Producing plaster: traditional uses and knowledge of coral on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa
Fukayama, N. (2016). Producing plaster: traditional uses and knowledge of coral on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, in: Kayanne, H. (Ed.) Coral reef science: Strategy for ecosystem symbiosis and coexistence with humans under multiple stresses. Coral Reefs of the World, 5: pp. 65-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54364-0_5
In: Kayanne, H. (Ed.) (2016). Coral reef science: Strategy for ecosystem symbiosis and coexistence with humans under multiple stresses. Coral Reefs of the World, 5. Springer: Tokyo. ISBN 978-4-431-54363-3; e-ISBN 978-4-431-54364-0. ix, 101 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54364-0, more
In: Coral Reefs of the World. Springer: Dordrecht. ISSN 2213-719X, more
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| Author keywords |
Plaster; Plasterer; Traditional uses and knowledge |
| Abstract |
A lagoon reclamation project on Ishigaki Island for the purpose of building a new airport caused much controversy at the end of the 1970s because it would destroy the well-developed coral reefs around the island. Since then, the view that corals were biologically and ecologically valuable and to be conserved has pervaded the island. During this period, however, it has been almost forgotten that corals used to be used as building materials, in particular, lime plaster―a highly processed product derived from corals. From fieldwork, particularly interviews with retired plasterers, I reconstruct the process of traditional plaster production. I also discuss why and how plastering flourished and declined between the 1940s and the 1960s and describe how social attributes of the plasterers on the island differed from those on Okinawa Island―the main island of the Ryūkyū Arc―from which the art of plastering was imported. To consider conservation and recovery of coral at the local level today, it is important to respect such a history of coral uses and to recognize the possibility of various concerns about coral. |
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