Search

The academic publishing world is rapidly changing. These changes are driven by and have implications for a range of intertwined ethical and financial considerations. In this essay, we situate Journal of Ethnobiology (JoE) in the discourse of ethical publishing, broadly, and in ethnobiology, specifically. We consider it an ethical imperative of JoE to promote the core values of the field of ethnobiology as a platform for scholarship that is both rigorous and socially just. We discuss here the many ways JoE addresses this imperative, including issues of diversity, accessibility, transparency, and how these efforts contribute to our ongoing relevance. We find that JoE has achieved high ethical standards and continues to raise the bar in our field. However, the growing incongruity between monetary solvency and best practices could threaten JoE's longevity unless we keep adapting to the changing landscape. Looking to the future, we encourage all ethnobiologists to participate in the ongoing process of improving ethics in publishing, including careful consideration of where to publish precious ethnobiological knowledge.

Human-bat interactions are common in rural areas across the tropics. Over 40 bat species occur in Madagascar, most of which are endemic. Forest loss is changing the distribution of bats throughout the island, with potential increases in both the abundance of synanthropic species and human-bat interactions. We set out to study knowledge of, interactions with, and attitudes towards bats in rural Madagascar, including reports of food and ethnomedicinal uses of bats, their cultural representations in folklore, and the existence of culturally enforced taboos in relation to them. We administered 108 surveys with open- and closed-ended questions with adults from the Tanala and Betsileo ethnic groups living around Ranomafana National Park. Most interviewees mentioned at least two types of bats. Over 10% of the interviewees had consumed bats and ∼20% used bat guano as a fertilizer. Around one-fifth recognized cultural taboos inhibiting bat hunting and consumption and most considered bats not to be dangerous. However, some informants mentioned that bats could carry diseases and complained about the bad smell and noise associated with bat roosts in houses and public buildings. Nearly 25% of the respondents could identify cultural representations of bats in local folklore. Malagasy rural communities interact closely with bats, but severely underestimate the diversity of bat species around them. Taken together, our results greatly increase the understanding of social-ecological complexities of human-bat relationships in rural Madagascar, offer possible pathways for biocultural approaches to conservation, and yield insights applicable to other communities coexisting with bats across the humid tropics.

Although elusive due to their mostly nocturnal behavior, bats have fascinated humans for millennia. From their ubiquitous presence in Mayan mythology to being regarded as symbols of good fortune in the Middle-to-Late Qing Dynasty of China, bats have been both feared and celebrated across cultures from all over the world. The research articles included in this collection illustrate the myriad ways in which bats and humans have interacted over time, highlighting how these airborne mammals have been associated with death, witchcraft, vampires, malevolent spirits, and evil in some cultures, while, in other places-particularly across the Asia-Pacific region-they have been largely linked to luck and good fortune and used as spiritual totems. This collection also showcases how multiple cultural groups, particularly across the tropics, have traditionally hunted bats for human consumption and traditional medicine, and used their guano as a fertilizer. In times of rapid global change and when bats are often associated with zoonotic disease risks, a trend that has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, this special issue constitutes one significant step towards a richer understanding of bat-human inter-relationships. The lives of humans and bats have been closely intertwined over time and our collection celebrates how bat diversity supports the biocultural richness of our planet.

Music is recognized as an essential constituent of the diversity of life on Earth and is enshrined in the concept of biocultural diversity. While research shows that song is an untapped library of biocultural memory, ethnobiologists have not yet explored the many areas in which studying songs and music through an ethnobiological lens could bring into focus the multi-dimensional relationships among humans and their biological worlds. 'the research articles in this special issue illustrate the importance of songs as both a repository of ethnobiological knowledge and as a means to construct, maintain, and mobilize peoples' intimate relations with their local ecologies. Although many traditional music-making systems are under risk of attrition, the extent to which traditional songs continue to be performed and celebrated in many Indigenous and local communities attests not just to the endurance and resilience of their cultures, but also to their deep cultural attachment to their lands as manifested through song. this special issue constitutes one significant step towards the recognition of music both as a timeless prism for looking at human-nature inter-relations, in all their complexities and magnificence, and as an essential form of biocultural heritage, worthy of documentation, conservation, and revitalization.

The transmission of Indigenous Knowledge occurs in large part through the encoding of sociocultural performance of everyday activities, local speech, and other oral manifestations, like stories and songs. Here, we examine the role of traditional songs in transmitting Indigenous Knowledge among the Tsimane' Indigenous Peoples of Bolivian Amazonia. We use the corpus of traditional Tsimane' songs compiled by J. Riester in the 1970s and our ethnographic work on the area over the last two decades to examine the content and context of Tsimane' songs in relation to wildlife and hunting. To understand the role of songs in the transmission of ethnobiological knowledge, our analysis pays attention to how traditional Tsimane' songs transmit information related to wildlife traits and behavior, hunting practices and skills, and cultural norms and beliefs around hunting. Fifty-two of the 140 songs compiled by Riester mention wildlife and/or hunting, featuring a total of 27 different wildlife species. All selected songs include either rich descriptions of wildlife characteristics (e.g., sounds and odors) or information about social practices related to hunting (e.g., arrow crafting and gender roles). We also analyze the content of 12 different ritual songs used to dictate human-animal interactions and teach about inappropriate cultural behaviors in relation to wildlife. Many songs we examined reveal conceptualizations of nature-culture relations that are substantially different from Western concepts. Considering that Tsimane' musical traditions are rapidly waning, we conclude by discussing several options for revitalizing traditional music-making among contemporary Indigenous Peoples exposed to rapid sociocultural changes.