Reawakened: Traditional navigators of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa

Description

This book features interviews with 10 master navigators who trained under Mau Piailug (1932-2010), the legendary teacher of traditional, non-instrument wayfinding methods for open-ocean voyaging across the Pacific. They were given the status of master navigator by Mau through the Pwo ceremony, and went on to become an integral part of the renaissance of knowledge and traditions around voyaging. The ten navigators include three from Aotearoa New Zealand, Hec Busby, Piripi Evans, and Jack Thatcher; two from the Cook Islands, Peia Patai, Teuatakiri Tearutua Arthur (Tua) Pittman; and five from Hawai`i, Nainoa Thompson, Chad Kalepa Baybayan, Shorty Bertelmann, Bruce Blankenfeld and Chad `Onohi Paishon.

Jeff Evans is a writer and photographer based in Auckland. He has written several books relating to waka, including Nga Waka o Nehera, Polynesian Navigation and the Discovery of New Zealand and Waka Taua: The Maori War Canoe. Between them, these books recall Maori migration traditions, describe navigation skills used by Maori to voyage between the islands in the central Pacific and New Zealand, and introduce the reader to waka taua. Jeff's most recent book was Heke-nuku-mai-nga-iwi Busby: Not Here by Chance (Huia, 2015). In 2020 he was awarded a summer residency at the Michael King Writer's Centre to work on this book.

'This book takes us into the world of the navigators who are Pwo . . . It is true and authentic, in that it reminds us of who we are, where we came from and, perhaps, who we will be.' - Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr; 'Evans provides a potently beguiling account of these oceanic wayfinders.' - Chris Moore, New Zealand Listener