a part (see Figure7). In this sense, these Indigenous societies can be considered as the “unruly peripheries” of complex
and emergent “World Systems”; dynamos of social change and innovation existing on the edgesof traditional hierarchies and regional power structures. The maritime nature of both societies
was a central component in the ability of these regions to influence their neighbors. Innovation inwatercraft technology directly impacted the ability of these island and coastal societies to carry out
trading, raiding, and other interactions across wide-ranging seascapes. Without sewn plank canoes,
these changes are unlikely to have been possible, showing how technological innovation in Pacificmaritime cultures had the ability to transform historical trajectories with global implications.
In contemporary debate, the transformative role of watercraft remains heavily underresearched among many coastal Indigenous communities because colonial programs and researchand “rescue” documentation still tend to portray them as communities descended from static
cultural entities that contained particular constellations of traits and traditions, with each local
cultural separate and distinct from neighboring ones. In turn, these ethnic and tribal typologies
and inventories were imported into state and federal legislation, which continued to treat local
Indigenous communities as backward, traditional, and isolated cultural entities. The role oflong-range networks, emerging socio-political niches, and the structured interactions between

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“differently-organized others” remains poorly understood across the North Pacific, as does the vastgeographic reach and transformative local power or emerging “World Systems” (Fitzhugh, 2022).
Analysis of the role of watercraft in emergent inter-regional networks and identities immediately
raises questions about other archaeological and historical phenomena including currencies, trade
networks, and political strategies. Ultimately, the origins of Chumash, Ainu and other maritime andindeed terrestrially-oriented Indigenous peoples may be better understood as a process of dynamic
long-range interaction rather than pristine and timeless isolation.
Looking to the future, the history and evolution of boat designs, and analysis and documentationof their complex and multi-faceted socio-political roles are not only pertinent to academic researchand debates. The skills, knowledge, practice, and deeper cultural significance of these sewn-plankvessels are also a critical form of cultural heritage and indeed, a kind of “Traditional Ecological
Knowledge” to contemporary Indigenous and descendent communities in both California andnorthern Japan (Table 1). In California, reconstruction of Chumash and Tongva plank canoes began
in the 1970s and voyages in plank canoes from the mainland coast to the Channel Islands are now
regularly organized by local Indigenous communities. Artistic representations of the plank canoe
are also common in public places throughout southern California indicating its importance as asymbol of local history. In Hokkaido, local boat-building traditions were revived in the late 1980s
and voyages on sewn canoes have also become an important part of local cultural identity andheritage (Ohtsuka, 1999). In researching the deeper history of these unique vessels, we hope tocontribute to understanding, appreciation, and indeed the future reproduction of these vibrant craft
traditions.
Footnotes:
1 In English language literature, the Ainu boats are often spelled with an h, as in Yarchip. Here we use the moreaccurate Ainu spelling of cip.
2 These boats excavated at a site near Akkeshi are now exhibited in the National Ainu Museum in Shiraoi Town andMaritime Museum in Akkeshi Town, while those found at the site near Tomakomai are displayed in Tomakomai City
Museum. The boat in the Akkeshi Museum includes the bottom dugout portion with clearly visible drilled holes forsewing on planks.

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4. Insights from Early Career Researcher Representatives at the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 Asia Spotlight Event- Sikopo Nyambe, Future Earth Secretariat, Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Sapporo, JAPAN- Yen-Tzu Fan, Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TAIWAN- Cho Kwong Charlie Lam, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Mahmud Aditya Rifqi, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, JAPAN- Jessy Zgambo, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, JAPAN- Shiyu Deng, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Huishan Huang, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Jingyu Yao, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA- Milan Chen, Tamkang University, Taipei, TAIWAN- Anasuya Gangopadhyay, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, INDIA- Lambino Ria, Future Earth Secretariat, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, JAPAN- Sioen Giles B., Future Earth Secretariat, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, JAPAN- Kasuga Fumiko, Future Earth Secretariat, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, JAPANInsights from Early Career
Researcher Representatives at
the Sustainability Research &Innovation Congress 2022 Asia
Spotlight Event
Sikopo Nyambe *1,2, Yen-Tzu Fan 3, Cho Kwong Charlie Lam4, Mahmud
Aditya Rifqi 5, Jessy Zgambo 5, Shiyu Deng4, Huishan Huang4, Jingyu Yao4,
Milan Chen6, Anasuya Gangopadhyay 7, Lambino Ria 1,8, Sioen Giles B. 1,9,
and Kasuga Fumiko 1,10.
1 Future Earth Secretariat, JAPAN, sikopo.nyambe@futureearth.org
2 Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity, Sapporo, JAPAN3 Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University,
Taipei, TAIWAN
4 School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, CHINA
5 Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, JAPAN
6 Iberdrola, Taipei, TAIWAN
7 Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, INDIA
8 Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, JAPAN
9 National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, JAPAN10 Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, JAPAN

Editor’s Introduction
Dear Readers:
The following report provides information about presentations and actions that took place at
the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 Asia Spotlight Event (SRI-ASE 2022).
We were approached as an outlet for the report by its authors based on our aim of publishing“research papers on the global and regional issues of Indigenous peoples” on topics related to“human ecology and global health” and “policy.” We agree with the report’s authors that the items

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 53–69, 2024
https://doi.org/10.57519/iscd.00009
Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
https://gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/gsi/publication.html

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Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 53–69, 2024

discussed here have implications for Indigenous communities in that governmental policies often
impact Indigenous and minority communities disproportionately than majority communities. The
publication of this report is just one way we at the Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
journal are committed to providing information of use to researchers and Indigenous communities.

