Ralph Bulmer

For the 16th-century knight, see Ralph Bulmer (soldier)

Ralph Bulmer (1928-1988) was a leading twentieth-century ethnobiologist.

Career

Bulmer earned his B.A. at the University of Cambridge (1953) and his Ph.D. at Australian National University (1962). His doctorate was based on field-work in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, where he documented the social and political life of the Kyaka-Enga people in the Baiyer Valley.

His later work, as lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland, was in the field of Ethnobiology, particularly documenting the Kalam people's interaction with, and beliefs about, birds.^[1]

Bulmer also served as Foundation Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Papua New Guinea (1968-73).

A memorial volume was published, Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobiology in Honour of Ralph Bulmer, edited by Andrew Pawley (University of Hawaii Press, 1993).

Writings

Bulmer is best known for his collaborations with Ian Saem Majnep:

• Birds of My Kalam Country (1977).
• Kalam Hunting Traditions in 6 parts (1990).
• Animals the Ancestors Hunted, edited by Robin Hide and Andrew Pawley (2007).

Towards the end of his life, Bulmer also considered biblical ethnobiology, leading to the publication of The Unsolved Problems of the Birds of Leviticus (1986).

References

External links

• Highlights of the Anthropology Photographic Archive, University of Auckland.