Maritime Ethnography

This paper presents tangible and intangible data related to traditional shipbuilding on the island of Samos. This shipbuilding activity along with the material culture produced are expressions of local knowledge, namely a system of deep knowledge, understandings and skills developed by individuals and populations specific to the place they live. Through analysis of information recorded during fieldwork in 2022, the significant links between traditional wooden shipbuilding and local knowledge of the Aegean communities are explored. The study closes with future considerations regarding the potential of maritime heritage to support sustainable and resilient ways of living in the Aegean Sea.

This is a study of the interplay between a people, their physical environment, the means of mobility that connect the two, and how these elements combine in the creation of cognitive and cultural landscapes. Specifically, it examines how Warrau people in the village of Imbotero, Guyana, use traditional dugout canoes in the surrounding swamp forest and on connecting waterways; how the canoes mediate between the Warrau and their landscape; and how the relationship is bi-directional: that is, how people use boats to conceptualise and exploit the landscape while, simultaneously, the landscape influences the culture, cognition, and boat use.
The role of the physical environment upon culture is analysed within Christer Westerdahl’s maritime cultural landscape (MCL) framework, which is applied here for the first time to a contemporary swamp-dwelling canoe culture. The swamp is shown to be fully compatible with the MCL concept, in that watercraft and their daily use play central roles in the people’s phenomenological engagement with the environment, their ontologies, and their identity.
The study traces the history of the Warrau canoe, from the earliest evidence of prehistoric use to the present. Fieldwork conducted in Imbotero was primarily ethnographic in nature, relying upon the methodologies of participant observation and interview. This was supplemented by boat surveys, in which representative canoes were documented with 3D digital photogrammetry.
In addition to describing and analysing the Warrau canoe as material culture, the study addresses the canoe as central to Imbotero’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH), discusses the role ICH plays in the village, and examines sociocultural, economic, and environmental factors that pose challenges to the canoe’s future heritage.

The history of the Mediterranean region and its port cities is crucial in understanding the origin and development of many modern societies. These cities have always been characterized by their interdependent relationships, forming an essential part of a system of regional and international routes, made possible and enriched by the sea. Simultaneously, these cities have been able to preserve their urban values while continuously adapting to new requirements and circumstances, making them ideal case studies of urban resilience. Despite their decisive role in the emergence of the global economic system, these cities have received little attention from the humanities and social sciences. This article aims to consider the Mediterranean port cities in relation to their historical context, their urban model, and their intrinsic and shared conditions. For this purpose, a narrative literature review is developed, with reference authors on this topic. Additionally, fiction resources are explored as a complementary research method based on the intersections between description and invention in three projects focused on the Mediterranean region and its port cities.

Higher education institutions by developing their educational and research activities and by creating networks of cooperation with regional private and public sector businesses play an important role in the process of building intellectual capital, which is one of the key factors determining competitiveness of enterprises and regions. The paper identifies and makes a time analysis of a group of factors that affect development of intellectual capital, which depend on operation of higher education institutions in Lubuskie Voivodeship. The analysis provided grounds for the guidelines that aim at strengthening the intellectual capital of the region, addressing especially regional colleges.

The book A jeśli nie trzeba się uczyć… [If Learning Were Not What We Think It Is] by Tadeusz Sławek is a rich laboratory of (not exclusively) pedagogical impulses. The study in question goes beyond the artificial boundaries of disciplines of pedagogy, philosophy, history, social sciences, science, bio and neuroscience. This work includes a living, organic and pulsating thought opposing the routine of life affirming its spontaneity. Written into the polyphony of reflections and resounding like a refrain, the formula of un-learning creates a specific performative effect, i.e. the emerging threads of topics or associations harmonize or collide with each other, clash or attract each other, without leaving the readers even for a moment in the lethargy of a lukewarm passive reading. The article itself constitutes a presentation of several “opportunities” for thinking created by Tadeusz Sławek.

A pilot project to explore shallow-and deep-water environments in the Black Sea as part of a long-term project developed by the Institute for Exploration (IFE) tested survey methodology and equipment for deep-water archaeological applications. Th e application of traditional and innovative remote-sensing methods supported standard archaeological approaches to site survey in a relatively hostile marine environment and resulted in the discovery of four shipwrecks that date to the 4th to 6th centuries ce, including one of the best preserved seagoing ships from antiquity, a discovery predicted by Willard Bascom (1976:38). Th is chapter reviews the maritime survey, describes methodology used to locate four ships in 2000 and data recovered from those sites in 2000 and 2003, presents preliminary conclusions about those vessels, and discusses directions and possible implications of future research.

Descripció: En este trabajo propongo analizar la última etapa del buque Naumon desde su aventura a Taiwán hasta su actual descanso en las aguas fluviales de Duisburg, desde el punto de vista del primer oficial de puente, cargo del que estuve enrolado en el buque del ...

