In the masters program I'm in, disrespecting the indigenous way of life isn't an option. Not that I would want to disrespect indigenous people, in my experience with most indigenous people they're quite humble, helpful and inclusive people due to their cultural values. Of course they have their murderers, rapists, and assholes like the rest of the Earth - not to stereotype them or elevate them on high. In fact, that's kind of what I'm having a problem with. I think some people are almost fetishizing their belief system, just because it's better than corporate capitalism. Well. Lots of ancient cultures are better than corporate capitalism.
It doesn't meant they're untouchable or can't do any wrong. One thing I'm really struggling with is that their relationship to the earth is EXACTLY LIKE the way G-d commands Adam and Eve to be stewards of the Earth in Genesis. I was watching a clip on indigenous creation story and I'm like...ummmm....this is also Jewish creation story, with some names changed. The only difference, is that up until 150 years ago, you guys took that stuff very seriously (and good on you for actually being good stewards of the Earth!)
But they don't want to hear that. That they're a Lost Tribe of Israel, or even that they Walked Across A Land Bridge and Are Actually East Asian. They get really mad, like conservative Christians who take the Bible literally, if you say well...science shows we all came from Africa...and you probably did walk across the Bering Strait...and your creation story sounds awfully Jewish...(I don't actually SAY any of this, I just think it). They say they were created directly from the land from G-d. Basically they're saying they're Adam and Eve's true descendants. In so many words. They don't actually say Adam and Eve. They act as though if they migrated from Asia then that discredits their relationship to the land somehow. I mean, come on who would discredit a thousands of years successful relationship with the Earth just because you walked across a land bridge thousands of years ago?
Also, they call animals "more than human." It's quite touching, non-human animals are our relatives, our ancestors, even more than human! What a beautiful way to regard them. So we don't over-fish, we never over-hunt, we don't enslave animals in agriculture and allow them their rightful freedom. That sounds all so much more tremendously awesome than anything I've heard outside of veganism and ethical vegetarianism. And yet...why do we still have to hunt and fish? If we can leave the more than humans alone, especially now in this time of mass extinction, wouldn't that be the most spiritually appropriate thing to do???
We can't go back to the indigenous way of life! There's too many people on Earth! The ecosystems have changed too much! Sure, on a small scale, some tribes can live that way...but it isn't the "answer" to global warming or ecological devastation. I can't just tell these people, "I love you. You almost get it." LOL it sounds so condescending, but that's how I feel, and I absolutely have to make concessions for their belief system in any research I'm doing because I'm only 1/16th indigenous, I don't have tribal affiliation, I'm one grandparent away from being considered one of them. It's not like Judaism where a Jew is a Jew, or the "one drop" rule about Blacks, they're very funny about who they recognize as their people. And that's fine, because I didn't grow up in a tribe so honestly I don't know. But on the other hand, I shouldn't feel afraid to broach this topic without being accused of being an imperialist.
*sigh*
I guess I should let it go, because this is so much better than like 90 percent of our country still eating agricultural meat like it's nothing.
It doesn't meant they're untouchable or can't do any wrong. One thing I'm really struggling with is that their relationship to the earth is EXACTLY LIKE the way G-d commands Adam and Eve to be stewards of the Earth in Genesis. I was watching a clip on indigenous creation story and I'm like...ummmm....this is also Jewish creation story, with some names changed. The only difference, is that up until 150 years ago, you guys took that stuff very seriously (and good on you for actually being good stewards of the Earth!)
But they don't want to hear that. That they're a Lost Tribe of Israel, or even that they Walked Across A Land Bridge and Are Actually East Asian. They get really mad, like conservative Christians who take the Bible literally, if you say well...science shows we all came from Africa...and you probably did walk across the Bering Strait...and your creation story sounds awfully Jewish...(I don't actually SAY any of this, I just think it). They say they were created directly from the land from G-d. Basically they're saying they're Adam and Eve's true descendants. In so many words. They don't actually say Adam and Eve. They act as though if they migrated from Asia then that discredits their relationship to the land somehow. I mean, come on who would discredit a thousands of years successful relationship with the Earth just because you walked across a land bridge thousands of years ago?
Also, they call animals "more than human." It's quite touching, non-human animals are our relatives, our ancestors, even more than human! What a beautiful way to regard them. So we don't over-fish, we never over-hunt, we don't enslave animals in agriculture and allow them their rightful freedom. That sounds all so much more tremendously awesome than anything I've heard outside of veganism and ethical vegetarianism. And yet...why do we still have to hunt and fish? If we can leave the more than humans alone, especially now in this time of mass extinction, wouldn't that be the most spiritually appropriate thing to do???
We can't go back to the indigenous way of life! There's too many people on Earth! The ecosystems have changed too much! Sure, on a small scale, some tribes can live that way...but it isn't the "answer" to global warming or ecological devastation. I can't just tell these people, "I love you. You almost get it." LOL it sounds so condescending, but that's how I feel, and I absolutely have to make concessions for their belief system in any research I'm doing because I'm only 1/16th indigenous, I don't have tribal affiliation, I'm one grandparent away from being considered one of them. It's not like Judaism where a Jew is a Jew, or the "one drop" rule about Blacks, they're very funny about who they recognize as their people. And that's fine, because I didn't grow up in a tribe so honestly I don't know. But on the other hand, I shouldn't feel afraid to broach this topic without being accused of being an imperialist.
*sigh*
I guess I should let it go, because this is so much better than like 90 percent of our country still eating agricultural meat like it's nothing.
