Look to the Mountain: Reflections on Indigenous Ecology PDF

1 "Look to the Mountain" Reflections on Indigenous Ecology ~ Gregory Cajete  T he Americas are an ensouled and enchanted geography,...

1 "Look to the Mountain" Reflections on Indigenous Ecology ~ Gregory Cajete  T he Americas are an ensouled and enchanted geography, and the relationship of Indian people to this geography embodies a "theol%'Y of place," reflecting the very es- sence of what may be called spiritual ecology. American Indians' traditional relationship to and participation with the landscape includes not only the land itself but the way in which they have perceived themselves and all else. Through gener- ations of living in America, Indian people have formed and been formed by the land. Indian kinship with the land, its climate, soil, water, mountains, lakes, forests, streams, plants, and animals has literally determined the expressions of an American Indian theology. The land has become an e.>..1:ension oflndian thought and being because, in the words of a Pueblo elder, "It is this place that holds our memories and the bones of our people...This is the place that made us." There is a metaphor that Pueblo people use, which, when translated into English, means "that place that the People talk about." This metaphor refers not only to a physical place but also a place of consciousness and an orientation to sacred ecol- Com field on Hop, land i11 Arizona. Photograph C¢ Marcia Keegan. ogy. Sacred orientation to place and space is a key element of the ecological awareness and intimate relationship that Indians have established with the North American landscape for 30,000 years or more. Indian people have names for all places that comprise important environmental features of the landscape. ln fact, Indian languages are replete with environmentally de- rived references based on the kind of natural characteristics 3 4 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 5 and experiences they have had living in relationship with their Adaptations to place among Indigenous groups in America respective landscapes. took many forms. Living in the forests of the Northeast, Indians Another metaphor used by Tewa elders is pin peye obe (look venerated the trees and integrated that reality of their environ- to the mountain), which is used to remind people of the long ment into every aspect oftheir lives and expression as a people. view, or the need to think about what we are doing in terms of Living on the Plains, Indians followed the buffalo and made its impact on future generations. "Look to the mountain'' re- themselves portable in the way of all nomadic hunters around minds us that when dealing with the landscape we must think the world. They understood and expressed themselves in rela- in terms of many thousands of years. tionship to the land and the animals upon which they depended for their survival. In the desert Southwest, Pueblo Indians became dryland farmers and likewise venerated the cycles of Theology of Place water, earth, wind, and fire-all environmental elements es- In the words of an Acoma Pueblo poet, the place "that Indian sential to life and to the continuance of the Pueblo people in people talk about" is not only a physical place with sun, wind, their place. The fisher and forest people in the Pacific North- rain, water, lakes, rivers, and streams, but a spiritual place, a west established intimate relationships with the salmon upon place of being and understanding. Sense of place is constantly which they depended for life, with the sea mammals they evolving and transforming through the lives and relationships encountered, and the great rain forests that characterized the of all participants. Humans naturally have a geographic sensi- environment of their place. And in similar fashion, relation- bility and geographic imagination borne of millions ofyears of ships to place were established by all other peoples such as the interaction with places. Humans have always oriented them- Paiute in the Great Basin, the Seminole in the Everglades, and selves by establishing direct and personal relationships to places the various Eskimo groups throughout the Far North. in tl1e landscapes with which they have interacted. Tribes adapted to specific environments in unique and An ecological sense of relationship encompassed every as- different ways, which in tum gave rise to a diversity of expres- pect of traditional American Indian life. American Indians sive cultures. However, although Native peoples' cultures were understood that an intimate relationship between themselves quite diverse, there was also adherence to a common set of and their environment was the essence of their survival and life principles. They understood that the natural universe was identity as people. Native peoples lived in every place in what imbued with life and sacredness. They understood that their Europeans called the New World, and in everyplace they estab- effects on their place had to be carried out with humility, un- lished a direct and enduring relationship with the natural envi- derstanding, and respect for the sacredness ofthe place and all ronment. They transmitted this understanding of relationship living things of those places. They expressed a "theology of