Redefining Nature: Ecology, Culture and Domestication (Explorations in Anthropology) [1 ed.] 0367719185, 9780367719180

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Redefining Nature

EXPLORATIONS IN AN1HROPOLOGY

A University College London Series

Series Editors: Barbara Bender, John Gledhill and Bruce kapferer

Redefining Nature Ecology, Culture and Domestication

Edited by Roy Ellen and Katsuyoshi Fukui

First published 1996 by Berg Publishers Published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ©Roy Ellen and Katsuyoshi Fukui 1996

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Public:ation Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. GF21 .R43 1996 c.4 Redefining nature : ecology, culture, and domestication British

Library Cataloguing-in-Public:ation Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Typeset by JS Typesetting, Wellingborough, Northants.

ISBN 13: 978-1-8597-3135-2 (pbk)

To Hal Conklin

Contents Ust of Figures

xi

Ust of Tables

XV

Ust of Colour Plates

xix

Preface

xxi

1

Introduction Roy Ellen

1

Part I Nature as a Cultural Concept

2

Human Dimensions in the Sound Universe Junzo Kawadll

39

3

A Poetics of Place: Ecological and Aesthetic Co-evolution in a Papua New Guinea Rainforest Community SteoenFeld

61

A Church Too Far Near a 'Pridge Oddly Placed: The Cultural Construction of the Norfolk Countryside Charles 0. Frake

89

4

Hunting and Gathering as Ways of Perceiving the Environment Tim Ingold

117

6

The Invention of Nature Peter D. Dwyer

157

7

The Concept of Vital Energy Among Andean Pastoralists Hiroyasu Tomoeda

187

5

vii

Contents

viii

Part II Relations Between Specific Domesticates and Human Populations 8

Glutinous-Endosperm Starch Food Culture Specific to Eastern and Southeastern Asia

Sadao Sakamoto

9

Creating Landrace Diversity: The Case of the Ari People and Ensete (Ensete ventricosum) in Ethiopia

Masayoshi Shigeta

10

Human Cognition as a Product and Agent of Evolution

]ames Boster 11

Agrarian Creolization: The Ethnobiology, History, Culture and Politics of West African Rice

Paul Richards

12

Co-evolution Between Humans and Domesticates: The Cultural Selection of Animal Coat-Colour Diversity Among the Bodi

Katsuyoshi Fukui

13

Domestic Animal as Serf: Ideologies of Nature in the Mediterranean and the Middle East

Yutaka Tani

14

Crops, Techniques, and Affordances

15

Domesticatory Relationships of People, Plants and Animals

Fran,ois Sigaut

David R. Harris

215

233

269

291

319

387 417

437

Part III Nature, Co-evolution and the Problem of Cultural Adaptation

16

The Co-existence of Man and Nature in the African RainForest

Mitsuo Ichikawa

467

Contents 17

Image and Reality at Sea: Fish and Cognitive Mapping in Carolinean Navigational Knowledge

Tomoya Akimichi

18

19

20

Long-term Adaptation of the Gidra-Speaking Population of Papua New Guinea

493

Ryutaro Ohtsulal

515

Nurturing the Forest: Strategies of Native Amazonians Emilio F. Moran

531

Process Versus Product in Bomean Augury: A 'Ii'aditional Knowledge System's Solution to the Problem of Knowing

Michael R. Dove

21

ix

Individual Strategy and Cultural Regulation in Nuaulu Hunting

Roy Ellen

557

597

Notes on Contributors

637

Index

643

List of Figures Verbal and non-verbal sounds in the French sound universe 41 2.2 Verbal and non-verbal sounds in the Japanese sound universe 42 2.3 Verbal and non-verbal sounds in the Mosi sound universe 43 83 3.1 Map of place-names cited in lamentation 4.1 The Norfolk landscape 90 5.i A comparison between 'non-Western' and 'Western' 121 intentional worlds 5.2 Western anthropological and hunter-gatherer economies of knowledge 127 6.1 The Kubo Dancer 159 6.2 Papua New Guinea, showing locations of the three communities discussed 164 6.3 Map of Gwaimasi region (I luch (ox) + gelli (black head and rump and white back with black spots); No.4, 'bi de bhileji' becomes 'bi (cow) + bhileji (yellow); and No.9, mor te bha-bhileji becomes 'mor (heifer) + bha-bhileji (yellow-coated with a white stomach).

.JI,J

A: male

9

Q : female

U: mllrriage

n : aibUng (J!RJ: dead

A : head of compound

OJOk

I

• I

Ok

I

A Kl

I

l:l.

Kng

I

l:l. Oy

~ younger

Figure 12.2. Kinship relations of cattle owners for compound inventorized in Table 12.1

What is clear from the examples given above is that Bodi names for cattle are made up of composite terms based on the 'attle's gender, age and coat-colour. In addition, there are cases such as mogut te golonyi (cow with the horns in the shape of the crescent moon and with a red coat) where the name emphasises the shape of the horns. Even so, it can generally be stated that

325

Animal Coat-Colour Diversity Among the Bodi Table 12.1. Cattle composition of a Bodi compound (Ok) No. Cattle Name 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

24. 25. 26. 27.

