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Announcement - Aboriginal Bird Knowledge book project

Subject: Announcement - Aboriginal Bird Knowledge book project
From: Robert Gosford <>
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 06:54:17 +0930
Dear all,

I'm tremendously excited to announce that I have recently signed with CSIRO Publishing to produce a book examining, for the first time in any systematic and (hopefully) comprehensive way, the bird knowledge of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The book's working title is /Aboriginal Bird Knowledge/ - though I hope to come up with something a little more catchy over the next year or so! I'm planning on getting the book to CSIRO Publishing by around June 2008.

I plan to present historical information (from the oral traditions, anthropological and linguistic records and ornithological material etc, of which I've already gathered a lot of material), alongside contemporary information gathered through contacts and meetings with Aboriginal people and groups over the course of the next 9 months or so. I plan to do two long road-trips covering most of the country meeting and talking with people. I'll also do a few smaller trips to places that I can't reach easily by car. I look forward to being able to present a progress report at the AOC 2007 in Perth in December.

The layout of the book will broadly follow that used by Mark Cocker in his recent encyclopeadic work on British bird knowledge (which I regard as an ethnoornithology of the British Isles and peoples) titled /Birds Britannica, /and with a couple of chapters reflecting Aboriginal uses of birds, and reflections on Birds in indigenous art and culture/. /In Cocker's book birds were examined by family groupings and I think this will allow for ease of reference and also a more convenient way to group knowledge from different language groups from across the country rather than just by local language groupings.

I'm very aware of the issues related to the use (and potential for misuse) of Aboriginal traditional knowledge and have proposed several ways to address possible concerns:

1 - In compliance with the recently released Code of Conduct prepared by the /International Society of Ethnobiology/ (of which I am a member and thus bound by) I will seek the prior and informed consent of all participants in the project; 2 - I'll provide copies of photos, tapes and other research material etc to all participants or their nominated places of safekeeping (local Keeping Place, Museum, representative organisation etc); 3 - I'll also lodge a copy of all research material with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Islander Studies (AITSIS) in Canberra; and 4 - I will preserve individual and group copyrights and intellectual property and provide written credits and acknowledgments for all contributions.

There may be other things I need to do in this regard and I'd welcome any suggestions or comments on this part of the process.

What I'd like to ask this group for are any suggestions or comments you might have on this project that might be of assistance. I'll be doing extensive pre-trip contacts and an email and snail-mail mailout plus drawing on my contacts over the years in order to find the rights people to talk to during my research.

I'd particularly welcome any suggestions along the following line:

1 - important or relevant people, communities or organisations you think I should contact;
2 - previous or current research, publications etc relevant to this area;
3 - examples of the application of traditional ornithological knowledge in practice;
4 - any local resources of relevance;
5 - any other research areas or approaches I might have overlooked; and
6 - anyone who might want to meet and/or provide a bed/in-kind support etc during my cross-country treks - as always it is the local connections that are important and any tip, suggestion or new contact can be important.

I'll set up a blog/webpage to record comments and progress over the course of this research, particularly what I hope will be the great field trips to many parts of the country I've yet to visit, and will advise of the address when this is done. I also have a dedicated email address for this project.

Thanks to you all and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Robert Gosford
Aboriginal Bird Knowledge book project
LPO Yuendumu
via Alice Springs
NT 0872
Australia
Email: 



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