Social anthropology meets biology on the ... - Climate Histories

<strong>Social</strong> <strong>anthropology</strong> <strong>meets</strong> <strong>biology</strong> on the Qinghai plateau, PRC:
the Milkbird, reliability & the uptake of local knowledge
of environmental change
Jacqueline Hobbs

PhD thesis. “When the
Milkbird comes”: Amdo-
Tibetan constructions of time
Nomads, Anye Machen area, May 28, 2008
Abstract: “When the Milkbird comes, Amdo-Tibetan
nomads in Qinghai province, PRC say their yak begin
to give milk. These nomads frequently mention the
Milkbird when they are asked about time and its
appearance is linked to the agricultural calendar.
But this is only one time-reckoning system and
there are diverse Amdo-Tibetan constructions of
time to be found across today’s Amdo region. What
is the nature of these constructions and how should
we interpret the Milkbird in relation to them This
thesis reveals in their use of time-reckoning devices,
not just Amdowa inter-dependence with nature but
their reactions to the hegemony of Tibetan
Buddhism and to the political authority of both
imperial and modern China, including their
response to urgent economic pressures and
environmental change. Tibetan time-reckoning
systems emerge as linked to the political – but only
to the extent that they are anchored in local
knowledge. This thesis suggests a new role for social
<strong>anthropology</strong> in light of a critical evaluation of the
status of local knowledge of environmental change;
partially challenges Gell's (1992) work on the
politics of time; and introduces a new reading of the
Tibetan calendar, based on the <strong>anthropology</strong> of
Buddhism.”
Amdo-Tibetan monks, nomads, farmers,
urbanites, academics & students
Jan 2007 - May 2009
Qinghai (& Gansu) province, PRC

The “gap”:
• Nomads say they don’t use the
calendar, monks say they do
• Tibetan calendar empirically
inaccurate (Henning 2007)
• Empirical observation of nature vs
Tibetan Buddhist calendrical
tradition using that observation
Time is political (Gell 1992):
• Preservation of identity often at
expense of need for accuracy
• Tibet defines itself in relation to
India, Mongolia & China
But it’s also non-political:
• Used knowledge-system of the
Tibetan Buddhist 2 Truths to
legitimate any new calendar
Even more political!
• Any new, more, accurate timereckoning
system assimilated
• PLUS any challenge to Tibetan
identity subsumed
Amdo-Tibetan constructions of time …
Tibetan calendars, Tibetan Medical Hospital, Lhasa, March 2oo8
Reaction to the politico-religious
1
authority of Tibetan Buddhism

Imperial China:
Amdo always closer to China than to
Lhasa where the Tibetan calendar
(bod rtsis) is formulated
• Used the 18 th century CE Chinese
(Jesuit) calendar (rgya rtsis)
• This calendar is highly accurate
Modern China:
• But via Tibetan Buddhist 2 Truths
make it Tibetan: the “Amdo calendar”
• The Chinese calendar becomes the
Gregorian calendar or just the Chinese
calendar’s lunar or divinatory aspect
The “gap” underlies these:
• Tibetan calendar is “accurate”,
“scientific”, “spiritual”, “white”
• Chinese calendar is “inaccurate,
“backward”, “superstitious”, “black”
Counter-hegemonic discourses:
• Simultaneously contradict & assent
(Ong 1997, Gaongkar 2001)
• Enact ethnic authenticity & cultural
Amdo-Tibetan constructions of time …
Lo gsar, G Shongwa, Feb 1, 2008
Reaction to the political authority of
2
superiority (White 1998)
imperial and modern China

Mdzo rgan ra har nomad
May 16, 2008
«Because the land is changing, the
animals are changing. They are
thinner, less strong, there is no
comparison between the animals
before and now. Winter is very cold.
This spring is longer and the animals
are weaker because it is colder. The
land is changing. The earth is
becoming smaller. It’s shrinking. The
number of yak hasn’t changed but
they say 20 years ago all the sheep
and yaks would go into the valley …
Now it’s narrower than before and
the sheep and yak cannot enter. The
land is drier. The river is
disappearing. In the past according
to the Chinese lunar calendar, in
April there’s lots of baby yak and
milk. Now the baby yak cannot stand
because they are too weak and
because of the milk from the grass.»
Photo by Jason Davis

