Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott & Dr. Karla McDermid, Marine Science Department, UHH
Limu: Gathering Practices and the Kapu System
HILO: UH Hilo, University Classroom Building #127
Date/Time: October 27, 2008 Noon-1:30 p.m.
Abstract:
In the Hawaiian Islands prior to Western contact, limu (seaweed) was a regular part of the diet and accompanied most meals. Seaweeds, through their collection and preparation, provided a special niche for Hawaiian women, who, until the introduction of Christianity (circa 1819) and the fall of the kapu system, were forbidden to eat many other nutritious food items, including pork, coconuts, turtles, most varieties of bananas, and several species of big or red fish. Seaweeds were also important to Hawaiian culture in rituals (e.g. ho'oponopono), medicine, legends, and in ko kula 'uka ko kula kai as a valuable item of exchange between coastal and upland families. Today, over 500 species of limu are known from the Hawaiian Islands, some of which are still gathered and cherished.
Bios:
Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott , born in Hāna, Maui and raised in Honolulu, is a graduate of the Universities of Hawai‘i, Michigan and California. She taught at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University for 30 years before "retiring" in Hawai'i where she began teaching at UH Mānoa and working six days a week. She is a phycologist and an ethnobotanist. She has received numerous awards for her contributions to the study of marine algae and her encouragement of students to follow in her footsteps.
Dr. Karla McDermid is a Professor in the Marine Science Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo where she teaches her favorite courses on Marine Plants, Atoll Ecosystems, Marine Debris, as well as Introductory Marine Biology. She began her studies on marine plants at Stanford University where she first met Dr. Isabella Abbott in 1979. Later, she completed her Ph.D. work under Dr. Abbott at UH Mānoa. She has been on research expeditions to study the marine plants of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Palmyra, Palau, Pohnpei, and most recently, 600 feet deep off of Moloka‘i in a submersible. Dr. McDermid has presented invited papers at international seaweed conferences and workshops, and published articles (some with Dr. Abbott) on ecology, taxonomy, biogeography, and nutritional composition of limu.