‘Religious Embedded Ecology’ and How It Shapes Indigenous Environmentalism

Written by: Dana Dobbins

The landscape a person lives in and the resources that are available to them shape their identities just as much as culture and experiences are thought to. When posed this question my first thought was that much of modern-day archaeological research is based on this concept, the idea that individuals within a community have a sense of the space around them and they use placemaking to convey what is important and significant to them. Regardless of how that significance is celebrated, every cultural group has a way of utilizing space that is unique to them and their culture’s experiences. My first thought for myself, being from an urban space like downtown Indianapolis, would be grocery stores. Everyone that lives downtown at some point in time might find themselves at a grocery store. The food we eat, where it comes from, whether we can afford it or not, and even the layout of the store varies depending on the size, type, and location of the store. And yet, this type of placemaking is so intrinsic in our daily lives, we don’t ever step back and realize how much it affects and is affected by our cultural experiences.

            All in all, the places that we originate from and the places we might currently live grant us a unique cultural experience that shapes who we are and what is important to us. For many people all over the globe, religion is an integral part of our cultural experience. Religion is a powerful element in many lives that can shape social norms, food, clothing, and regional politics. This is especially true in the case of indigenous people who use religion as a way to celebrate their heritage and band together against the forces of silence and erasure. Religion, being a powerful and influential aspect of culture, is sometimes a motivator in these tribes to protect the landscapes and resources that are known to have religious significance. Because of this then, there is an obligation to the heritage landscape and protection of the environment for cultural as well as ecological reasons. In the same way that we have places of significance in our lives, like childhood homes, elementary schools, and places of religious significance, people can also be attached to a significant geographic location such as a forest, river, lake, mountain, or other natural places. Placemaking in nature is different than that of an urban space because rather than establishing a place and then developing an affinity for it, the natural world in most cases already exists and is often threatened by urban and suburban expansion and globalization.

There are examples of indigenous environmentalism all over the globe. In the 2012 article “Spirits of the Forest: Cambodia’s Kuy People Practice Spirit-based Conservation,” author Neal B. Keating of The College at Brockport notes that the Kuy people in Cambodia believe that each tree has a spirit and that they must remain in good standing with these forests of spirits to maintain harmony and balance throughout their lives. The industries developing in Cambodia attempt, again and again, to turn these forests into large scale rubber, cashew, and acacia tree growing operations in order to expand these operations and make a profit. Since the Kuy see these lands as sacred, they refuse to let these industries destroy their forests (Keating, 2012). The Kuy fighting back against this globalization is an example of heritage landscape conservation because the land is significant culturally but also destroying the forests for these large factory farms means destroying the ecosystem and their harmony and balance with the spirits. Religion is as much a motivator to conserve the forests as understanding that the forests are complex ecosystems, the destruction of which could result in lasting damage to the local and global environments. This “religious embedded ecology” as the author coins, is what allows for the conservation of these natural spaces in much of the world (Keating, 2012).

Today there are modern examples all over the globe of indigenous people protecting the ecosystems and biodiversity that is sacred to them. The Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en people from British Columbia, Canada had fought for legal title to their ancestral lands in the late 1980s and won. The reason for this being protests following logging operations which threatened their biodiversity and forests. In their article “How Wet’suwet’en butterflies offer lessons in resilience and resistance” on theconversation.com, authors Sheila Colla, Dana Prieto, and Lisa Myers note that the indigenous victory in the case broke new ground for tribes, making other tribes aware that legal recognition and protection like this was possible. Today, the lands of the Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia continue to be threatened as the Coastal GasLink Pipeline is meant to be constructed through their land. The article states, “TC Energy’s attempts to build the $4.7-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in unceded Wet’suwet’en territories is another example of settler-colonial violence and inadequate consultation processes that uphold resource extraction. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have not given consent to the pipeline development” (Prieto et al., 2020). The authors then noted environmental issues linked to the destruction of these landscapes and what indigenous people are doing about it. Local pollinators in the territory, such as butterflies, are losing their habitats to the construction of the pipeline and the biodiversity of the area is taking a hit. Many of the medicine plants popular among the Wet’suwet’en are dying due to this decreasing population of pollinators. These medicinal plants are important to the healing practices of indigenous tribes. Because of this, many people, including indigenous artist Mike MacDonald, have developed gardens all over Canada in order to “reintroduce[ing] native plants to altered sites” (Prieto et al., 2020).

Another modern example of this tradition of religious embedded ecology is the organizing efforts of the Tohono O’odham Nation in order to protect sacred lands in the American Southwest. The New York Times article “Blasting in Construction of Border Wall Is Affecting Tribal Areas” Christine Hauser notes:

Blasting operations for construction of President Trump’s border wall in Arizona have begun to disrupt a UNESCO ecological preserve that encompasses Native American ancestral lands and burial grounds. Construction crews have been blasting at Monument Hill, a resting place for primarily Apache warriors, and bulldozing at Quitobaquito Springs, a pilgrimage site… (Hauser, 2020)

These areas are very obviously significant landscapes for indigenous people for several reasons. First of all, the land is a resting place for the Apache people. Secondly, it is a site of religious pilgrimage for many indigenous individuals. Lastly, the indigenous people are also concerned with the effect the explosions and bulldozing will have on the ecological landscape such as the cactuses and freshwater reserves in the area.  

Sources

Hauser, Christine. Blasting in Construction of Border Wall Is Affecting Tribal Areas. (2020, February 11). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/trump-border-wall-arizona-native-americans.html

D.T. Cochrane. (2020, February 19). Wet’suwet’en blockades: No more business as usual in Canada. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/wetsuweten-blockades-no-more-business-as-usual-in-canada-131961

Keating, N. (2012). Digital Commons Brockport Spirits of the Forest: Cambodia’ s Kuy People Practice Spirit-based Conservation. https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ant_facpub

Prieto, D., Myers, L., & Colla, S. (2020, February 25). How Wet’suwet’en butterflies offer lessons in resilience and resistance. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-wetsuweten-butterflies-offer-lessons-in-resilience-and-resistance-132418