[Taxacom] Restoring indigenous names

Thu Nov 5 11:12:31 CST 2020

Why not handle this the way the American Ornithological Union has:  each
North American bird species has a binomial based on the rules of
nomenclature; each species also has an approved common name, based on other
criteria, but treated separately from the binomial.  The approved common
names could be, relatively easily I presume, changed to reflect names used
by indigenous peoples without having any effect on the binomial.

Further, "a name is not just a name".  Species names have intrinsic meaning
and are not the same as proper names as used in various languages.  Proper
names, e.g., John Doe, Mount McKinley, have no intrinsic meaning, are not
unique and can be changed without recourse to a defined set of guiding
principles.  Species names are unique (at least within the code that
applies) and changing them  requires adherence to the currently accepted
nomenclatural principles.

Cheers,

Dick

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020 at 2:32 AM Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> Hi Stephen,
>          If such a proposal were to be taken seriously, would the
> scientific name of the whooping crane be changed to Grus waapichichaak
> instead of Grus americana?  The native Cree called them waapichichaak
> (meaning "white cranes").   I suspect that other tribes had different
> common names for the whooping crane, and they would then presumably fight
> it out which tribe's name should be adopted.  That's just one example, and
> the scientific names of many other North American animals and plants would
> be thrown into a chaotic mess.
>                                                --------------Ken
>
> ________________________________
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Stephen
> Thorpe via Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 11:40 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>;
> gread at actrix.gen.nz <gread at actrix.gen.nz>
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Restoring indigenous names
>
> The extent to which this proposal is being pushed is somewhat alarming:
>
> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/change-species-names-to-honor-indigenous-peoples-not-colonizers-researchers-say/
> We all know that the system is broken. Have we really now reached the
> point where history (including scientific history) can be dragged into
> cancel culture? Could a couple of average ecologists, working for average
> (at best) tertiary institutions in New Zealand, really throw global
> taxonomy into nomenclatural chaos, just because their own personal cultural
> axes to grind fit in  with a growing global wokist bandwagon? I sincerely
> hope not! The reality is that institutions here in N.Z. (and elsewhere) are
> under political pressure to be seen to fighting racial inequality. The
> problem cannot, of course, be solved, so they will grasp the easiest option
> to be seen to be doing something, and attacking biological nomenclature
> might be one such easy option. Don't say I didn't warn you!
> Stephen    On Wednesday, 4 November 2020, 03:11:11 pm NZDT, Stephen Thorpe
> <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
>
>   PS: I don't know about the two authors of this particular proposal, but,
> in general, I am staggered by the hypocrisy of academics in general who
> push for these kinds of woke proposals, since, at the same time, they are
> working within a system which routinely acquires public funding for the
> primary purpose of maximising institutional revenue, often exaggerating
> and/or misrepresenting the merits of such projects. Who do they think
> benefits the most from this? Answer: Rich middle-aged white guys (and rich
> middle-aged white women). Oh well, all will be forgiven if we use
> indigenous names for taxa!! Yeah, right ...
>     On Wednesday, 4 November 2020, 02:42:16 pm NZDT, Stephen Thorpe <
> stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
>
>   There are off-list emails already going out about this, and not exactly
> in favour of the proposal! Hopefully, the proposal can simply be ignored,
> as any changes to biological nomenclature would have to be made at an
> international level, and they have little reason to take much notice of
> little old N.Z. Shane Wright's opinion on this matter can hardly be
> expected to be unbiased. The worry, though, is that this can be seen as
> another step in a much bigger movement which is gaining traction globally,
> i.e. tearing down colonialist statues, taking episodes of the 1970s comedy
> Fawlty Towers off the air, etc. Ironically, I agree with our former
> deputy-pm, Winston Peters, who is half Maori himself that this "woke
> culture" is misguided and unhelpful and that every nation makes mistakes in
> their history, so we should learn from those mistakes but not try to hide
> them.
> Stephen
>     On Wednesday, 4 November 2020, 02:20:11 pm NZDT, Geoff Read via
> Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> My local newspaper pointed out this opinion piece this morning.
>
> Gillman, Len Norman; Wright, Shane Donald. 2020. Restoring indigenous
> names in taxonomy. Communications Biology 3(1): 609
>
> Open access https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01344-y
>
> Certainly there are unfortunate original  names out there.
>
> --
> Geoffrey B. Read, Ph.D.
> Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
> gread at actrix.gen.nz
>
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-- 
Richard Jensen, Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556