Everywhere, words are mixing. Words and lyrics and
dialogue are mixing up in a soup that could trigger a
chain reaction. Maybe acts of God are just the right
combination of media junk thrown out into the air. The
wrong words collide and call up an earthquake. The way
rain dances called storms, the right combination of
words might call down tornadoes. Too many advertising
jingles co-mingling could be behind global warming. Too
many television reruns bouncing around might cause
hurricanes. Cancer. AIDS.[1]
Rosemary Kuptana said that the effect of
southern (urban) broadcasting on Native peoples is like a
neutron bomb. "This is the bomb that kills people but leaves
the buildings standing. Neutron bomb television is the kind
of television that destroys the soul of a people but leaves
the shell of a people walking around. This is television in
which the tradition, the skills, the culture, the language
count for nothing."[2]
Aboriginal linguist Eve Fesl described satellite television
as a "cultural nerve gas," harmful unless broadcasts are in
community languages, helping to convey cultural and
linguistic norms.[3]
The incredible success of the mass communications industry
means that it now penetrates every aspect of our economic,
cultural, political, social and personal lives. The social
world created by the entertainment media has become the
dominant reference point, and our social norms are both
created and reinforced in the context of this medium.
Herbert I. Schiller describes how cultural
industries in dominant U.S. markets are their strongest
sector and carry a "virus of mindless consumerism" that is
responsible for "a looming social disaster." He reports on a
symposium of 1991 Approaching the Year 2000," noting
that, "20 per cent of the world's population consumes 80 per
cent of its wealth and is responsible for 75 per cent of its
pollution." The symposium concluded that the outcomes of
this situation were "the cultural pollution and loss of
tradition which have led to global rootlessness, leaving
humans, through the intensity of mass-marketing, vulnerable
to the pressures of economic and political totalitarianism
and habits of mass-consumption and waste which imperil the
earth." Schiller describes "the powerful and deadly
combination of media, technology, and the market" as the
main perpetrators of our deepening global crisis.[4]
The Indigenous peoples' ethnocides[5]
being brought about by international media, science, trade,
colonialism and world religions-generating a "monoculture of
the mind"[6]
are extensively documented in the United Nations
Environmental Program's publication Cultural and
Spiritual Values of Biodiversity.[7]
Editor Darrell Posey summarizes the point made by many of
the authors about the contested values of the term
traditional in relation to Indigenous peoples, and the
essential role creativity plays in living Indigenous
cultures:
Glowka and Burhenne-Guilmin (1994) warn that
'traditional' can imply restriction of the CBD
[Convention on Biological Diversity][8]
only to those embodying traditional life-styles, keeping
in mind that the concept can easily be misinterpreted to
mean 'frozen in time.' But Pereira and Gupta (1993)
claim, 'it is the traditional methods of research and
application,' not just particular pieces of knowledge,
that persist in a 'tradition of invention and
innovation.'
Posey determines that traditional cultures
can successfully confront and incorporate technology and
modernity through "vibrant, adaptive and adapting holistic
systems of management and conservation." He summarizes that
traditional ecological knowledge "is holistic, inherently
dynamic, and constantly evolving through experimentation and
innovation, fresh insight and external stimuli (Knudtson and
Suzuki 1992)."[9]
Ward Churchill places this analysis in a
political context by examining humanity's relationship with
the natural world.
For the West ... the concept of nature is that of an
enemy to be overcome, with man as boss on a cosmic
scale. Man in the West believes he must dominate
everything, including other [individuals]. The converse
is true in Indian civilization, where [humans are] part
of an indivisible cosmos and fully aware of [their]
harmonious relationship with the universal order of
nature. [S]he neither dominates nor tries to dominate.
On the contrary, she exists within nature as a moment of
it...
