Hey there, so I reckon there may be people on this forum who have given some thought to the difference between bushcraft, native (First Nations/ Aboriginals/ indigenous populations), lithic, and primitive skills. I'm going on a ten day native skills event soon and I'm getting some thinking in about this now - I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts they'd like to share, blogs they'd point me to, books they'd suggest etc? That'd be great. Cheers..
Native skills v bushcraft
- Thread starter Lizz
- Start date
Surely a skill is a skill? If you can make fire by friction then you have a skill. It's irrelevant whether it fits into someone else's arbirary / made up classification.
Interesting, I think the skill might be the same, but the materials might be different - and the mode of deployment. I'm interested in the parallel development of some 'technologies' around the globe and this is one way to consider them - thinking about when, how, where the 'skill' was employed and sometimes even why - I know there are some knots for example that historically were only used in ritual settings, and in certain cultures particular materials used in particular ways conveyed a certain kind of status, so maybe it isn't only the skills but what the consequence of their usage might mean... This is part of what I'm interested in thinking about..
Hi Lizz
Lisa Fenton sometimes writes pieces on this sort of thing for Bushcraft Magazine - probably someone who might help.
http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/about-us/lisa-fenton/
Lisa Fenton sometimes writes pieces on this sort of thing for Bushcraft Magazine - probably someone who might help.
http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/about-us/lisa-fenton/
As BR said, a skill set is universal, native skills ARE bushcraft skills particular to your vacinity. The Ideal of a good bushcrafter should be to go into the wild with just a knife and cooking pot and be able to thrive with the stuff around him. That is what the indiginous native people would have done. Pots and kettles.
Yes, I see the linguistic correlation you're making between native and bushcraft - good point. Do you know when the term bushcraft started to be used? When I was a kid it was called backwoodsmanship - bushcraft must have an origin as a descriptive noun, I wonder when and where? Is it North American? Or Australian?
Of course the materials and modes of deployment are different. I cited the example of fire by friction. Areas with bamboo developed the fire saw. Others the bow drill, plough etc.
Environment changed the skill to use different materials, but no-one pontificated whether or not it was a lithic skill
Form follows function and necessity drives invention.
Hi Lizz!
Please take note of what you see at the native skills event. I'm sure many of us would love to hear about it!
Regarding traditional skills (my terminology), I like this website (below) a great deal for its thorough, in depth articles. The authors are practitioners and know what they write:
(Disclaimer: I know some of the authors)
http://www.primitiveways.com/
Here are some of my own notes you may find interesting:
http://www.natureoutside.com/the-tuibun-of-coyote-hills-part-2/
http://www.natureoutside.com/holiday-fire-by-friction/
http://www.natureoutside.com/archaeology-technology-and-native-peoples/
http://www.natureoutside.com/how-to-make-acorns-into-food-part-1/
http://www.natureoutside.com/kule-loklo/
I wouldn't know what books to recommend without knowing more about your interests and geography.
Hope this helps!
- Woodsorrel
Hi - thank you for the links - I've had a look now - some of the pictures I'd seen before but i didn't know where they'd come from - great to know the origins. And really kind of you to send me some of your own notes. I've got a long train journey tomorrow so I'll have a proper look then. I've been interested in looking at comparative stuff - so the way that things develop along either different or similar lines in different communities. Someone made the comment that 'form follows function' but I'm really interested in people's and communities which have ensured that the function can be fulfilled but the form can represent something else too - an animal, a totem of some kind, that sort of thing so that there is utility and some kind of beauty (as far as the maker was concerned). So maybe I'm partly interested that sometimes a skill and a tool used in the performance of that skill might be more than just a tool and it might have meaning in its use (archaeologists go on about ritual which is a useful term, doesn't have to be religious or spiritual, just a set of actions which are done in a particular way) and the way it is used. Perhaps that's part of the difference in what people think they are doing,mor what they call what they are doing. Someone might see me making cord, but for me it has more significance than just creating something I can tie things up with. Anyway. Thanks for the notes and for the pointers.
I think there is a great deal of overlap. We bushcrafters have taken a lot of primitive traditional skills and turned them to our own purposes. Sometimes we use modern materials to achieve the same ends but underneath it's the same techniques and very similar skills.
From Wikipedia.
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary definition of bushcraft is "skill in matters pertaining to life in the bush".
The word has been used in its current sense in Australia and South Africa at least as far back as the 1800s. Bush in this sense is probably a direct adoption of the Dutch 'bosch', (now 'bos') originally used in Dutch colonies for woodland and country covered with natural wood, but extended to usage in British colonies, applied to the uncleared or un-farmed districts, still in a state of nature. Later this was used by extension for the country as opposed to the town. In Southern Africa, we get Bushman from the Dutch 'boschjesman' applied by the Dutch colonists to the natives living in the bush. In North America (where there was also considerable colonisation by the Dutch) you have the word 'bushwacker' which is close to the Dutch 'bosch-wachter' (now 'boswachter') meaning 'forest-keeper' or 'forest ranger'.
Historically, the term has been spotted in the following books (amongst others):
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 by Ernest Favenc; published in 1888.
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin; published in 1901.
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899–1900) by A. G. Hales; published in 1901.
The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work by Ernest Favenc; published in 1908.
We of the Never-Never by Jeannie Gunn; published in 1908.
The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott; published in 1914.
Trademark
The word bushcraft was trademarked by Bushcraft USA LLC. The application was submitted July 30, 2012 and issued November 12, 2013.[1] This trademark is a service mark, for the general use of the word bushcraft and is not limited to electronic forms of communication or commerce.
Promoters
The Irish-born Australian writer Richard Graves titled his outdoor manuals "The 10 bushcraft books".[2]
Canadian wilderness instructor Mors Kochanski published the "Northern Bushcraft" book (later retitled "Bushcraft") in 1988. He has[3] stated on numerous occasions that book title was an explicit reference to Graves' work.[4]
The term has enjoyed a recent popularity largely thanks to Ray Mears, Ron Hood, Les Stroud, Dave Canterbury, Cody Lundin, and their television programs.
Native skills is what you have been taught from a young age by elders, no one is born with skills. You acquire them from teachings, observation. experience and mistakes.
Take your time, learn one skill well then move on, I've never learn t a skill in one shot, only through repetitive exposures.
Enjoy yourself/ YO
Take your time, learn one skill well then move on, I've never learn t a skill in one shot, only through repetitive exposures.
Enjoy yourself/ YO
I deny the definitions. Falsehoods at best. From childhood I was taught to become competent at all sorts of skills = mending socks/sewing buttons and all sorts of
what seemed such silly things at the time.
BUT, I was told also simply this: "you will never have a good time anywhere on earth if you cannot do the simplist of things to care for yourself."
My family history of homesteaders and explorers bore out the truth. I can be as independent and self sufficient as needs arise.
I married a woman who lashed out and critisizsed me for such independent capability. Have not seen her in 25 years.
I have a partner who is commonly a better shot than me and cleans her own kills. Package kind of a thing, yes?
what seemed such silly things at the time.
BUT, I was told also simply this: "you will never have a good time anywhere on earth if you cannot do the simplist of things to care for yourself."
My family history of homesteaders and explorers bore out the truth. I can be as independent and self sufficient as needs arise.
I married a woman who lashed out and critisizsed me for such independent capability. Have not seen her in 25 years.
I have a partner who is commonly a better shot than me and cleans her own kills. Package kind of a thing, yes?
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