One way birds communicate knowledge to humans and facilitate communication among humans is throug... more One way birds communicate knowledge to humans and facilitate communication among humans is through metaphors. A recent book discusses animal metaphors, nearly a third of which employ birds as vehicles, used by the Nage people of Flores Island (eastern Indonesia). As applied to human beings and human behaviors, bird metaphors reveal considerable overlap with other animal metaphors; thus, a full understanding of these requires additional attention to the metaphoric or more generally symbolic value of other sorts of non-human animals. Emphasizing how knowledge of birds is shaped in some degree by an extra-cultural empirical experience of the creatures, the present discussion explores similar representations of a bird, the scrubfowl, and a marine reptile, the sea turtle, among people in several parts of Flores.
Although occurring elsewhere in Indonesia, the coconut crab — the only member of the genus Birgus... more Although occurring elsewhere in Indonesia, the coconut crab — the only member of the genus Birgus — has yet to be documented on the island of Flores or adjacent islands in the Lesser Sundas. In the Lio region of Flores, however, people in the district of Mego describe a very large entirely terrestrial crab occasionally encountered between 2 and 7 km from Flores’ south coast and sometimes even further inland. Ethnographic evidence is presented showing how this crab, locally called ‘kepi’, generally corresponds to the coconut crab in regard to morphology, habitat, and behaviour. Because local people prohibit the killing and consumption of kepi, other factors possibly accounting for the reputed rarity of large land crabs possibly corresponding to Birgus are also discussed, and the case is further used to comment on the value of local knowledge for international zoology.
... Indonesian languages (including Nage ana peti, eastern Sumbanese manginu, and Rembong and Tan... more ... Indonesian languages (including Nage ana peti, eastern Sumbanese manginu, and Rembong and Tana Wolo kokaq and koka; see also ... Alternatively, manu ghebhe could refer to the Orange-footed Scrubfowl (usually called koko wodo), a mostly ground-dwelling Megapode ...
... Nevertheless, in this respect the European figure is equally reminiscent of Indonesian nature... more ... Nevertheless, in this respect the European figure is equally reminiscent of Indonesian nature spirits, like the "nitu" of Flores, represented as the owners of wild animals (Forth 1998). ... Forth, Gregory. Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba. VKI 93. ...
In 1988, while staying in Bo' a Wae, a village in the Nage region of central Flores where I ... more In 1988, while staying in Bo' a Wae, a village in the Nage region of central Flores where I had conducted ethnographic research in 1984 and 1985, 1 decided to spend a few days in the Keo region, to the southwest. I was going to travel with a Nage man who had assisted me ...
Speakers of a Central-Malayo-Polynesian language, the Nage inhabit the central region of the east... more Speakers of a Central-Malayo-Polynesian language, the Nage inhabit the central region of the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. Their folk taxonomy of animals (ana wa) contains three named life-form taxa, one of which is ika, fish. A review of component folk-generic taxa, however, reveals that Nage do not classify five kinds of freshwater fish as ‘fish’ (ika), even though they further apply ika to various marine fish (including sharks and rays) as well as to marine mammals. The article considers this peculiarity of Nage folk zoological taxonomy, and how it might affect an understanding of ika as denoting a ‘fish’ life-form taxon. The main conclusion is that the five excluded categories—distinguished largely on morphological and behavioural grounds, and conveniently designated as the ‘tebhu cluster’, after one of their members—are contrasted primarily with freshwater species which Nage do classify as ‘fish’ (ika). Specified by name as ika lowo (‘river fish’), these are further con...
One way birds communicate knowledge to humans and facilitate communication among humans is throug... more One way birds communicate knowledge to humans and facilitate communication among humans is through metaphors. A recent book discusses animal metaphors, nearly a third of which employ birds as vehicles, used by the Nage people of Flores Island (eastern Indonesia). As applied to human beings and human behaviors, bird metaphors reveal considerable overlap with other animal metaphors; thus, a full understanding of these requires additional attention to the metaphoric or more generally symbolic value of other sorts of non-human animals. Emphasizing how knowledge of birds is shaped in some degree by an extra-cultural empirical experience of the creatures, the present discussion explores similar representations of a bird, the scrubfowl, and a marine reptile, the sea turtle, among people in several parts of Flores.
Although occurring elsewhere in Indonesia, the coconut crab — the only member of the genus Birgus... more Although occurring elsewhere in Indonesia, the coconut crab — the only member of the genus Birgus — has yet to be documented on the island of Flores or adjacent islands in the Lesser Sundas. In the Lio region of Flores, however, people in the district of Mego describe a very large entirely terrestrial crab occasionally encountered between 2 and 7 km from Flores’ south coast and sometimes even further inland. Ethnographic evidence is presented showing how this crab, locally called ‘kepi’, generally corresponds to the coconut crab in regard to morphology, habitat, and behaviour. Because local people prohibit the killing and consumption of kepi, other factors possibly accounting for the reputed rarity of large land crabs possibly corresponding to Birgus are also discussed, and the case is further used to comment on the value of local knowledge for international zoology.
... Indonesian languages (including Nage ana peti, eastern Sumbanese manginu, and Rembong and Tan... more ... Indonesian languages (including Nage ana peti, eastern Sumbanese manginu, and Rembong and Tana Wolo kokaq and koka; see also ... Alternatively, manu ghebhe could refer to the Orange-footed Scrubfowl (usually called koko wodo), a mostly ground-dwelling Megapode ...
... Nevertheless, in this respect the European figure is equally reminiscent of Indonesian nature... more ... Nevertheless, in this respect the European figure is equally reminiscent of Indonesian nature spirits, like the "nitu" of Flores, represented as the owners of wild animals (Forth 1998). ... Forth, Gregory. Rindi: An Ethnographic Study of a Traditional Domain in Eastern Sumba. VKI 93. ...
In 1988, while staying in Bo' a Wae, a village in the Nage region of central Flores where I ... more In 1988, while staying in Bo' a Wae, a village in the Nage region of central Flores where I had conducted ethnographic research in 1984 and 1985, 1 decided to spend a few days in the Keo region, to the southwest. I was going to travel with a Nage man who had assisted me ...
Speakers of a Central-Malayo-Polynesian language, the Nage inhabit the central region of the east... more Speakers of a Central-Malayo-Polynesian language, the Nage inhabit the central region of the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. Their folk taxonomy of animals (ana wa) contains three named life-form taxa, one of which is ika, fish. A review of component folk-generic taxa, however, reveals that Nage do not classify five kinds of freshwater fish as ‘fish’ (ika), even though they further apply ika to various marine fish (including sharks and rays) as well as to marine mammals. The article considers this peculiarity of Nage folk zoological taxonomy, and how it might affect an understanding of ika as denoting a ‘fish’ life-form taxon. The main conclusion is that the five excluded categories—distinguished largely on morphological and behavioural grounds, and conveniently designated as the ‘tebhu cluster’, after one of their members—are contrasted primarily with freshwater species which Nage do classify as ‘fish’ (ika). Specified by name as ika lowo (‘river fish’), these are further con...
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