Churchill determines that this difference is
an essential tool in the struggle against colonial
domination.[10]
Indigenous digital artists around the world
are deeply engaged with, and provide important contributions
to interdisciplinary and cross-community dialogues about
cultural self-determination. Their works explore and bear
witness to the contemporary relevance of the histories of
Indigenous oral cultures and profound connections to their
widely varying lands. They also reveal the creative drive
that is at the heart of Indigenous survival. The cultures of
animist[11]
peoples require a continual sensitivity to, and negotiation
with the cultures of all of the beings and forces of their
interconnected worlds. The ancient process of successfully
adapting to their worlds' shifting threats and
opportunities-innovating the application of best practices
to suit complex and shifting flows-from a position of
equality and autonomy within them, is the macro and micro
cosmos of contemporary Indigenous cultures: a truly
networked way of being.
Darrell Posey uses the term "cosmovision" to
describe this interconnected perception of culture that
"represents a view of the world as a living being, its
totality including not only natural elements such as plants,
animals and humans, but also spiritual elements such as
spirits, ancestors and future generations." He notes that
within the Indigenous cultures, humans belong to nature.
This essential point of Indigenous cosmovision "guides and
regulates a complex of socio-cultural phenomena such as the
organization of the culture and the way of daily life, and
determines to a large extent the way in which goals are
achieved."[12]
Extending (and to some extent diminishing)
these Indigenous concepts of networked cosmovisions into
cyberspace has been problematic. The development of digital
networks and new media production has been accompanied by
the sometimes controversial, divisive and often globalizing
dominance of contemporary culture. But their openness and
flexibility has also encouraged autonomous spaces and
recognition for self-determined, culturally distinct and
diverse sources of creativity, exchange and community
building.[13]
Indigenous artists and communities are transforming these
networks and digital spaces. They are participating-from a
position of self-determined, collaborative reflection on
their unique world views-in the international definition of
a new set of cultural practices: those evolving within
digital art and creative electronic networking. For some,
this is the first time since contact and submergence within
dominant, pre-existing European cultural practices that
their voices and images are being heard, seen, respected and
celebrated outside of their own communities. Significantly,
it is also the return of creative cultural voices to
communities that have experienced the incarceration,
starvation or murder of their creative leaders. Networked
art practice is becoming a crucial framework for the
emerging recognition and empowerment of Indigenous cultures
around the globe.
An essential component of Indigenous digital
arts development is a commitment to the progress of
Indigenous youth in digital art practice as emerging artists
and for the educational value of their participation in arts
and cultural production. Important new developments are
taking place in the use of digital tools and networks in the
fields of Indigenous government, education, health, social
services, cultural preservation, languages, business and
industry. These endeavours are crucial to the on-going
vitality of many Indigenous communities worldwide and will
be led by Indigenous youth. But the participation of
Indigenous youth in learning and carrying on arts and
cultural expression remains an often-neglected focus because
other critical, often life-threatening, problems necessarily
require immediate attention.
However, the crisis of cultural loss is
increasing for Indigenous peoples. Indigenous youth must be
supported in becoming artists and cultural producers to stem
this tide. A significant and growing body of research also
acknowledges that arts education for youth and their
participation in, and awareness of the arts are significant
contributors to the development of innovation, leadership,
community engagement, critical thinking, self-discipline,
self-motivated learning, teamwork and self-esteem.[14]
These skills are essential for the perceptive vision,
adaptability, and intricate cultural negotiation that the
rapidly rising demographic of Indigenous youth will require
as future leaders of their communities-honouring the
teachings of their Elders and celebrating their cultures in
a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty and conflict.
Internationally recognized Okanagan writer,
artist and community development leader Jeannette Armstrong
has written:
I suggest that Aboriginal arts are a necessary facet of
individual and community health, containing symbolic
significance and relevance integral to the
deconstruction of the effects of being colonialized.
Reinforcing the reconstruction of what is precious and
strengthening the construction of new relationship
beyond colonial thought and practice. I suggest also,
that the 'bridging-between-cultures' voice using
original language, symbol, metaphor and
interdisciplinary arts mechanisms where words are not
enough, surfacing in Aboriginal artistic practice is an
exciting potential and pathway to the exploration of a
true multicultural discourse.[15]
Next:
Unbearable Whiteness: Globalized (Neo)Colonial Monoculture
and the Silences of Poverty and Exploitation
Return to Table of Contents
Notes
[1] Chuck
Palahniuk, Lullaby, Anchor; 2003.
http://www.chuckpalahniuk.com
[2] Gail Guthrie
Valaskakis, Telling Our Own Stories: The Role,
Development and Future of Aboriginal Communications,
1998.
