# Ralph Bulmer

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{{short description|English ethnobiologist who worked in Papua New Guinea}}
{{For|another person|Ralph Bulmer (soldier)}}
{{Infobox academic
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| name               = Ralph Bulmer
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| birth_name         = Ralph Neville Hermon Bulmer
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1928|04|03}}
| birth_place        = [Hereford](/source/Hereford), United Kingdom
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1988|07|18|1928|04|03}}
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| spouse             = Ellaine Bruce<br/>[Susan Bulmer](/source/Susan_Bulmer)<br/>Lena Lane
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| education          = [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge)
| alma_mater         = [Australian National University](/source/Australian_National_University)
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| discipline         = {{Plainlist|
* Anthropology
* Linguistics
* [Ethnobiology](/source/Ethnobiology)
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| sub_discipline     = [Papuan](/source/Papuan_languages) linguistics
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'''Ralph Neville Hermon Bulmer''' (3 April 1928 &ndash; 18 July 1988) was a twentieth-century [ethnobiologist](/source/ethnobiologist) who worked in [Papua New Guinea](/source/Papua_New_Guinea), particularly with the [Kalam](/source/Kalam_language) people. From 1974 he made a radical shift by changing the role of his Kalam informants and collaborators, allowing them to shape the purpose of ethnography and to make them authors rather than consultants. [Bulmer's tree frog](/source/Bulmer's_tree_frog) (''Ranoidea bulmeri'') is named after him.

==Early life==
Ralph (pronounced "Rafe") Bulmer was born in [Hereford](/source/Hereford), the eldest of three children of Kenneth, who worked at the [National Westminster Bank](/source/National_Westminster_Bank),{{clarify|date=November 2023}} and his wife Dorothy. Dorothy's father was an archaeologist and Kenneth was interested in nature.

==Education==
Bulmer was educated at [Christ's Hospital](/source/Christ's_Hospital), [Sussex](/source/Sussex) and served in the army from 1947 to 1949. Bulmer received a scholarship to study at [Clare College](/source/Clare_College), [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) and initially intended to study zoology but shifted to study anthropology, receiving a BA in 1953. His teachers included [Desmond Clark](/source/J._Desmond_Clark). Along with a few other fellow students, he studied [Sami](/source/S%C3%A1mi_people) herders in Sweden and Norway under [Ethel-John Lindgren](/source/Ethel_John_Lindgren) who was married to Mikel Utsi, a Sami. His report was submitted to the [University of Tromsø](/source/University_of_Troms%C3%B8).

He received a doctoral scholarship and pursued his Ph.D. at [Australian National University](/source/Australian_National_University) (1962). His doctorate was based on field-work in the [Western Highlands](/source/Western_Highlands_Province) of [Papua New Guinea](/source/Papua_New_Guinea), where he documented the social and political life of the Kyaka-Enga people in the Baiyer Valley.

==Career==
Bulmer was the Senior Lecturer of Social Anthropology at the [University of Auckland](/source/University_of_Auckland) from 1958 until 1967, after which he was the Professor of Social Anthropology at the [University of Papua New Guinea](/source/University_of_Papua_New_Guinea) from 1968 until 1973. He returned to the University of Auckland in the early 1970s.<ref name="AM">{{citeq|Q115749492}}</ref>

In 1964, Bulmer began to study the Kalam people along with [Bruce Biggs](/source/Bruce_Biggs), and in 1968 he moved to [Port Moresby](/source/Port_Moresby), working as a professor of anthropology at the University of Papua New Guinea. Along with a Kalam hunter and naturalist, [Ian Saem Majnep](/source/Ian_Saem_Majnep) (whom he made the primary author in publications), he wrote several books starting with ''Birds of My Kalam Country'' (1977). His later work, as lecturer in [Social Anthropology](/source/Social_Anthropology) at the [University of Auckland](/source/University_of_Auckland), was pioneering in the field of Ethnobiology, particularly documenting the Kalam people.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002402904/page/215/mode/1up|author=Hays, Terence E.|title=Ralph N.H. Bulmer (1928-1988)| journal=Journal of Ethnobiology|volume=8| issue=2 |year=1988|pages= 215–218}}</ref> Among his well-known works was on ethnozoological classification and a particularly well known paper was titled "''Why is the Cassowary Not a Bird? A Problem of Zoological Taxonomy Among the Karam of the New Guinea Highlands''".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bulmer|first=Ralph|date=1967|title=Why is the Cassowary Not a Bird? A Problem of Zoological Taxonomy Among the Karam of the New Guinea Highlands|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2798651|journal=Man|volume=2|issue=1|pages=5–25|doi=10.2307/2798651|jstor=2798651|issn=0025-1496|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Bulmer's first marriage was to a fellow student at Cambridge, Ellaine Bruce. After a divorce he married archaeologist Susan Hirsh ([Sue Bulmer](/source/Susan_Bulmer)) in 1959.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Golson|first=Jack|date=2016|title=Susan Bulmer, an archaeological pioneer|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/arco.5117|journal=Archaeology in Oceania|language=en|volume=51|issue=S1|pages=11–18|doi=10.1002/arco.5117|issn=1834-4453|url-access=subscription}}</ref> After another divorce in 1980, he married Lena Lane in 1983.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 and died the same year. He was buried at [Manukau Harbour](/source/Manukau_Harbour), [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand). A memorial volume was published, ''Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobiology in Honour of Ralph Bulmer'', edited by [Andrew Pawley](/source/Andrew_Pawley) (University of Hawaii Press, 1993).

==Writings==
Bulmer is best known for his collaborations with [Ian Saem Majnep](/source/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 [ethnoornithology](/source/ethnoornithology), leading to the publication of ''The Unsolved Problems of the Birds of Leviticus'' (1986).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Memoirs_%28Additional%29/No._48%3A_Man_and_a_half%3A_essays_in_Pacific_anthropology_and_ethnobiology_in_honour_of_Ralph_Bulmer/p1 Man and a half: essays in Pacific anthropology and ethnobiology in honour or Ralph Bulmer. Memoirs of the Polynesian Society; no. 48. (1991)]
*[http://magic.lbr.auckland.ac.nz/anthpd/content/highlight/ Highlights] of the Anthropology Photographic Archive, University of Auckland.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulmer, Ralph}}
Category:1928 births
Category:1988 deaths
Category:Ethnobiologists
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland
Category:Academic staff of the University of Papua New Guinea

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ralph Bulmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Bulmer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Bulmer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.