Our Story
Dr. Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey is the first Polynesian Explorer and female Fellow in the history of the National Geographic Society. An anthropologist specializing in ethnonavigation, Lindsey is collaborating with Google on a geospatial Map of the Human Story. Based on the indigenous science of wayfinding, the project is being constructed using a variety of methodologies. The map will provide dynamic data of the human condition to help forecast emerging patterns worldwide. Produced in a visually robust and universally accessible way, the map reflects Lindsey’s commitment to serve all people. Lindsey’s work serves as the cornerstone of what will become a ‘cultural trust,’a digital repository, for present and future generations.
In spring 2011, Elizabeth embarks on a 186-day expedition to every continent to explore and document teachings critical to navigating the complexity of our times. Her journey will result in a multi-media platform of digital, television, publishing and live events.
The former Miss Hawai’i also works with United Nations Ambassadors on behalf of environmental refugees who are faced with the punishing realities of the climate crisis. A U.N. study predicts there will be as many as 50 million environmental refugees by 2012. There has been no other time in history where the fabric of the human story has been more vulnerable.
Lindsey’s keen insight and first-hand accounts from the world’s most fragile regions make her international speaking engagements an inspiring call-to-action. She offers global audiences the rare invitation to experience unsung societies. Her expertise of native science and ancestral wisdom are helping reshape western perspectives.
On Elizabeth’s most recent expedition, she journeyed to Satawal, Micronesia where she recorded the traditions of the palu, Micronesian non-instrument navigators. Lindsey, who was raised by native Hawaiian elders, earned her doctorate in cultural anthropology specializing in ethnonavigation. She spent almost ten years documenting master navigator Pius “Mau” Piailug who is considered the greatest wayfinder in the world. Her documentary film, “Then There Were None”, which chronicles the near extinction of native Hawaiians, is considered a Hawaiian history classic and has received numerous awards including the prestigious CINE Eagle. She has created scholarships for children in India and the Pacific and plans to expand her efforts this year. In 2004 she was named Woman of the Year in Hawai’i.
Elizabeth serves on the international boards of the Tibet Fund, Islands First, Blue Planet Foundation and is an advisor to the National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Initiative and Paris-based NGO ProNatura. Download Bio / Contact for Public Speaking.