Paper short abstract:

Hunter-gatherer and conservationist premises of space-time are often conflictual. I explore these notions by examining how Batek of Malaysia think of and respond to gibbon vocalisations. The goal is to examine the pitfalls and perils of multidisciplinary methods to address conservation challenges.

Paper long abstract:

That hunter-gatherer and conservationist premises are often conflictual can be taken as read. One of these concerns notions of space-time. In this paper, I explore these notions by examining how Batek of Malaysia think of and respond to gibbons (siamangs [Symphalangus syndactylus] and lar gibbons [Hylobates lar]), which are renowned for their vocalisations ("songs"). These vocalisations occur only at set times of the day, may not occur everyday, and when heard, provoke wonder and joy in their listeners. Batek attend to these sounds the way they attend to other aspects of forest acoustics, but not necessarily as provocations to hunt. The goal of this paper is to examine different ways we can integrate social and natural science methods to address conservation challenges and what are the pitfalls and perils therein.