in every aspect oftheir lives-language, art, music, dance, social place," which, while focused specifically on their place, ex- organization, ceremony, and identity as human beings. tended to include all of nature. The environments of diverse  REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 7 6 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY Indian peoples may have been different, but the basis of their and relational qualities associated with them. For instance, theology was the same. The very word «indigenous" is derived many American Indian tribes named the cardinal directions in from the Latin root indu or endo, which in turn is related to the a way that included a description of the way people oriented Greek word endina, which means "entrails." "Indigenous" themselves upon facing the sun. Thus, north may be referred means being so completely identified with a place that you re- to as "to the left side ofthe sun rising"; south, "to the right side flect its very entrails, its insides, its soul. of the sun rising"; east, "to the sun rising"; and west, "to the sun For Native people throughout the Americas, the para- setting." digm of thinking, acting, and working evolved because of and This is the way Indigenous people metaphorically represent through their established relationships to nature. As such, the physical qualities of directionality in their language. Such the foundation, expression, and context of Indigenous educa- qualities would be included with others, including colors, tion was environmental. The theology of nature reverberated plants, animals, winds, kinds of thought, and features of the throughout art, community, myth, and any other aspect of landscape of place that they associated with each direction. human social or tribal expression. All were inspired and formed Orientation is essential for Indigenous people because each through an integrated and direct relationship of making a person belongs to a place. Understanding orientation to place living in and through the reality of their physical enviromuents. is essential in order to grasp what it means to be related. Many The environment was not separate or divorced from Native Indigenous peoples recognize seven directions: the four car- peoples' lives, but rather was the context or set of relationships dinal directions, above, center, and below. This way ofviewing that tied everything together. They understood ecology not orientation creates a (literal) sphere of relationship founded as something apart from themselves or outside their intel- on place that evolves through time and space. lectuaJ reality, but rather as the very center and generator of Art is another reflection of Indigenous relational sensibility self-understanding. As a center, that environmental under- and education. For example, the design motifs of such ancient standing became the guiding mechanism for the ways in which Southwestern Mimbres pottery reflect the integration of hu- they expressed themselves and their sense of sacredness. mans with animals, and the relationship the Mimbres felt with animals, plants, and nature in general. Primal symbols of nature also abound in contemporary Pueblo art forms that Windows into Natural Affiliation represent key features, elements, or foundations of their eco- Sacred orientation to place is a key concept in Indigenous logical relationships. One is the Pueblo cloud motif. This education. Indigenous peoples honored their place, and often important symbol reflects the importance of water, the nature considered themselves to be situated in the center of a sacred of water to fl.ow in various states and cycles, and the ecological space that had very distinct orientations. They recognized and understanding of how water circulates in a semi-arid environ- named their directional relationships in terms of the natural ment. Pueblo elders recognized many different kinds of rain. 8 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 9 They understood that in their arid environment, rain was es- a pa rt ofthe substance of other life. This is the primary process sential to the life cycle, and therefore their own survival. The of transformation of energy in the animal kingdom. Through elders watched clouds day in and day out. Centuries ofsuch ob- observation and interaction with animals over generations, servations permitted them to discern the relationships and Indigenous people understood that animals could teach people characteristics of clouds. They reflected on how water is inti- something about the essence of transformation. mately involved with the nature of clouds. They recognized all Indigenous peoples have created many kinds of symbolic types of rain that would be possible from particular kinds of ideals in reflections about themselves and their relationship to clouds. And they prayed for the kinds of clouds that brought animals. The essence of one such ideal is captured in the meta- the qualities of water they needed. Whether snow, sleet, wind phoric construct of the "hw1ter ofgood heart.'' Hunting in and with rain, baby rain, grandfather rain, or mother rain, they of itself is both a spiritual and educational act. Hunting is one honored the kinds of rain that brought them life. of those 40,000-year courses of study that