Joe WATKINS
Editor-in-Chief
Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

Introduction
The Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 Asia Spotlight Event (SRI-ASE2022) was held virtually from June 21-24, 2022 and co-organized by Future Earth Global Secretariat
Hubs in Asia based in Japan, Taipei, China, and South Asia, during the main sessions of the SRI
2022. SRI-ASE 2022 included over 70 speakers and more than 300 participants from within andoutside the Asia region. The aim of the event was to provide space to reflect on inspiring researchand discussions related to the themes: New Horizons, Different Ways of Knowing, Nexus Issues,
and Cross-cutting Science and Innovation in Asia.
This report gives an overview of the event by sharing learnings and reflections captured anddeveloped by Early Career Researcher Representatives who participated in speaker sessions, took
notes, prepared summation of the event by theme (see table 1), and presented summaries at the
Closing Plenary of the Asia Spotlight Event (ASE). The report brings these various themes together,
spotlighting key issues on Sustainability and Innovation in Asia as presented at the four-day event.
A breakdown of the themes is as follows:

1. New Horizons
The theme “New Horizons” positioned innovation as a key driver for developing resilient
strategies in the face of natural and human-made challenges. The event focused on emerging issues
and trends that would shape the future, with an emphasis on sustainability. Two significant subthemes, collective water resource management and the international response to the COVID-19
pandemic, garnered substantial attention. Discussions explored the post-COVID-19 world, often
unheard voices in sustainability science, justice, equity, ethics, and inclusive financial mechanisms
for growth and resiliency. The aim was to predict challenges and solutions, fostering a more
prepared and resilient world. The theme encouraged diverse groups to come together, with theaspiration of forming coalitions and finding more effective solutions.

2. Different Ways of Knowing
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The theme “Different Ways of Knowing” delved into the diverse forms that knowledge canassume, seeking inclusive, open, and cross-disciplinary strategies to enhance its effectiveness inaddressing large-scale issues. Emphasizing the versatility of knowledge, the theme recognizedvarious ways of understanding, conceptualizing, and learning about the world. The focus wason fostering an inclusive approach to knowledge, broadening the spectrum of solutions forsustainable action. Exploration included indigenous/local community knowledge, equitable accessto information and decision-making options, and transdisciplinary research. The theme highlighted
the benefits of sharing knowledge in open forums as a clear path toward a more sustainable, resilient
world.

3. Nexus Issues
The theme “Nexus Issues” concentrated on the deteriorating stability of the climate andits increasing impacts on the environment and society. Emphasizing interrelated sustainability
challenges, the theme called for collaboration between researchers, governments, and societies
to enhance resilience amid adverse events. Discussions covered various critical intersections,
including sustainable food systems and human wellbeing, resilience, adaptation, and addressing
risk, evidence-based contributions to sustainable development goals (SDGs), narratives of progress,
wealth, and well-being, as well as the nexus of water, food, energy, and society. The theme aimed
to achieve these goals through the development of smart cities, data sharing, and the application ofresearch to real-world problems.

4. Cross-cutting Asian Science and Innovation
The theme “Cross-cutting Asian Science and Innovation” showcased the richness of science,
innovation, and sustainability in Asia. It highlighted a spectrum of knowledge, from tested local
solutions to advanced academic research. The theme recognized diverse local solutions, showcased
academic innovation, took note of indigenous knowledge, emphasized cross-sector collaborations
driven by science and innovation, and underscored sustainability as a catalyst for scientificadvancements in Asia. The focus was on presenting the wealth of knowledge and innovation in the
Asian region, ranging from grassroots solutions to cutting-edge academic research.
In conclusion of the report, the various reflections and learnings from the presentations madeunder the four themes were summarized with the aim of highlighting the challenges, successes,
and gaps facing the Asian region as they relate to sustainability science and innovation. Finally, in
consideration of the theme ‘different ways of knowing’ and with a focus on the diverse cultures of
the Asian region, the report looked at the position of indigenous studies and cultural diversity amid
these reflections and learnings.

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Table 1. Sessions by theme at SRI ASE 2022

Table 1: Sessions by theme at SRI ASE 2022

No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Session Title(s)Theme

The human side of water research

New Horizons

COVID-19 governance and migrant workers: hindsight, insight, and foresight

New Horizons

Cryosphere science for sustainability

Nexus Issues

Processing, management, explanation, and demonstration for the environmental open data

Different ways of Knowing

Harnessing transdisciplinarity in sustainability research and education: Openthermodynamics systems framework
Science & practice: Exploring ocean resilience and blue carbon initiatives

Different ways of Knowing

Adapting the impacts of typhoons on coastal livelihoods and socio-ecosystems under climatechanges
An innovative future for GHG mitigation and sustainable development

Nexus Issues

Nexus Issues

13.

Online Synthesis Systems (OSS): a web-based knowledge integration system for Disasterrisk reduction, Resilience, and Sustainability.
Challenges in urban climate data management: transformation of cities for climate change
mitigations and adaptation strategies
When super storms devastate coastal areas: Science and policy innovations towards socioecological resilience
Asian Regional Climate Modelling, Impact Assessment and Action

14.

Climate change and sustainable development of the greater bay area

Cross-cutting (Nexus Issues)

15.

Air pollution climate change health effects

Cross-cutting (Nexus Issues)

16.

Resilience in the face of adversity - Building climate-smart agriculture systems

Cross-cutting (Nexus Issues)

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Innovativeness in industrialization cost of trust

New Horizons

Different ways of Knowing

Nexus Issues

Nexus Issues
Nexus Issues

Cross-cutting (Nexus Issues)

17.

