Duane Hamacher

Dance machines and astronomy in contemporary Torres Strait Islander traditions

Abstract

Song and dance are an important component of oral tradition in the Torres Strait Islander culturess of Australia. These dances have evolved in the last century to include mechanical dance-machines (Zamiyakal), which portray an additional motion in the performance. Since astronomical knowledge is centre to Islander cultures, many of these dances focus on astronomical phenomena, such as meteors, comets, eclipses, and constellations. Knowledge about the practical aspects of astronomical knowledge (such as navigation, hunting, fishing, and agriculture) are encoded in these performances. This talk will explore the nature, evolution, and purpose of astronomically themed dance machines in modern Islander cultures based on ethnographic work with artists and elders.

Biography

Duane Hamacher is a Lecturer and ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow in the Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Unit at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. His teaching and research focus on cultural astronomy. His Australian Research Council grant involves studying the astronomical knowledge of Torres Strait Islanders. He leads the Indigenous Astronomy Group at Nura Gili and works as a consultant curator at Sydney Observatory. He earned graduate degrees in astrophysics and Indigenous studies, with a doctoral thesis on Australian Aboriginal astronomy.