Rethinking Craftsmanship and Well-being: Mastering Rhythms, Multi-actor/sensorial Engagement, and Cultural/Environemntal Stewardship
Speakers:
Shingo Hamada (Professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Osaka Shoin Women’s University)
Pearl Marumoto (Executive Director, Belau Wellness Center, Inc.)
This session focuses on the academic and practitioner perspectives on social and environmental outcomes of mastering rhythm at multiple scales. Our speakers show us the multi-actor experience and engagement generated from the Atlantic and the Pacific. This session will highlight the importance of craftsmanship and traditional medicine in the contemporary fast-changing world. Addressing the question of whether Surströmming in Sweden is science of a matter or a matter of science, Dr. Shingo Hamada discusses the gastro- and environmental politics of surströmming production. The production of surströmming, the world-famous fermented herring from northeastern Sweden, requires the use of fresh wild-captured Baltic herring. Even though the process has been mechanized, the production of surströmming still relies on local craftsmanship, involving multisensory engagements with the fish, microorganism, and machinery. Prof. Hamada’s presentation discusses how science is included and excluded in discourses while local surströmming makers try to negotiate their entanglement with international fisheries regulations and the global trends of seafood appetites. Director Marumoto presents her insights and experiences of translating traditional concepts of well-being for community resilience in Palau. Palau is at the crossroads of rapid urbanization and globalization, and vulnerable communities face multifaceted health, cultural identity, and environmental protection challenges. It is imperative to address these challenges by translating traditional concepts and practices and adapting innovative and creative interventions to provide access to services to enhance the continuum of health protection and cultural identity to be as parallel and significant as in our environmental protection. Implementing Integrative Medicine concepts such as traditional medicine, the traditional practice of “oldingel and ongelaod” (visitations and arts & music), and innovative designs of urban gardening to promote traditional and functional foods into community needs designs to be delivered at the household levels can help improve access to well-being, nutrition, and happiness to people who are challenged with vulnerabilities. As Director Marumoto argues, translating traditional concepts into policies is an act of cultural preservation, community empowerment, and environmental stewardship. By bridging the past and present, we create more resilient communities where Palauans will be able to be more aware of the changing worlds to have the ability to adapt practices where vulnerable communities can thrive while protecting their health and cultural identity living in a Pristine Paradise.
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Shingo Hamada is a professor of food studies at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Osaka Shoin Women’s University, Osaka, Japan. His research revolves around the environmental history and cultural politics of seafood in coastal communities in the North Pacific. His publications include “Seafood: from Ocean to the Plate” (co-authored with Richard Wilk), and several articles in English and Japanese on coastal conservation, marine policy, and the gastronomic placemaking in artisanal fisheries. His research has been supported by the Fulbright Japan, the Japan Society of the Promotion of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and Wenner-Gren Foundation.
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Pearl Marumoto (Executive Director, Belau Wellness Center, Inc.)
“Living environments have been a fascination to me as a child born and raised in Palau. This interest has been the driving force in fueling my passion to protect environments and human health. I have dedicated 25 years of my personal and professional life to effect change by creating and/or reforming policies, regulations, and laws that can change living environments that will allow human behaviors to have better health outcomes. After 15 years in the government (environmental protection agency and public health), I wanted to broaden my understanding of vulnerable populations particularly child and women especially in all types of living environments. Because Palau health and economic landscapes are changing rapidly, we need to understand what are the “community needs” that needs to be formulated to improve access to health and wellness services. In 2016, I established Belau Wellness Center, Inc. with like-minded people to explore via research on how people access health and wellness services to improve health outcomes. The goal is to gain information on traditional medicines and foods in Palau to create pathways in hopes to provide Integrative Medicine services in the future to combat high prevalence of non-communicable diseases that plaguing our populations.
