This literature review is limited to the following parameters: natural environmental resources and indigenous beliefs and practices of the Marakwet people. This study shall rely on the following literature.
Ogunade (2005), in his article, “Environmental Issues in Yoruba Religion: Implications for Leadership and Society in Nigeria” writes about the Yoruba people having rituals as a principle tool that is used to control and approach the unseen world and rearrange the physical world and bring material transformation change when the physical world is experiencing instability. He writes that “This is an integral part of the reasons why Yoruba people are very careful about their interaction and use of resources in nature - because these "corrective" rituals are also very expensive” (Ibid:2). Just like the Yoruba people the researcher makes the assumption that the Marakwet people have corrective rituals that are used in conserving natural environmental resources .Therefore motivation for the study is to identify the rituals that are used by the Marakwet people in this study area in regard to the environment conservation.
Tucker and Grim (2000) in their article The Challenge of the Environmental Crisis, Observes how indigenous beliefs have a strong environment ethics,
“most indigenous peoples have environmental ethics embedded in their worldviews. This is evident in the complex reciprocal obligations surrounding life-taking and resource-gathering which mark a community’s
Growing up in Switzerland and Oregon, I learned that nature is greatly valued and it is necessary to respect the environment to prevent impending environmental collapse. Living in a society whose morals and ethics include
In the 16-century on November 1519, Cortes and his men arrived in Tenochtitlan. Hernan Cortés and his army came to South America (Tenochtitlan) to claim new land for Spain. The Aztecs are Native American people who took over Northern Mexico at the tome of the Spanish conquest, early 16th century. The Aztecs had a nomadic culture and eventually settled on many small islands in Lake Texcoco in 1325 where they founded the town known as Tenochtitlan, which is now a modern day Mexico City. The Aztecs created an empire between the 15th century that was soon surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Incas.
The question "were the British soldiers 'Lions led by Donkeys?'" has been an ongoing debate since the end of the war. A war which is dominated by images of bloody battles such as the Somme and Passchendaele - futile frontal attacks against the machine guns.
Religion is one of the most constant targets of Twain's satirical pen. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain portrays contemporary religion as shallow and hypocritical. He criticizes the hypocrisy of conventional religion by comparing it with the true religion of Huck.
In addition to the loss of culture and language for indigenous people, they are also experiencing the loss of their traditional lands and native environment. For indigenous people, much personal and group meaning comes from the natural environment and as a result, their religious practices are deeply rooted in the environment in which they live. When the environment that they rely on is taken away for development, both their cultural and religious identity suffers.
The belief in kinship with creation is widely supported within most indigenous religions. In this way of thinking, there is more importance placed on the concept of “we” than there is on the concept of “I”. Here, the family or village is where strong emphasis lies. In many indigenous traditions, developing and maintaining a respectful relationship with spiritual energy is paramount. This concept doesn’t only apply to humans, but also, in many cases to the immediate natural environment as well. The oneness of the body and the land is vital. Many think of themselves as mere ‘caretakers’ of the earth, and nothing more, who has a duty to nurture and preserve it for future generations. Certain animals are seen as spiritual conduits, just as certain trees are seen to impart herbal healing secrets.
Environmentalist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “ We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” This refers to us that land gives the power to stay safe and secure; we should also love our land. Although we practise to use it as we trait for it, but there would have been no action without land. We deal with the land as per our own way. Notably, indigenous people around the world often have very different sets of beliefs and traditions, a special bond with the land is a common factor. Indians tribe Mandan respect their the cultural hero. Whereas Momaday's return back to home reminds him of his grandmother's identity on that land.
Soren C. Larson writes the second article, titled, Promoting Aboriginal Territoriality Through Interethnic Alliances: The Case of the Cheslatta T’en in Northern British Columbia. Larson worked for five years from 1998 to 2002 conducting ethnographic research on the Cheslatta T’en tribe in northern British Columbia. He conducted 82 formal interviews between himself and tribal as well as non-tribal members alike, as well as becoming integrated with the aboriginal
An innate understanding that all beings on the planet are important for the subsistence of each other is a large part of Indigenous ideology, as well as the respect for the vast ways with which beings on the planet interact; whether they are “animate” or “inanimate”, they are all apart of the “web of relationships” (Battiste & Henderson, 2000, p. 44). Drawing from this view, most Indigenous Peoples believe that every member of a community has their own thoughts, gifts, and knowledge that they are able to contribute to the group. This means that there is also a large appreciation of Reciprocity because all knowledge is good knowledge, and that means all knowledge holds some validity and truth. Dreams, for example, are seen as premonitions and fact. As it happens, Indigenous Peoples place much of their societal values into facets of life that are intangible, such as emotions, spirituality, and mentality. It is for this reason that maintaining healthy and Respect-based Relationships amongst all beings on the planet is such an important part of Indigenous identity. The holistic understanding of the world can only occur if individuals are listening to each other as well as sharing whatever knowledge that they have to share.
Additionally, Royal gives clarification for Native Americans’ positive stereotypes. He explains, “ But this is far from modern concepts of ecology. Native Americans in fact overhunted deer and beaver even before the arrival of the white man, and did not seriously try to preserve the resources in the vicinity of their villages. As a result, the typical woodland village, having exhausted local soil and game, had to move on average every eight to 10 years” (Royal 47). Although the Native Americans did not destroy the environment like Europeans on such a large scale, they are not trying to protect the environment either. This opposes the stereotypes that Native Americans are model ecologists. Royal also examines the inhumane sides of Native American tribes. Royal reveals, “The
Unique traditions, language, beliefs and values all comprise Indigenous culture. It is critical that a meaningful appreciation of their culture
Not only did the FN understand the need to protect the wildlife, but they also realized the importance of vegetation and water systems. FN used bundling techniques to get the most out of their wild rice while allowing more to grow and seeds to spread. In D. Wayne Moodie’s paper Perspectives on the Ojibwa Production of wild rice Moodie argues the idea that the “practices that were intended not only to regulate the gathering of wild rice, but also to enhance its production.” This idea helps demonstrate that FN were in harmony with their environment as they took extra care to protect the environment to also help themselves and also to show respect for the habitat that they got their resources.
Most indigenous cultures had a profound respect for their environment. They believed that their relationship with nature was very sacred, they believed the earth needed to be treated with dignity and reverence, they believed in harmony with their surroundings. Speaking of indigenous religions, Lewis (1995) wrote,
Each individual makes up the society as it is, and various characteristics and beliefs makes up an individual. Although, individual lives together with a variety of personal ideologies, emotions, cultures, and rituals, they all differentiate one person from the other making up one’s own identity. This identity makes up who one is inside and out, their behaviour, actions, and words comes from their own practices and values. However, the profound history of Indigenous people raises question in the present about their identities. Who are they really? Do we as the non-native people judge them from the outside or the inside? Regardless of whether the society or the government were involved in their lives, they faced discrimination in every
In this class, I was presented with an opportunity to reflect upon my personal knowledge of Indigenous