Abstract
Given the abiding interest in birds in many cultures, it is curious that there are so few monographic treatments of ethno-ornithology. This book is therefore a welcome addition to the literature on traditional ethno-ornithological knowledge of indigenous people and sets a high standard in the genre. It also marks a significant addition to the literature on the ethnobiology of eastern Indonesia. A major objective of the book is the explication of Nage symbolic knowledge of birds and of a system of symbolic classification distinct from the kinds of taxonomic relations between categories that is the predominant focus of much of the ethnobiological literature. Written from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology, the book is both an exemplary ethnography of contemporary ornithological lore of a particular cultural group and a discourse on the symbolic in ethnobiological analysis. In this excellent volume, Forth provides plenty of plums for regional specialists as well as those interested in theoretical debates in ethnobiology.
The Nage are an indigenous horticultural people inhabiting the mountainous island of Flores in eastern Indonesia. Forth identifies 79 names applied to
Nage basic or folk generic terms for birds are presented in a table that includes Linnaean and English language identifications and whether the name is onomatopoeic, descriptive of visible or other perceptible features, or unanalysable. This economical arrangement thus covers etymological and other matters that might otherwise take up a major chapter. Those expecting the kind of encyclopaedic treatment of folk categories familiar in many ethnobiological monographs may be disappointed with this approach. Many identifications of biological species are tentative, but Forth's primary interest is not in the equivalence of Nage categories to those of the scientific ornithologist but on the meaning of categories within Nage symbolic thought.
In an introductory chapter, Forth sets out the ethnographic and ornithological context of the book. He also includes an outline of his theoretical orientation, which highlights the distinction between symbolic classification and ethnotaxonomic relations. Both forms of classification involve the same named categories, though they may associate quite different sets of birds. The remainder of the book explores aspects of these varied Nage ways of knowing and thinking about birds.
The next two chapters present the Nage ethnotaxonomy applied to birds (and bats), with particular attention to folk generics and intermediate categories. What emerges is a picture of a “general purpose” taxonomy largely grounded in observation of morphology and behaviour. Most birds are associated with a “simple distinctive feature”, “a minimal principle, whereby Nage regularly describe and define a bird by at least one perceptible characteristic” (p. 30). Nage classification of birds is taxonomically shallow. Forth identifies only six intermediate taxa, five of which are unnamed or covert. Nonetheless, all intermediate taxa appear to be perceptually based and essentially correspond to distinctions recognised in scientific taxonomy, rather than being referable to utilitarian or cultural factors. Additionally, Nage discourse reveals combinations of folk generics, almost invariably in pairs such as
Most bird names refer to visible or auditory attributes. That is, for the most part, birds are not named with reference to symbolic attributes. Nonetheless, succeeding chapters analysing the symbolic associations of folk categories show how pervasive the spiritual or mystical properties attributed to birds are. It is Forth's detailed and fine-grained explication of a number of related symbolic themes in Nage thought and practice that is the most impressive feature of the book.
Certain spiritual beings, notably witches and never-human spirits are associated with nocturnal sounds, referred to as
A surprisingly large proportion of bird categories are identified with spirits and human souls. The majority of spiritual birds are ominous or are significant in augury, and most also manifest themselves in sound, rather than visually. Indeed, most Nage names for birds associated with spirits are partly or wholly onomatopoeic. The implication of the disembodied character of many birds, which reveal themselves and are represented in Nage bird names only by sound, is a recurring theme. Forth suggests that onomatopoeic naming tends to occur with culturally-significant birds, especially those associated with spirits. This is an interesting proposition with potential for cross-cultural comparison.
Birds figure prominently as predominantly inauspicious omens and objects of taboo. The latter has long attracted the attention of ethnobiologists and others interested in symbolic thought. Forth argues against Mary Douglas's influential conclusion (from an analysis of the Abominations of Leviticus) that animals subject to taboo frequently occupy anomalous positions in ethnotaxonomies. Certain birds are tabooed by the Nage, not because they occupy ambiguous or anomalous classificatory space, but because of their cosmological association with witches, who like these birds feast on the flesh of their own kind.
For me, one of the most interesting chapters takes up the issue of inaccurate knowledge of birds that would appear to be amenable to empirical refutation. Examples include Nage assertions that certain taxa transform into others, that the nightjar is legless, or that bats have no anus. Traditionally, anthropology has dignified such erroneous propositions as “beliefs” and accounted for them as symbolic, thereby invoking deeper cultural significance overriding peoples’ otherwise accurate observations. Forth's treatment is refreshing; he argues that many erroneous aspects of Nage ornithological knowledge are incorrect but mundane inferences based on empirical observations. Most birds (and bats) that are the subject of incorrect knowledge have no particular symbolic value to the Nage. Rather than “knowledge” being moulded by cosmological notions, Forth argues that many erroneous understandings are presented in a fashion that is more akin to scientific hypotheses than to religious truths. This is a challenging and potentially useful way to look at similar counter-intuitive elements of other systems of ethnobiological knowledge.
The last two substantive chapters take up the issues of the poetic use of birds in figures of speech, as tropes for human characteristics, as a source of personal names, and in mythology. Several appendices provide supporting data on bird references in songs and proverbs, bird terms as personal and place names, and similes involving birds. Two conclusions stand out in Forth's analysis of the Nage material. First, a surprisingly large proportion of generic categories (around 40%) figure in various poetic idioms, and secondly, Nage make greater metaphorical use of birds than they do of other creatures. Almost 70% of all bird categories are accorded symbolic value of some sort.
A concluding chapter essays a preliminary comparison of the Nage bird terminology and ethnotaxonomy with other eastern Indonesian cultures. Forth points to some continuities across related Austronesian languages of the region but not a lot. The results are somewhat equivocal and limited—necessarily so, given that data of comparable richness for other languages is as yet wanting. One conclusion, however, stands out: bird names that are shared across languages of eastern Indonesia have a high incidence of onomatopoeia.
The book is the eighth volume in the Routledge series on Studies in Environmental Anthropology and maintains the usual high standard of production. The text is enlivened with photographs and engaging line drawings of selected species, which will help give those unfamiliar with the birds of Wallacea a flavor of the local avifauna.
Of particular value is the richness of ethnographic detail presented in the book, and the fine-grained analysis to which it is subjected. While essentially an ethnography of local environmental knowledge and symbolic thought, the analysis of Nage materials has a bearing on more general theoretical issues in ethnobiology and anthropological approaches to symbolism that recommend it to a wider audience than regional specialists and those interested in ethno-ornithology.