Transcriber: Ally Barth Reviewer: David DeRuwe
Have you ever walked into a museum, seen an artifact like this,
all locked in a glass cabinet, and felt like something was missing?
Because I did.
Yes, you appreciate the object; you appreciate the craft.
But what about the human aspect of it? What about the story?
What about the process and the art of making that went into it?
Every time I've gone to a museum, I've always wondered this.
Perhaps that’s the very purpose of museums -
to leave you with a burning sense of curiosity to want to learn more,
to want to find out more.
Well, this clearly worked on me because I wanted the human story.
So I went on to study anthropology.
What is anthropology and what does it ask of us?
When I asked this question to my lecturer a few years ago,
she gave me the most beautiful answer, and I’d like to share that with you today.
She said: “Anthropology is a method that explores what it means to be human.”
And that really stuck with me.
During my training, I realized just how right she was,
that anthropology is a human science that allows us to see people’s worlds
through their eyes from their perspective.
I started getting excited about my own culture,
and as I started researching it more and more, I realized just how rich it is.
Although we have been influenced by different regions of the world,
we as Maldivians have taken these influences
and somehow found a way to make everything uniquely Maldivian.
Take this toddy container, for example.
Toddy tapping is the practice of collecting sap from a coconut palm tree.
Once it's collected, it's consumed as a beverage
or cooked to make coconut honey or nectar.
Now, our neighboring countries, India and Sri Lanka,
are also toddy-tapping countries,
and they use clay vessels to collect the sap.
But in the Maldives, we don't have much clay. So what did we do?
We turned to what was most abundant in our environment: coconuts.
We fashioned a device made entirely out of coconut products.
This is made with two polished coconuts bound together by a rope,
also made by using coconut husks.
Isn’t this absolutely fascinating?
I wanted to learn more, so I decided to do my dissertation on coconuts.
At this point, everyone was like,
“Really? 10,000 words on coconuts? Moussa, are you nuts?”
No, I am coconuts. It’s truly a part of me.
It is our national tree - The Tree of Life.
You ask any Maldivian, “What can you do with the coconut palm tree?”
and I guarantee you their answer will be: “Everything.”
Because we have found a way to utilize every single part of the tree
and every stage of the fruit -
be it boatbuilding, house building, food, oil, and even medicine.
I wanted to explore the change and the continuity of our coconut culture
to understand its significance even more.
I did my fieldwork on this very atoll in Kihaadhoo,
an island famous for its coconut products and crafts.
I used a method of anthropology called “participant observation,”
which is a method that allows us to learn from the people.
It is a way of knowing from the inside by watching and doing with them.
So I went in - no notebook, no clipboard with pre-designed questions - just me.
In order to blend into the community,
I took part in the daily lives of the people, especially the women.
I woke up with these women, I ate with them,
I gossiped with them, and I laughed with them.
I became their friend,
and most importantly, they became my friends.
The most commonly practiced craft
in the island of Kihaadhoo was thatch weaving.
Thatch weaving in the past was used as house building for roofing and fencing.
The Maldives, just like every part of the world,
has faced the inevitable impacts of globalization.
We have now moved on from thatched houses to houses built out of building materials
such as concrete and metal,
but this does not mean that this craft has died.
In order to adapt to the changes brought by globalization,
just like the rise of tourism,
these women now cater to tourist resorts producing bundles and bundles of thatch,
and this makes up their livelihood.
I wanted to learn this craft,
so every morning, I would go collecting palm leaves with these women,
and this is where it started getting very interesting for me.
After we’ve collected these leaves, we don’t immediately take it back with us.
Instead, we make a bundle and put a tie around it.
Now, this tie is of great significance because once there is a tie
around the bundle, it means that it’s now reserved.
No one is to touch it, and no one is to take it home, and no one does.
It's similar with the fallen coconut on the ground.
If someone has put a circle around it, it means that it’s now reserved
and the person who reserved it will take it home at their earliest convenience.
Here we see how truly complex
a social and cultural system of a small community is,
these intangible elements that make up culture.
Speaking of intangible elements, let’s take language for example.
Clarence Maloney was one of the first anthropologists
to write about the Maldives, and he made a very interesting observation:
Dhivehi, the Maldivian language is one of the only languages
in the world that does not have a word for city, village, or town.
For us, it’s all islands, so we didn’t need a word for them.
But let me tell you something.
Going back to coconuts now,
we have a name for every single part of the tree and every stage of the fruit.
I invite you to please read the English translations along with me.
Miri - coconut,
kurumba - coconut,
kaashi - coconut,
and lastly, any guesses? - coconut.
Incredible, isn’t it? (Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
Because the vocabulary for coconut is so rich in our language,
it reflects its significance in our culture,
how we lived in perfect harmony, in our environment.
After I finished my fieldwork,
I realized how much I had romanticized my own culture,
that I had thought of it as something dead or dying.
How wrong was I?
I was in a complete process of self-discovery.
As I was participating and learning from these women,
I was constantly unlearning and relearning every day.
As I was learning to weave, for instance, I felt the materials in my hands,
I took in my surrounding environments -
the conversations that happened around me, the laughter of the ladies.
These intangible elements are heavily entangled in an object.
So how can we use methods in anthropology
to truly appreciate an object, a finished object?
How can we use methods in anthropology
to truly appreciate culture beyond the glass cabinet?
I invite you to think about yourself, your culture.
Is it really dead or dying?
Be present. Pay attention.
Listen and take part
because it is an amazing feeling to understand who you are.
It is an amazing feeling to truly appreciate where you come from.
As for me, I've learned and I'm still learning what it means to be Maldivian,
what it means to be human.
Thank you.
(Applause)