Date/Venue: 11th Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies, 7 - 11 September 2015, Vienna Deadline for paper proposals: 20th of February 2015 Organisers: David Anderson (University of Aberdeen); Sara Asu Schroer (University of Aberdeen) Title: Human-bird relationships in the study of hunters and gatherers Abstract: Connecting the spheres of earth and sky, birds and their ability to fly and transcend the human boundedness to the ground, have long fascinated humans and inspired their imagination. Yet the significance of birds in human lives remains an understudied field in anthropological inquiry of human-animal relationships. This panel seeks to address this lacuna. We invite contributors to discuss the manifold ways in which the lives of birds and humans interweave. Birds have always played a significant role in practices of shamanism, as symbols in religious rites and rituals and appear as mythical figures in oral histories. They further may be integrated into human lives as companions, often taking on a liminal position that complicates straight forward boundary drawing between the domestic and the wild. Furthermore, the relationships that develop through the knowledge of birds as well as the engagement with them may reveal interesting aspects on how humans relate to the environment and places in which they conduct their lives. Contributions to this panel may engage with either of these aspects but should not be limited to them. The format of this panel will be a roundtable. This will allow room for discussion of central questions of the papers presented in dialogue with the other participants. To suggest a paper visit: http://chags.univie.ac.at/call-for-papers/

Deadline for paper proposals: 20th of February 2015
Organisers:  David Anderson (University of Aberdeen); Sara Asu Schroer
(University of Aberdeen)
Title: Human-bird relationships in the study of hunters and gatherers
Abstract: Connecting the spheres of earth and sky, birds and their ability
to fly and transcend the human boundedness to the ground, have long
fascinated humans and inspired their imagination. Yet the significance of
birds in human lives remains an understudied field in anthropological
inquiry of human-animal relationships. This panel seeks to address this
lacuna. We invite contributors to discuss the manifold ways in which the
lives of birds and humans interweave. Birds have always played a significant
role in practices of shamanism, as symbols in religious rites and rituals
and appear as mythical figures in oral histories. They further may be
integrated into human lives as companions, often taking on a liminal
position that complicates straight forward boundary drawing between the
domestic and the wild. Furthermore, the relationships that develop through
the knowledge of birds as well as the engagement with them may reveal
interesting aspects on how humans relate to the environment and places in
which they conduct their lives. Contributions to this panel may engage with
either of these aspects but should not be limited to them.
The format of this panel will be a roundtable. This will allow room for
discussion of central questions of the papers presented in dialogue with the
other participants.
To suggest a paper visit: http://chags.univie.ac.at/call-for-papers/