https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/birds-names-confederate-general-debate/
5 Likes
If anyone wants to read the NACCâs comments on the previous proposal to change the name (in 2019), it can be found here: https://americanornithology.org/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2019-proposals/proposals-2019-a/
The McCownâs proposal is the third one down.
3 Likes
My favourite youtuber, Joey Santore, laments eponymous scientific names often. One of his better points is that these organisms have been here for a substantially long period of time, far longer than any human, and naming a species after a specific person just gives off a very anthrocentric vibe. I can understand where he comes from and do agree that names derived from geography or anatomy might be better. I myself donât have a particularly strong opinion, as I dont know the context which all organisms have been named, but surely immortalizing a person of dubious history within a birdâs common name can be problematic.
5 Likes
A conversation on very similar themes occurred here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/managing-offensive-common-names/12358
although that was more about names that contain slurs, rather than naming for people involved in atrocities. There was significant disagreement on the advisability of removing offensive common names and several people made the point that in different countries different things are offensive or not. In that conversation, @bouteloua suggested that iNat should strike, but not delete, common names that a significant portion of users find offensive. I think that is reasonable, and more importantly, @tiwane thinks â@boutelouaâs suggestion is the best way forward.â Obviously iNat is not the authority on common name of birds, but similar issues will certainly arise in many taxa, and it seems like this policy could apply.
2 Likes
Looks like they got it changed! https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-small-bird-sheds-its-confederate-past-with-a-new-name/2020/08/11/86f64f20-dbfa-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html
I didnât like the excuses cited by the board who originally denied changing the name:
"The nine-person committee rejected Driverâs proposal by a vote of seven to one, with one abstention. In anonymous written responses, several committee members argued that the group should favor âstability in namesâ as much as possible, reflecting the checklistâs taxonomic philosophy. Some worried about making the change without having a clear policy in place for other ethically fraught names. âIt is widely known that judging historical figures by current moral standards is problematic, unfair to some degree, and rarely black-and-white,â one wrote.
Others questioned whether renaming birds was the best way to promote inclusion: âWhile I fully appreciate and promote our need to increase diversity in the sciences, in my view this is not a particularly effective way to do so,â another committee member wrote."
Yeah, OKAYâŚSure, sounds about white. For one, the names change all the time! There are so many that have changed names since I started just three years agoâŚand those are ONLY my own observationsâŚso obviously thatâs a cop out excuse. I have a Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast from 1994 and maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the names have changed. Itâs not that big of a deal to change the name. Apparently they saw the light (the public pressure became too much), though, so, thereâs that.
And you donât think itâs an effective way to promote diversity?
The NACC membership is all white. An AOS spokesperson confirmed to Undark that the committee did not consult any Black scientists before making its ruling.
Iâm sorry, but as white people, you donât get to decide whatâs effective in promoting diversity (saying this as a white person). You need to defer to people that have had experiences different from your own. The Caucasity.
And my preference for naming things is to use the Indigenous name, when possible, as that name existed for thousands of years before a white guy shot it. Physical features or geographical location would be next.
Sorry, I didnât mean to directly reply to @dlevitis, I meant it as more of a general reply or to @anirtha_n
4 Likes
Thatâs good to hear! Itâs a relief to know that the bird is no longer named after a bigot, and instead named after its characteristics. @haida_gwaii I can see how its a better idea to name species after the indigenous name, seeing as how it has been known by that name for longer, and also because white people in america stole native land and colonised the united states, I mean, why should they get to name species after racists? And yes, many people who donât belong to marginalised groups(in this case, white people) often show a lack of understanding when it comes to social issues. But itâs nice to know that public pressure has the power to overturn the ill-informed decisions of commitees like the NACC.
1 Like
And the fact that their responses were anonymous shows their cowardice as well as the fact that they seem to have a greater regard for âstabilityâ than for human beings. Power truly does not belong in the hands of people who lack the ability to be considerate.
2 Likes
Using indigenous names might work in Hawaii or Aotearoa, where there was essentially one indigenous language; but how would you decides which indigenous peopleâs name to use for a bird widespread across the ancestral homelands of several indigenous peoples?
2 Likes
Yeah, I thought of that when I wrote it⌠There were at minimum, hundreds of tribes with their own languages, and different dialects within those languages as well. My husband is Haida, and there are Masset, Skidegate and Kaigani (Alaska) dialects.
At first, I thought the language from where the organism is endemic to. But what about species endemic to multiple places? That is problematic.
Organisms named after physical features are easier to remember, for me. But for the reasons mentioned by @anirtha_n above, I think using an Indigenous word should be utilized when possible. To make things slightly easier, many of the Indigenous languages are dead or dying. Most of the speakers alive are elderly. Since most or all of the cultures was spoken history instead of written, little has survived. Itâs a depressing legacy of European settlersâ desires to annihilate Indigenous people in every way possible.
1 Like
I would strongly suggest going to the link I provided and actually reading the comments. The journalist didnât do a good job of representing them. And the anonymous nature of the comments has nothing to do with cowardice, and everything to do with the fact that they are ruling on proposals being submitted by peers. (99.9% of them have nothing to do with political issues, after all.)
1 Like
I did read them. It was a lot of âwell, actuallyâŚâ and âslippery slopeâ arguments. Taxonomy is entirely subjective and like everything else, politics permeates it. What are you losing by being inclusive?
3 Likes
Everyone has something to do with political issues if they live in this society, honestly. Itâs just that often, people with more social power think they can afford to be apolitical because the issues donât directly affect them.
3 Likes
If youâve read more of the proposals than this one, youâll realize that most of them have to do with technical taxonomic issues that hardly anybody besides specialists even notice. If you want to consider those âpoliticalâ, then thatâs your call, but I donât see how defining the word that way is going to be useful. Common name changes are definitely in the minority, and even those are generally only noticed by birders.
My point here was that the reporter cited above did a very bad job of reporting. Most of the dissents werenât about âstabilityâ, they were about the factual claims surrounding McCown. Personally, I donât really care what they decided to do with the name â but whoever settled on âThick-billed Longspurâ did the world a disservice, I think. Gray-breasted Longspur or Short-grass Longspur would both work much better, in my opinion.
I clicked on the link but got a 404 error, I guess itâs been too long.
Ah, okay, theyâve reorganized things just a bit over there. Hereâs the current link: https://americanornithology.org/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2019-proposals/comments-2019-a/
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.