Overview

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 Oodham 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.

Full Product Details

9780816524594

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Reviews

This book is very humanistically oriented, loaded with native voice, and quite full and complete in terms of what remains to be gathered from an elder generation of Piman peoples. It amply demonstrates the depth of knowledge that was once indigenous knowledge. I cannot think of another effort on ethno-ornithology for any North American group that accomplishes what Rea has done here. -- Catherine Sweeney Fowler

This is more than a book about birds; it describes the birds through Piman eyes, illustrating the importance of each bird to everyday life in the community. --Arizona Daily Star

Author Information

Amadeo M. Rea is an ethnobiologist and ornithologist who has conducted research on the Gila River Indian Reservation over a period of thirty years. He is also the author of Once a River: Bird Life and Habitat Changes on the Middle Gila

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