There
is a common but often unspoken arrogance on the part of outside
observers that folk science and traditional knowledge — the
type developed by Native communities and tribal groups — is
inferior to the “formal science” practiced by
Westerners.
In this lucidly written and humanistic account of the O’odham
tribes of Arizona and Northwest Mexico, ethnobiologist Amadeo M. Rea
exposes the limitations of this assumption by exploring the rich
ornithology that these tribes have generated about the birds that are
native to their region. He shows how these peoples’
observational knowledge provides insights into the behaviors, mating
habits, migratory patterns, and distribution of local bird species, and
he uncovers the various ways that this knowledge is incorporated into
the communities’ traditions and esoteric belief systems.
Drawing on more than four decades of field and textual research along
with hundreds of interviews with tribe members, Rea identifies how
birds are incorporated, both symbolically and practically, into Piman
legends, songs, art, religion, and ceremonies. Through highly detailed
descriptions and accounts loaded with Native voice, this book is the
definitive study of folk ornithology. It also provides valuable data
for scholars of linguistics and North American Native studies, and it
makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how humans
make sense of their world. It will be of interest to historians of
science, anthropologists, and scholars of indigenous cultures and folk
taxonomy.
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Wings in the Desert
A Folk
Ornithology of the Northern Pimans
by Amadeo M. Rea
University of Arizona Press,
2007
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Reviewed in
The Nature Pages
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