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for addressing Human-Nature Conflicts in the Sub-Saharan Cross-cutting
Africa Region*Submitted under the theme of ‘Nexus Issues’. Discussed under the theme of 'Cross-cutting Asian Science and Innovation’.

New Horizons
Three main topics were discussed under this theme: the human side of water research,governmental responses to COVID-19 as it pertained to migrant workers, and the industrial
innovation cost of trust. These topics are still active areas of research which are closely related tosustainable development.
Climate change has impacted water security and deteriorated water quality, which calls for
global efforts towards collectively managing our water resources. In the first topic, a diverse setof researchers working on issues of climate change, water, and health, held a discussion about
the importance of making water research people centric. In the response to COVID-19, thevulnerabilities and crucial role of migrant workers in the global economy were exposed, in whichgovernance played a crucial role. In the second topic, researchers focused on migrant workers
in the Global South, and examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these workers.
Innovation and the cost of trust are closely related to sustainable growth of the economy, and aholistic approach is needed to tackle this issue. In the last session, researchers highlighted cases
from India to investigate further innovativeness in industrialization cost of trust.
This theme reveals that urbanization is not incompatible with water conservation. There ishope for a sustainable future, as demonstrated by: the success stories of the restoration of Bangalore56

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lakes in India; the community action in the rejuvenation of forests that recharge fresh springsin the Himalayas; and the translation of scientific knowledge on fluoride contamination to fieldinterventions with the participation of the community. This theme also suggests that the immigration
status and country of origin of migrant workers played an essential role in determining the extent
of the impact of COVID-19. In addition, innovation and technology (such as artificial intelligence)
should provide regenerative supply chains that deliver innovative solutions on a global scale, andtechnological innovation requires human intervention to make the building of trust more effective,
efficient, and empathetic.
Several challenges were discussed under this theme. First, there is a need for governments andlocal organizations to strengthen and empower local knowledge as a key component of sustainability.
This theme emphasizes that scientific knowledge is important and valuable, but that it should build
on or complement local and indigenous knowledge and good practice. Also, a more inclusive
approach is necessary with regard to the provision of health services to migrants, especially in theface of global challenges such as COVID-19. The challenge of leveraging technological innovation
across diverse sectors, while also building and maintaining trust, was a key topic under discussion.

Discussion
As the world becomes more urban and cities grow, the demand for clean and adequate water
will also increase. As we reflect on future actions, we note that there is a need to strengthen andempower local knowledge as a key component of sustainability. This is clearly highlighted by the
success stories mentioned above. Scientific knowledge is important and valuable, but it should
build on or supplement local and indigenous knowledge and good practices.
The challenges faced by the migrant workers due to COVID-19 were very similar acrossvarious locations. It was clear that socioeconomic status, immigration status and country of origin
played an essential role in determining the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on migrant workers.
While it is of concern that challenges faced by migrant workers are similar, we note that this createsa platform for sharing adaptive and transformative policies for action focusing on migrant workers
in foreign countries and those needing reintegration into their home countries. We also note that
there is a need for a more inclusive approach to providing health services to migrants, especially inthe face of global challenges like COVID-19.
Trust plays a very important role in family activities, economic business activities, and evensocial governance, and so it is crucial to build trust in individuals, communities, and institutions.
With the advent of advanced technology, the opportunity for innovation in trust building isincreasing through the integration of artificial intelligence, Design Thinking, and System Thinking
approaches. We note that innovation and technology (e.g. artificial intelligence) should provide
regenerative supply chains to deliver innovative solutions on a global scale. For example, consider
the application of technological innovation to education systems to enable dynamic and resilient
development. Moreover, technological innovation requires human intervention to make trust
building more effective, efficient, and empathetic.
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Different Ways of Knowing
Three main topics were discussed in this theme, including the environmental open data,transdisciplinarity, and blue carbon (blue carbon refers to carbon fixation and emissions in coastal
or oceanic environments). The speakers not only mentioned how governments and companies
collected and used environmental open data but were also concerned with ethical issues such asdata quality, safety, and privacy. The path towards transdisciplinary research, based on the pathmono- to multi- to inter- and finally a fully holistic approach, was highlighted. Moreover, blue
carbon was thought to be an important topic in Asian countries in particular due to their close
proximity to the Pacific Ocean, which plays a crucial role in climate regulation and fishery.
On the issue of “Processing, Management, Explanation, and Demonstration for theEnvironmental Open Data”, there are several obstacles nowadays, including the gaps between
the languages, repository formats, or the national policies among countries. Also, misused data
may lead to misinterpretation of results. Undoubtedly, data quality, safety, and other ethical issues
require more concern for public/environmental affairs. The trends of transdisciplinary studies or
actions are inevitable nowadays, given the need to cover a wide range of topics and solve complex
problems. In SRI-ASE 2022, several Korean graduate students participated in a session titled,“Harnessing Transdisciplinarity in Sustainability Research and Education: Open Thermodynamic
Systems Framework” and shared their research using thermodynamic systems on pig farms, forests,
grape astringency, and photosystems in plants. This indicated the importance of transdisciplinarity
for modern research and education. In addition to academic research, practical actions are also
crucial for world sustainability. The research groups from Taiwan shared their experiences onpractical coral restoration in coastal areas in the session “Science & Practice: Exploring Ocean
Resilience and Blue Carbon Initiatives”.
One of the key achievements for environmental open data is that free statistical data becomes
available to everyone in Taiwan. This promoted the establishment of early warning systems forseveral natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or extreme heavy rain events. In South Korea,transdisciplinary works began to be promoted in colleges and universities. Graduate students fromdiverse disciplines (e.g., genetics/molecular biology, quantum physics, rural systems engineering,
ecosystem ecology, global remote sensing) illustrated the importance of applying non-equilibrium
thermodynamic systems modelling to understand the nature and cost of complex living systems
and their sustainability. Transdisciplinary works were also discussed by the research groups from
Taiwan, showing how they managed to restore corals in coastal regions with the cooperation fromthe company Delta Electronics Group, the National Museum of Natural Science, and coral researchgroups (Delta Electronics, 2022). This not only promotes transdisciplinary works but also thepractical actions required to improve sustainability.
Several challenges were discussed, including the necessity of balancing approaches between
the needs for data privacy and collection, and further strengthening of transdisciplinarity extending
to broader fields such as business and technology. An additional challenge arises due to the factthat young scientists are often not able to engage in transdisciplinary works; to address this,58