28.

29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

34.

35. 36. 37.

Attribute (Sex, Age ...)

oi de ludi bull bhong11i de ludi bull calf OX lun j11 gelli dry cow bi de bhileji bhong11i de shimaji bull calf dry cow bi de bhileji bhong~~i de chobur-gidh11ngi suckling bull calf bi de bhileji milk cow with a dead calf calf mor te bhll-bhUeji mor te gelli pregnant heifer dry cow bide moji bhong11i de ludi suckling bull calf bi de bhllllsi milk cow bhong11i de suckling bull calf koro-cholalji bide tul11-holi dry cow bhon8"i de suckling bull calf bila-golonyi bide kilindi dry cow mor te kilindi calf bide eldi milk cow mor te chll7i suckling heifer calf bi de kilindi milk cow with a dead calf bi de gidhllngi milk cow with a dead calf bi de bhileji pregnant dry COW bi de cha7i milk cow mor te shimaji suckling heifer calf oi de kilindi bull bide kilindi milk cow with a dead calf bide bhll-gidhllngi milk cow bhongai de ludi suckling bull calf bhongai de bhilasi bull calf bi de golonyi milk cow bhongai de lallmi suckling bull calf bhongai de bhilasi bull calf mor te el-shimaji heifer mor te golonyi heifer bide golonyi milk cow with a dead calf mor te blur-golonyi heifer

Total

Cow-Calf Relation

calf of No.4 calf of No.6

Owner• Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok

calfofNo.13

Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok

calf of No.15

Ok Ok

calfofNo.ll

calfofNo.19

calfofNo.24

calfofNo.28 calfofNo.31 calfofNo.31

Ok Ok JL1 JLl JL1 Ok Ok JOk JOk. K1 K1 K1 K1

Kng

Kng

Kng

Kng Kng Kng

Oy Oy

female 24 =milk cow (roine) :5 + milk cow with a dead calf (tubln) :5 + heifer (mor) :8 + dry cow (usi) :6 male 13 =bull (oi) :2 +ox (luch) :1 +bull calf (bhong~~z') :10

• See Figure 12.2.

326

Domesticates and Human Populations

cattle names in Bodi society are terms of classification based primarily on coat-colour. In other words, all Bodi cattle coatcolours are clearly recognized and placed within the framework of their classifying system. In addition to recognition of gender, age and coat-colour, the Bodi also have an extremely acute grasp of the condition that each of their cattle is in, and they have appropriate terms to express these conditions. For instance, there are the terms usi (dry cow), roine (milk cow), tukan (mother cow with a stillborn calf), mich'irit (cow that does not want to copulate with the bull), ilol (a cow that copulates but does not conceive), and so on. Cognition and Classification of Colours What we can conclude from the example of one cattle compound family register is that the principles of identifying individual animals go beyond the characteristics of gender and age, and are based on recognition of a large variety of coat-colours (Figure 12.3, Plates 12.1-12.2). Bodi have terms corresponding not only to colours such as red and white, but also use terms to describe the pattern, such as Judi 'black head and rump only, everything else white'. Since this cognition of colour and pattern is directly connected to the central aim of this chapter, the Bodi's understanding of folk genetics, I would now like to tum to a discussion of the classification of the colours and patterns most important to the Bodi. We commonly express the conditions of the natural world, including coat-colour, using two different sets of terms: colour and pattern or colour configuration. But the Bodi do not express colour and pattern separately, using instead the single term ch'ore or a7engi. ch'ore refers to the coats of all mammals, including humans, but it is also used to describe the diversity of colours and patterns to be found not only on furless animals but also in plants and in the natural world in general. Dissatisfied with this general term, I asked whether there might be a term that referred more directly to colour/pattern itself. As a result, I became convinced that the term that most closely approximates to our notion of colour and pattern is a7engi, and from then on I decided to use this term whenever discussing colour and pattern. The term a7engi most aptly described the content of my project,