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/ccm/ccrn/documents/colloq98_valaskakis.html
Quoted from: Brisebois, Debbie. 1983. "The Inuit
Broadcasting Corporation." Anthropologica,
Vol.25, no.1.
[3]Ideas from
the Bush: Indigenous Television in Australia and Canada,
Michael Meadows, Queensland University of Technology.
Canadian Journal of Communications, Volume 20, Number 2,
1995.
http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/jrls/cjc/BackIssues/20.2/meadows.html
[4]Herbert I.
Schiller, Media, Technology, and the Market: The
Interacting Dynamic, in Culture on the Brink:
Ideologies of Technology, eds. Gretchen Bender and
Timothy Druckrey (Seattle: Bay Press, 1994), 31-46.
http://www.rochester.edu/College/FS/Publications/SchillerMedia.html
The Morelia Symposium Declaration, "Approaching the Year
2000," reprinted as an advertisement in the New York Times 1
November 1991. "Apparently, the newspaper did not consider
the declaration a newsworthy item."
http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/91d/0058.html
[5] Stuart D.
Stein, Ethnocide, To be published in Encyclopedia
of Race and Ethnic Studies, edited by Ellis Cashmore,
Routledge, 2003.
http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/ethnocide.htm "The
term ethnocide is generally taken to refer to the
destruction of members of a group, in whole or in part,
identified in terms of their ethnicity. Its use is
conceptually and theoretically closely linked with the term
genocide." In relation to the destruction of
Indigenous lands and peoples, ecocide might be a
better term that reflects the close spiritual, cultural and
linguistic relationships that Indigenous peoples have with
their ecosystems. Destroying the life of their lands becomes
a form of genocide of Indigenous peoples.
http://biologybooks.net/Ecocide.html
[6]Vandena Shiva,
Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity
and Biotechnology, London: Zed Books, 1993.
[7] Cultural
and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, ed. Darrell
Addison Posey, 1999. United Nations Environment Programme,
Intermediate Technology Publications, London UK.
http://www.unep.org/Biodiversity
[8] Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD). "At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio
de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy
for "sustainable development" meeting our needs while
ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future
generations. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was
the Convention on Biological Diversity. This pact among the
vast majority of the world's governments sets out
commitments for maintaining the world's ecological
underpinnings as we go about the business of economic
development. The Convention establishes three main goals:
the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable
use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of
the benefits from the use of genetic resources."
http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/guide.asp
[9] Cultural
and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, ed. Darrell
Addison Posey. 1999. Introduction. p. 9. United Nations
Environment Programme, Intermediate Technology Publications,
London UK, UNEP.
http://www.unep.org/Biodiversity/ Cited: Glowka, L.,
Burhenne-Guilmin, F., Synge, H, McNeely, J.A. and GŸndling,
L., 1994. A Guide to the Convention on Biological
Diversity. Cambridge, UK: IUCN. Gupta, Anil K. and
Periera, Winnin 1993. A Dialogue on Indigenous Knowledge,
Honey Bee [periodical], 4(4):7-10, 1993. D. M. Warren, L. J.
Slikkerveer, and D. Brokensha, eds. The cultural
dimension of development: Indigenous knowledge systems.
Intermediate Technology Publications, London, UK. Knudtson,
Peter; Suzuki, David. 1992. Wisdom of the Elders: Sacred
Native Stories of Nature. New York: Bantam Books.
