Ethnoornithology (also ethno-ornithology) is the study of the relationship between
person and
birds (from "
Ethnology" - relating to people and culture - and "
ornithology" - the study of birds). It is a branch of
ethnozoology and so of the wider field of
ethnobiology. Ethnoornithology is an interdisciplinary subject and combines
anthropology, cognitive and
linguistics perspectives with
natural science approaches to the description and interpretation of people's knowledge and use of birds. Like
ethnomethodology and other cognate terms, "ethnoornithology" is sometimes used narrowly to refer to people's practice rather than the study of that practice. The broader focus is on how birds are perceived, used and managed in
human society, including their use for
food,
medicine and personal
beauty, as well as their use in
divination and
ritual. Applied ethnoornithological research is also starting to play an increasingly important role in the development of conservation initiatives.
History of ethnoornithology
The work of
Ralph Bulmer in
New Guinea, culminating in his collaboration with Ian Saem Majnep in writing
Birds of My Kalam Country (1977), set a new standard for ethnoornithological research, and this book has deservedly become a classic of modern ethno-ornithology.
Approaches to ethnoornithology
Ethnoornithology and conservation
Like other branches of ethnozoology, ethnoornithology has been long undervalued as a resource for
conservation, though this is now beginning to change. Mark Bonta's
Seven Names for the Bellbird (2003), which highlights the importance of local traditions and practices relating to birds for the future of biodiversity conservation in Honduras, and Ricardo Rozzi's
Multi-ethnic Bird Guide of the Subantarctic Forests of South America (2003), which focuses on the integration of traditional ornithological knowledge and environmental ethics in southern
Chile, provide good examples of this trend. Soma (2015) pointed out that ethnoornithological knowledge of
Falconry contribute to conservation for local avifauna (especially focusing on
Kazakhs eagle masters). This realisation is the basis for founding the
Ethno-ornithology World Archive (EWA), a collaborative project between Oxford University (linking the Department of Zoology and School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography) and BirdLife International.
Professional associations
The
Society of Ethnobiology, which publishes the
Journal of Ethnobiology, provides a general forum for ethnobiological - including ethnoornithological - research. In January 2006, the
Ethnoornithology Research & Study Group (ERSG) was established "to provide a clearinghouse, information source and discussion point for people interested in the study of, research about and application of indigenous bird knowledge".
-
Aillapan L. & R. Rozzi. 2001. Twenty Winged Poems from the native forests of southern Chile. Two CDs of indigenous poems by the Mapuche shaman Lorenzo Aillapán, recorded in the forests of southern Chile in combination with bird vocalizations. Contain a book with an explanatory preface and bilingual text Mapudungún-English of the poems with illustration of the birds by D. Martínez. General direction and design by Ricardo Rozzi. Editorial Plaza y Valdés, Mexico.
-
Bonta, M. (2003). Seven Names for the Bellbird: Conservation Geography in Honduras. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
-
Feld, S. (1982). Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expressions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (2nd edition published in 1990).
-
Forth, G. (2004). Nage Birds: Classification and Symbolism among an Eastern Indonesian People. London & New York: Routledge.
-
Majnep, I.S. & Bulmer, R.B. (1977). Birds of My Kalam Country. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
-
Paredes-Castellanos, A., & Rozzi, R. (2018). Biocultural exoticism in the feminine landscape of Latin America. In From Biocultural Homogenization to Biocultural Conservation (pp. 167–183). Springer, Cham.
-
-
Tidemann, S. & Gosler, A. (2010). Ethno-ornithology: Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Cultures, and Society. London: Earthscan (Routledge).
-
Soma, Takuya. (2015). "Human & Raptor Interactions in the Context of a Nomadic Society: Anthropological and Ethno-Ornithological Studies of Altaic Kazakh Falconry and its Cultural Sustainability in Western Mongolia". Germany: University of Kassel Press.
External links
