Understanding the individual and collective spatial memories of Moorea’s lagoon fishermen through freehand drawing

Résumé En

Moorea is a prominent island in French Polynesia, located near Tahiti in the Society Archipelago. A coral barrier surrounds it, averaging about 800 meters away. The lagoon covers an area of roughly 49 km² and has a depth not exceeding 5 meters. To date, there's been limited research on the spatial mental representations of the island's lagoon fishermen. Yet, three-quarters of Moorea's households have at least one person who fishes regularly, primarily for subsistence. To gain insights into the spatial memories of this community, we collected 93 hand-drawn mental maps from 47 male and 12 female fishermen. Our analysis of these alternative cartographic materials will be threefold. First, we'll examine the spatial perspectives depicted by the participants. Beyond the predominant allocentric and egocentric views, there's a "circular" perspective that stands out and warrants attention due to its novelty. We'll then shift our focus to the symbols used – both common (legends, north arrows, pictograms, etc.) and unique (e.g., a fisherman drawing himself or emoticons). We'll conclude our analysis with a look at the few maps drawn collaboratively in small groups of two to three people, aiming to understand and characterize the collective dynamics (agreements, negotiations, shared memories, etc.) that influenced these joint sketches.