Animal Coat-Colour Diversity Among the Bodi

327

(a) bhil. ;::t

358

Domesticates and Human Populations

requirements are that she be healthy and a good milk producer. From among the male calves produced by this kind of cow they choose the ones that attempt to mate most aggressively. With this prerequisite satisfied they next select on the basis of coat-colour. And that becomes the colour configuration that that owner will identify himself with throughout his life. As I will explain later, this is referred to as morare or bhoyoch, and is related to the personal identification that occurs between humans and cattle based on coat-colour. Bodi say that having many bulls in one compound leads to them fighting one another so it is best to have only two. I can think of two possible reasons for choosing two. One is that in Bodi culture, even numbers are considered auspicious while odd, or uneven, numbers are avoided because they are viewed as inauspicious. The other reason may be their desire to have enough cows in their herd to make two bulls necessary, and I will give an example. When I had lived with the Bodi for about six months, the regional chief gave me the Bodistyle name oinyahenne, which means 'bull again.' Bodi carefully observe the mating of their bulls. For instance, they might say, 'The reason that cow is pregnant is that she mated (moguto) with oi de nyangaji (orange-coated bull) in the compound (tui).' They also say that once a cow has mated with a bull and conceived, it does not mate again until after it gives birth. Next I would like to examine how the selection of bulls based on coat-colour is carried out by using a concrete example. Table 12.4 is a product of reorganizing the 'family register' (Table 12.1), according to categories of sex, age and coat-colour of the cattle. The two bulls in the compound are ludi (black head and rump) and kilindi (covered with reddish spots like a giraffe). In Figure 12.2 the owner of ludi appears as Ok, and the owner of kilindi as Kl. This is because these are the coat-colours assigned to these respective owners, or in other words, that ludi and kilindi are their morare, or the cattle which they identify with. The goal is to acquire as many fine examples of their morare as possible. If ludi is the morare in question, then in order to increase the number of ludi cattle as much as possible, one tries to make a ludi coloured male into the bull of the compound. It may have been for this reason that ludi males were most numerous in Ok's compound. It is clear from the above example that the Bodi select their bulls according to specific coat-colours. If that is so, how are these particular coat-colours used in their society? In the next

Animal Coat-Colour Diversity Among the Bodi

359

section I would like to provide an outline of the cultural device used in selecting coat-colour polymorphisms.4

The Cultural Uses of Coat-Colour Diversity We now need to examine how coat-colour is connected with various other aspects of Bodi culture. I have attempted to organize these in Table 12.5, and have divided them very generally into the following eight subjects: (1) identity of the individual or group as seen in terms of coat-colour; (2) particular coat-colour of the cattle sacrificed during ritual installation of a chief; (3) livestock sacrificed at the outbreak of war, type varying depending on enemy; (4) livestock sacrificed to mark occasions in the human life-cycle, such as marriage, illness and death; (5) livestock sacrificed at rituals pertaining to agriculture; (6) coatcolour of cattle sacrificed in the event of moving to certain locations; (7) other: cattle from which blood is drawn to rub on the body of one who has killed a lion; cattle sacrificed in the event of seeing a monster; (8) coat-colour of cattle normally not allowed to be sacrificed. I plan to analyze and develop each of these topics in more detailed papers at some later date; for now I shall mention each one in general terms. Identifying with Cattle of Particular Coat-Colours Morare: Colour Configuration that Becomes the Object of SelfIdentity In Bodi society every person is given a social name one

year after birth which are all associated with particular colours and patterns [Fukui 1979b]. After this is done, the child is made to wear beads of that colour and pattern around their necks and they are brought up hearing songs associated with them, much as we would hear lullabies. Eventually, the child becomes intrinsically linked to the colour and pattern it bears and begins to show signs of personally identifying with them in an almost obsessive way. For example, a girl of about thirteen named Lilinta (dragonfly), who is associated with the colour red, becomes extremely excited whenever she sees the red colour in the highest saturation of 98 colour cards which I showed to her.

360

Domesticates and Human Populations

Table 12.5. Cultural uses of particular coat-colours among the Bodi

I.

n.

Ill.

IY.

v.

Usage

Main objects Main kinds of coat-colour

Identity 1. Individual

living OX

2. Age-Set 3. Generation-Set 4. Area (Banner) Installation of Chief Enemy 1. Chirim 2. Mursi

VI.

living ox b.p• coat b.p

shimaji, bhaasi, gelli, ... gidhangi, moji ludi, gelli golonyi, koro, holi, ...

b.p b.p

ludi, gelli, choburi derdi, kalmi, bhaasi, bha-nyangaji muge-idi nyangaji

3. Hamar 4. Highlanders Life 1. Marriage (first) (second) 2. Disease (normal) (madness)•• 3. Death

b.p goat b.p b.p b.p, coat

Agriculture 1. Clearing

b.p

2. Sowing 3. Rain-making 4. Ridding of insects 5. Ridding of birds Migration

b.p goat

b.p b.p blc.,.,... milk blc b.p

VII. Others 1. After killing lion blc. b.p 2. After seeing monster VIII. Taboo (not used for normal ritual)

.

ludi, bhaasi, gelli, ... (see

Table 12.6)

except cha7i, seroji and derdi koro, gidhangi, bhaasi, golonyi holi and idho-idi are the best. bhaasi, koro, gidhangi

different according to clan (see Table 12.8)

koro is the best; bholigaasi, bhaasi gidhang-nyangaji, gidhangi koro, bhaasi, bholigaasi seroji, bhaasi shimaji cha7i bhaasi (to Udurum), shimaji (to Lugi7a)

moji, bhileji, gushuri-idi bhaasi, koro, ludi, gelli tulk'a, tula-golonyi, kor-cha7i, ludi, derdi, seroji

: b and p means the blood and peritoneum of the victim respectively. •• : It also includes epilepsy. ,...,. : blc. means the blood taken from the jugular of cattle with a particular coat-colour.

Animal Coat-Colour Diversity Among the Bodi

361

X

0

~ 'i:

::l 0

>

J:!!

:z... rn

::l 0 ..0

Ill

rn

E QJ 0

0..

";

s:: 0

rn .... QJ

0.. rn

:zrn

E ::l ..c: s:: Ill E