Environment and Belief Systems PDF
Preview Environment and Belief Systems
ENVIRONMENT AND BELIEF SYSTEMS Part of the series Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies, this book focuses on the concepts that recur in any discussion of nature, culture and society among the indigenous. T he book, the first in a five-volume series, deals with the two crucial concepts of environment and belief systems of indigenous peoples from all the continents of the world. With contributions from renowned scholars, activists and experts from around the globe, it presents a salient picture of the environments of indigenous peoples and discusses the essential features of their belief systems. It explores indigenous perspectives related to religion, ritual and cultural practice, art and design, and natural resources, as well as climate change impacts among such communities in Latin and North America, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands), India, Brazil, Southeast Asia and Africa. B ringing together academic insights and experiences from the ground, this unique book’s wide coverage will serve as a comprehensive guide for students, teachers and scholars of indigenous studies. It will be essential reading for those in anthropology, social anthropology, sociology and social exclusion studies, religion and theology, and cultural studies, as well as activists working with indigenous communities. G .N. Devy is Honorary Professor, Centre for Multidisciplinary Development Research, Dharwad, India, and Chairman, People’s Linguistic Survey of India. An award-winning writer and cultural activist, he is known for his 50-volume language survey. He is Founder Director of the Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh in Gujarat, India, and was formerly Professor of English at M. S. University of Baroda. He is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Linguapax Prize, Prince Claus Award and Padma Shri. With several books in English, Marathi and Gujarati, he has co-edited (with Geoffrey V. Davis and K. K. Chakravarty) Narrating Nomadism: Tales of Recovery and Resistance (2012); Knowing Differently: The Challenge of the Indigenous (2013); P erforming Identities: Celebrating Indigeneity in the Arts (2014); and T he Language Loss of the Indigenous (2016), published by Routledge. Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies Series Editor: G. N. Devy Honorary Professor, Centre for Multidisciplinary Development Research, Dharwad, India, and Chairman, People’s Linguistic Survey of India This series of volumes offers the most systematic and foundational literature available to date for use by undergraduate and postgraduate students of indig- enous studies. It brings together essays by experts from across the globe on con- cepts forming the bedrock of this rapidly growing field in five focused volumes: Environment and Belief Systems (Vol. 1); Gender and Rights (Vol. 2); Indigeneity and Nation (Vol. 3); Orality and Language (Vol. 4); and P erformance and Knowledge (Vol. 5). These contain short, informative and easily accessible essays on the perspec- tives of indigenous communities from all continents of the world. The essays are written specifically for an international audience. They thus allow drawing of transnational and cross-cultural parallels, and form useful material as text- books as well as texts for general readership. Introducing a new orientation to traditional anthropology with comprehensive and in-depth studies, the volumes foreground knowledge traditions and praxis of indigenous communities. E nvironment and Belief Systems E dited by G. N. Devy G ender and Rights E dited by G. N. Devy I ndigeneity and Nation E dited by G. N. Devy O rality and Language E dited by G. N. Devy Performance and Knowledge Edited by G. N. Devy F or more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Key-Concepts-in-Indigenous-Studies/book-series/KCIS ENVIRONMENT AND BELIEF SYSTEMS Edited by G. N. Devy F irst published 2021 b y Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN a nd by Routledge 5 2 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 R outledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 selection and editorial matter, G. N. Devy; individual chapters, the contributors T he right of G. N. Devy to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A ll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-24517-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-41018-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-81427-4 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC This volume and four others in this Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies series are dedicated to the memory of Geoffrey Davis, a life-long friend of the indigenous and the marginalized, formerly Professor of English at RWTH, Aachen, Germany, and Chairperson, Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, whom I knew as a friend for over three decades, with whom I collaborated on several intellectual projects and who would have been co-editor for this series but for his unexpected demise before the work was completed. CONTENTS List of figures ix Notes on contributors xi P reface xiii A cknowledgements xvii Introduction 1 G . N. Devy 1 Ritual and cultural practice among Indian adivasis 10 A rchana Prasad 2 Forests now speak English: the indigenous at odds with the state 31 G . N. Devy 3 Indigenous peoples and the Great Lakes in North America 38 D eborah McGregor 4 Indigenous art, resilience and climate change: Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Samoa 57 T racey Benson, Lee Joachim, Huhana Smith, Penny Allan, Martin Bryant, Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni, Penehuro Fatu Lefale and Charles Dawson viii Contents 5 Indigenous religions of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands 91 James L. Cox 6 Indigeneity, the environment and Africa: some key concepts from the /Xam of southern Africa 115 M ichael Wessels 7 Can there be religions without belief? Religion in Latin America 135 Oscar Guardiola-Rivera 8 Indigenous peoples and the environment: views from Brazil 167 Seth Garfield Index 190 FIGURES 4.1 Lake Barmah. Still image from video “Words for Water: Stage 1.” 60 4.2 Map of the Clarence River catchment area showing the main drainage lines and key geological features. Inset shows area location in northern New South Wales (1:500 000 scale map), Australian Geological Survey Organisation, Canberra. 63 4.3 Whakapapa connects land and people. Hīkoi is the journey through the land with people. Kōrero tuku iho or oral narratives are ways of telling the story of the past for the future. 67 4.4 The large tidal estuary of Kuku Ōhau towards Waikawa, with its changing dunes, rivers and flood plains – the human memories held within represent whakapapa. 68 4 .5 Detail of consolidated data for the first Wai o Papa window exhibition. 70 4.6 Maramataka exhibition at Te Aro site, Victoria University, Wellington. 70 4.7 One of the dairy sheds before clean-up. 71 4.8 Close-up of main sea level rise maps in the Hīkoi -themed dairy shed. 72 4.9 Thresholds in the Kōrero Tuku Iho or oral narratives shed. 73 4.10 Views into the exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Wellington. 74 4.11 Samoa and American Samoa. 77 4.12 Traditional Samoan fale with thatched roof and stone foundation. 79 4.13 Example of fale palagi or European-designed houses in Samoa, in Vaitele Uta, a non-traditional village in the Faleata district. 80 4.14 A cluster of contemporary Samoan f ale . 80
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