Indigenous Values Part 2: A Recap of My Explorations

You know, I was a bit skeptical at first, but this Native American/Women's and Gender Studies class has really turned out to be a very positive experience. Not only has it been a valuable facilitator in developing my own opinions and thinking critically about issues we breezed through in grade school, it has been a gateway to a way of thinking not prevalent in western society. With this being said, I think this post will be a great opportunity to get a little nostalgic and explore the good things I have learned from this class.

This blog post should more appropriately be titled: Personal Explorations in HNR360: Women's Rights, a Native American Tradition

This class had that sociological perspective on biology, and science in general, that every hard science major should mingle with. Reliving my observations from a non-eurocentric point of view (pov), but rather an indigenous or native american pov has restored some of the beauty and mystery that academia pulls from nature. Truly a gift to be a part of this class, and under the instruction of a great professor.

Topics to be expanded: Government, rape culture, GMOs, The Decline of Women Equality, Science, Medicine and the Church

**Note there were many more topics that were explored during class (ie. The boarding school experience, native american lifestyle, women's role in native societies, just to name a few, but this post would be endlessly long so I chose to exclude these, and others)

August 28th: GOVERMENT, RAPE CULTURE
In reference to native american government:
“They are to leave personal issues at the door; not use harsh tones and think about the coming generations in their decision making. They are to end their meetings before the sun sets”. Could you imagine how efficient Congress and the House of Representatives would be if they only followed this small list of civil rules?

In response to the question: “What are the ingredients for a rape culture?”, my answer is complicated. I feel that in order for this culture to arise, it involves a necessary superiority complex as well as the lack of fear of punishment. In a culture that contains the previously listed, there would need to be a “dominant” gender, ethnicity, or creed that feels their actions are of above the law because of their targets “inferiority”. It is for this reason that I believe it is improbable for sexual abuse to be common in indigenous cultures. Since creed and ethnicity are stable in these societies, gender appears to be the sole determinant. From my understanding male and female gender roles are incredibly equal in importance and strength making the reduction of ones gender to the other impossible without a cultural overhaul (ie. westernization).

September 12th: RAPE CULTURE (does it extend to Mother Earth?)
The elephant in the room the past week has been our focus on rape culture. Beginning the discussion, the statement “sovereign women in sovereign nations” was brought to the chopping block in order to kindle a heated debate on what it could mean, which then led to an important exploration of whether or not Mother Earth has sovereignty. When people take legal claim or forceful possession of a patch of Mother Earth, what are they actually obtaining? If Mother Earth were a sovereign woman, would it be right to violate her in the ways modern culture does? My thought is, that when you purchase land, or obtain it legally, to the state you are “marrying” that land; for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. The vows you take with Mother Earth should be no different than those you swear to your spouse. Just as Mother Earth cares for you, humanity should care for her. I feel that in many ways this is how the indigenous culture treats their relationship to the land.

A second digression of Thursday discussion that I found myself pondering was how we defined the ways to violate someone.
-in mind
-in body
-in spirit
In class we determined that a violation of body is called rape. But what is the equivalent offense to rape of the other two (mind and spirit). This is an interesting thought that I have been having trouble defining.

September 29th: GMOs
We have been talking about GMO’s for a week or so now but not ONCE have we actually gone through the classroom and discovered why people are afraid of them. Does anyone know why GMO’s are “bad”? 
As far as natural goes, no, GMO’s are not natural by any definition, but what about the world around you is? Our buildings are made of steel (a man-made alloy), we vaccinate to prevent mass disease, we use fire to cook our food, we fly around in airplanes, we have flattened hills and hollowed mountains to lay track and road for transportation, we have gone great lengths to connect the United States and truly make it one nation. But now, as we modify crops to feed our growing population, we receive scrutiny?

October 6th: THE DECLINE OF WOMEN EQUALITY

Jewish people during the Iron Age worshipped Yahweh (God’s names) and Asherah as a pair.

During the “exilic period: the impulse to assimilate the attributes of the many gods and goddesses of older polytheistic systems to the one god, YHWH. Language that speaks of God as mother, for example probably represents the assimilation of Asherah’s maternal characteristics to YHWH.”

So could we blame the view of women in the world as the result of a radical reform to consolidate polytheistic religions? 

