Re-centering the Indigenous Wisdom of
Ethnocultural Recovery
Say No! Rejecting Empire
BY PEGI EYERS
Whirlwind Magazine publishes literature and art that bears witness to issues of social justice around the world. We are an in print and online independent literary journal founded in the summer of 2014 by publisher Lamont Steptoe and editor Sean Lynch. Whirlwind seeks to publish writers, poets, and artists who take action through words and images to reverse social subjugation and environmental maltreatment. We aim to represent struggle in all aspects of life, whether it’s social, political, racial, sexual, gender identity related, or any issue relevant to human progress. This means that we strive toward the realization of ideals such as equality, freedom, anti-authoritarianism and mutual cooperation.
Re-centering the Indigenous Wisdom of Ethnocultural Recovery, an essay by Pegi Eyers, was published in Whirlwind #7, "Indigenous Peoples of the Americas" Winter 2016.
When we hear Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe (Lakota) proclaim that “every human being has Ancestors in their lineage that understood their umbilical cord to the Earth - to always protect and thank Her – and therefore all humanity has to re-connect to the Indigenous Roots of their own lineage, to heal their connection and responsibility to Mother Earth”1 can we rise above the obvious metaphor to the hard work of cultural resurgence, in the same way that indigenous people have had to recover their own erased traditions? Or when highly-esteemed Anishnaabe Elder and traditional teacher James Dumont offers us his epic anti-appropriation statement, that “everyone needs to get back to their own indigenous knowledge,”2 is he giving us a great blessing by implying that IK3 is the collective birthright of all humanity, and that we all have original indigenous knowledge? As we continue to take our cultural/spiritual explorations of personal and collective identity for granted in the modern world, another good question to ask is how did being of European descent become synonymous with being non-indigenous?
PEGI EYERS
When we hear Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe (Lakota) proclaim that “every human being has Ancestors in their lineage that understood their umbilical cord to the Earth - to always protect and thank Her – and therefore all humanity has to re-connect to the Indigenous Roots of their own lineage, to heal their connection and responsibility to Mother Earth”1 can we rise above the obvious metaphor to the hard work of cultural resurgence, in the same way that indigenous people have had to recover their own erased traditions? Or when highly-esteemed Anishnaabe Elder and traditional teacher James Dumont offers us his epic anti-appropriation statement, that “everyone needs to get back to their own indigenous knowledge,”2 is he giving us a great blessing by implying that IK3 is the collective birthright of all humanity, and that we all have original indigenous knowledge? As we continue to take our cultural/spiritual explorations of personal and collective identity for granted in the modern world, another good question to ask is how did being of European descent become synonymous with being non-indigenous?
PEGI EYERS
Say No! Rejecting Empire, an essay by Pegi Eyers appeared in Whirlwind #10, "Empire," Winter 2017. Whirlwind's 10th issue features poetry and essays from around the world, bearing witness to the injustices of Empire.
In our own lifetimes we have all participated in the prevailing meta-narrative, which has promoted parochial Empire building, industry, technology, and the paradigm of limitless progress - undisputed principles that went on to fuel the “good life” and the realization of the American Dream. During the boom years that followed the great world wars, who would have believed that the same paradigm of wealth and technological innovation so full of promise and benefit would bring us to the brink of economic and environmental collapse today? In just a few short decades, as societal problems worsen and environment degradation intensifies, we now see that the dominant paradigm is unsustainable, and millions of us are waking up to the impossibility of continuing to believe in the imperialist lies of Empire. Instead of saying “yes” to civilization, we should have been saying “no.” Why did we assume that the things so good for us, like industrial agriculture, millions of gas-fueled cars, endless expansion and unrestricted consumerism would not kill us in the end?
It's time to undo the colonial legacy of domination and destruction, to reject the destructive principles of monotheistic religion that claim humanity to be superior to the earth, and to reject the fantasies of a utopian existence as extolled by the proponents of a technological, industrial way of life. The values of Anglophone Empire that created the hegemony of colonization, and guided unchecked progress in the Americas for the past five hundred years are patently untrue. The idea that “evolution equals progress” is an outdated Victorian concept, and instead of some kind of futuristic utopia, what we have is crime, homelessness, lack of community, harmful technologies, destruction of natural systems, unsustainable growth, environmental breakdown and tremendous inequality. Technological progress has been widely embraced because of its perceived benefits, but the fact “that millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make those people sane.” (Erich Fromm) One of the greatest impediments to moving away from the destructive agenda of Empire and bending the curve, are the beliefs and “memes” from the civilizational ideology we have internalized as part of our psyches, and normalized as our collective reality.
PEGI EYERS
In our own lifetimes we have all participated in the prevailing meta-narrative, which has promoted parochial Empire building, industry, technology, and the paradigm of limitless progress - undisputed principles that went on to fuel the “good life” and the realization of the American Dream. During the boom years that followed the great world wars, who would have believed that the same paradigm of wealth and technological innovation so full of promise and benefit would bring us to the brink of economic and environmental collapse today? In just a few short decades, as societal problems worsen and environment degradation intensifies, we now see that the dominant paradigm is unsustainable, and millions of us are waking up to the impossibility of continuing to believe in the imperialist lies of Empire. Instead of saying “yes” to civilization, we should have been saying “no.” Why did we assume that the things so good for us, like industrial agriculture, millions of gas-fueled cars, endless expansion and unrestricted consumerism would not kill us in the end?
It's time to undo the colonial legacy of domination and destruction, to reject the destructive principles of monotheistic religion that claim humanity to be superior to the earth, and to reject the fantasies of a utopian existence as extolled by the proponents of a technological, industrial way of life. The values of Anglophone Empire that created the hegemony of colonization, and guided unchecked progress in the Americas for the past five hundred years are patently untrue. The idea that “evolution equals progress” is an outdated Victorian concept, and instead of some kind of futuristic utopia, what we have is crime, homelessness, lack of community, harmful technologies, destruction of natural systems, unsustainable growth, environmental breakdown and tremendous inequality. Technological progress has been widely embraced because of its perceived benefits, but the fact “that millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make those people sane.” (Erich Fromm) One of the greatest impediments to moving away from the destructive agenda of Empire and bending the curve, are the beliefs and “memes” from the civilizational ideology we have internalized as part of our psyches, and normalized as our collective reality.
PEGI EYERS
