Archives at NCBS
Scholar-in-Residence Program: Public Talks (https://archives.ncbs.res.in/scholars)
 
A Bird in Hand
Illustrating Scientific Realism in 20th c. Popular Bird Guides of India
 
2:30 PM. Thu, Mar 26, 2026
Malgova Auditorium, SLC, NCBS
 
Abstract: 
Popular Indian bird guides of the twentieth century – from Hugh Whistler, Salim Ali and Dillon Ripley to Richard Grimmett, Tim and Carol Inskipp – came to be constituted by a triad of desired features: a combination of "strict scientific accuracy with non-technical language and popular appeal – concise accounts of life history and habits and, above all, good coloured illustrations supplemented by simple clues to field identification" and easy on the average purse. What do we, the uninitiated lay bird enthusiast, actually see when we look at these bird illustrations? How "natural" or "real" are these scientifically accurate illustrations? What does training the scientific eye entail and what do the scientifically trained ornithologist/artist's eyes see and render? Is the bird in hand the same as the one in the bush?
 
Instead of looking at these illustrations as passive visual aids to the dissemination of ornithological knowledges, I seek to trace how the shifting stakes of the various actors – ornithologists, artists, and publishers – shape the final image of the bird in the field.
 
Bio: 
Manjita Mukharji's research interests lie in the interstices of various kinds of knowledges and knowledge-making. She did her PhD (SOAS, UK) on the song texts of the Bauls of colonial Bengal that situated itself in the intersections of literary study, history, and ethnomusicology. Briefly, she has also taught at the University of Toronto and University of Pennsylvania. Currently, as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Archives at NCBS, her research project on the bird illustrations in the popular ornithological field guides of 20th century India seeks to bring the fields of History of Science and Art History in conversation with each other.