Moderners can reclaim sustainable practices from their own ancestral traditions.

Evidence

Since we are not going to become Apache, or Quechua, or Ladakhi, we need to recognize and reclaim old patterns of relationship and practices that offer more sustainable ways of being. These may be patterns that our own Elders, our parents and grandparents were taught to devalue and escape because they were seen as barriers to becoming successful and modern in an industrial society. Yet, they persist and are connected to ways of living that have long histories. As our Annishinaabeg teacher said to his white students, “You all have Indigenous roots! Back in Scotland, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Europe. They’re old! Find out about them. You’ll discover forms of wisdom about the land there too!” We cannot “become Indigenous” in the sense of taking on the stories and traditions of peoples whose ancestors lived on this North American continent for thousands of years, but we can look deeply into our own traditions for what remains of the practices that made life simpler and sustainable. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1696

Categorization

• XREF: Core to the reader’s eco-justice pedagogy aim of honoring Indigenous knowledge without appropriation — a distinction the reader flagged as central. — connects to: Cultural practices can be reformed from within their own traditions rather than by outsiders. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1685; Traditional societies use the past as the template for the present — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 642; Non-Western elites favored combining modernization with preserving indigenous culture — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 200 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Healing land requires shifting people’s worldview toward old-growth cultures #expands (0.82) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1078
• Traditional societies use the past as the template for the present #expands (0.80) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 642
• Attempted revivals of past traditions accelerate their decay #complicates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1454
• Non-Western elites favored combining modernization with preserving indigenous culture #corroborates (0.78) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 200
• Cultural stagnation can be reversed by choosing new norms and values #corroborates (0.72) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 38