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Re: pomo meets eco again
Ruby Rohrlich (rohrlich@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU)
Fri, 11 Aug 1995 19:12:59 -0400
to Karina. It was not she who raised this possibility, but I, in my
response to her. By the way, if you reverse "he/she" to "she/he" just
every other time, do you think the skies would fall down. Not altogether
kidding. Ruby Rohrlich
On Fri, 11 Aug 1995, CONRAD : STEENKAMP wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> There are just as many examples of such societies that distinguish
> themselves very clearly from nature. It all depends on what the
> 'observer' is looking for when he/she 'observes' these societies.
> Different researchers are going to emphasise different aspects of
> their relationship with the environment. Animal rights activists
> would, for instance, use the San/Bushmen/!kung etc as examples of
> this 'harmonious' relationship with nature, the giving of human
> characteristics to 'non-human animals'. The 'harmonious' images
> dissipate very quickly when one actually goes on a hunt with
> such people. Reconstructions of the 'primitive' view, runs the risk
> of interpreting environmental relations of the past in terms of
> environmental concerns of the present. Karina's statement about
> 'romanticising' such relationships, therefore, raises a valid
> concern.
>
> Conrad Steenkamp
>
>
>
> > Karina: Actually my view is a reconstruction of the so-called
> > "primitive" view, in which humans in many societies thought
> > of themselves as part of nature, as much a part as non-human animals and
> > plants. I don't know whether anthropologists who wrote about such people
> > romanticized them, but there were quite a few societies described in
> > these terms, so not all would have been romanticized. Ruby Ronrlich
> >
>
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