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academic communities should provide more opportunities and support for young scientists totake part in transdisciplinary investigations. In addition, awareness of sustainability issues such as
ocean conservation is still not discussed widely enough in public and among governments in Asian
countries such as South Korea, the Philippines, or Taiwan.
Transdisciplinary issues are not only important for research, but also for practical actions
and decision making. Therefore, scholars must find a way to evolve with science and advances intechnology. In addition, the networks among scientists, stakeholders, the public, and governments
need to be considered. The urgent and specific topics of sustainability for Asian regions need to be
identified; this can be achieved in part by emphasizing more the importance of Future Earth Asian
Hubs.

Discussion
Promoting transdisciplinary research provides refreshing perspectives in understanding thenature and cost of complex living systems and their sustainability. Also, with increasing concern
about climate change mitigation, the importance of environmental open data has become more
and more apparent in regional modelling as opposed to the global scale. Given the differences in
geographic, climatic, or cultural conditions, regional open databases are required to specify theeffects and the consequences caused by climate change. Therefore, Future Earth Asian Hubs canpromote data collection from Asian countries, e.g. governments, research institutes, or stakeholders,and provide the platform for data sharing between countries. Of course, data security and quality
should be an area of focus in order to prevent misinterpretation.
Practical actions are the most direct way to promote sustainability. People in Asian countries,
which are mainly located along the west Pacific Ocean, rely on the ocean for their livelihood, forreasons such as fishery, water resources, climate regulation, or recreational activities. Hence, theactions of coral restoration, which was discussed in this theme, are not only important for ocean
blue carbon resilience, but also for Asian human welfare.

Nexus Issues
Various topics were discussed under the theme “Nexus Issues”. Subjects ranging from
impact analysis and adaptation requirements for typhoons and superstorms, threats of cryosphereservices deterioration, the trade-offs between greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, and sustainable
development goal (SDG)-related topics, were discussed.
Climate change will result in a deterioration of the basic function of the cryosphere, leading
to effects such as glacier melting and permafrost thawing. Climate change also increases themagnitude and frequency of extreme events like typhoons and superstorms. The sessions under thistheme focused on adaptation methods for these events and discussed different knowledge driven
tools for disaster risk reduction, resilience, and sustainability. The need for climate-sensitive urban
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design, smart cities, circular cities and cultural heritage reuse, solid waste management, city-portplanning, and nature-based solutions were also highlighted.
The discussions under the theme “Nexus Issues” clearly showed that climate change
mitigation measures like reducing GHGs and achieving SDG goals have certain trade-offs. For
example, energy transition can have a negative impact on water-related SDGs (SDG6). It wasalso highlighted that there is a need for a fair division of climate change mitigation efforts. It wasevident that various web-based knowledge integration systems are useful tools for disaster risk
reduction, efficient city operation, resilience, and sustainability.
Disasters have long been fatal threats in human history. As a result of rapid growth ineconomics and urbanization, human society has recently become even more vulnerable in termsof the possible risks associated with disasters such as typhoons and superstorms. It is important tomake the build-back process more resilient and sustainable. To achieve this, it is crucial to engage
all stakeholders to formulate strategic responses.
The melting cryosphere impacts mid-latitude weather, arctic shipping routes, sea-level rise,
and water towers, and leads to infrastructure issues related to permafrost thawing. Further, thecryosphere stores a globally significant amount of legacy pollutants. The melting cryosphere
represents an increasing source of pollutants to the environment, adversely impacting ecosystems
and biological health. From the urban planning perspective, solid waste management, re-use andcreation of circular city models are of major importance.
It was emphasized that international transdisciplinary collaboration between stakeholders
and innovations are essential for building a climate resilient society. Science policy innovations
can change the collective behavior of people and disaster management outcomes. However, it isimportant to make scientific findings understandable not just to experts, but to all stakeholders
involved in the processes. A common and easily recognized language is necessary.

Discussion
Climate change has a severe impact on various environmental aspects of our life. Energy,
water, and livelihood are all interlinked, and have trade-offs. Hence, studying them as a nexus
theme is crucial. Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its impact and adaptation
requirements are very local. The third pole cryosphere that is located in the Tibetan region is oneof the most crucial water towers for large Asian rivers and related livelihood. However, this water
tower is also one of the most vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, exploration of different local
innovations and transdisciplinary study are key to building climate resilient societies. This makes
the “Nexus Issues” theme in SRI-ASE 2022 vital and timely.
It is key to raise public awareness in different aspects of climate change adaptation. Thereare challenges in translating research into policies. One key issue is using a language that is
easily understood by the public, which is particularly relevant in developing nations. Open-source
tools and collaboration across different research, governments, and NGOs are crucial for climate
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adaptation at the community level. Web-based knowledge integration system tools like the Online
Synthesis Systems (OSS) are useful for Disaster risk reduction, Resilience and Sustainability, andurban planning. In addition to the system itself, “facilitators” for the tool play another key roleinusing the tool on site to solve stakeholders’ problems as a means of strengthening resilience.
The system should be promoted under transdisciplinary cooperation with international scientificorganizations, various on-site stakeholders, and UN/international agencies to support enhancementof syntheses for strengthening disaster resilience and promoting sustainable development.
There is also a need to strengthen our systematic and in-depth understanding of different
environmental processes like the cryosphere-anthroposphere relationship. With a deteriorating
cryosphere, water towers, and related functionality, we need to plan for building resilience in oursociety.
There is still room for improvement in action plans to build resilience into society throughtransdisciplinary collaboration. Along with the natural sciences, aspects including urban planning,
human mental health, and the management of climate refugees should all be considered in theprocess of formulating solutions. Finally, science should expand from basic research towards
practical application and the formation of policy.