human beings have been involved with. The hunter of good heart was a bringer of life to his people: he had to have not only a very intimate Relationship with Animals knowledge of the animals he hunted, but also a deep an d abid- Hunting and planting are two strains of mythic tribal expres- ing respect for their nature, procreation, and continuance as sion. In many cultures, such as the Pueblo, both orientations are species. While he tracked the animal physically to feed himself represented in the evolution of traditional art designs, mythic and his family, he also tracked the animal ritually, thereby themes, dance, and ritual. The understanding gained from understanding at a deeper level his relationship with the ani- animals about ecological transformation was portrayed in mals he hunted. The hunted animal became one of the guides many forms, and wherever Indian people hunted, these tra- of relationship and community in Indigenous education. ditions abounded. Once again, while each tribe reflected these Jn the entire process of Indigenous hun ting, there was understandings in unique ways, core understandings were sim- always a time for teaching. That time was often directly ex- ilar from tribe to tribe. The essential focus was relationship, pressed when the hunter brought back his catch. A scene in and the guiding sentiment was respect. The central intent re- many traditional American Indian and Alaska Native com- volved around honoring the entities that gave life to a people. munities is when a hunter returns from the hunt, says prayer1; Whether it was hunting in the Southwest or in the Far North, of thanksgiving to the animals he has killed, and then gathers an intimate relationship between the hunter and the hunted his extended family around him. He then tells the story of the was established. There was an ecological understanding that animal that has been slain. He talks about the importance of anima1s transformed themselves, and that while this may not maintaining the proper relationship to the animal that has be a literal t ransformation, indeed it is an ecological reality. An- given its life to perpetuate the life of his family and community. imals eat other animals, and the animals that are eaten become He ex.presses to his family why it is so important to continue 10 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 11 to understand that life is sacred, and that animal life also begets the shamans dance until all except Coyote fall asleep from human life through the sacrifice of its flesh to feed and clothe exhaustion. Coyote then steals the last embers of the dance fire humans. He reminds all that human beings will provide the and runs away with the shamans in hot pursuit. As Coyote and repayment of life through their own flesh for the purpose of the other animals and birds take turns running with the fire perpetuating animal life. The necessity of sharing is also sym- throughout the land, they shed light and warmth upon the bolically emphasized through the hunter sharing his catch dark frozen landscape. with his extended family. These symbolic acts of respect and re- There are other myths about human relationships to ani- membrance reinforce communal relationship to the animals mals, such as the well-known Northwest Indian myth about that gave their lives for a community's benefit. Teaching by the the woman who married a bear. The relationships of bears and hunter of good heart is a way of remembering to remember the similarities of bears to human beings underlie the impor- relationship. tance American Indian people place on u·eating bears respect- The myths of Indigenous people in North America are fully. The role of birds such as Raven in the creation of the first replete with animal characters that embody the people's under- man and first woman is related in a myth from the Eskimo, standing of what it means to live in reverent relationship with which tells of the creation of the first human from a pea pod. animals and the natural world. Each story is a complex of Another way of remembering to remember relationship metaphors that teach the essential importance of proper rela- is the complex of animal dances found among Indigenous tionship and respect for the natural world. Each illustrates the people around the world. Animal dances are a commemora- fact that all living things and natural entities have a role to play tion of humans' continued relationship with the animal world. in maintaining the web of life. The purpose of Indigenous dances is not only the renewal of The Iroquois relate a myth in which Opossum, who was opportunities for remembering to remember. They also help very conceited about his elegant and busy tail, was tricked by to maintain the balance of all essential relationships of the Cricket and Hare into shaving his tail. Opossum believed his world. Such is the case with the Yurok White Deerskin Dance, tail would become even more glorious upon shaving it, but of which was performed to ensure the balance of the world from course, he failed. This tale is a reflection on how people can get one year to the next. Indigenous people felt responsibility not carried away by egotistical desires. only for themselves, but also for the entire world around them. The Paiutes relate a