Nage Birds by Gregory Forth

Author:Gregory Forth [Forth, Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Anthropology
ISBN: 9781134368099
Google: G-egbHGbzIEC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-01-11T04:45:06+00:00

Chapter 7

* * *

Hibernating swallows, kite stones, and the legless nightjar: some curiosities of Nage bird knowledge

* * *

It is already clear that Nage articulate ideas concerning birds which either conflict with, or derive no support from, contemporary scientific knowledge. In this chapter, I review a variety of such ideas and consider what their basis may be in Nage culture or experience. I do not mean to suggest that only faulty knowledge is to be explained culturally or sociologically. Yet it is where cultural knowledge is in egregious conflict with empirical evidence that the influence of cultural factors can be most clearly identified and gauged.1

It will be evident that I believe it not only possible, but also necessary, to state that certain cultural beliefs (standard ideas, received notions) are empirically incorrect. I also maintain that modern scientific knowledge must be the standard against which such judgements are made. At the same time, I allow for the possibility that local people make accurate observations of which western ornithologists have yet to avail themselves, and which might even be hindered by prevailing scientific theory. I will not further defend this position here. By way of an example drawn from another folk tradition, however, I would just point out that the belief, encountered until quite recently in European societies, that Barnacle geese develop from barnacles or the fruit of certain trees is quite plainly wrong and is easily countered by ornithological evidence. This illustration is apposite, for the belief was evidently based in part on an ignorance of the actual breeding habits of these birds and was arguably sustained by culturally constructed values and interests — in this case pertaining to Lenten food prohibitions.

How far comparable Nage ideas can similarly be accounted for is a major question considered in what follows. Another concerns the relation of such notions to ethno-ornithological classification. I begin by reviewing individual cases in the alphabetical order of their local names. As Nage ideas about the nightjar (leba) present special problems and possibilities, I discuss these in a separate section.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.