Navigating Indigenous Austronesia

Abstract

This chapter explores Indigenous epistemologies that inform traditional navigation practices across the Austronesian maritime world, stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island and northward to the Philippines and Taiwan. CHamoru poet Craig Santos Perez evocatively describes this vast region as “a highlighted area, the shape of a full sail,” capturing its cultural and poetic resonance. Indigenous Austronesian communities have developed intricate systems of seafaring knowledge—often referred to as “native science”—that synthesize empirical environmental observations (such as star paths, ocean swells, and animal behavior) with oral traditions, mythology, chants, and songs transmitted across generations. Through close readings of contemporary Indigenous Pacific writers, including Craig Santos Perez (CHamoru/Guam), Syaman Rapongan (Pongso no Tao/Taiwan), and Robert Sullivan (Aotearoa/New Zealand), this chapter illustrates how literature preserves and enacts these navigational sciences while embodying relational ontologies that bind humans to the more-than-human world. It further positions Indigenous navigators and storytellers as agents of decolonial knowledge production, highlighting cultural resilience amid environmental precarity. By centering Indigenous voices, the chapter contributes to broader discussions on ecological ethics, epistemic justice, and the urgency of safeguarding Indigenous seafaring traditions in the wake of colonial disruption. Ultimately, it argues for the enduring significance of island-based literatures of Indigenous science in shaping more just and sustainable planetary futures.