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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00002331 Country Fiji ICH Domain Oral traditions and representations Knowledge and practices about nature and the universe Address iTaukei Institute of Language and Culture, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, 87 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Nasese, Suva, Fiji Islands [Ph.: +679 3100 909]
| Description | Traditional Knowledge can also be referred to as indigenous or local knowledge, however for the sake of consistency, Traditional Knowledge will be used. Traditional Knowledge refers to the holistic total of an indigenous people’s understanding of the world. While the term is often used in relation to oral history, its bounds are much broader. ‘Traditional Knowledge can refer to knowledge of past events, but also encompasses peoples’ embodied practices, spirituality, morality, ideologies, modes of artistic (or abstract) expression, and the ways in which knowledge is acquired and passed on through generations. Traditional Knowledge systems extend into the present, and are alive and constantly adapted in order to remain relevant to contemporary indigenous life. The term is predominantly used to designate those knowledge systems that are markedly different from the dominant Western systems of knowledge. Traditional or Indigenous knowledge is a: body of information passed down through generations in a given locality and acquired through the accumulation of experiences, relationships with the surrounding environment, and traditional community rituals, practices and institutions. In light of that, the iTaukei people from Fiji, have traditional knowledge of identifying early signs of natural disasters. |
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| Social and cultural significance | An early warning system is: The set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations threatened by a hazard to prepare and to act appropriately and in sufficient time to reduce the possibility of harm or loss. A people centred early warning system necessarily comprises four key elements: knowledge of the risks; monitoring, analysis and forecasting of the hazards; communication or dissemination of alerts and warnings; and local capabilities to respond to the warnings received. A system will be less effective when one of these elements is weak or absent. The socio-psychological steps involved in responding to warnings are hearing, understanding, personalizing the risk, and the decision to respond. The iTaukei people observe their surroundings, through ; waitui (or sea), lomalagi (or stratosphere/air) and vanua (or land). The categories are determined by the environment in which the indicators are located. Some of these indicators are described below and how the ancestors of villages predict incoming cyclone: Jumping manta rays or Vai on a clear day with calm seas; Vai commonly known as manta rays (manta briostirs) –; At least two sightings of Tovuto or sperm whale (physeter macrocephalus); Waves crashing onto the reef can be heard from the village like a thunderous noise at night; Unexplainable hot weather for more than a week; Yellow jacket hornet builds its nest near the ground. |
| Transmission method | The element is transmitted through oral transmission and observation. |
| Community | iTaukei People, Fiji |
Keyword
Information source
iTaukei Institute of Language & Culture (TILC)
Materials related to
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PI00007301
Traditional Early Warning System : vanua (land)
Uto (common name: breadfruit; scientific name: artocarpus altilis) significance/indicators of uto: Bears more than three fruits in a branch. In a breadfruit tree which often bears more that three fruits in a branch which also been found to significantly enhance the ability to understand and interpret warning information. The usage of traditional knowledge leads to practical strategies that are accepted by local cultures and are therefore more likely to be sustained. The incorporation of traditional knowledge into warning systems has been recommended to increase perceptions of reliability and hopefully thus increasing responses.
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PI00007299
Traditional Early Warning System : lomalagi (the stratosphere/air)
Beka or Bats has disappear mysteriously which also indicates warning to disaster preparedness. It is a continuous and integrated process resulting from a wide range of activities and resources rather than from a distinct sectoral activity by itself. Hence, it is necessary to incorporate Traditional Knowledge on early warning system into the current system in place.
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PI00007297
Traditional Early Warning System : Waitui (Sea)
At Tavua village in Malolo, province of Nadroga, Fiji, their heritage site Narokorokoyawa is a sandy island surrounded by sea. On one end of the island, is an extension of sandy foreshore which has a cultural significant for early detection of natural disaster particularly cyclones. Villagers are aware of the signs and indicators on the foreshore. It is told that if the sandy foreshore divides, then a cyclone will soon be upon them. The number of breaks or splits shown on the sand indicates the number of cyclones that will strike the land.
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PI00007296
Traditional Early Warning System : Waitui (Sea)
Sici (common name: univalves; scientific name: trochus nilotucus) Signs/indicators of Sici - It is harder to pull as they are firmly stuck to the rocks. This is classified as a waitui or sea categories when sici or univalves is very hard to pull as they are firmly stuck to the rocks. Some of the reasons why warnings are ineffective or people do not respond in a timely way are economic factors, lack of understanding, experience that official warnings are not always reliable, inconsistencies in the warnings, and warnings coming from a single source only. Cyclones in particular are unpredictable in their behavior, and so official warnings are often considered unreliable. People need to trust in the warnings and in the need to act upon those warnings. Ancient early warning systems used by ancestors to predict an incoming natural disaster have been an integral part of saving lives long before the introduction of technology.
Fiji