Cross-cutting Asian Science and Innovation
The topics discussed under this theme included Asian regional climate modelling and impact
assessment, climate change and sustainable development in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), andthe air pollution-climate change-health nexus. The issues of building a climate-smart agricultural
system and the data infrastructure for addressing society and nature as a whole were also key topics.
The first main focal point was global climate change, which affects regional climate, and canin turn affect the urban heat island in cities. In the future, there will be an increase in heatwave
intensity, rising sea level, and increased rainfall under various shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP)
scenarios. More frequent and intense typhoons could occur in Southern China, leading to higher
chances of landslides and flooding. This issue is exacerbated by increased precipitation in urban
areas owing to anthropogenic heat and polluted air. Regional climate models and observational
studies have confirmed the trend of higher temperature and greater rainfall in the GBA.
The second focal point was addressing the health co-benefits of climate change and air
pollution, and how to save lives in the face of these issues. Understanding the complex interactions
between urban physical-chemistry systems and urban-growth drivers is critical to designing better
adaptation and mitigation strategies. We also need to use top-down measurements to identify,
constrain, and attribute air pollutant emissions. Moreover, urban design needs to consider theinteractive effect on urban thermal environment and air quality to protect the health of citizens.
Recent findings have suggested that the new air quality guidelines (AQGs) will reduce fineparticulate matter (PM2.5)-related deaths by nearly 80% compared to 2016 levels. The carbon
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neutrality target offers an excellent opportunity to decrease the PM2.5 levels close to the WHO
AQGs through drops in fossil fuels consumption, reforestation, and urban sustainable development.
Hence, climate change modelling needs to consider the AiR-Climate-Health (ARCH) nexus in thecontext of global warming. To tackle this issue, we need multi-perspective and integration programs
by including science and politics, and raising community awareness. The entire community must
aim to educate people about the importance of these issues and work together to make a criticalreport and policy recommendations.
The third point of discussion was addressing a smart agriculture system to tackle food andagriculture problems related to climate change. Global warming creates additional problems: firstly,rising temperature (associated with an increased frequency of damaging high-temperature events,
increased temperature at night, and new pest and disease pressure); and secondly, uneven rainfall
distribution patterns, drought, and salinity. New farming practices are needed. Smart agriculture
systems can solve these problems by developing modern agriculture and food systems while working
with the farmers to develop these practices. This consists of four approaches: natural resource
management, crop production systems, enabling support systems, and livestock and fisheries.
Regarding support systems, smart agriculture can build a simple system for the farmer to combine
agriculture and poultry, making a local food system that collaborates networks that integrates
sustainable food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste management.
Finally, data from multiple scales and sectors aid decision-based support. Interaction between
stakeholders and scientists has been enhanced with advances in regional climate information
systems. Stakeholders’ experiences and perspectives will facilitate the co-exploration of regional
climate model simulations. In this context, model results become more relevant, credible, andactionable, and thus promote appropriate responses. Therefore, object-oriented analysis will yield
climate resilience actions such as smart agriculture systems, extreme event warning systems, andair pollution monitoring systems. However, in order to achieve these goals, the climate modelling
process requires data from multiple scales and sectors, which means we need the collaboration of
governments, organizations, and individuals to produce consistent databases.

Discussion
Numerical modelling studies need to have data to validate and initialize the model. Remotesensing gives researchers data for areas that do not have direct observational measurement networks.
However, coupling ocean and land surfaces via remote sensing remains difficult. These issues
would need to be resolved in future studies of climate change and pollution. Better observational
data through different innovative methods are needed to increase the accuracy and validity ofmodelling results. Open-source data and big data present great opportunities for climate resilience.
These data can facilitate international collaboration and foster new research questions. In particular,
data from smart city development approaches can be used to better understand the issues of climatechange adaptation at individual levels. Besides, sectoral data provide a chance to verify regional
climate model (RCM) results and reduce uncertainty.
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The regional models offer great opportunities for improving object-oriented analysis byincorporating more regional factors and stakeholder experiences. However, regional models
require more high-precision data to initialize, and data collection becomes vital at the beginning.
For better data quality, researchers suggest uniform data standards, and that capacity building andregulatory systems are necessary. All these measures seem more practical with progress in Artificial
Intelligence (AI) technology, but data privacy and fairness need to be fully considered.
Apart from understanding the physical mechanisms of climate change, interdisciplinary
research needs to involve more public health researchers to address the health co-benefits of climatechange adaptation. Public health researchers should work closely with climatologists to use morecredible climate models to assess the health impacts of climate change. One particularly relevant
example involves modelling the spread of COVID-19 considering changes in climatic conditions.
One further recommendation was the development of a global research community. Much
research focuses on method and publication. However, given their distance from policymakers,
there is often a lack of communication between these networks. In the future, we must redress thebalance by making critical reports and policy recommendations, and sharing those reports. We
must also develop public-private partnerships, digital transformation, consumer campaigns, andeducation.

