Katharine Luomala (September 10, 1907 – February 27, 1992) was an American anthropologist known for her studies of

comparative mythology Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...

in Oceania. Born in Cloquet, Minnesota and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, Luomala began her anthropological studies there by working with the

Navajo people The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

in the 1930s, chronicling their changing lives. She earned her AB in 1931, MA in 1933, and PhD in 1936. In 1941 she became an honorary associate at the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

in Hawaii, which position she maintained for the rest of her working life. In 1946 she became a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii, where she studied Hawaiian mythology and, from 1950, the

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

of the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

, remaining there until her retirement in 1973. Luomala was a fellow of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...

and a member of the

Anthropological Society of Hawaii Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of beha ...

, the Polynesian Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi. Luomala owned the at the time of the vessel's accident in 1955.David Wright: "Joyita: Solving the mystery" page 5.

References

1907 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American academics 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American anthropologists American women academics American women anthropologists People from Cloquet, Minnesota University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Hawaiʻi faculty {{US-anthropologist-stub