«Winter is very long. Also spring.
Summer is short. Spring is late. This
month is supposed to be the first of
summer but it’s still winter or
spring. The summer is colder.
Before, this season was for
shearing the sheep but now it’s too
cold. There’s a lot of snow, less rain.
The temperature is much lower.
When I was young, I never heard of
there being not enough grass for
animals but now thousands of
animals are dying from starvation.
Before, my father and grandfather
said that every time they rode, the
grass came up to the belly of the
horse. Their legs were always wet
and the children hid in the grass, it
was so thick. Now after Liberation,
the grass is hardly over our shoes.»
Photo by Jason Davis
Chu khol ka nomad
May 17, 2008

Jason Davis
• Assistant Professor in Biology at Radford University, USA
• BSc in Biology; PhD in Neuroscience & Animal Behavior
• Funded by UC Davis , NSF & Chinese Academy of Science:
To map the impact of human environmental
disturbance on stress and reproductive neuroendocrinology,
immunocompetence and behavior patterns in songbirds
on the Tibetan plateau
“I have explored variation in glucocorticoid receptor
distribution in relation to stress in expanding
populations of songbirds in the Pacific Northwest,
sex differences in cognitive abilities in song birds, and
species variation in natural fear and stress responses
in primates. In my lab we use a wide range of
techniques to study and experimentally manipulate
neurophysiology. We also spend a lot of time in the
field catching birds in big nets”.
Snow finches

Case study 1: The Milkbird (A: jo-byebu)
«According to the lunar calendar it comes on May 1 st . It comes once then goes away
in mid July. The milk, the Milkbird brings milk. The nomads like the Milkbird. Our
forefathers told us that this is the bird which brings milk to the nomad, that’s why
we believe in it.»
[Amdo-Tibetan nomads say:]
The reliability of local knowledge:
“is it true”
• It’s blue and white on the
upper chest. It has a long tail.
• The Milkbird is blue, with
thin white colour.
• The Milkbird is black and
white, with a white head.
• It’s small, blue and white.
• The Milkbird is blue with
white colour.
• It has white shoulders.
• It has a white head.
Siberian blue robin
Oriental magpie robin
Slaty-blue flycatcher
Grandala

“Long ago, grasslands and thick forests
abounded in what is now Xichang City.
Livestock and wild animals lived together
peacefully. The melodious sound of
birdsong filled the air. In na mzi, that
place was called O ndzo: a word people
cannot explain today, other than to say it
is the name of that place. One day a bird
appeared and started calling "a za do bi!"
The bird continued to call this day after
day. The na mzi were very embarrassed
to hear this sound. Finally, they all
decided to leave this hateful bird and
find a new place to live …”
[Na mzi origin myth, Sichuan province, PRC]
The reliability of scientific data:
“Why do they say they never
see this bird”
Case study 2: “Bad luck” and
“grandmother’s buttocks”
Common Crow
Little Owl

“You’ve been really useful, like …
Uptake of cultural knowledge:
so helpful, though I still can’t
(reliable) quantitative -> qualitative ->
really see what place social
… what happened
<strong>anthropology</strong> has, in science … ”
Winter
Tree sparrow
Misunderstandings & limitations
• Meaning of concepts, common language
• Sheer complexity of disciplines & human activity
• Historicality/production of knowledge
• Time factor, decision-making process
• Status of cultural knowledge, even if reliable
Collaborative outcomes
• More accurate meteorological & species data
• Time-depth: up to between 50 & 100 years
• Cultural interpretation & age factor -> more specific
• Milkbird -> birds, time & empirical knowledge
• Amdowas as producers of climate change models
• Link between politics of time & politicisation of local
knowledge of environmental change

More successful collaboration …
Different understanding of communication
• Marilyn Strathern 2006
• “Transplanted knowledge” = new generativity
• Use of analogies: conserve & extend
• Discipline & its effects
• Not a reductionist exercise
• Incommensurability = strength!
More embedded in university training
• Transdisciplinary research projects from
Bachelor’s level
• Funding bodies with the ability to assess
& prioritise such projects
Resettlement “villages”
Pallas’ Fish Eagle
“Despite the extraordinary urgency of transdisciplinary
climate research - by which I mean thinking that
transcends the conventional boundaries around disciplines -
the modern university has largely failed to rise to the challenge”.
[Wainwright 2010]