Spotlighting key learnings and reflections from SRI-ASE
2022
Key learnings and reflections of the report are summarized as follows:

Data Usage and Collaboration
The issue of data usage was a common area of focus across the four themes. International
collaboration between all actors is necessary to ensure that the data is used to maximum effectand for maximum benefit. In order to foster this collaboration, an Asian database could be createdto allow common usage of data. Although there may be issues with sharing certain types of data
between countries, the benefits of using open-source platforms for improving cross-country andcross-disciplinary collaboration are clear.
Both open-source data and big data can be key in developing strategies for climate resilience,leading not only to participation from multiple actors, but also in leading towards new directions
for research. The recent flourishing of the concept of smart cities, in particular, could open up
avenues for understanding how individuals adapt to climate change.
Providing a means to share data between researchers, stakeholders, and government is crucial
to help us adapt to a rapidly changing world. However, data usage is not the only area which could
benefit from better communication; the question of how to bridge the communication gap between
groups was discussed.
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Integration and Quality of Data
There are a number of issues that could arise when integrating data from various sources,
including differences in language, repository formats, and national policies with regard to datasharing. In addition to this, the possibility of misinterpreting or misusing data could lead to negative
consequences.
Data verification should be conducted by multiple actors to ensure data integrity, security, andethical compliance. Secure sharing platforms could be created to facilitate this, and governments
should be in charge of this process, as they have the authority to enforce secure measures.
Data from observations is crucial to inform numerical models, which are in turn used when
deciding appropriate climate policies. As such, experimental and simulated data must be of the best
possible quality. In both areas, uniform data standards would help to improve the processing andinterpretation of data for all actors, and to enforce best practices.

Local Actions and Innovations
Modern knowledge and techniques are indispensable in developing sustainable strategies,
but local and indigenous knowledge should also have a role to play. Governments should aim tostrengthen and empower this type of knowledge and recognize its importance, not least because
the policies that are implemented can have diverse and unique impacts on individuals, dependingon their location. There will not be a singular solution to any of the nexus issues discussed that canbe applied to all populations uniformly; only by giving a voice to local peoples can these issues
be addressed in the most effective manner. A number of reports were given that emphasized theimportance of local action and innovation, demonstrating how the participation of the community
can not only help and inform policy, but also enforce it.

Holistic Approach and Transdisciplinary Research
Given the complex problems discussed during the event, transdisciplinarity was a key theme.
Research teams must utilize knowledge across a broad range of fields in order to make theirwork more effective and thorough. Integrating knowledge from all of these research areas canbe challenging, but through open collaboration and data-sharing, it can be made possible, and thebenefits of a transdisciplinary approach by a number of research teams were demonstrated clearly
during the event.
There can, however, be barriers which prevent cross-collaboration between researchers
working in different fields. Cultural differences and diverse usage of technical terminology can
prevent effective communication; additionally, young researchers are discouraged from working
across multiple disciplines within the current system. Universities and other research institutions
should embrace transdisciplinary research and encourage their staff and students to tackle big
problems. In doing so, new perspectives and strategies could be developed and used to inform
practical actions and policymakers, thereby maximizing the impact of research. This approach can
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inform the avenues of research to pursue the correct methods to investigate these issues, interpretthe results, and implement the findings.
A long-term approach is required to promote holistic, transdisciplinary research; attempts toattain this goal have, in the past, suffered due to differing opinions among communities. One path
towards tackling a broad range of issues could be to invest more time and effort into Future Earth
Asian Hubs, allowing improved collaboration, communication, and data collection and analysis
between diverse groups.

Cryosphere and Climate Change
Given the scale of climate change and its expected consequences for humanity and the planet,climate change was a major focus throughout the event. Asia, in particular, is expected to bevulnerable to a changing climate as a result of its large population, many of which live in coastal
areas. A degrading cryosphere, which performs certain crucial hydrological functions such as water
conservation and regulation and runoff recharge, has the potential to have enormous repercussions
for the world.
Strategies are therefore needed to understand the impact of climate change on the environmentand on society, to improve our methods for predicting the evolution of the cryosphere and the climate,
and to become more resilient to change. As mentioned above, open-sourcing data and sharing it
between many stakeholders in as many locations as possible, could lead to new innovations andstrategies to be implemented from the local to the global level.
Additionally, the scale of the effects of climate change are wide-ranging. From the expected
increase in extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and heat wave-related deaths at the individuallevel, the climate can affect many aspects of society and our lives. This explains the necessity of
taking a transdisciplinary approach to studying climate change.

Typhoon Effects and Resilience
Natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes have plagued Asia throughout recorded
history, and these adverse events are expected to increase in frequency and severity as a resultof climate change. The impact of these events is wide-ranging, from damaging ecosystems toendangering the life and property of billions. Therefore, a great deal of effort is required to increase
resilience in the face of these events.
Some well-known consequences of climate change and the deterioration of the cryosphere
are their impacts on extreme weather. Society as a whole must therefore become more adaptablein order to reduce the risks associated with these natural disasters and to become more resilient.
Urban design can certainly play a part in achieving these goals, by striving to make buildings andcities more able to weather the storm. This is a particularly significant issue for ports and cities
which lie on floodplains. Although these events are inevitable, governments and stakeholders must65

