Thinking About Birds, Thinking With Birds-Perspectives from Northwest North America

• Main Author: Main Johnson, Leslie
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Human environments; Traditional stories; Common birds; Salient birds; Canada; New Zealand; Sheila; Gwich’in
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2149/2657

The conference was stimulating and a wonderful opportunity for international networking with colleagues from Canada, the United States and around the world. In particular I connected with a collegue who is an ethnoecologist from Hungary, with whom I had previously corresponded, and a colleague from the US whose work I have previously cited. I spoke with the editor of the Ethnobiology textbook I have a co-authored chapter in while at the meeting. My new books were very well received and I was able to sell several copies for the publishers at the book sale. I also shared accommodations with my recent MAIS student Sheila Grieves, and spent time meeting with a graduate student from the University of Washington. I received very positive comments on the paper I presented, and one colleague asked if I had a copy available to share. I intend to work up the paper and submit it to the Journal of Ethnobiology for publication. The discussions were good in our session, and I made the acquaintance of colleagues from India and New Zealand who are also working on ethno-ornithology. Birds are salient actors in human environments around the world, and are carriers of meaning, their actions invested with a range of significance. This paper will present thoughts on the significance of birds in several cultures in Northwest North America based on long term research with Gitksan, Witsuwit’en, Kaska and Gwich’in . The observations I share were made by spending time on the land with people and in conversation —that is in everyday circumstances and through commonly repeated traditional stories. Accordingly what I present is a series of examples of certain salient birds and their meanings across the range of localities where I’ve worked. As such they are common birds, frequently observed. Relationships with these birds include: commensalism and sharing; power; birds as food; symbolic and metaphoric associations; and ecological relationships. Birds often appear as art motifs, and have strong roles in traditional narratives. Birds also ...