By Anthony Ippolito
Soon after arriving for the first time amidst the towering, enduring behemoths, the famed tabletop tepui mountains, my new Pemón friends were teaching me the significance of a fruit of a local tree. The juice of the fruit was clear but was the basis for tattoos used to adorn their bodies during various rituals. The beauty and significance of their invisible design would only be revealed with a night’s passing. As they painted various parts of my body they were giddy but appreciative that I was an enthusiastic participant. I was mildly confused because their transcriptions were not visible and the approximate 12 hours had yet to pass. Their work came into its full fruition the next morning as I awoke and noticed the simple yet moving patterns that covered my body: symbols of protection, homage, and unity of the burgeoning and sustaining life around them. Admittedly, I, nor any outsider, could grasp the meanings, depth, and rich intricacies of their culture. Nonetheless, I felt warmly welcomed into their lives and honored by their act of sharing this ritual, an invitation that I graciously and humbly accepted.
I went to teach on that trip but I could not help and was willing to learn from the Pemón. The Pemón perspective of their wild surroundings is refreshing, the respect and awareness of the life around them is inspiring, their knowledge of how to use the forests is voluminous, their (lack of) governmental organization is respectable, their interactions with their natural surroundings are compassionate and thoughtful, and their acceptance of foreigners is charitable and genuine. The Pemón perspective is unique to them, but indigenous cultures across the globe each have unique perspectives of their environs, their people, and the people outside of their communities. However, like a falling raindrop is lost forever into the homogenous ocean, the theme that unites most indigenous cultures is that they are being engulfed into the sea of modern industrialized culture and the advance of globalization. Indigenous cultures are in danger of being lost forever, no documentation of their heritage, their wealth of knowledge, and, frequently, like a raindrop into an ocean, no longer with a cultural identity and unity.
The industrialized knee jerk reaction to preserving indigenous cultures is to keep them in a hypothetical pristine state, as if to maintain a living anthropological museum. However, the wave of globalization and modernization has already drenched most indigenous cultures, and to deny these people access to modern technology or methods that can improve their lives, would be criminal. At some point in the near future, inevitably, modern ways and cultures will reach even the most isolated or insular indigenous people. This is a certainty. One challenge is to make sure these people do not drown in the wave and lose themselves as the outside world arrives. A second challenge is to recognize that the current flows both ways; indigenous cultures are not just receptacles of outside information but are sources of information as well. However, most indigenous cultures do not yet possess the modern vehicles of rapid dissemination of their knowledge such as computers or the internet, and frequently, the “intrinsic value” of their cultures (Musschenga 1998) is not fully appreciated by the outside world.
UNESCO made preserving cultural identity a priority in October of 2003 with their adoption of the Convention for the Safe Guarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Keitumetse 2006). The term safeguarding is defined as 'measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non formal education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspects of such heritage" (Article 2.3, unesco.org). Although some of the stated goals are to catalog, preserve, and protect, the definition also thoughtfully includes the hope of maintenance of the culture within the people themselves by teaching or reeducating about the nuances and meaning of various cultural aspects. The people from these cultures, living, practicing, understanding, and transmitting their own culture, will be the surest and most secure safeguard. This is an important step towards preserving the information but the information also needs to be available and flow outside of these cultures.
The importance of indigenous knowledge has been recognized and is currently being integrated in many useful and creative ways. Indigenous cultures can contribute significantly to contemporary issues, such as, conservation, sustainability, resource management and utilization, global education, partnerships with research scientists, and the development of tourism (Davis and Wali 1994, Mabulla 2000). Orlove and Brush (1996) argue that protected areas and genetic resources, particularly from plants, are dependent on indigenous groups and links are naturally forged with these groups, regional and national agencies, and international organizations (Schwartzman and Zimmerman 2005, Brosius 1997).
I work with the Pemón in an attempt to develop their tourism potential. The Pemón have been diligent to keep out the logging and the mining companies and preserve most of their native lands. This is not an easy task knowing that large sums of money could be made if they acquiesced to powerful industry. But because they stand firm, they need to build a viable industry based on the preservation of their natural resources. Developing tourism in the more out lying areas seems to have enormous potential to create a revenue stream that maintains their lands.
Ultimately, the reasons for preserving indigenous culture and knowledge can be argued academically from many points of view. More philosophically, why do we care when most of humanity will never meet, contact, or perhaps, never be directly affected by these cultures? Why do most of us agree with saving elephants, giant pandas, or even obscure plants in the wild when we will never see them outside of zoos and conservatories? From my perspective, humanity has become more than an evolutionary, integrated part of ecology. We have put ourselves in a position of stewardship, not only for other species, but for other humans in which we share the planet as well. The preservation of indigenous cultures offer more than information and knowledge, but a context in which we understand ourselves, the accomplishments, and diversity of humanity.
Brosius, J.P. 1997. Endangered forests, endangered people: Environmentalist representations of indigenous knowledge. Human Ecology: 25 (1), pp. 47-69.
Davis, S.H. and A. Wali. 1994. Indigenous land tenure and tropical forest management in Latin America. Ambio: 23 (8), pp. 485-490.
Keitumetse, S. 2006. UNESCO 2003 convention on intangible heritage: Practical implications for heritage management approaches in Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin: 61 (184), pp. 166-171.
Mabulla, A.Z.P. 2000. Strategy for cultural heritage management: A case study. The African Archaeological Review: 17 (4), pp. 211-233.
Musschenga, A.W. 1998. Intrinsic value as a reason for the preservation of minority cultures. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice: 1 (2) 201-225.
Orlove, B.S. and S. B. Brush. 1996. Anthropology and the conservation of biodiversity. Annual Review of Anthropology: 25, pp. 329-352.
Schwartzman, S. and B. Zimmerman. 2005. Conservation alliances with indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Conservation Biology: 19 (3), pp. 721-727.