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work together to develop strategies that will help cities not only to mitigate the immediate risks tolife, infrastructure, and the environment, it is equally important to focus on how to rebuild areas
devastated by natural disasters.
Establishing and improving early warning systems requires not only open data, but also
cooperation among scientists, governments, and companies. The Public Warning System (PWS) in
Taiwan is connected to the central broadcast network, allowing messages warning of disasters suchas earthquakes or floods to reach people as quickly as possible (Taiwan NFA, 2022). Other such
systems are available in other countries, although they could be made more effective by developing
smooth and fast lines of communication between systems. One further complication is introducedby the inherent uncertainty of these events; typhoons, for example, follow unpredictable routes.
Even though the warning systems of typhoons have been established in Japan, Taiwan, Philippines,
and Hong Kong (Hong Kong Observatory, 2022; JMA, 2022; PAGASA, 2022; Taiwan CWA,2022), the more accurate route prediction still requires more research efforts. By dedicating more
research efforts towards predicting the path that a typhoon will follow – using open-source data
and advanced modelling – governments will be able to mitigate the adverse effects of these eventsas much as possible.

Conclusion & Recommendations
SRI-ASE 2022 covered a broad range of topics across four themes, bringing together
researchers and stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds. Given the issues that are currently
facing Asia as a whole and are expected to arise in the near- and medium-term future, forums suchas this are crucial to discuss these issues and potential strategies to tackle them.
Although topics ranging from the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic to crop resiliencein the face of climate change were discussed during the event, a number of common themes were
present throughout the event. One such example is the importance of cross-collaboration between
researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers; providing ways in which these diverse groups cancollate their findings can help to systematize the state-of-the-art in terms of observational andnumerical data, and in turn to lead to the most effective implementation of policy to give rise to amore sustainable society.
Alongside this holistic approach to bringing together these groups, transdisciplinary studies
were highlighted as having an ever-increasing significance in achieving our goals. Communication
between groups is often hampered by differences in culture and methods, and the creation andfostering of transdisciplinary Asian hubs could allow for the best research across a range of fields
to combine into the most fruitful policies. In order to achieve the goal of a fully holistic approachto address these issues, many discussions throughout the event called attention to the requirementfor open-sourcing and sharing data as much as possible. Strategies which allow multiple actors
to access and analyze data will help to mitigate the risks associated with data that comes from avariety of sources.

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The application of these themes was discussed in the context of more specific issues, suchas how we can build a society that is more resilient to change. The degradation of the climate has
already led to adverse consequences across Asia in recent years, and the expected acceleration ofthese events necessitates the development of policies that take this into account. Topics from basic
research using observational data and numerical modelling, to the creation of smart cities andresilient crops, were discussed during the event, once again underlining the value of forums suchas this.
Several recommendations were made by the panels during SRI-ASE 2022, many of which
touched on the themes of collaboration, innovation, and action, both at the local and the international
level. The path from research to policy implementation is a key area that could be reinforced
through the cooperation of Future Earth Asian hubs.

Significance for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
The SRI-ASE 2022 report, centered on international collaboration and data usage, holds
profound implications for Indigenous studies and cultural diversity. The emphasis on crosscountry collaboration and open-source platforms aligns with the diverse and unique perspectives ofIndigenous communities. Ethical considerations in data integration resonate strongly with the needto safeguard Indigenous heritage. The report advocates for the inclusion of local and Indigenous
knowledge in policy development, recognizing the distinct impacts on individuals based on theircultural context.
In the realm of transdisciplinary research, the report underscores the importance of breaking
down barriers between diverse fields, mirroring the call for interdisciplinary approaches in
Indigenous studies. It promotes the embrace of transdisciplinary research within institutions,reflecting the need for a holistic understanding of Indigenous issues. The report’s focus on climatechange resilience directly correlates with the well-being of Indigenous peoples, especially thosevulnerable to environmental shifts.
Highlighting vulnerabilities to natural disasters, the report calls for increased resilience andearly warning systems, pertinent to safeguarding Indigenous communities. The holistic approachadvocated in the report resonates with the multifaceted challenges faced by Indigenous peoples,emphasizing the need for inclusive strategies that address their daily experiences, lifestyles,
and well-being. In conclusion, SRI-ASE 2022’s recommendations and insights are pertinent to
Indigenous studies and cultural diversity, providing a framework for collaborative, ethical, andinclusive approaches in addressing the global and regional issues faced by Indigenous communities.

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Acknowledgments
The making of this report has been led by Future Earth Global Secretariat Hub Japan as oneof the organizing teams for SRI-ASE 2022. We also acknowledge co-organizers from Future Earth
Global Secretariat Hubs (China, Taipei, and South Asia) for their instrumental role in bringing
forward Early Career Representatives to take part in the congress and report.
We would also like to acknowledge all the Session Presenters for SRI-ASE 2022. Their details
can be found in the table below:

Sessions Speakers, Affiliations and Titles at SRI ASE 2022
No.
Speaker Names
Dr Pranjal Kumar Phukan
1.
Sunderrajan Krishnan, Siddharth Agarwal, Rashika
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