Around 90% of world trade is carried out by international maritime transport, as it is cost-effective compared to other modes of transportation. The main elements of maritime transport are warehouses, ports, commercial cargo ships and seafarers working on these ships. Commercial cargo ships as living and working spaces are isolated, mobile, risky, noisy, male-dominated, and hierarchical spaces. Seafarers working on merchant ships forms transnational communities whose living and working standards are regulated according to international standards, which work on fixed-term contracts of several months. On the other hand, the living and working conditions of the seafarers depend on the type of ship they work for, age of the ship, whether the ship is operated as liner or tramp service, whether the maintenance processes are carried out timely and effectively, quality of the provisions, the company’s personnel policy, and whether there are enough and experienced seafarers on board whether the seafarers have the opportunity to leave the ship in port cities, and the condition of accommodation places. In this research, it has been tried to explain how daily life is shaped on bulk carriers and how time, space and seafaring profession are interpreted by seafarers through focusing on the labour process.

The ethnographic method was employed in this research, and the techniques of participatory observation and face-to-face interviews conducted with seafarers who are ashore and on board. A field research based on participatory observation was carried out in two phases on the bulk carrier M/V Striker (pseudonym); two months mostly spent at the repair shipyard in 2021 and two and a half months in 2023, on voyaging. Based on formal face-to-face in-depth interviews conducted, as well as observations during the field research, this thesis tries to examine some dynamics on board through the labour process, such as hierarchy, authority, power relations, solidarity and dispute, maledominated space, wages, precarity and finally the determinants affect the psychology of the seafarers in bulk carriers (especially substandard ships).

Languages of Water – Dialogue The text is an experimental sketch based on a dialogue between an ecohydrologist and an anthropologist of culture. The authors will subject a critical, interdisciplinary reflection to various water languages used colloquially or in selected professional discourses. They will ask themselves what water is in different contexts, how it is spoken of, how it is thought of, how it is treated and what role water related languages play in times of climate crisis. After all, it is reasonable to ask whether water is a resource, chemical compound, life, service provider, stakeholder, law, or sewage. Based on examples in contemporary discussion on water and the associated blue-green infrastructure the authors distinguish several trends in different ways of talking about water: economic, medical, defensive, scientific and communitarian. They will reflect on the mechanisms comparable to colonial ones that determine the domination of some and the infantilization or ca...

Thanks to several wrecks in the Mediterranean our knowledge about the construction of the hull can be considered as good. On the other hand we know very little or even almost nothing about other parts of vessels, such as masts, sails, oars or rudders since these items are often missing in wrecks. This concerns not only their shape or how they were produced, but also the way how they mounted on the hull. In a few cases iconographic evidence can be used, but this source has also several drawbacks.

This paper reviews the research carried out at the University of Hamburg on the predicted performance of the Dyna Ship, a project for an advanced sailing merchantman. The proposed rig incorporates a series of unstayed hollow rotatable masts with terylene sails set along aerodynamically curved yards. The masts and sails are handled hydraulically by remote control from the wheelhouse.Sailing ship research at the Institut für Schiffbau (IfS) of Hamburg University probably began with a paper presented by Thieme to the Schiffbautechnische Gesellschaft (S.T.G.) in 1955 on the mechanics of sail propulsion. When during 1961–6 the Hamburg Research Council promoted a broad research programme on wind forces on ships, covering all current modern ship types, the opportunity was taken to include also the problems of wind propulsion. This part of the investigation was especially stimulated by an inquiry by Wilhelm Prolss, who proposed a new height-restricted wind propulsion system for large ships ...

The article discusses the events of 2017–2023 around the court of Sarraounia Mangou, one of the icons of the identity of the inhabitants of Niger, and at the same time the central figure of the original, pre-Islamic beliefs.
The theft of the sacred stone – Toungouma – seems to be part of the process of Islamization of the southern part of Niger. Perhaps it also reveals the conflict within the Azna community itself, the followers of the Bori cult.
The conducted research shows that although for Azna it is Sarraounia Mangou who is still the authority to settle disputes, the position of her courtier – Baour – has significantly strengthened in recent years. Probably not without significance is the fact that Baoura, as a public figure, less isolated and less interviewed, is better able to manage social capital. However, it also indicate that in a seemingly Islamized country, old beliefs are still a significant cultural, but also social and political asset.

Dlaczego właściwie tak ci żal gimnazjów? Przecież sami chodziliśmy do ośmioletniej podstawówki i czteroletniego liceum. Nie wydaje mi się, abyśmy doznali poważniejszej krzywdy edukacyjnej. Dla nas najważniejsze jest, aby nauczyciel dostarczył uczniom dobrego powodu do czytania literatury w szkole, ale także poza szkołą; zwłaszcza, żeby czytali książki po ustaniu obowiązku szkolnego. Co za różnica, czy będziemy to robić w gimnazjum, czy w podstawówce? Poza tym, bądźmy uczciwi - w klasie dwudziestopięcioosobowej jest statystycznie trzech uczniów, którzy będą czytelnikami. Pogódź się z tym, że czytanie jako codzienna życiowa praktyka zawsze było przypisane do ograniczonej grupy społecznej, zwanej inteligencją, najpierw szlachecką, a później mieszczańską. I tak było mniej więcej do połowy XX wieku. Może wciąż tak jest i nigdy nie będzie inaczej, bo to kwestia wartości wyznawanych przez niezbyt wielką grupę społeczną. Poza tym, kiedyś czytanie literatury było szansą na awans społeczny. C...

