Racism, misogyny prompt American Ornithological Society renaming of birds
Racism, misogyny prompt American Ornithological Society renaming of birds
The American Ornithological Society said Wednesday it will change all English bird names currently named after people. AOS said it's being done to change naming conventions clouded by racism and misogyny.
List the bird names you cowards
This has some explanation. TL;DR get ready to be underwhelmed. This was based on some earlier efforts e.g. one in Sweden that changed bird names containing "neger" (negro), "kaffer" (a racial slur), or "zigenarfågel" (gypsy bird), but the stuff they've been able to find in North America is, well:
- Oldsquaw (a slur)
- Inca Dove (historically inaccurate, no overlap with Incas)
- McCown’s Longspur (McCown was a confederate)
Maybe there were more they didn't mention but my guess is that there's a reason they're writing the story while dancing around what names are actually being changed.
Tits and boobies come to mind.
Sorry, what were we talking about? Birds?
I must say, I will appreciate more descriptive names when trying to identify certain birds.
I must say, if they rename the tit or the booby I shall hereby declare a state of war.
Many Latin and Greek names of birds are descriptive. For example what people often call the "tit" bird is actually Parus major, which you could roughly translate into "a bit bigger". And they are the biggest of the tit birds.
And another "tit" actually is called Lophophanes cristatus. Which roughly means "showing the comb (lophophanes) with hood (cristatus)".
I never knew that. That’s pretty cool.
Cute!
Permanently Deleted
They're aiming for more descriptive names, so it's probably not going to be a "vote for the best name" type of public involvement
I'm not entirely sure that involving the public in anything is wise.
I couldn't find a single example of a racist bird name in that article. You'd think they would give one.
You can find a list on https://birdnamesforbirds.wordpress.com/historical-profiles/bios-by-region/ if you're interested.
Yet often it was his own stubborn and uncompromising nature that defined his life – his choices paint a picture of a man who was unable to heed the words of others. This undendinly antagonistic nature cost him friends, honours and ultimately put him into the dark role of colonialist.
He was "stubborn and uncompromising", which makes him "antagonistic", therefore a colonialist and racist. That's a pretty low bar. I don't think it makes sense to define racism in a way that makes all 19th century naturalists racist.
This is a terrible source, as is Lemmy tradition.
Here's a better source I really wish that op would have been better about that. It's linked in the article they linked.
It appears that they are concerned with the tradition that the first person that scientifically describes the species gets to name it.
And, well, those people have been white.
ok what bird said the n word
Twas a Southern Black Tit but it was talking to its homey.
Papa ooma mow mow
Can we rename all the lady parts next? Too many dead white men up in my junk.
https://medium.com/beingwell/10-female-specific-body-parts-named-after-men-f4ce59d16b91
You actually seem to have got it.
Here's a better source that suggests that they are interested in changing birds named after people, rather than birds named after slurs. It's linked in this article. I really hope that shames op. We need to be better.
Whether or not those people were bigots, they were probably white and male. Same as the anatomists that named the lady parts.
There's just a tradition of the first person to scientifically describe a "thing" getting to name it.
It's not great, but people that get to travel the world describing species and knowing enough to scientifically describe lady parts, etc are not poor people, at least until post war science. They still would have been mostly white and male, but they wouldn't have had to be as much independently wealthy.
The tradition of namin something after another person does not apply to anatomy. The tradition there is to use latin which describes its function, appearance and/or location in the body. Except the men who wanted to name women's anatomy after themselves. Going as far as to make stuff up, and even name structures that weren't part of the female reproductive organs but merely seemed like it.
Good tactic to make everyone need to buy new editions of bird guide books.
But which bird will be renamed to X?
The titters
I believe if species being renamed were known and named by Indigenous peoples, that name is the proper name to use. These organisms were not discovered by western science any more than the continent was discovered by westerners. Not only would it be a small sign of respect but would help protect Indigenous language and culture.
For example, in 2020, the AOS renamed a small prairie songbird found on the Great Plains to “Thick-billed Longspur.” The bird’s original name—honoring John P. McCown, an amateur naturalist who later became a general in the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War—was perceived as a painful link to slavery and racism.
I don't know how I feel about this though...
It's part of a broader movement to rename birds to be more descriptive. "McCow's longspur" is both unmemorable and nondescriptive, "thick-billed longspur" puts one of its distinguishing features in the name.
The fact there's a lot of racists who had birds named after them hundreds of years ago is just one more thing to add to the pile. The names would benefit from being changed even if they were all saints.
Permanently Deleted
Damn... k bye lol
Can't wait to periodically rename everything every ~70 years as societal standards change.
Can’t wait to periodically rename everything every ~70 years as societal standards change.
Well, I guess you can take solace in the fact that unless you're in grade school right now you probably won't be alive the next time the American Ornithological Society decides to re-examine the english names for birds.
Even those still in grade school shouldn’t be concerned as most of these bird species won’t survive climate change on the track it is currently taking
Finally. I think it’s fair to name a bird after you if you are its creator. Being the first person to document it doesn’t mean much to me and certainly doesn’t mean they can name a bird after themselves.
Edit: i guess the downvoters believe that a bird is not discovered until a white man sees it.