A Cultural Comparison of the ''Dark Constellations'' in the Milky Way

• Autores: Gullberg, Steven R.; Hamacher, Duane; Lopez, Alejandro Martin; Mejuto, Javier; Munro, Andrew M.; Orchiston, Wayne
• Año de publicación: 2020
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Milky Way; Dark constellations; Cultural astronomy; Indigenous knowledge
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Cultures around the world find meaning in the groupings of stars and features in the Milky Way. The striking appearance of our Galaxy in the night sky serves as a reference to traditional knowledge, encoding science and culture to a memory space, becoming part of their overarching cosmologies. This paper examines traditional views of the Milky Way from cultures around the world, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. These views comprise dark constellations: familiar shapes made up of the dark dust lanes in the Milky Way, rather than the bright stars. Some of the better-known examples include the celestial emu from Aboriginal traditions of Australia, and the llama in Inca traditions of the Andes. We conduct a comparative analysis of cultural perceptions of ‘dark constellations’ in the Milky Way, examining common cultural themes and meanings at the crossroads of Indigenous Knowledge and Western science with applications to topics ranging from Indigenous Studies to psychology.
Fil: Gullberg, Steven R.. Oklahoma State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Hamacher, Duane. University of Melbourne; Australia
Fil: Lopez, Alejandro Martin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas. Sección de Etnología y Etnografía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Mejuto, Javier. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras; Honduras
Fil: Munro, Andrew M.. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos
Fil: Orchiston, Wayne. University of Southern Queensland; Australia. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand; Tailandia