Selling our culture?
This is a comment I see surfacing often these days. Hundreds of years ago indigenous items where traded, gifted or earned. That is very true. But as in all things human we change, the world has changed and everything evolves. The reality of todays world is that MONEY is an instrument of trade. You may not be trading directly for your food or other goods, but the money allows you to go to the store and get that stuff you need. I am always happy when I can do a more traditional type of trade, but unfortunately that opportunity doesn’t afford itself very often anymore.
Where I do tend to lean to tradition is that a person acquiring a specific item needs to learn the history and the stories that accompany it. Without that the item is just another decoration on the wall, and a waste of time, skill, and hard earned knowledge on the part of the creator. In ignorant hands most items are really as effective as trying to use a barrel to sweep the floor. Often creating unintended circumstances. It also goes without saying you HONOR and RESPECT the item, the culture, and the builder by learning all you can about it. This takes time and effort. There is no spiritual Mcdonalds type drive through.
The next item I see coming up around indigenous items is “Who is or is not indigenous, and who has the right to use these items. or be included in events and ceremonies” For some if you are not full blood you are not indigenous, and for others if you have any blood ancestry you are indigenous. Between these are thousands of different positions including the status card, tribal registry, and blood quantum arguments. There is no true consensus out there. Secondly I must say I have met many, who in there way of living and acting are anything but indigenous (apples). We also have those who for many reasons have been kept from their cultural ways and teachings, and are just now trying to find their way home. They should be encouraged and welcomed.
If you go back to our ancestral teaching it was said there is one creator and we are all related. Red, white, yellow , and black as the four tribes of man and something often not mentioned when discussing the medicine wheel. An elder once said at a sweat that to a blind man we are all related.
Very true what your points are in the article. Well said and well explained. Miigwetch