[10] Ward
Churchill, I Am Indigenist: Notes on the Ideology of the
Fourth World, Quoted: Guillermo Bonfil Batalla,
Utopía y Revolución: El Pensamiento Político Contemporáneo
de los Indios en América Latina (Mexico City:
Editorial Nueva Imagen, 1981) p. 38; translation by
Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz. Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Indians of
the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination
(London: Zed Books, 1984) p. 84.
http://www.zmag.org/chiapas1/wardindig.htm
[11] Animism: The
belief that all objects, and the universe itself, possess
and are animated (given being) by souls. Often associated
with Aristotle who held that all living things had a soul,
or psyche, which was what made them alive. The vegetative
soul was the capacity for nourishment and reproduction. The
animal soul included these but in addition the capacities of
sensation and movement. Humans had all the foregoing plus
the capacity to reason. The idea of animism is rejected by
those who support a mechanistic view of science. In the 20th
century James Lovelock's Gaia-embodying the idea that the
ecosystem as a whole can be viewed as a quasi-living
thing-can be seen as an attempt to resuscitate animism, but
this time with a scientific spin on it. Minerva
Dictionary of Concepts, owned by John Clarke and
maintained by Jonathan Irving, Kingston University.
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/~gr_s005/dictionary/concepts/a/Animism.html
[12] Cultural and
Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, ed. Darrell Addison Posey.
1999. Introduction to Chapter 5, Ethnoscience, 'TEK' and
its Application to Conservation by L. Jan Slikkerveer,
p. 171. United Nations Environment Programme, Intermediate
Technology Publications, London UK, UNEP.
http://www.unep.org/Biodiversity/
[13] Shadows of
Tender Fury, The Letters and Communiqués of Subcomandante
Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Trans. F. Fardacke, L. López, and the Watsonville, CA Human
Rights Committee, 1995, Monthly Review Press, New York.
"In February of 1998, The CMP [Chiapas Media
Project] began as a result of conversations with autonomous
Zapatista communities who were requesting access to video
and computer technology. The Zapatista's or Zapatista Army
of National Liberation, are an Indigenous movement made of
up Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Mum and Tzeltal Mayan Indians.
They became known to the world via the Internet on January
1, 1994 when they staged an armed uprising and took over six
towns in Chiapas demanding that Indigenous rights be
recognized in the Mexican constitution. Another demand was
the formation of Indigenous controlled TV and radio
throughout Mexico. ... The Chiapas Media Project works with
Indigenous and campesino communities in the southern Mexican
states of Chiapas and Guerrero. The objective has been to
provide these communities with the means to produce their
own media and distribute it. The CMP looks for the funding
necessary to buy equipment, train community members in video
production, post-production and computers and distributes
the videos they produce worldwide. Since 1998, the CMP has
distributed close to 5,000 videos. The videos are
distributed via the Internet, university and college
presentations, museums and film and video festivals. "
http://promedios.org/eng/index.html
"This seems to be a revolutionary state of
affairs for, perhaps the first time, the Internet allowed
members of the international community to comment and affect
domestic, local legislation, a privilege once reserved for
lobbyists or, at the very least, registered U.S. voters.
This might be called "cyber-diplomacy." ...in the cases we
studied, the Internet's capabilities provided a new tool for
grassroots activists to counter powerful forces of
multinational corporations and the regime in Rangoon. Since
the Burma campaign raged across phone lines and fiber optic
cables, the use of the Internet to advance work on human
rights and democracy has spread to Indonesia, Nigeria, Tibet
and East Timor, and has taken up such subjects as global
warming and East Asian teak forests." Networking Dissent:
Cyber-Activists Use the Internet to Promote Democracy in
Burma Tiffany Danitz and Warren P. Strobe, 1999.
http://www.usip.org/virtualdiplomacy/publications/reports/vburma/vburma_three.html
Designing a Transnational Indigenous
Leaders Interaction in the Context of Globalization: A
Wisdom of the People Forum (Co-laboratory of Democracy)
Final Report 2002. Institute for 21st Century
Agoras, Americans for Indian Opportunity, and Advancement of
Maori Opportunity.
http://www.aio.org/FinalRpt.htm
[14]
"Highlights of Arts Education Research", 2002. "Art. Ask
for More." is a national arts education public awareness
campaign by Americans for the Arts, The Ad Council, The
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Old Navy, and hundreds of
local, state, and national official campaign partners. Nina
Ozlu, Vice President of Public and Private Sector Affairs.http://www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/facts
[15] National
Gathering on Aboriginal Artistic Expression 2002
Reflection Papers, Department of Canadian Heritage.
http://www.expressions.gc.ca/reflexionpaper_e.htm
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