Indigenous Values and Sustainability

Abstract

Christianity and Western scientific knowledge have dominated academic research and its disciplinary education. At the same time, Indigenous knowledge and religious traditions have been dismissed as a way-of-knowing by Western and dominant power-structures. Since Tribal systems often cannot be easily quantified, they have been frequently dismissed as ‘superstitious,’ ‘primitive,’ or ‘unreliable.’ But recent works by Tribal peoples around the world have resulted in a growing recovery of Indigenous knowledge for the benefit of Native and non-native people alike. This paper looks at Indigenous values and practices as alternative ways to sustain people in close relationship with Nature. In the context of the present-day ecological crisis and global warming, we must seek sustainable development, such as by learning about Indigenous values and practices. This paper shares some vital traditions of the Tribal peoples of North East India. It also argues that the rights of Indigenous peoples must include their recognition of the validity and value of their collected knowledge and ways of knowing. Of interest to this paradigm shift is how the inclusive ways of Tribal knowledge occasionally intersect with Big Histories’ inclusiveness, especially in its Asian formulation.