Wa Kuk Wa Jimor: Outrigger Canoes, Social Change, and Modern Life in the Marshall Islands

Abstract

In the Marshall Islands, the outrigger canoe has been at the heart of cultural life as well as practical survival for millennia. This thesis is an exploration of the state and shape of the canoe tradition for Marshallese people today, how and why it has changed over time, and how it articulates with broader Marshallese culture and modern way of life. The canoe is analyzed as a means of understanding broader issues of social change – the nature of modern social change; contemporary issues of identity; and culture change, loss, and revival. Using a methodology founded upon the centrality of Marshallese voices, both directly through interviews as well indirectly through proverbs, legends, and language, a new understanding of the canoe is explored as a way forward into a future shaped according to the terms and values of Marshallese people themselves: the canoe as a potential vehicle for purpose, identity, and pride.