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Today's #BlackBirdersWeek topic is #BirdingWhileBlack.
Here's a review of a fascinating book looking at the role Black Africans played for colonial white expeditionists.
Has much changed?
The Black Birders Who Made White Ornithologists Famous
https://edgeeffects.net/birders/
Here's a review of a fascinating book looking at the role Black Africans played for colonial white expeditionists.
Has much changed?
The Black Birders Who Made White Ornithologists Famous
https://edgeeffects.net/birders/
It's important for #ornithology to acknowledge and understand it's history and its influences. Expeditions could not be carried out without the manpower or skills provided by local people with knowledge of their country, its habitats, the species found there and the dangers.
Explorers have long exploited native peoples' knowledge in pursuit of their expedition aims. Not only did local trackers find target species, but they shared knowledge of species, habits and habitats, usually without credit, recognition or a share in the glory of discovery.
Most, if not all, of the specimens collected during many of the early expeditions left the country of origin for overseas museums and institutes, where access and research on the specimens themselves remained the preserve of the hosts' white academic communities.
This is changing. Some European and N American institutes now partner with or fund research in Africa, Asia and South America, such as @aploritwit1 in Nigeria (pictured here) where European and African researchers work together studying Afro-Palearctic migrants.
And publication is increasingly equitable with local authors and institutes taking the lead on publication, as here with @ChimaobimNwaogu ( @aplorete) et als paper https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ibi.12661 with publication fees (when applied) covered by funding from the external partner institute.
Small #ornithology societies also play a role funding research around the world which may otherwise not be carried out. Such as @SayamChowdhury's project 'survey and conservation of the critically endangered Spoon‐billed Sandpiper in Bangladesh' https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01191.x
And often, researchers native to less economically developed countries (LEDCs) and working within those countries, such as @SayamChowdhury and his Spoon‐billed Sandpiper project, have free access to many small #ornithology society funding schemes.
#ornithology societies also provide funds to allow researchers to attend/present work at international events they may otherwise not be able to attend, such as @ChimaobimNwaogu's (Nigeria) and @jollivirat's (India) attendance at #IOConress2018 in Canada https://www.bou.org.uk/bou-supported-ecrs-at-iocongress2018/
Individuals, institutes and #ornithology societies can all be active allies of #BlackInStem #BlackInNature and #BlackBirdersWeek. If you don't know how to be an ally, then ask a Black friend (IRL or on Twitter), a colleague, or look up how to be an effective ally online.
Thank you @metasilk. You see how hard it is. Ask different people and you get different answers. But always good to follow concenus. Also, there are many books including 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race' and other resources if people search them out.
Another article relevant to this thread, and importantly, a voice of a Black African #ornithology researcher, @merynomsa at the @Fitztitute, about conservation in Africa.
The Achilles Heel of Conservation https://twitter.com/merynomsa/status/1269716911190880256
The Achilles Heel of Conservation https://twitter.com/merynomsa/status/1269716911190880256
