Dear Leonardo & group members,

Good to hear Leonardo's news and an update on the 8th Neotropical
Ornithology Congress. To see more go to:
http://www.nocvenezuela.org/en/index.cfm.

I withdrew my participation in the proposed symposium earlier in the
year ... but I may have to reconsider as it sounds like a great
congress and symposium and a wonderful way to meet and make new
contacts in the Americas - whether I get there or not will depend on
my bank manager!

I agree with Leonardo's call for greater collaboration and cooperation
between what is really a small - but growing - community of
ethnoornithologists. Most of us are familiar and comfortable (because
of the inherent nature of ethnobiology as a cross-disciplinary
practice) with working with researchers from other disciplines,
interests and backgrounds.

Some ideas for collaboration between ethnoornithologists might include:

- development of further symposia like the Venezuela symposium, the
Ethnoornithology symposium at the 30th Society of Ethnobiology and the
proposed symposium for the Australasian Ornithology Conference in
Perth, Australia for later this year;
- collaboration in the preparation of publications like books of
conference/symposia proceedings (as per proposed volume of the
Roundtable proceedings from the International Ornithology Congress at
Hamburg last year)and special editions of more mainstream journals (as
with the Geographical Journal);
- collaborative research within regional/national and international
areas where there are common or comparable ethnoornithological
knowledge and practices;
- work towards a dedicated Journal - perhaps a "Journal of
Ethnoornithology";
- work towards a dedicated, ethnoornithology-specific, conference -
perhaps in late 2008, early 2009;
- work towards a more formally incorporated representative body for
world ethnoornithology - I've put up a proposal to Birds Australia for
the ERSG to become a "Special Interest Group" of Birds Australia - as
part of this proposal I've suggested that the ERSG become formally
incorporated;
- keep working on developing relations with existing institutions and
individual ornithologists; and
- perhaps above all, nurture emergent and young ethnoornithologists,
particularly those from an indigenous background and identify and
recognise individuals and groups whose knowledge and work has not been
recognised or valued to date.

A useful resource is the "Intellectual Imperatives in Ethnobiology"
published in 2003 - for those unfamiliar with I can highly recommend
it as a useful framework for future development of our work. It can be
found at: http://www.econbot.org/pdf/NSF_brochure.pdf.

I think that we are at an important and exciting time for the future
development of ethnoornithology - there is a lot to do and we can
expect to be busy - not only with research but with lobbying,
spreading the word and expanding the reach of the work of the ERSG -
we'll be busy for some time yet.

Enjoy your work - I know that I do!

Best,

Robert Gosford
ERSG moderator



--- In Ethnoornithology@..., "Leonardo Cabrera"
<lcabre@...> wrote:
>
> Dear ethno-members,
>
> Many things are happening here in America on relation to ethno-
> ornithology. For example just to illustrate how this issue is
> growing, a special volume of the Geographical Review is being
> prepared on how birds are studied by geographers under the title:
> Avifauna research and the social sciences: geographical perspectives.
> This work is coordinated by Michael Steinberg from U. of Hawaii.
>
> I am co-leading a research project proposal on the ethno-ornithology
> of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia (Canada) and coordinating a
> symposium on "Exploring bird conservation by indigenous people:
> insights fro biocuktural conservation" in Venezuela, May 2007.
>
> I sincerely hope, no, I want to invite you to sum efforts from the
> people already interested in ethno-ornithology and start making plans
> for further collaborative research. I am sure we are advancing
> importantly the knowledge for bird/cultural conservation by touching
> the human-bird connections in a more respectful, integrative and
> collaborative fashion, hoping benefiting all the parties involved and
> reaching more enduring solutions.
>
> I could not attend to the Ethno congress,, but I am sure we can
> coordinate efforts and resources for key meetings as Robert has
> mentioned in his last email. This may be a good opportunity.
>
> Receive my warmest regards,
>
> Leonardo Cabrera-Garcia, PhD.
> Conservation Geographer
> McGill University
> Montreal, Canada.
>