Ian Masterson
Ian Masterson is a professor in Hawaiʻi who is successfully doing what few people have attempted-bridge the divide by pioneering Surf Studies as a legitimate academic subject. The Surf Professor is guiding people to rediscover themselves as vibrant beings in nature, utilizing surfing as the medium! Follow your bliss!
My practice is to engage students in their environment, stressing observation of natural phenomena and awareness of their cultural importance then (Indigenous understanding) and now (environmental awareness and global factors of change), thus bringing meaning to knowing. My philosophy is to inspire students to reach greatness and see the big picture by doing the research and studying hard--Ka ʻImi ʻIke, to seek knowledge. I follow Hawaiian ways of knowing and truly grasp the metaphor of the universal energy flow as a current in the sea, ke au. A "hei-au" is a place where we go to acquire mana, because it is a point on land that gathers this current. It is for us to understand this current as the tangible passing of space and time that requires us to actively engage with that flow--seek it out, to gain personal knowledge/empowerment, mana. Mana is acquired and inherited, and surfing was one way to acquire mana, thus riding a wave successfully requires great skill, strength, tenacity, and commitment, as does the learning process. In this way I am like the board, the vehicle upon which the student/surfer is enabled to ride the wave--but it requires their active engagement to ride the board correctly and land safely upon the shore. ʻE heʻe-ana kākou! (“Let’s all go surfing together!”)
Learn more: thesurfprofessor.com