Abstract
BackgroundWe report on a comparative ethno-ornithological study of Zapotec and Cuicatec communities in Northern Oaxaca, Mexico that provided a challenge to some existing descriptions of folk classification. Our default model was the taxonomic system of ranks developed by Brent Berlin.MethodsFieldwork was conducted in the Zapotec village of San Miguel Tiltepec and in the Cuicatec village of San Juan Teponaxtla, using a combination of ethnographic interviews and pile-sorting tests. Post-fieldwork, Principal Component Analysis using NTSYSpc V. 2.11f was applied to obtain pattern variation for the answers from different participants.Results and conclusionUsing language and pile-sorting data analysed through Principal Component Analysis, we show how both Zapotec and Cuicatec subjects place a particular emphasis on an intermediate level of classification. These categories group birds with non-birds using ecological and behavioral criteria, and violate a strict distinction between symbolic and mundane (or ‘natural’), and between ‘general-purpose’ and ‘single-purpose’ schemes. We suggest that shared classificatory knowledge embodying everyday schemes for apprehending the world of birds might be better reflected in a multidimensional model that would also provide a more realistic basis for developing culturally-informed conservation strategies.
Highlights
We report on a comparative ethno-ornithological study of Zapotec and Cuicatec communities in Northern Oaxaca, Mexico that provided a challenge to some existing descriptions of folk classification
Since the early path-breaking work of Conklin [2] several directions have developed in the study of the folk classification of living things, which have focussed on a number of different theoretical issues
(a) The debate juxtaposing universality and relativity is associated with the view that the underlying principles, and to some extent the actual categories, evident in different ethnobiological classification systems, reflect universal properties of the human mind
Summary
We report on a comparative ethno-ornithological study of Zapotec and Cuicatec communities in Northern Oaxaca, Mexico that provided a challenge to some existing descriptions of folk classification. Berlin [5] provides us with evidence and makes claims for widespread regularities concerning plant and animal categorisation and systems of ethnobiological knowledge organisation across cultures, concluding that underlying similarities reflect a universal human pattern and a common developmental sequence. Both Boster [6] and Atran [7] have progressed Berlin’s approach theoretically and methodologically, connecting it more obviously with current work on human cognition conducted by psychologists. There were those who argued for a utilitarian approach to folk classification, viewing names and classifications of living things as a reflection of mainly practical concerns, while on the other hand there were those who argued for an intellectualist approach, and who tended to emphasise the way names and classifications emerge through an autonomous mental process inherent in shared human cognition, and subject to pressures of natural selection [16,19]
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