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Katharine Luomala

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Ellen Katharine Luomala (September 10, 1907 – February 27, 1992) was an American anthropologist known for her studies of comparative mythology in Oceania.

Katharine Luomala
A young white woman with wavy hair cut in a bob with short bangs
Katharine Luomala from the 1925 yearbook of Cloquet High School
BornSeptember 10, 1907
Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedFebruary 27, 1992
Hawaii, U.S.
OccupationAnthropologist

Early life and education

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Luomala was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of John E. Luomala and Elina (Linn) Forsnas Luomala. Both of her parents were born in Finland.[1] She was educated at the University of California, Berkeley. She began her anthropological studies there by working with the Navajo people in the 1930s, chronicling their changing lives. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1931, a master's degree in 1933, and completed her Ph.D. in 1936.[1][2]

Career

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In 1941 Luomala became an honorary associate at the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, which position she maintained for the rest of her working life. She worked in Washington, D.C. during World War II.[2] In 1946 she became a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,[3] where she studied Hawaiian mythology and, from 1950, the ethnobotany of the Gilbert Islands. In 1955 she received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship for further studies in the Gilbert Islands.[4] She retired in 1973.[1]

Luomala was a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and a member of the Anthropological Society of Hawaii, the Polynesian Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi.[5][6] In 1983, she received the Hawaii Award for Literature, for her body of work.[7]

Luomala owned the MV Joyita at the time of the vessel's accident in 1955.[8]

Luomala's 1955 book, Voices on the Wind, was the book used as a reference by Imagineer Rolly Crump while he was designing Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and its pre-show. Crump also referred to the book as Whispers on the Wind. It is what served as a huge part in the popularity of American "Tiki culture."[9]

Works

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Luomala was a prolific academic writer, with at least eight monographs and more than a hundred articles,[7] in scholarly journals including The Psychoanalytic Quarterly,[10] The Journal of the Polynesian Society,[11][12] Human Organization,[13] Applied Anthropology,[14] Fabula,[15][16] Pacific Science,[17] The Journal of American Folklore,[18][19] Ethnology,[20] Asian Perspectives,[21] Anthropos,[22] and Pacific Studies.[23][24] She also contributed to reference works, including the Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend (1950), edited by Maria Leach.[25]

Monographs

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  • Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today (1940)[26]
  • Oceanic, American Indian, and African myths of snaring the sun (1940)
  • Maui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks: His Oceanic and European Biographers (1949)[27][28]
  • The Menehune of Polynesia and other mythical little people of Oceania (1951)
  • Plants of Canton Island, Phoenix Islands (Bernice P. Bishop Museum, 1951)
  • Ethnobotany of the Gilbert Islands (1953)
  • Voices on the Wind: Polynesian Myths and Chants (1955; illustrated by Joseph Feher)[29]
  • Hula Ki'i: Hawaiian Puppetry (1984)[7]

Articles

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  • "Dreams and Dream Interpretation of the Diegueño Indians of Southern California" (1936, with Gertrude Toffelmier)[10]
  • "Notes on the Development of Polynesian Hero-Cycles" (1940)[11]
  • "Documentary Research in Polynesian Mythology" (1940)[30]
  • "California Takes Back its Japanese Evacuees: The Readjustment of California to the Return of the Japanese Evacuees" (1946)[13]
  • "Community Analysis of the War Relocation Authority Outside the Relocation Centers" (1947)[14]
  • "Polynesian Myths about Maui and the Dog" (1959)[15]
  • "A history of the binomial classification of the Polynesian native dog" (1960)[17]
  • "Survey of Research on Polynesian Prose and Poetry" (1961)[18]
  • "A Dynamic in Oceanic Maui Myths" (1961)[31]
  • "Martha Warren Beckwith: A Commemorative Essay" (1962)[32]
  • "Flexibility in Sib Affiliation among the Diegueno" (1963)[20]
  • "Motif A 728: Sun Caught in Snare and Certain Related Motifs" (1964)[33]
  • "Humorous Narratives about Individual Resistance to Food-Distribution Customs in Tabiteuea, Gilbert Islands" (1965)[34]
  • "Numskull Clans and Tales: Their Structure and Function in Asymmetrical Joking Relationships" (1966)[19]
  • "Disintegration and Regeneration, the Hawaiian Phantom Hitchhiker Legend" (1972)[16]
  • "Moving and Movable Images in Easter Island Custom and Myth" (1973)[35]
  • "The Cyrtosperma Systemic Pattern: Aspects of Production in the Gilbert Islands" (1974)[12]
  • "Post-European Central Polynesian Head Masks and Puppet-Marionette Heads" (1977)[21]
  • "Some Fishing Customs and Beliefs in Tabiteuea (Gilbert Islands, Micronesia)" (1980)[22]
  • "Phantom Night Marchers in the Hawaiian Islands" (1983)[23]
  • "Reality and Fantasy: The Foster Child in Hawaiian Myths and Customs" (1987)[24]

