Tuesday, February 15, 2022
1-2 p.m. | Zoom Webinar | Cost: FREE
Emi Koch, a National Geographic Explorer and Fulbright U.S. Student Fellow shares her research and experiences about the culture, traditions, and sustainable future in Vietnam’s coastal villages.
Vietnamese fishermen built temples to keep cetacean remains, following the traditional belief in whales, dolphins, and porpoises’ divinity and protective nature over fishermen at sea. Along Vietnam’s 3,200 km coastline, there are an estimated 300 temples. However, many were reportedly destroyed during the French Indochina War (1946-1954) and by U.S. bombers in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). These temples and the tradition of whale worship are examples of local natural resource management and social-ecological, as well as spiritual wellbeing for Vietnam’s ocean-dependent communities and small-scale fisheries. Emily shares her insights about a sustainable future for these fishing villages with concerns about changing climate and an industrializing planet.
