Ethnoornithology is the study of the relationship between people and birds, and in recent years the field has emerged as a valuable source of ethnobiological research. Ethnoornithology provides an opportunity to empower people of all cultures to discover, re-examine and preserve the connections between individuals, groups and cultures and the birds that they hunt, venerate and cherish.
Following are the abstracts of papers and posters presented at the recent Ethnoornithology Symposium, entitled “Birds in culture and context – Ethnoornithology in application and theory“, held during the 30th Society of Ethnobiology conference at the University of California, Berkeley from 28 to 31st March 2007. It was a great day, with a quantity and quality of papers […]
An introduction to the first session at a major European scientific conference dedicated to ethnoornithology - the study of the relationships between people and birds.
Further to my previous post here on the 33rd Society of Ethnobiology meeting at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island, the following week I traveled up to the small resort town of Tofino for the 12th International Congress of Ethnobiology conducted by the International Society of Ethnobiology. There I joined with my colleague from Nature Kenya, Fleur Ng'weno, to co-chair a larger symposium on Ethnoornithology than I had presented the week before in Victoria, BC.
While it is easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that thousands of birds are kept in appalling conditions purely for human exploitation, profit and enjoyment, it is important to note that, as with most of the relationships between people and birds, things are a bit more complex than that.
I long ago gave up going to conferences where I'm not presenting a paper and my presentation was in the first session of the first day...
Sunday morning music? My current favourite is from a band called The Drones and the song is called “Shark Fin Blues” – it has lyrics that Bob Dylan would be proud of and music that is a bit like early Rolling Stones crossed with Neil Young crossed with…well…name any good eighties punk band. “Shark Fin Blues” – it might just change your world-view!
