The Dilemmas of Silence: Evidence, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Secrecy in Four Cases Involving Indigenous Peoples in Cultural and Territorial Isolation

N. Kolowratnik
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Abstract

Within many Indigenous cultures, traditional and spiritual knowledge is considered secret. It requires initiation and is safeguarded by different groups or levels of religious authority within a community. Transmission of such knowledge is usually performed at specific times, places and to selected peoples only. When Indigenous communities are claiming their rights to traditional land in western-oriented legal forums, they are required to provide proof of their connection to the lands and speak about the importance the sacred grounds hold in their tradition–and are required to do so according to Western legal discourse and protocol. When requirements for evidence neither represent nor respect Native culture, Indigenous parties to the claim often go silent, or else risk silencing the practices they originally aimed to protect. This article discusses the dilemma Indigenous communities face when asked to provide evidence despite cultural restrictions on traditional knowledge transfer. It first looks at evidence and secret knowledge in the case Pueblo of Jemez vs. United States of America (2019) adjudicated in federal US courts, and suggests a set of alternative evidentiary mappings that respect Jemez Pueblo rules of traditional knowledge sharing, produced by the author and Jemez tribal members. It then turns to acts of refusal to share detailed information on sacred sites and its consequences, litigated over in the US federal court cases Havasupai Tribe v. United States of America (1990) and Pueblo of Sandia vs. United States of America (1995). Finally, it discusses questions of evidence production in the case Pueblos Indígenas Tagaeri y Taromenane vs Ecuador, the first case on peoples in voluntary isolation to be adjudicated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
沉默的困境:证据、土著传统知识和秘密在四个案例中涉及土著人民的文化和领土隔离
在许多土著文化中,传统和精神知识被视为秘密。它需要启蒙,并由社区内不同的团体或级别的宗教权威保护。这种知识的传播通常只在特定的时间、地点和特定的人群中进行。当土著社区在以西方为导向的法律论坛上主张他们对传统土地的权利时,他们被要求提供他们与土地联系的证据,并说明神圣的土地在他们的传统中所占有的重要性,并且被要求根据西方的法律话语和协议这样做。当证据要求既不代表也不尊重土著文化时,提出要求的土著当事方往往会保持沉默,否则他们原本旨在保护的做法就有可能被压制。本文讨论了在传统知识转移受到文化限制的情况下,土著社区被要求提供证据时所面临的困境。本文首先考察了在美国联邦法院审理的杰梅斯普韦布洛诉美利坚合众国(2019年)一案中的证据和秘密知识,并提出了一套由作者和杰梅斯部落成员制作的、尊重杰梅斯普韦布洛传统知识共享规则的替代证据映射。然后,它转向拒绝分享圣地详细信息及其后果的行为,在美国联邦法院的哈瓦苏派部落诉美利坚合众国(1990年)和桑迪亚普韦布洛诉美利坚合众国(1995年)的案件中提起诉讼。最后,本报告讨论了Pueblos Indígenas Tagaeri y Taromenane诉厄瓜多尔一案的证据制作问题,这是美洲人权法院审理的第一起关于自愿与世隔离的人民的案件。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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