Wayfinding:
Navigating Transformational Change

The art of wayfinding was a culturally informed technique that enabled Polynesian voyagers to navigate the vast expanse of Oceania and beyond. As the world changed, cultures across the globe succumbed to colonization and the targeted, systematic, sustained loss of their lifeways. Many populations around the world have similar histories wherein entire societies were despoiled, dispossessed of their homelands, and ultimately supplanted with a legacy of historical and intergenerational trauma. Nonetheless, toward the end of the 20th century, a small host of intrepid Polynesian voyagers sought to revive the ancient art and science of Wayfinding. The term itself, coined by contemporary ocean voyagers, references a skilled navigator or pathfinder. At the time, regaining the art of Wayfinding also sparked something far greater. Not merely another tool or technique for navigation, Wayfinding was an embodied sense that activates the host’s inner compass and ways of knowing that extend far beyond the five senses, defying conventional tools and methods. The convening of this NMCS is dedicated to gathering among our respective communities and learning from one another, such that when other mechanisms breakdown, we can better appreciate the capacity of the human spirit and invoke our inherent ability to manifest much-needed breakthroughs that will create transformative change and carry us forward into a brighter future.