Personal life and legacy

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Luomala died in 1992, at the age of 84.[1] An anthropology scholarship fund in her name was set up at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Krauss, Bob (1992-03-04). "Katharine Luomala, folklore expert". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 29. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c Takeuchi, Floyd K. (1992-03-04). "Katharine Luomala counted menehune among her friends". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 36. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ King, Pauline (1958-06-05). "She Likes Fairy Tales and Folklore". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "UH Anthropologist Receives Research Grant". The Honolulu Advertiser. 1955-04-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy Dorothy (2000-01-01). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415920407.
  6. ^ "Deceased Honorary Fellows: Katherine Luomala". Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania. Archived from the original on 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  7. ^ a b c Taylor, Lois (1984-05-29). "Polynesian Puppets FInd a New Stage". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 21. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Forbis, John (1972-05-25). "Joyita Died a South Seas Enigma". The Kansas City Times. p. 37. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Shaffer, Joshua C (July 17, 2017). Discovering the Magic Kingdom: An Unofficial Disneyland Vacation Guide - Second Edition. Synergy Book Publishing. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-9991664-0-6.
  10. ^ a b Toffelmier, Gertrude; Luomala, Katharine (April 1936). "Dreams and Dream Interpretation of the Diegueño Indians of Southern California". The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. 5 (2): 195–225. doi:10.1080/21674086.1936.11925281. ISSN 0033-2828.
  11. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1940). "Notes on the Development of Polynesian Hero-Cycles". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 49 (3(195)): 367–374. ISSN 0032-4000. JSTOR 20702821.
  12. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1974). "The Cyrtosperma Systemic Pattern: Aspects of Production in the Gilbert Islands". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 83 (1): 14–34. ISSN 0032-4000. JSTOR 20704969.
  13. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (July 1946). "California Takes Back its Japanese Evacuees: The Readjustment of California to the Return of the Japanese Evacuees". Human Organization. 5 (3): 25–39. doi:10.17730/humo.5.3.v24257r8441vq766. ISSN 0018-7259.
  14. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1947). "Community Analysis by the War Relocation Authority Outside the Relocation Centers". Applied Anthropology. 6 (1): 25–31. ISSN 0093-2914. JSTOR 44135164.
  15. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1959-01-01). "Polynesian Myths about Maui and the Dog". Fabula. 2 (1): 139–162. doi:10.1515/fabl.1959.2.1.139.
  16. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1972-01-01). "Disintegration and Regeneration, the Hawaiian Phantom Hitchhiker Legend". Fabula. 13: 20–59. doi:10.1515/fabl.1972.13.1.20.
  17. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine. "A history of the binomial classification of the Polynesian native dog" Pacific Science 14(July 1960): 193-223.
  18. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1961). "Survey of Research on Polynesian Prose and Poetry". The Journal of American Folklore. 74 (294): 421–439. doi:10.2307/538265. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 538265.
  19. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1966). "Numskull Clans and Tales: Their Structure and Function in Asymmetrical Joking Relationships". The Journal of American Folklore. 79 (311): 157–194. doi:10.2307/537496. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 537496.
  20. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1963). "Flexibility in Sib Affiliation among the Diegueno". Ethnology. 2 (3): 282–301. doi:10.2307/3772862. ISSN 0014-1828. JSTOR 3772862.
  21. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1977). "Post-European Central Polynesian Head Masks and Puppet-Marionette Heads". Asian Perspectives. 20 (1): 130–171. ISSN 0066-8435. JSTOR 42927953.
  22. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine (1980). "Some Fishing Customs and Beliefs in Tabiteuea (Gilbert Islands, Micronesia)". Anthropos. 75 (3/4): 523–558. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40460200.
  23. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine. "Phantom Night Marchers in the Hawaiian Islands." Pacific Studies 7, no. 1 (1983): 1.
  24. ^ a b Luomala, Katharine. "Reality and fantasy: The foster child in Hawaiian myths and customs." Pacific Studies 10 (1987): 45-45.
  25. ^ Hudson, Loring G. (1950-12-30). "Dr. Katharine Luomala Contributes to Dictionary of Folklore, Legend". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 29. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1938). Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today. Western Museum Laboratories, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
  27. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1949). Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks: His Oceanic and European Biographers. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. ISBN 978-0-527-02306-5.
  28. ^ Williams, John (1939-10-19). "Maui Hero Among Gods; His Biography Planned". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Online Books by Katharine Luomala". Online Books. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  30. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1940). "Documentary Research in Polynesian Mythology". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 49 (2(194)): 175–195. ISSN 0032-4000. JSTOR 20702804.
  31. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1961). "A Dynamic in Oceanic Maui Myths". Fabula. 4 (1): 137–162. doi:10.1515/fabl.1961.4.1.137.
  32. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1962). "Martha Warren Beckwith. A Commemorative Essay". The Journal of American Folklore. 75 (298): 341–353. doi:10.2307/538369. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 538369.
  33. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1964-01-01). "Motif A 728: Sun Caught in Snare and Certain Related Motifs". Fabula. 6 (3): 213–252. doi:10.1515/fabl.1964.6.3.213.
  34. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1965). "Humorous Narratives about Individual Resistance to Food-Distribution Customs in Tabiteuea, Gilbert Islands". The Journal of American Folklore. 78 (307): 28–45. doi:10.2307/538101. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 538101.
  35. ^ Luomala, Katharine (1973). "Moving and Movable Images in Easter Island Custom and Myth". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 82 (1): 28–46. ISSN 0032-4000. JSTOR 20704900.
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