S23.5: The role of museums and ornithological societies in the documentation of indigenous knowledge of birds

Centre for Biodiversity, National Museums of Kenya, PO Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya, e-mail nmk@AfricaOnline.co.ke

When the first ethnobiological terms were coined at the end of the 19th century, the colonialists interest for local knowledge especially of uses of plants and animals was mainly economical. Several terms were used to describe local knowledge, for instance, ‘aboriginal botany’ (Powers 1875), ‘ethnozoology’ (Mason 1899) and others. Most of the authors of this period were attached to museums in Europe, a fact related to the interest for natural and cultural material. Several of them were biologists and the new discipline was defined more in its biological aspect with an ethnic qualifier. French scientists have had long tradition of research in this field but there is in fact little information of ethnozoology. In most cases indigenous Africans were denied chances to express what they knew about animals including birds. Deficiency of local knowledge of birds is apparent in present museum collections, galleries and scientific literature.

For about 20 years, which the first author has worked as curator of birds and ornithologist in Nairobi Museum and also being an indigenous person, she met and worked with many people who came to consult the ornithological collection. Most of the visitors who consulted her or wanted to use the ornithological collection were non-indigenous people. In very rare cases, a few indigenous people came to consult her on the ornithological collection in the department. These consultations were normally targeted on particular issues, for example how to control pest birds or to offer for sale a dead bird picked on the road. At times, young boys brought eggs in the department but were reluctant to leave them without pay.

All this indicated to her that, the present generation of Africans attaches little importance to many birds which existed in our country. This is perhaps because birds without economic value belonged to government and expatriates. This sad situation made both of us to seek literature on what was documented from the local people in terms of bird’s knowledge.

At the Nairobi Museum bird gallery, the exhibitions consist mainly of bird names, their distribution maps, and a few notes on either their nesting behaviour or other aspects of their biology. This clearly indicated to us that, these exhibitions are more geared to the elite communities and biology students who are expected to pass their examinations. This situation was again apparent in the bird skin collection where the bird specimens had almost the same information as those mounted in the bird gallery. Most of the specimens in either the exhibit gallery or the departmental skin study collection indicates that they were donated or collected by foreigners or resident expatriates. These men came to Africa as explorers, missionaries or soldiers to fight for British or other western countries. The other bird collectors were European Settlers and civil servants. In most cases, the collectors were accompanied by Africans who seemed to have a passive role in the whole documentation of the ornithological collections.

We have had opportunities to visit a few other museums in Africa and other major museums with north collections of African avifauna in America. Their exhibitions and collection of African birds are similar to the Nairobi Museum. There is practically no documentation of local knowledge of birds from the places where they were collected. The exhibits and collections of bird eggs, skins and the information provided is geared to the elite group, researchers and students.

In Africa there are about 53 institutions which give services to the societies within which they are built (Fig. 1). These include cultural, art, archaeological, political, technological and natural history museums. They also include scientific research centres, archaeological sites, monuments, collections which are open to the public, and exhibit areas temporary or permanent collections. Museums have been in existence over many centuries and for many different purposes. One underlying theme throughout their existence is the impulse towards education for the individuals and the concerned society. Today, museums are highly adaptable institutions which are increasingly addressing themselves to emerging issues facing the society. These issues range from global warming, land degradation, food security and biodiversity among others. When museums prepare education programmes consideration of such issues as relevance to school curriculum, and the need to communicate results of the research to the public are always paramount.

Many ornithological societies are attached to mother natural history museums, universities, other learning institutions and/or research institutes in the country. These societies are usually started by bird hobbyists who have a special interest in birds bird conservationists, wildlife managers, educators, bird banders, students, persons with vocational interest in birds, conservation committees, research groups, libraries interested in scientific field studies of birds and their habits and persons having occupational and a vocational interest in the study, care and breeding of desirable foreign aviary birds, especially those species threatened with extinction.

These societies at times have ornithological materials assembled over many years by dedicated naturalists and scientists. These collections at times may have rare and endangered species. At times the permanence of such ornithological societies may be uncertain as these societies may be dismantled or deteriorate once the specialists who initiated them move elsewhere or are no longer active. Even when a society can afford to retain its specialists, it is seldom for them to provide the meticulous and sustained care needed for successful maintenance of bird collections or germplasm of threatened species.

