•LINK BETWEEN LANDSCAPE AND NATIVE IDENTITY

•NATURAL WORLD AFFECTS AND IS AFFECTED BY HUMANS

•ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION= COMPROMISED IDENTITY

•INDIGENOUS RIGHTS TO LANDS SOUGHT BY MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS FOR ECONOMIC GAIN

Sacred Earth:Land ethic and indigenous identity from

colonialism to contemporary issues

PLACE-BOUND SPIRITUALITYANIMISM

Natural world treated with same respect as given to human brothers and sisters

“NATURAL LAW”CyclicalReciprocalStewards—not owners—of the land on which they depend for survival

Indigenous Perspectives

•TRANSPARENCY OF LANGUAGE•Fools Crow nomenclature •Place names “where the fawns are”

•STORYTELLING•Link stories with landscape features•Relations with land and with others (e.g. Coyote)•Navigation

•POWER OF WORDS TO CREATE REALITY•LanguagePerceptionsActions/Behaviors

•FROM LAND AND ORALITY IDENTITY, COMMUNITY, WELL-BEING, POWER

Oral Tradition

•COLONIALISM•Europeans leave behind vastly deforested England, “discover” land= fresh resources to be exploited•Dichotomous

•CAPITALISM•Indefinite, linear pursuit of “progress” in terms of economic gain•Disregard for other ways of Knowing (Indigenous perspectives)

Historical Background

•NATIVE PEOPLES HISTORICALLY AND CONTEMPORARILY MARGINALIZED

•Power of words: savage, uncivilized, unintelligent, impeding progress•Justifies continued oppression and exploitation

•DOMINANT CULTURE: HIERARCHICAL

•NATIVE PEOPLES AND PERSPECTIVES EXCLUDED FROM POLICY- AND DECISION-MAKING

Power

Close to Home:Northern Alberta Tar Sands

Bitumen=“dirty oil”20% U.S. oil

consumptionExploitative use and

pollution of fresh water Leveling of boreal

forestFatally affecting First

Nations peoples who depend on land and river for subsistence

Athabasca River

We All Live Downstream

•SUPPORT INDIGENOUS ASSERTION OF TREATY RIGHTS AND INCLUSION IN POLICY-MAKING

•RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONESELF

•PEOPLE, PLACE, PRACTICE, AND PERCEPTION ARE INSEPARABLE

OUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON RESTORING EQUILIBRIUM

Perilously out of Balance