Reciprocity: An Ethos “More Than Human”

Abstract

Following up on our previous article, “Weaving Indigenous science, protocols and sustainability science” we posited that for Indigenous and Western Sciences to work together there must be reciprocity. For there to be reciprocity, Western science must adhere to the protocols of Indigenous People’s science. The fundamental underpinnings of reciprocity being “reciprocal appropriation,” first described by Kiowa intellectual N. Scott Momaday in the edited volume, Seeing with a Native eye: Essays on Native American religion. Momaday explained reciprocal appropriation as a paradox in which the Indigenous experience is vested in the landscape and in return the landscape invests itself in the Indigenous experience and observation of a living universe. We attempt to further elaborate on this work by first holding up other intellectuals who have contributed to the ongoing discussion of reciprocity to the natural world through a breadth of engagement with substantive strands of the literature. The term reciprocity in the context of this article works to elaborate on and alludes to a practice of meaningful exchanges that signify the continuation of relationships with all of life. The authors describe cases in which Indigenous people have demonstrated what those temporal and spatially oriented relationships can look like, how they can be carried out, and the commitment required. We conclude by offering the phrase Reciprocal Guardianship as a moral ethos in helping to shape a better stewardship of the natural world.

作为我们的文章《土著科学、规范和可持续发展科学的融合》的延续, 我们认为, 土著科学和西方科学的合作应当互惠互利。为了实现互惠, 西方科学必须遵循土著人的科学规范。互惠的基础是“互惠性侵占”。Kiowa部落学者N. Scott Momaday编辑的《原住民的观点：美国原住民宗教随笔》, 首次阐述了这个概念。Momaday将“互惠性侵占”解释为一个悖论：在土著对世界的体验和观察中, 土著经验展现在景观中, 而景观也体现了景观本身。为此, 我们认可了其他学者对自然界互惠的论述。本文中的“互惠”一词, 能够将暗示拓展到有意义的沟通实践, 能表明所有生命关系的延续。在本文的案例中, 土著人展示了基于时间和空间的关系、如何实现这些关系及其所需的承诺。最后, 我们提出了“互惠监护”, 将其作为更好地管理自然界的道德观。

En continuación de nuestro anterior artículo, “Tejiendo la ciencia indígena, los protocolos y la ciencia de la sustentabilidad”, proponemos que, para poder trabajar juntos, las ciencias indígenas y occidentales deben compartir reciprocidad. Para que haya reciprocidad, la ciencia occidental debe adherir a los protocolos de la ciencia de los Pueblos Indígenas. La condición fundamental de la reciprocidad es la “apropiación recíproca”, según la descripción inicial del intelectual kiowa N. Scott Momaday en el volumen publicado, Seeing with a Native Eye: Essays on Native American Religion (Mirando con el ojo de los nativos: Ensayos sobre la religión nativa norteamericana). Momaday explicó la apropiación recíproca como una paradoja en la cual la experiencia indígena es investida en el paisaje y, a cambio, el paisaje se inviste a sí mismo en la experiencia indígena y en la observación de un universo viviente. Intentamos elaborar con mayor profundidad sobre este trabajo destacando primero a otros intelectuales que han contribuido a la discusión en curso sobre la reciprocidad con el mundo natural, a través de un compromiso extendido con los hilos sustantivos de la literatura. Dentro del contexto de este artículo, el término reciprocidad elabora en cierto grado y alude a una práctica de intercambios significativos que significan la continuación de las relaciones con toda la vida. Los autores describen casos en los cuales los pueblos indígenas han demostrado cómo pueden lucir esas relaciones orientadas temporal y espacialmente, cómo pueden llevarse a término, y el compromiso que requieren. Concluimos ofreciendo la expresión Tutelas Recíprocas como ethos moral para ayudar a configurar una mejor administración del mundo natural.

Key Words:

• guardianship
• Indigenous
• reciprocity
• spirit
• stewardship

Chinese Key Words:

• 监护
• 土著
• 互惠
• 精神
• 管理

Spanish Key Words:

• administración
• espíritu
• indígena
• reciprocidad
• tutela

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge all of the outstanding Indigenous intellectuals who have worked to express these animate and inanimate experiences and observations of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. Your contributions are immeasurable and heard.

Notes

1 The Yukon Flats is the third largest wildlife refuge in the United States. For more information go to: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/yukon_flats/

2 That goes without saying, the relationship between those willing to listen and those willing to share needs to be defined by the knowledge bearers.

3 It should be noted here that current management at US Fish and Wildlife in the interior of Alaska in the Yukon Flats is reportedly better, though not ideal as of yet, it is important to keep an eye on this development.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph P. Brewer II

JOSEPH P. BREWER II, associate professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. He works alongside Indigenous Peoples and Nations on their Natural Resources initiatives.

Jay T. Johnson

JAY T. JOHNSON, Dean’s Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. His current research interests concern the broad area of Indigenous peoples’ cultural survival with specific regard to the areas of resource management, political activism at the national and international levels and the philosophies and politics of place which underpin the drive for cultural survival.