Why the porcupine is not a bird : explorations in the folk zoology of an eastern Indonesian people / Gregory Forth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forth, Gregory, author.

Series:

Anthropological horizons

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nage (Indonesian people)--Ethnozoology--Indonesia--Flores Island.

Nage (Indonesian people).

Ethnozoology--Indonesia--Flores Island.

Ethnozoology.

Indonesia--Flores Island.

Physical Description:

xiv, 375 pages : ǂb illustrations, maps ; ǂc 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2016.

Summary:

"Why the Porcupine Is Not a Bird is a comprehensive analysis of knowledge of animals among the Nage people of central Flores in Indonesia. Gregory Forth sheds light on the ongoing anthropological debate surrounding the categorization of animals in small-scale non-Western societies."-- Provided by publisher.

"Forth's detailed discussion of how the Nage people conceptualize their relationship to the animal world covers the naming and classification of animals, their symbolic and practical use, and the ecology of central Flores and its change over the years. His study reveals the empirical basis of Nage classifications, which align surprisingly well with the taxonomies of modern biologists. It also shows how the Nage employ systems of symbolic and utilitarian classification distinct from their general taxonomy. A tremendous source of ethnographic detail, Why the Porcupine Is Not a Bird is an important contribution to the fields of ethnobiology and cognitive anthropology."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Introduction 3

2 Investigating Folk Knowledge: A Methodological Prospectus 28

3 Animals, Humans, and Other Mammals 52

Part 1 Mammals

4 Animals of the Village: Domestic and Partly Domestic Mammals 75

5 The Giant Rat of Flores and Other Never-Domesticated Mammals 105

6 Symbolic and Utilitarian Dimensions of Mammal Categories: Varieties of Special-Purpose Classification 135

Part 2 Non-mammals

7 Birds, or "Creatures That Fly High in the Sky" 165

8 Snakes: The Life-Form Nipa 185

9 Néither Fish nor Fowl: A Non-mammalian Miscellany 207

10 Things with Tails but without Backbones: Invertebrates in Nage Folk Zoology 227

Part 3 Comparisons and Curiosities

11 What's in an Animal Name: Comparative Observations on Animal Nomenclature, Classification, and Symbolism 249

12 When Birds Turn into Mammals and Mammals into Fish: Nage "Beliefs" about Animal Transformation 276

13 Animal Mysteries and Disappearing Animals 295

14 Concluding Remarks 313.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781487500047

1487500041

9781487520014

1487520018

OCLC:

922452680