Pullam Chetti, Harini Nagendra
Joon Kim, Edo Andriesse, Victor Owusu, Quynh
Pham, Saikaew Thipakorn, Ananda Karunarathne,
Jungwon Huh, Chandhit Sawangnate, Yoo Soon An
Dahe Qin, Cunde Xiao, Shichang Kang, Tonghua
Wu, Feiteng Wang, Bo Su
Ping-Yu Chang, Stephen Yang, Chin-Tung Thomas
Cheng, Eliane Ubalijoro
Joon Kim, Hyunyoung Yang, Huaize Feng, Solmoe
Kang, Dongjun Im, Sunghoon Kim, Junsuk Lee
Yi Chieh Chan, Yang Chien Chang
Jyun-Long Chen, Takashi Torii, Yi Chang, ChinChang Hung, Kuo-Wei Yen, Chau-Ron Wu, HsuehJung Lu, Hsiao-Chun Tseng, Ting-Chun Kuo
Kejun Jiang, Tatsuya Hanaoka, Heleen van Soest,
Sha Yu, Chenmin He
Yue-Gau Chen, Jian-Cheng Lee, Harou Hayashi,Wei-sen Li, Toshio Koike
Maria Cerreta, Manabendra Nath Bandyopadhyay,
Vidushi Bhatacharjee, Francesca Nocca, Kalpana
Chaudhari, Arun Parwate, Bhairav Narkhede,
Pasquale De Toro, Mario Losasso
Lourdes Cruz, Segundo Romero, Glenn Fernandez
Yaxing Du, Tong Zhu, Tianjun Zhou, ShuYu Wang,
Fei Zheng
Si Zhang, Wenjie Dong
Tong Zhu, Gregory Carmichael, Oksana Tarasova,
Lidai Morawska, Wei Wan
Gargi Rana, Ching-Cheng Chang, Ming-Chen Shih,Yinlong Xu
Remi Chandran, Edward Phiri, Victor Kakenhi,
Christian Vincenot, Akira Mukaida, Manabu Onuma

Session Title

Innovativeness in industrialization cost of trust
The human side of water research
COVID-19 governance and migrant workers: hindsight, insight, andforesight
Cryosphere science for sustainability
Processing, management, explanation, and demonstration for theenvironmental open data
Harnessing transdisciplinarity in sustainability research and education:
Open thermodynamics systems framework
Science & practice: Exploring ocean resilience and blue carbon
initiatives
Adapting the impacts of typhoons on coastal livelihoods and socioecosystems under climate changes
An innovative future for GHG mitigation and sustainable development
Online Synthesis Systems (OSS): a web-based knowledge integration
system for Disaster risk reduction, Resilience, and Sustainability.
Challenges in urban climate data management: transformation of cities
for climate change mitigations and adaptation strategies
When super storms devastate coastal areas: Science and policy
innovations towards socio-ecological resilience
Asian Regional Climate Modelling, Impact Assessment and Action
Climate change and sustainable development of the greater bay area
Air pollution climate change health effects
Resilience in the face of adversity - Building climate-smart agriculture
systems
Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for addressing Human-Nature
Conflicts in the Sub-Saharan Africa Region

The authors also thank contributors to the Closing Plenary, namely Prof. Juichi Yamagiwa (Research Institute for
Humanity and Nature), Prof. Hein Mallee (Kyoto Prefectural University), Dr. Yue-Gau Chen (FE Taipei), Dr. Baival
Batkhishig (Nutag Action Research Institute), and Dr. Erica Key (FE USA).

References
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https://delta50.deltaww.com/en/initiative/sea.html?utm_source=website#sea
Hong Kong Observatory. (2022). Hong Kong Observatory, The Government of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region. Retrieved from https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/index.html
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). (2022). Japan Meteorological Agency. Retrieved fromhttps://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html
Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
(2022). The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration, Philippines. Retrieved from https://bagong.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/Taiwan Central Weather Administration. (2022). Central Weather Administration, Ministry ofTransportation and Communication, Taiwan. Retrieved from https://www.cwa.gov.tw/eng/
Taiwan Central Weather Bureau. (2022). Public Warning System (PWS). National Fire Agency,
Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan. Retrieved from http://www.emfsite.org.tw/PWS/p1-2.
html

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5. Call for authors! Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity- Joe WATKINS, Editor-in-Chief, Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

Call for authors!
Indigenous Studies and Cultural
Diversity
We continue to search for quality papers that serve to illustrate the growing discussion ofIndigenous issues and aspects of cultural diversity in research. If you, or someone you know,
are interested in contributing to our journal, we encourage you to submit a proposal or a paper
for consideration. Our editors will be more than happy to help you craft your thoughts into an
expression of your ideas and thoughts.
We are also interested in creating “theme issues” or “special issues” of the journal. We consider
theme issues to be selections of papers around a central idea such as “Origins of Agriculture” or“Indigeneity in Contemporary Taiwan,” although the themes do not have to be “big picture” topics
of discussion. We consider special issues to be a collection of papers oriented toward a single eventor topic such as “The 50th Anniversary of the Home Video Game Industry,” “Essays in Honor of
V. Gordon Childe,” “Proceedings of the ‘Archaeology and Indigenous Issues in Hokkaido, Japan,
session of the Society for American Archaeology,” or any specific event that an author thinks might
be appropriate. In conjunction with these two options, we invite authors as Guest Editors to oversee
the development, editing, and production of such issues.
As we grow our journal, we will continue to reach out to our readers and colleagues forrecommendations regarding possible authors as well as suggestions on ways to make the journal
more useful to you and your research interests. All too often we forget that early researchers needoutlets to showcase their research as well as the need to gain the skills associated with reporting
the results of their research. Crafting a term paper is one thing, but writing an article for global
dissemination is not the same. Learning to submit an article, follow editorial suggestions (andoccasional criticisms), and revising a piece of work is different than writing for a professor as partof the educational process.
Ultimately, however, we are interested in crafting a journal that not only fits the needs of ouracademic and practicing authors, but also is available and useful to our Indigenous partners. Ourjournal may never compete with your favorite mystery writer, but we hope to provide a service ofbenefit to many varieties of users. WE ask that you please help us do that.
Joe WATKINS
Editor-in-Chief
Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Journal

Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity Vol.1 (2) pp. 70, 2024
https://doi.org/10.57519/iscd.00010
Published by Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
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