Taking Indigenous Critiques Seriously: the Enemy "R" Us
Author(s)
Wilmer, Franke
Abstract
The west has generally understood the natural environment as an object to be added on, a “thing” to be used to further human progress. More and more indigenous leaders from around the world are now offering more vocal critiques on this view, arguing that human progress should take into consideration natural laws, ultimately viewing the environment not only as an object but also as a subject. Once the environment becomes a sort of subject, certain processes of the natural world are beyond human control, and so beyond traditional understandings of sovereignty. This article examines these indigenous critiques, paying particular attention to the differences in western-indigenous thinking regarding the human-nature relationship in respect to concepts of sovereignty. Ultimately, the author concludes that these differences are due to conflicting ideas of “self-other” relations in western and indigenous cultures.