October 13th: SCIENCE

One of my favorite quotes from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: “I smile when I hear my colleagues say, “I discovered X”” “It was here all along, it’s just that [they] didn’t know it”. To be honest I have never thought of science this way, but it makes complete sense. When you move into the realm of profound scientific “discoveries” such as gravity (Isaac Newton) and the solar system (Nicolaus Copernicus), the wonder of their “discoveries” often distracts from the reality of the world around us. For in fact, those things have always been and most likely continue to be. In that same realm I am wonderstruck in the thought of how many things there remain to “discover” in the things that we look at everyday.

And in reflection of another quote from the book:

For when time is not of the essence (especially when you are a child during summer break) even the mundane becomes extraordinary. “I could not bear the loneliness of being dry in a wet world”, “I want to be part of the downpour, to be soaked, along with the dark hummus that squishes underfoot. I wish that I could stand like a shaggy cedar with rain seeping into my bark, that water could dissolve the barrier between us. I want to feel what the cedars feel and know what they know” (295). What a powerful thought, clear and expanding, free and unfiltered. It is series like this one that make this book so enjoyable to read.

November 17th: MEDICINE AND THE CHURCH

Just wanted to note that I got a good laugh out of the Church’s deductions.

1. Medical Schools and the Devil are the only places you can learn about medicine

2. Learning medicine from the devil is heresy and punishable by death

3. Women are not allowed in Medical Schools

4. Therefore, if women know medicine, they learned it from the Devil and should be punished by death

Classic Church logic…

I was extremely amazed when I discovered Pedanius Dioscorides (40-90 AD), a greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist, and his pharmacopeia, which was a 5-volume encyclopedia of herbal and related medicinal substances.  I wonder if their discovery of herbal healing came through their own studies of from an encounter with an indigenous culture?

Anyways, herbalist remedies existed in the foundation of western society, where did it get lost?

I am not sure, but I hope to find out. The divide may have come with the Church’s monopoly on medical knowledge, creating a filter for healthcare in western society. Their scare tactics of retributive health (you’re sick because you sinned) created fear and fostered followers. What a wicked practice… It’s no wonder when westerners were exposed to the practice of indigenous medicine they were so easily swayed by its effectiveness. 

Indigenous Values Part 1: Impartiality: Good Mind and Good Science

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It is very hard to conquer indecision, but even harder to conquer predisposition. 

Beginning this semester my choice to partake in Women's Rights: A Native American Tradition seemed questionable to me. To my surprise, this class would open my mind and heighten my awareness of the world around me. 

In media and in myth, the indigenous people of North America have consistently been displayed as "primitive" or "uneducated". Living near a nation my whole life, these views have been obvious slander, but where I had often parted ways with the nation was their science.

John Mohawk of the Seneca Tribe in New York wrote in the book Original Instructions that "nature is so complex and its interactions so dynamic that the idea that science could ever understand it all is utterly laughable". These words really strike a nerve for me. How is it possible to just sit back and allow the unknown to consume your life? It is impossible for me to think of a world where we do not strive for a more comprehensive understanding. But I digress with this existential rant, is my scientific bias obstructing something much more profound.

The downfall of science, which natives understand all too well, is that no matter how hard we calculate and discuss the pro and cons it is near impossible (in part because we do not fully understand nature) to know all of the possible consequences for of our actions. At what point do we stop and drop a proposal because the unknowns are too great?

Does that happen when we understand our contribution to global warming and its incredible list of cons. If we had foreseen the adverse effects would we have limited our pollution?

Would companies have stopped polluting the environment if they know about the monumental destruction they were causing in local environments? Probably not because they continue to do so...

And, if the environment doesn't hit home for you, how about the unforeseen consequences of drugs development. By the time this mistake was caught, "around 10,000 babies had been born worldwide who either had shortened arms or legs, or no limbs at all". One of many historical medical disasters. 

Science is great, I put my faith in it to better our future, and to fix it's wrong doings, but we shouldn't survive on faith alone. This must be met with skepticism and general worry for the earth we live on. 

Is it fair to abuse the Mother that has nurtured our ancestors and will nurture our children? Science should strive to reduce Mother Earths work load for she is an old work horse and we are overtaxing her. 

Of the many things we can learn from our native friends, worldly concern and responsible science is number one.