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https://theconversation.com/giving-first-nations-names-to-our-bird-species-is-a-lot-more-complex-and-contentious-than-you-might-think-238432>
"First Peoples’ names for animals and plants undeniably enrich Australian
culture. But to date, few names taken from a language of Australia’s First
Peoples have been widely applied to birds.
About 2,000 Australian bird species and subspecies occur in Australia and its
territories. However, just 35 of these have common names taken directly from
First Peoples’ languages. These names are variations of just a handful of First
Peoples words: galah, gang-gang, budgerigar, currawong, brolga, kookaburra,
chowchilla, Kalkadoon and mukarrthippi.
By contrast, many more bird names promote colonial power, by memorialising
(mostly male) foreign explorers, naturalists, administrators or royalty – some
of whom never even visited Australia.
There is growing interest in the use of First Peoples’ words, as a global
movement to decolonise the common names of species gathers pace. But as we and
our colleagues explain in a paper published today, the practice is far more
complex, and sometimes contentious, than it might appear."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
