Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

view has been criticized for being overly
This
and simplistic and for perpetuating
romantic
of Indigenous Peoples as
conceptions
It also ignores the stark fact of the
unscientific.
decline in animal populations (tigers,
dramatic
and elephants, for example) that has been
rhinos
by demand in some traditional medicine
driven
While anthropologists may celebrate
systems.
and Indigenous knowledge
nature-religions
generally, it is another thing to use
systems
to judge which of these are better or
science
for the environment. Yet, that task may be
worse
relationship between nature and religion
The
difficult to untangle and loaded with
is
implications, especially so in the
political
and anti-colonial discourses.
decolonizing
are clearly individuals, groups and
There
structures that would benefit from
power
or understating the importance
overstating
religion in shaping human culture and our
of
with the environment. But the
relationship
can shine a light on our way forward,
debate
offering hope against the existential
perhaps
of climate and ecological crises.
threat
number of terms refer to the category of
A
and spiritual traditions that are
religious
as more environmentally sensitive.
described
include natural religion, nature worship,
These
religion, Animism, Paganism, Heathenry,
Earth
and Pantheism. This category has
Druidry
historically viewed by Western culture as
been
and in the case of Paganism even as
primitive,
for failing to understand (or rejecting) the
evil,
as God’s creation and for worshipping
universe
6III. Methods and tools
connections
Making
Indigenous knowledge and nature
Religion,
is a sub-eld of anthropology that
Ethnobotany
in early 20th-century attempts by
originated
to document the uses of plants
anthropologists
Indigenous Peoples. This research gradually
by
to study how plants were used to sustain
expanded
health of people and their communities,
the
their environment, sometimes through
including
spiritual connection. It is related to Indigenous
a
systems generally, and traditional
knowledge
ecological knowledge (TEK) specically, which
involves the knowledge gained by Indigenous
Peoples in their interactions with the environment
over time. Ecological knowledge is sometimes
inseparably connected to religious beliefs
and practices.
Many leading scholars in the eld have asserted
that TEK can lead to sustainable use of natural
resources. Some researchers also believed that
within these religious practices were important
spiritual truths that did more than advance
environmental sustainability. This was a signicant
shift in how mainstream scientic culture
saw Indigenous Peoples, but it was also
criticized, as noted earlier, for its simplistic and
romantic perspective.
inevitable, and much needed.
elements of God’s creation rather than God.
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