[Taxacom] Restoring indigenous names

[Scott Monks]

Hello all;
     I suspect that those promoting the use of species names based on those
used by "indigenous/native" peoples were not biogeographers.  My suspicion
is based on their using the concept of "indigenous/native" to refer only to
the present-day groups that live in a region; for that reason I put it in
quotesç

     Only in very restricted areas, maybe some, but not all, islands were
only settled a single time by a single race of people, but in many parts of
the world areas were settled multiple times by different races of
people, generally with each new wave exterminating the previous residents.

     Mexico, for instance, there are two  races that are considered to be
the main indigenous groups, but even these have many sub-groups with their
own native language.  In many cases, the regions overlap, meaning that an
organism in that region would have at least two common names, plus the
common name that the Spanish might have given the organism.
     It is forgotten, or at least not mentioned often, that none of these
groups originated in the regions where they now exist.  I am definitely not
an anthropologist, who would know all of the details, but the present-day
groups emigrated from other more northern regions and they waged war and
conquered the previous residents.  Undoubtedly, this had occurred
previously with waves of emigrants taking over the territories of those who
had done the same before they came--back historically to the first people
that supposedly migrated across the Bering Strait and down across North
America to Mexico (and beyond).

      If this proposal is followed strictly, which "native" group should I
honor by naming a species using their common name?  Respecting, and
honoring, only the most recent "native" colonizers is disrespecting and
dishonoring all of those races that went before.
     Fortunately, I have few problems with this because I am a
parasitologist.  I once asked permission of a semi-native person if I could
name a new species of parasite after him, to honor him for his help with
field collections.  He was greatly insulted!--so I changed the proposed
name before the ms. went out for revision.

Regards,
Scott
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Correo/ Mail

Dr. Scott Monks
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH)
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB)
Apdo. Postal 1-10
Pachuca, C.P. 42001
Hidalgo, México.


Mensajería/ Courier

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH)
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB)
Ciudad Universitaria, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo Km. 4.5 S/n
Pachuca  C.P. 42184
Hidalgo, México

[Tel 01(771)717-2000 Ext. 6658, 6640]
[Fax 01(771)717-2112]

pagina / web page
http://www.uaeh.edu.mx/investigacion/biologia/investigadores/monks_sheets.htm

correo electrónico / email
<smonks at uaeh.edu.mx> y <scottmonks at hotmail.com>
<monks.scott at gmail.com>
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