Social Control and Bird's Nest Harvesting among the Idahan: A Preliminary Observation

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to describe briefly the nature of bird's nest production among the Idahan. Since ancestral time the Idahan have developed a social mechanism, based on kinship principles, to control seasonal access to rock chambers bearing the nests, and to rotate harvesting rights between various clan members. Being an ethnic minority, the Idahan operate as a closely knit corporate group insofar as bird's nesting activities are concerned. The distribution system also ensures ethnic solidarity among the Idahan. The sole benefits of the harvests can only be enjoyed by them as the sole inheritor of the nesting caves provided that they work together as a closely integrated social and economic unit.