Similar to endemic species, endemic cultures are cultures that only exist in specific places on earth. While English is spoken in every corner of the Earth, Diné Bizaad is only spoken in the deserts of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Furthermore, so much of the words that make up this language refer to things that can only be found in this desert. So if you move the speakers of this language to the Amazon jungle the majority of their language would be rendered irrelevant. Endemic cultures, just like endemic species, are intimately interwoven into specific eco- and geosystems. You can find the killer whale in every ocean of the world, but the blue-cheeked butterflyfish only swims in the Red Sea. The Pehuenche indigenous society only exists along the Andean mountain range. Their ceremonies, their subsistence, their social activities and their language are deeply woven into the Pehuen Tree forests of South America. Endemic cultures, just like endemic species, are much more prone to endangerment and extinction. If the Red Sea was contaminated the blue-cheeked butterflyfish would perish with its habitat. If the Pehuen Trees were to be logged into extinction, so to would so many beautiful ceremonial songs, social activities and legends that go along with those trees. This insight adds a new dimension to environmental conservation, because it shows it is one and the same as the conservation of human heritage. New international instruments, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, reflect worldwide concern for the preservation of vanishing cultures and the developing notion of a “human right to culture.” In order to curb global trends of cultural and linguistic extinction, we must acknowledge this interdependency of between local ecosystems and local culture. Sometimes called indigenous cultures the articulation of the nature and presence of endemic cultures represents a call to action to protect these essential ecosystems. When my Diné grandmother attended religious boarding schools in the early 1900s she was punished when she spoke our native tongue. One hundred times she would write on a sheet of paper: I will only speak English... I will only speak English... I will only speak English... Like so many human beings on this earth, I intimately know the pain of having my heritage taken away from me before I was born. There is a reason that the Creator handed us these songs, these languages, these legends, these sacred places and these ceremonies. They are stepping stones towards harmony and beauty in our communities. They build a safe home for our minds and they help us heal in times of need. Now is the time for us to step up and work to preserve them for our grandchildren and their grandchildren to come. Now is the time to protect the earth that sustains our cultures and the cultures that sustain our earth. For those who have been transplanted from their local ecosystem for one, two, three generations or more, it may be time to reconnect with that land. If that is not possible, then my personal belief is that we must adopt our orphaned brothers and sisters. We must share with them this sacred song that comes from living in one place for hundreds of thousands of years. Only then can they, too, reconnect with the heart of the mother and join the wondrous chorus of right relations.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 01:43:50 +0000