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Photo: Tromsø, Norway - 1892
|
From
BÁIKI
Issue
#18, Fall 1998
WHAT DO YOU MEAN "INDIGENOUS"? The official definitions by the World Council of Indigenous Peoples is: "1. the original inhabitants of an area; 2. the descendants of the original inhabitants of an area who are colonized, or 3. those who live in an Indigenous way." The Sami Council adds: "those whose grandparents spoke the Sami language, or who live in a Sami way and are recognized as being Sami by the Sami society." Or, as some say, "It's a way of life we have!" |
|
The
indigenous way of life:
HARMONY WITH NATURE |
Western
"progress": |
|
|
Everything
has spiritual value.
The spiritual and the physical are united. |
Everything
has monetary value.
The spiritual and the physical are separated. |
|
| The
laws of Nature are emphasized. Nature reflects the Creator. |
The
laws of man are emphasized. The Creator is in Man's image. |
|
| Feelings are important. | Feelings are rationalized. | |
| Society
is based on cultural pluralism and the extended family. Roots are remembered. |
Society
is based on the melting pot and the nuclear family. Roots are forgotten. |
|
| Cosmology is spatial and timeless. | Cosmology is lineal and time-oriented. |
| Education is experiential. Teachings are from Nature and family elders. | Education is from the mass media and salaried professionals. | |
| Epistemology is based on cultural renewal. | Epistemology is based on personal atonement. | |
| Technology serves the people and Nature. | The people and Nature serve technology. | |
| Material wealth is shared and given away. | Material wealth is hoarded and consumed. | |
| Behavior is cooperative. | Behavior is competitive. | |
| Justice and equality are achieved by cultural forms. | Justice and equality are achieved by legislation. | |
| Society is egalitarian. Women and men have equal freedom and power. | Society
is patriarchal. Women must emulate men. |
|
| Leaders put the People above themselves. | Leaders put themselves above the people. | |
|
The
balance of Nature is maintained.
|
The
balance of Nature is destroyed.
|
©
1989 Faith Fjeld. The above is an excerpt from Faith Fjeld,
"The Mother Earth vs Western Man: the American Confrontation Between
Two Opposing Value Systems,"
San Francisco State Masters Thesis in American Indian Studies, 1989.
Copyright
©
2001
B�IKI:
the North American Sami Journal
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