Many ornithological societies in Africa offer unique opportunities for the education of a vast public. With a rapid growing population and increasing threat to birds in many countries, no ornithological society can afford to take a passive attitude towards the public education. Every society should have a written education and awareness plan, identifying audiences, the core messages to be targeted to each audience and the facilities and activities involved in putting these messages across. The aim should be to create an understanding and awareness of the needs for and methods of conservation and development of bird resources. The BirdLife Partnership in Africa offers a unique opportunity to achieve those goals.

Most ornithological societies in Africa were started by foreigners, especially former colonial masters who understood little or took no interest in the existing indigenous knowledge. These societies had little or no interaction with the local communities. This alienation increased further if the society’s main task was to provide facilities for teaching and research purposes. Today, bird conservation crisis is so great that no ornithological society can afford to turn its back on the local community.

Ornithological societies have played a key role in supporting and encouraging students and other trained biologists to carry out research projects on birds. The societies provide funds for the work but extremely few studies have been targeted at assessing indigenous knowledge of birds. In Kenya, for example, the Kenya Museum Society has, supported three studies since 1980. One by Annessa Kassagam on folk taxonomy of birds and bird-related ornaments among the Maasai, Kikuyu, Marakwet, Turkana and other ethnic groups in Kenya. The second study concerned naming of birds and cultural belief about them by the Marakwet peoples of central Kenya (Kassagam 1997). The study explained how Marakwet people classified different birds and how their traditional values helped to conserve them. The third study concerned the cultural values and knowledge of the Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynchus by the Abaluhya people of western Kenya. In the Eastern Equatorial Region of southern Sudan, Ipoto (1996) explains how birds are classified by the plains Nilotes according to uses, general body features and behaviour.

The East African Natural History Society has played a key role in documenting East African birds and providing literature on birds and specimens to Nairobi and Kampala museums. During the last 20 years, however, deliberate efforts have been made to change the expatriate image of the society with increasing participation of indigenous Kenyans. Like other natural history societies of colonial origin in Africa, East African Natural History Society has made little effort to document and promote use of indigenous knowledge in bird conservation and advancement of ornithology.

The Kenya Wetland Working Group (KWWG) established in 1991 has an equivalent group in Uganda as well as organisations with similar activities in other African countries. KWWG was formed in 1991 to promote studies of waterbirds and wetlands in Kenya. The group has a large participation by indigenous Kenyans, particularly in the Africa-wide monitoring programme of waterbirds by Wetlands International. Annual waterbird census has become a popular field activity, stimulating research on waterbirds in Kenya. By 1997, at least 29 African countries were participating in waterbird and wetland monitoring through annual waterbird counts.

Eritrea is a good example of how ornithological societies, help to encourage indigenous people to participate in the documentation of knowledge of birds (African waterfowl census 1991). Eritrea joined the African waterfowl census in January 1994 largely through personal initiatives of Dr. Jesse C. Hillman who intended to train some 14 inexperienced but enthusiastic biologists to recognise and count birds (Davies 1994). In this way a competent team of workers with local knowledge of birds has evolved in Eritrea. This should be the way forward for most African countries without indigenous ornithologists.

The support of museums and natural history societies in the documentation of indigenous knowledge has made some progress. In Eastern Africa, attempts have been made to document information on birds in local languages. For instance, Ndege Wetu (Archibold 1989) and Kamusi wa Ndege ya Tanzania (Maimu 1982) have been published. Kassagam (1997) published What is this bird saying? A documentation of the classification and traditional values of birds among the Marakwet peoples of Kenya. The role of birds in the culture and lifestyles of the Boran and Redille people of northern Kenya has been described by Isack (1987). Folk taxonomy of birds by the plains Nilotes has been well documented by Ipoto (1996). Elsewhere in Africa, Msimanga (1996) has documented the role of birds in the culture of the Ndebele people of southern Zimbabwe.

Museums and natural history societies have made some progress in recording some aspects of indigenous knowledge in Africa. However, more research, analysis and documentation needs to be done to improve our local knowledge on birds and increase its use in conservation. The emergence of centres of indigenous knowledge in Africa and elsewhere in the world constitutes a positive development. This symposium serves as a good starting point for further development of ethno-ornithology in Africa.

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