tale that describes the stealing of fire by The world renewal ceremonies conducted by aU Indigenous Coyote after he challenged powerful shamans who lived on an people are reflections of this deep ecological sensibility and obsidian mountain. The shamans had captured the fire, and responsibility. refused to share it with the animals or the rest of the world. So Indigenous people created annual ceremonial cycles based the world remained in cold and darkness. Coyote and other on the beliefthat acknowledgment of the sources of a commu- animals challenged the shamans to a dance contest. Coyote and nity's life must be made year in and year out. Ceremonial cycles  ]2 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 13 are based on the understanding that people have to continue Pueblo people express this intimate understanding and rela- to remember and perpetuate essential ecological relationships tionship by dancing for the perpetuation of corn-in June, through the lives of individual tribal members and succeeding July, and August, grand Corn Dances occur in many Pueblos generations. Once people break the cycles of remembering they in the Southwest. Indeed, until very recently, corn, beans, forget essential life-sustaining relationships and behave in squash-all of the things which Pueblo people grew-were the ways that have led to the ecological crisis we see today. And physical foundation of Pueblo life and livelihood. These are so Indigenous people dance the relationship of people to ani- the dances that Pueblo people maintain to the present, and mals as represented in their guiding or creation stories. They they represent themselves and their reflections of each other as represent those symbols of life in their art forms and in the a community of relationship. According to one Pueblo proverb, things they create in daily life. These are also symbols that help "We are all kernels on the same corn cob." them to maintain tribal identity by assisting in learning to be responsible for their essential life-affirming relationships. Such Pueblo Journeys honoring and exploration of key relationships are equally reflected in the mythological complex of Indigenous story Pueblo ancestors lived and hunted in New Mexico for 10,000 making and telling. years or more following herds of mastodon and bison retreating from the great glaciers of the north. Those early communities of Pueblo hunter-gatherers evolved and developed as groups Relationship with Plants comprised of no more than two or three extended families In the Southwest, plants and agricultural ways of being became living together. Through the process of utilizing everything in part of the way that Pueblo people expressed their essential their environment they began to understand the nature of sus- relationships. Pueblo ancestors learned how to cultivate corn taining themselves within the environments in which they in many different kinds of environments and developed nu- lived. They developed understandings of how to use the things merous strains of corn that were drought resistant and grew around them to clothe themselves, to create baskets and pottery, under a variety of conditions. For the Pueblo people corn be- and to sustain themselves in terms of food and shelter. Gradu- came a sacrament of life, that is, a representation of life itself ally, those communities became larger and more complex. In and the connection that Pueblo people feel towards the plant those larger, more complex communities, an understanding world. Corn is reflected in Pueblo art forms and in their ways evolved that people had to honor relationship and reciprocity, of understanding themselves as a people. not only in terms of each other, but more importantly, in the context of the environments they depended on for life. Contemporary Hopi artists at times depict First Man and First Woman as perfect ears of corn being shrouded and guided In the stories Pueblo elders tell, the ancestors journeyed by a Corn Mother who is a representation of Earth Mother. many times and settled in many places, including Chaco Can- 14 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIQENO0S ECOLOGY 15 yon, Mesa Verde, and Canyon de Chelly. And each time they one, and in each of those worlds human beings had to learn stopped they established a relationship to the place in which something. They had to come to terms with an evolutionary they settled, and they learned from each of these places. They task to, in a sense, become more complete as human beings. came to understand something about the essence of these nat- Each world metaphorically represents a stage of natural evo- ural places and something about the delicate environmental lution through whlch human beings learn how to become balance of nature in such places. They settled by lakes and came more human. Pueblo people believe that they emerged from an to understand the nature ofwater and its importance and sanc- earth navel, a place of mountains looked upon lovingly by the tity in an arid environment. They came to understand that sun and the moon. It is believed that those first people were water was one of the foundations for maintenance of life on taught by certain animals, and that their thoughts were also earth. They settled near mountains and came to