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Paper short abstract

This study examines the intangible cultural heritage of Mappila navigators from India's Malabar coast, focusing on their Sea Songs. These oral traditions embody navigational knowledge, spiritual beliefs, and environmental consciousness, reflecting the community's identity and resilience.

Paper long abstract

This study investigates how the intangible cultural heritage of the Mappila sailors—a micro-community from the Malabar coast of India—provides a distinctive subaltern archive for understanding the maritime heritage, history and lived experiences. Focusing on their oral tradition of Sea Songs, the research highlights these living traditions as essential documents of the navigators' multifaceted, amphibious experiences and their profound connection to the maritime environment. The Sea Songs were composed and performed during the voyages aboard traditional wooden sailing vessels, Pattēmārs. Until the late 20th century, these sailors navigated their vessels along a historical trade network linking the Malabar region to the western coast of India, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, and the Swahili coast. These songs serve as a vital medium for transmitting traditional navigational wisdom, heavily relying on knowledge of nature and celestial bodies—a unique system of expertise distinguishing these seamen as adept navigators. The songs encapsulate spiritual beliefs, a cosmological worldview, and ecological awareness, reflecting how the community adapted to their marine environment and forged a distinct transregional identity. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the research integrates content analysis of the songs with ethnographic fieldwork, addressing a significant epistemological gap in understanding the Malabar maritime history. The findings reveal that the community's cultural memory is closely tied to their natural environment and the challenges they encounter, including the perils of the sea, climate-related issues, and the vibrant festivities and cultural hybridity that emerge from these experiences.