The Challenge of Indigenous Worldviews in Environmental Activism

Abstract

This work of qualitative, phenomenological anthropological research investigates the challenges that environmental activists (both Native and Mestizo, which is defined in this study as a continuum, not a dichotomy), who are operating from nature-centric, Indigenous worldviews have experienced in communicating those worldviews to those who grew up within a Western worldview. How are Indigenous and Mestizo environmental activists attempting to engage the political, corporate and institutional decision makers in productive dialog during this period of climate crisis and species extinction? While Indigenous worldviews are simple to verbalize (i.e., "animals are our relatives", "we must protect our Earth Mother", and so on), these worldviews have proven very difficult for many non-Indigenous people to grasp and take to heart. This profound cognitive disconnect has been identified by others (Deloria Jr. 2006, xxv), but I realized during the research that the truly fundamental question is: what is the precise source of this disconnect? My interviews with environmental activists indicate that the disconnect is real, but is not merely based on linguistic, textual, cultural, conceptual, ideological, or prevailing received bodies of knowledge propagated via Western economic, political and educational systems. It is deeper than that. For this paper, I interviewed 18 Indigenous and Mestizo environmental activists in the U.S. Southwest (northern New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas), and British Columbia, Canada. All operate from a nature-centric worldview and have received pushback, from people "politely turning away", to being labeled in the media by politicians as an "extremist" or "ecoterrorist". This reception to the worldviews they are trying to convey can be baffling and discouraging for them, despite years of working to communicate effectively and developing thick skins. While some activists continue to reach out, others will no longer waste their time. Some are educators, some write, speak, engage in public policy, practice law or engage in protests, some simply do their personal life work, (particularly agriculture), while sharing their knowledge according to their personal values of respect for the land and life. All have expressed different levels of frustration at being held back by the barriers they have encountered in communicating their views—which, to them, are reasonable, rational, and based in empirical observation—to those in the dominant Western culture who find these viewpoints to be totally alien, and in some cases, threatening. All describe progress in their environmental work as "slow". It is my intention to contribute to a deeper understanding of the communication challenges that environmental activists who operate from an Indigenous worldview face in their work and to explore potential avenues to reach those who are deeply disconnected from nature. Time is short for those attempting to convey an Indigenous longue durée value system to non-native political, corporate and institutional decision makers who do not value Indigenous land-based histories, knowledge or points of view. This gap is seemingly intractable. Can this problem be improved upon or solved? Is this communication breakdown conceptual, based in cognition and cultural norms, or is it a manifestation of something else? Can this disconnect be bridged to avert climate catastrophe and collectively build a better future for all life on earth?