understand guided by the evergreen tree of life. This was "that place that the nature of mountains in terms of the way they provided the People talk about." a context, an environment in which Pueblo people and other Through guiding stories of creation many American Indian living things could live. tribes symbolize the earth as a feminine being to whom all The Pueblo people have depicted this sort of ecological living things relate, and whose body follows the contours of understanding in many forms, one of which is the symbolic the landscape. Indian people also represent these perceptions mythic figure called Kokopelli. Kokopelli is the seed carrier of life in relationship with the land in their oral traditions and and the creative spirit of nature's fertility, good fortune, cul- through the symbols of art, ritual, and the attitudes and ac- ture, art, music, and dance. Kokopelli is a reflection of the pro- tivities that all Indians have traditionally practiced. It is through creative powers of nature and the creative powers of the human these symbols and participating with the land in a kind mind. Pueblos saw themselves as reflections of Kokopelli, as of symbolic dance that Pueblo people have traditionally creative spirits in sacred interaction with natural places of the maintained the memory of their relationship to their places. landscape, as bearers of natural gifts, and as planters of seeds. Through traditional art forms such as pottery, which are replete This spiritual ecology is linked to the Pueblos' guiding story in with designs based on their relationship to the land, its plants, which the People emerged from the earth's navel at the time of animals, Pueblo people have symbolized their sense of identity creation and began to journey through a sacred landscape. At as a people of place. This continual establishing of relationship this time in the remote past, the first people came to under- is not only for renewal and for remembering to remember who stand lhe meaning of their sacred relationship to the earth and they are as a people, but is also an attempt to perpetuate the lo "that place that the People talk about." spiritual ecology of the world as a whole. This is the complex Pueblo peoples, like all Indigenous peoples, have a guiding of relationship, symbolism, attitude, and way of interacting story. According to some versions ofthis guiding story, humans with the land that comprises the Pueblo theology of place. now live in the fifth world. There were four worlds before this Today there are still numerous communal reflections of  16 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENO0S ECOLOGY 17 natural affiliation among the Pueblo people of New Mexico. many have moved away from a practiced and conscious rela- The place currently called "New Mexico" is also sometimes tionship with place, or direct connection with their spiritual called ''the land of enchantment." For some, one reason for the ecology. The results for many Indian communities are "exis- evocation of a feeling of enchantment is that New Mexico has tential" problems, such as high rates of alcoholism, suicide, been consecrated by the lives and communities of so many abuse of self and others, depression, and other social and spir- Pueblo people for many centuries. New Mexico is not only a itual ills. place where geological and ecological regions intersect, it is Tewa people call this state of schizophrenic-like existence also a meeting place ofideas, cultures, and ways of community. pingeh heh (split thought or thinking, or doing things with only half of one's mind). As an Indian educator, I believe that modern lndian education ultimately has to be about healing Indigenous Ecology in a Post-Modern World this split. Healing the split is not a task for Indian people only. Native people throughout the Americas developed environ- It is also the task of others who consider themselves people mentally sound ways ofliving with the land. Traditionally, they of place, and thereby experience alienation from mainstream deeply understood and venerably practiced the concept of society as do many Indian people. Today everyone must "look sustainability within a particular environment. Th is way of to the mountain." sustainable living evolved into numerous ways of maintaining Much of what has been presented in this essay about Native harmony, both at the individual and communal level, in dy- American traditions and an Indigenous ecology is an ideal namic balance with the places in which Indian people have image. As mentioned above, in many Native communities lived in North America. Ceremonial traditions combined with these traditions have undergone significant deterioration. I am practical ecological knowledge expressed their orientation to reminded by a sculpture by a former Pueblo student at the In- sacred ecology and formed the basis for a theology of place. stitute of American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, New Mexico). She However, American Indian people today live a dual ex- created a clay piece that symbolized her feelings as a young istence. At times, it resembles a kind ofschizophrenia in which Native woman attempting to be an artist and live in two worlds people conslant]y try to adapt themselves to a mainstream (trying to be traditional and also modern). The clay sculpture social, political, and cultural system that is not their o,vn. They was an androgynous figure sitting with its arms folded; its are constantly faced with living in a larger society that does not hands wrung around each other in such a way that the entire really understand nor respect their traditional life symbols, form expressed extreme anxiety. To extend this sculptural ecological perspectives, understanding of relationship to the metaphor of anxiety, the head of the figure had been split in land, and traditional ways of remembering to remember who half. Half ofthe face was drawn up in a smile, and the other half they are. Moreover, because of modern education and Native drawn down in a frown. The artist's deeply felt sense of being peoples' long-term relationships with the U.S. government, split, torn as she was between diametrically opposed world 18 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY 19 views, captures the sense of fragmentation and the dilemma ever before in the history of humankind. It is important to that we all face as modern people living in an ecologically schiz- move beyond the idealization and patronization oflndigenous ophrenic world. The young artist felt a sense of "splitedness" knowledge, which often leads to marginalization of the most and incompleteness. profou nd Indigenous ways of knowing how human beings My sense as an educator is that Indigenous education must and nature interact. Indigenous people must be supported in now focus on the recovery of Native peoples' sensibility for their collective attempts to restore their traditions while also natural affiliation and nurturance of this sensibility in their recreating and revitalizing themselves in ways they feel are ap- children. The education of the twenty-first century must be propriate in contemporary society. about healing this cultural and ecological split. Once again, Indigenous people have been touted as the spiritual leaders healing this schizophrenia is not just the task of fndigenous of the environmental movement. Such a designation is more education, but the task of all education. Our quintessential symbolic than tangible since most environmental education is educational task is that of reconnecting with our innate sense still primarily a reaction to the shortcomings of mainstream and need for natural affiliation. Western education. Still, many environmental educators, Human interactive relationships with places give r ise to and writers, and philosophers advocate getting back to the basics define human cultures and communities. As we change our of relationship to environment and also to each other within landscape and allow the self-serving will of materialist eco- com1mmities, thereby paralleling the traditional practices of nomic systems to have sway over our view of the land, we I ndigenous societ ies. Th is is appropriate since Indigenous also allow the natural landscape of mind and soul to be altered people around the world have much to share and much to give. in the same measure. When we allow school curricula to serve The same peoples also continue to be among the most ex- the will of the "marketplace:' we also allow the landscape of ploited and oppressed, and are usually the people who suffer students' minds to be altered. The price we pay for such lack the greatest loss of self and culture when dealing with various of consciousness in school curricula is incalculable. Indeed, economic development and educational schemes. ln spite of with each generation since the turn of the century, Americans this, Indigenous groups around the world have a very impor- have collectively become more materially affluent. Yet, at the tant message, a message that is related in a number of ways to same time each generation of Americans has become signifi- the evolving disciplines of eco-psychology and eco-philosophy. cantly more impoverished in terms of collective and individual connection to places that form the biological and geographic tapestry of America. As we begin our journeys lo find the Indigenous mind-set that We must once again ask the perennial question, "What is will allow for sustainable (and even restorative) ways of living education for?" Our collective answer to this ancient question at all levels, we must think about who we are and who we carries with it consequences that are more profound now than represent. Understand that each of us in our own small way is 20 A PEOPLE'S ECOLOGY a vital link within the context of creating and remembering the reciprocal relationships that sustain and enliven the earth, flora and fauna, and human beings-in brief, local to global ecology. Whether the role you play is large or small, know that it has an effect. As you look to and imagine climbing the pri- mordial mountain, retlect on your own Life and understanding of what it means to be educated and intelligent. As you move from the mountain down a pathway to resume your journey guided by ecological thought and action, think about the jour- ney of your Life in relationship to a "place." It is the task of each of us to "look to the mountain" and buiJd a vision of a sus- tainable future for the people inhabiting Mother Earth in the year 2000, 3000, and beyond.