A Song for Satawal

by Kenneth Brower

A SONG FOR SATAWAL is a lyrical portrait of science and sorcery in Micronesia, outrigger canoes steered by starlight, monitor lizards, tattooed grandmothers, Yapese crazies, and ghosts. The cluster of tiny islands in the vast Pacific emptiness southeast of Japan is an area at once isolated and accessible. Left virtually untouched for centuries, and then dominated successively by the Spanish, Germans, Japanese, and Americans, these islands have become vulnerable to the "progress" that can be fatal to primitive cultures. In A SONG FOR SATAWAL Kenneth Brower transports us to this enchanting and fragile world. We meet Margie Falanruw, who teaches the children of Yap about the wonders of their island; Lino Olopai, who learns how to pilot a canoe over thousands of miles of ocean by relying only on chants that encode information about currents and star courses; and Kathering Kesolei, who collects the oral folklore of Palau. Through their efforts, these three truly remarkable people are preserving a part of their islands' history and culture that are in danger of perishing.

Genres: Travel

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Kenneth Brower is an American nonfiction writer. He is the oldest son of the late environmentalist David R. Brower.

He is best known for his many books about the environment, national parks, and natural places, many of them in hundreds of libraries and by major publishers, including several titles in the series The Earth's Wild Places published by the Friends of the Earth in the 1970s. His most widely read book, on Yosemite, is in over 1200 worldCat libraries. Many of his books have been published by The National Geographic Society. Several of his books have been translated into Japanese, German, Spanish, and Hebrew.

He is also known for being the author of The Starship and the Canoe, a comparison of the lives of scientist Freeman Dyson and his 'rebellious' son George Dyson.
(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Bob Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Micronesian Moments

Long ago there was a world of islands in the central Pacific with many languages and some different cultures. Stone monoliths and even a stone city still remain, but Western intruders who brought diseases over the centuries changed those atolls and islands forever. First the Spaniards, then the Germans, then the Japanese, and finally the Americans controlled that huge expanse of ocean in a burst of crazy imperialism that lasted about a century. (Spain “ruled” the islands for much longer, but hardly made any impact except on one or two.) After WW II, the islands came under American rule till the 1990s when they became “independent”. Kenneth Brower lived for some time in the islands in the late 70s or early 80s when Washington still called the shots---if it could remember to do so. A journalist with a taste for interesting details, he wrote this book in three parts. The first, rather meandering section, talks about Yap, a much-depopulated island famous for its giant stone money. He focuses on a woman who tried to set up programs in natural science. She devises activities and writes pamphlets to draw attention to the environment of the island. “Smokey the Fruit Bat” gets into the picture. She seems an interesting character, but what do we learn about Yap? The author goes off to spend an hour communing with nature and tells us what he sees. Big time adventure or in-depth presentation of culture it’s not. It is pleasant. I was wondering if I should continue. But I’m glad I did. The second and longest section is the one linked to the book’s title. If you are interested in traditional craft and traditional methods of navigation, you have to read A SONG FOR SATAWAL. The second section tells about the resurrection of traditional sailing knowledge in Micronesia derived from the knowledge of men from two tiny islands. They could make totally accurate voyages of hundreds of miles using only stars and traditional songs that guided them. A Californian once went with them back in the 1970s. Brower was hoping to learn the secret songs the men of Satawal possessed. Read the book to find out if he did. It’s a fascinating story. The third section, again, is a bit “diverse”, but follows a Palauan woman who returns from the US to take up life in her native islands again. We learn something of Palau and its culture through a project of collecting biographies among older inhabitants. Such a thing would have made a great book in itself, but here it’s put in the author’s experiential framework and so watered down to a degree. I am not an expert on the literature about Micronesia, but it seems to me there could be books that would give you a better picture. This is a pleasant, journalistic read.

[Sara Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated in some respects, but otherwise an insightful read.

[Aline Laforge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Browser's book was recommended when a friend heard I was writing about Pacific Ocean star navigators, migrations, and island culture. The pace and details, the exploration of characters and canoes, provided a valuable lesson on many levels. This book stays on my shelf.

[jj · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read this in the 80s and was enchanted. Finished re-reading it today and still give it four stars -this time not just for the history of the place as the writer's style. I hope to find more of Kenneth Brower's work.

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed his perspective, good writing.