Ecology and Indigenous Religious Traditions

Catalog description

Studies various Indigenous cultures, and examines how knowledge of the natural world developed through careful observation in a given place over multiple generations. Examines why this knowledge has been rejected by Western cultures, and how with the imminent devastation of climate disaster, scientists are now beginning to recognize that Indigenous Peoples’ data collection of their respective ecosystems has produced valuable knowledge. Understands Indigenous approaches to environmental justice and ecology, recognizing that the Western split from Nature that occurred with the Scientific Revolution erroneously identified humans as superior and separate from non-human life. Reads texts from a variety of Indigenous traditions from authors who attempt to heal this split by sharing traditions that emphasize unity of the self, the community, the natural world, and the sacred. Uncovers images of Indigenous people not as passive people attempting to live in harmony with nature, but rather as agents of environmental change and stewardship, seeking to maintain the traditional ecological knowledge that may well be vital to surviving our increasing environmental crises.