Re: [Ethnoornithology] Re: Birds and Fire discussion over at Birdchat...
Hello Mr. Gosford,
Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Been a busy end of school and busy beginning of summer school!
YES, I know about the Lime Village book and use it as one of the reference materials for my students. It is wonderful.
It's great to hear that research in Africa is finally taking indigenous people more seriously and value them for their observations and stories. It's great that they are involving the kids, too. We do a lot of interviewing of our own elders here in Alaska. Most of the stories I hear, folklore or real observations are very, very interesting, scientific and often provide a more wholistic view of the bird or animal that is being discussed.
Ethnoornithology: I love it!
Joy
Indeed very funny - almost (but not quite) six degrees of separation...
two points - firstly, have you seen the book by Priscilla N Russell and George West "Bird Traditions of the Lime Village Area Dena'ina - Upper Stony River Ethno-ornithology"? - for mine it is a great example of a local ethnoornithology - lot of information, great involvement with and credit given to the local people who made the book and lots of information on how people use and what the believe and know about all of the birds in their country - I can't recommend it enough - particularly as a teaching tool (though I'm not a teacher!) but also as a model for anyone wanting to do a local ethnoornithology.
The second point is about methodology (something I believe is a of crucial importance in an emerging sub-discipline like ethnoornithology) - fellow ethnoorn worker Martin Walsh of Cambridge Uni has worked in Kenya & east Africa for many years and has an early project (now digitised?) that involved giving school children exercise books and asking them to record the stories of their elders while at home - the project hasn't been written up yet but it sounds like a great, fun and easy way to engage school-aged children and their families in a good project.
And thanks for kicking off the discussion at Birdchat - we've already spilled over into Birding Aus (the Australian version) - where next?
Bob Gosford
--- In Ethnoornithology@yahoogroups.co.uk, Joyanne Hamilton <innoko_bird@...> wrote:
>
> This is too funny. Thanks, Mr. Gosford.
>
> Actually, I was the one who posted it on BirdChat because I was
> inspired by the chatter on THIS listserv regarding birds and fire and
> Indigenous stories.
> Thank you for this fascinating thread on this listserv.
>
> I teach here in rural Alaska and love hearing Indigenous stories about
> all living things. One of my classes this summer is "Fire Science" in
> which we investigate fire's properties and it's impact on the
> environment (both good and bad). I will be sharing with my students
> the stories you have had regarding birds and fire and traditional
> stories in Kenya. We've also done comparisons of (western hemisphere)
> indigenous stories before with regards to migrating species which come
> from South America to Alaska and return. Swallow stories are
> especially fun to research.
>
> I think in my next life I want to be an Ethnoornithologist. Thank you
> for the inspiration!
>
> Joyanne Hamilton
> Shageluk, Alaska
>
> On May 26, 2009, at 12:50 PM, Robert Gosford wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Just a quick note to advise that over at Birdchat (http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=BIRDCHAT
> > ) there is a discussion thread on 'Birds and Fire' - most of the
> > discussion is about the relationship/s between birds and habitats
> > affected by presence/absence of fire.
> >
> > I'll post a message there advising Birdchatters of the recent
> > discussion about birds as fire vectors/beneficiaries we've been
> > having here.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Bob Gosford
> >
> >
> >
>
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