American anthropologist
Katharine Luomala
Katharine Luomala from the 1925 yearbook of Cloquet High School
Born September 10, 1907Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S.
Died February 27, 1992Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation Anthropologist
Ellen Katharine Luomala (September 10, 1907 – February 27, 1992) was an American anthropologist known for her studies of
comparative mythology in
Oceania .
Early life and education
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
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
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
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
"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
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
^
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.
^
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.
^ King, Pauline (1958-06-05).
"She Likes Fairy Tales and Folklore" . The Honolulu Advertiser . p. 15. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"UH Anthropologist Receives Research Grant" . The Honolulu Advertiser . 1955-04-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
^
Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey ;
Harvey, Joy Dorothy (2000-01-01).
The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z . Taylor & Francis.
ISBN
9780415920407 .
^
"Deceased Honorary Fellows: Katherine Luomala" . Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania . Archived from
the original on 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2016-01-26 .
^
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.
^ Forbis, John (1972-05-25).
"Joyita Died a South Seas Enigma" . The Kansas City Times . p. 37. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
^ 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 . Retrieved September 17, 2023 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine.
"A history of the binomial classification of the Polynesian native dog" Pacific Science 14(July 1960): 193-223.
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine (1963).
"Flexibility in Sib Affiliation among the Diegueno" . Ethnology . 2 (3): 282–301.
doi :
10.2307/3772862 .
ISSN
0014-1828 .
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine (1977).
"Post-European Central Polynesian Head Masks and Puppet-Marionette Heads" . Asian Perspectives . 20 (1): 130–171.
ISSN
0066-8435 .
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine (1980).
"Some Fishing Customs and Beliefs in Tabiteuea (Gilbert Islands, Micronesia)" . Anthropos . 75 (3/4): 523–558.
ISSN
0257-9774 .
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine. "Phantom Night Marchers in the Hawaiian Islands." Pacific Studies 7, no. 1 (1983): 1.
^
a
b Luomala, Katharine. "Reality and fantasy: The foster child in Hawaiian myths and customs." Pacific Studies 10 (1987): 45-45.
^ 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.
^ Luomala, Katharine (1938).
Navaho Life of Yesterday and Today . Western Museum Laboratories, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
^ Luomala, Katharine (1949).
Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks: His Oceanic and European Biographers . Bernice P. Bishop Museum.
ISBN
978-0-527-02306-5 .
^ Williams, John (1939-10-19).
"Maui Hero Among Gods; His Biography Planned" . Honolulu Star-Bulletin . p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-06 – via Newspapers.com.
^
"Online Books by Katharine Luomala" . Online Books . Online Books. Retrieved September 17, 2023 .
^ Luomala, Katharine (1940).
"Documentary Research in Polynesian Mythology" . The Journal of the Polynesian Society . 49 (2(194)): 175–195.
ISSN
0032-4000 .
^ Luomala, Katharine (1961).
"A Dynamic in Oceanic Maui Myths" . Fabula . 4 (1): 137–162.
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
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