The aim of the presentation was to present the role of the Daugava River as a Trade Route in the Early Modern Period (16th-18th centuries). As part of it, issues related to the waterway, means of transport and products traded on the Daugava will be briefly discussed. To better illustrate this issue, a comparative analysis was made of Central and Eastern European rivers: the Vistula, the Dnieper, the Volga and the Danube. There was a discussion after the presentation.///Celem wystąpienia było przedstawienie roli rzeki Dźwiny jako szlaku handlowego w czasach nowożytnych (XVI-XVIII w.). W jego ramach zostaną krótko omówione zagadnienia dotyczące drogi wodnej, środków transportu oraz produktów, którymi handlowano na Dźwinie.
Aby lepiej zilustrować to zagadnienia, dokonana została analiza porównawcza z rzekami Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej: Wisłą, Dnieprem, Wołgą i Dunajem. Po prezentacji była dyskusja.

Współpraca międzynarodowa i mobilność akademicka wpisały się na stałe w krajobraz zarówno światowego, jak i polskiego szkolnictwa wyższego. W globalizującym się świecie wymiana naukowa stymulująca transfer wiedzy i wzrost innowacyjności stała się koniecznością. Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej realizuje działania, które wspierają międzynarodową karierę naukowców oraz wzmacniają internacjonalizację polskich uczelni i jednostek naukowych. W bogatej palecie rozwiązań programowych szczególne miejsce zajmuje program PROM obejmujący krótkookresową mobilność dla doktorantów i kadry akademickiej. Ten program stał się ważnym elementem zacieśniania współpracy polskich doktorantów i uczonych z naukowcami z instytucji na całym świecie. Oferta ta uzupełnia lukę w dostępie doktorantów do uczestnictwa w międzynarodowych stażach, szkoleniach czy konferencjach. Podnosi również znaczenie i prestiż polskiej nauki w Europie i na świecie, promując nasze uczelnie i podmioty prowadzące szkoły doktorskie jako instytucje nowoczesne i mające wiele do zaoferowania zagranicznym studentom i badaczom. Serdecznie gratuluję sukcesów naszym Beneficjentom – uczelniom, instytucjom i stypendystom. Natomiast tych, którzy jeszcze z oferty PROM nie skorzystali, gorąco do tego zachęcam. Zapraszam Państwa do lektury publikacji – to opis niezwykłych doświadczeń uczestników programu PROM. Ufam, że odnajdą Państwo liczne przykłady, które staną się dla Państwa inspiracją do własnych poszukiwań rozwoju ścieżki zawodowej. Cieszy mnie fakt, że NAWA w tym sukcesie ma swój udział! W końcu nade wszystko jesteśmy po to, aby spełniać naukowe marzenia.

This article presents the timber marks found on one of the Ses Llumetes shipwreck’s frames (1st
century AD; Mallorca, Spain). From this find, a review over time of this type of archaeological
evidence is developed, comparing the use, meaning and interpretations in the different
comparative contexts found in the Mediterranean. Timber marks on vessels are particularly
rare to find in underwater archaeological context, especially for the Roman Period. This
makes the discovery of the Ses Llumetes shipwreck an important contribution to the
existing examples. The location of a mark in a specific location in a vessel can mean that its
interpretation can vary, and also shows relevant details about the people behind this action.
In particular, the analysis of the tria nomina represented by the Ses Llumetes mark has
proved to be especially important for investigating where the ship might have been built.

Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie (PGW WP) to podmiot odpowiedzialny za krajową gospodarkę wodną w skali zlewni, dorzeczy oraz całego państwa, wykonujący prawa właściciela w stosunku do wód Skarbu Państwa. Zadaniem PGW Wody Polskie jest ochrona mieszkańców kraju przed powodzią i suszą, zrównoważone gospodarowanie wodami w celu ochrony zasobów wodnych, a także zapewnienie dobrej jakości wody dla obecnych i przyszłych pokoleń. Dynamiczny postęp cywilizacyjny mocno wpłynął na życie ludzi i środowisko naturalne. Przez stulecia, stosunek człowieka do przyrody ewoluował w kierunku zrównoważonego rozwoju. Wszystkie inwestycje realizowane przez nasze Gospodarstwo wykonuje się zgodnie z obowiązującymi przepisami i dobrowolnymi, dobrymi praktykami, tak polskimi, jak wspólnotowymi. Naszym priorytetem są działania prośrodowiskowe, które już na etapie projektowania inwestycji uwzględniają idee zrównoważonego rozwoju, w tym zachowania lub przywracania ciągłości rzek, jak również ochronę s...