{"id":570,"date":"2010-04-27T16:40:46","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T16:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/04\/modern-pagans-and-indigenous-religion.html"},"modified":"2010-04-27T16:40:46","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T16:40:46","slug":"modern-pagans-and-indigenous-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/04\/modern-pagans-and-indigenous-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Modern Pagans and Indigenous Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

During last year’s Parliament for World Religions a dispute
\narose over whether Pagans were properly considered indigenous religions.  <\/span>One person prominent in our community
\ninsisted he qualified by virtue of his membership in a “FamTrad,” that is, a
\nfamily held tradition that while practiced in the US today, had its roots old
\nEngland. <\/p>\n

Other Pagan attendees disagreed. While our NeoPagan
\nrepresentatives had been the main allies of indigenous peoples getting involved
\nin the Parliament, and had been recognized by them as fellow practitioners of a
\nkindred path, NeoPagans had always recused themselves when an event was held as
\npurely “indigenous.” This was discussed in the blog Jason Pitzi-Waters set up,
\nwhich you can hear here<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

It’s complicated, interesting, and I think, important.  <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

At the Parliament a Christian Navajo living near the Great
\nLakes, attempted to impose her own standards for being indigenous, which would
\nhave excluded most indigenous peoples who were not Indians.  <\/span>Even the Australian aborigines on whose
\ncontinent the Parliament was being held.<\/p>\n

Truly a mess for folks who like neat packages.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Don Frew, who was among the NeoPagans there, suggested the
\nproper response to the question “is NeoPaganism an indigenous religion?” was to
\nanswer “That’s an interesting\/complicated question.”  <\/span>As a matter of practical politics I think that’s about the
\nbest we can do, but I am not much involved in practical Pagan politics and so
\nwant to tease the issue apart a little more.  <\/span>My off-the-top-of-the-head answer would be to follow Frew’s
\nresponse with another sentence: “But for the most part and by most reasonable
\nstandards, no.”<\/p>\n

“Indigenous” refers to the people of a place whom Europeans
\nor other more technologically advanced people encountered upon “discovering”
\nthat place for themselves.  <\/span>If they
\nhad arrived ten years before the Europeans they would almost certainly not have
\nbeen called indigenous because the word carries with it the sense of long time
\ninhabitation.  <\/span>On the other hand,
\nindigenous only makes sense when contrasted with non-indigenous.  <\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, it seems odd to argue East Indians or
\nChinese are “indigenous.”  <\/span>There is
\na strong sense that the term refers to tribal societies that have not coalesced
\ninto states although the border lines are blurry.  <\/span>The Maya had cities, a written language, and their
\ndescendents are called indigenous.<\/p>\n

All these nonreligious elements trump any religious
\ncriteria.  <\/span>If, for example, an
\nisland in the Pacific had had a Christian missionary wash up on its shores, and
\nsomehow he had converted its population into being good Methodists, they would
\nstill be called indigenous. <\/p>\n

 <\/span>Indigenous
\nPeople and Politics<\/b><\/p>\n

“Indigenous” became a political term beginning with the rise
\nof a strong political identity among Indians.  <\/span>This is important because when “indigenous people” of
\ndifferent cultures gather, they do so because of their common experience of
\ncolonial domination and a common attempt to address the problems it created
\nfrom within their own societies. 
\n<\/span>An “indigenous religion” then is one that has been or is adversely
\nthreatened by colonial domination.<\/p>\n

From my perspective, then, “Indigenous” is primarily a
\npolitical rather than religious term. 
\n<\/span>Most NeoPagans, including this one, are not indigenous in this
\nsense.  <\/span>And yet practice a religion
\nsharing more in common with most indigenous religions than with Christianity or
\nJudaism, and so are usually recognized as spiritually akin to them in a way the
\nNavajo Christian never would.  <\/span>In
\ninterfaith work NeoPagans often identify themselves as practicing indigenous
\nspirituality but not being indigenous people.  <\/span>I think this gets it about right.<\/p>\n

A person from an indigenous tribal culture is indigenous in
\na way we will never be.  <\/span>One easy
\nway to see a difference is that most indigenous religions emphasize<\/i> the role of the ancestors as central to their
\nspiritual lives.  <\/span>We mostly do not.
\nAnother way to see the difference is to recognize that indigenous cultures see
\ntheir particular place as spiritually important.  <\/span>This hill, This lake, This fish.  <\/span>We usually emphasize more abstract spiritual forms.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my view both are valid and represent how different ways
\nof life relate to the spiritually immanent.  <\/span>But they are different.<\/p>\n

NeoPagans and Being Indigenous<\/b><\/p>\n

What of the FamTrad? 
\n<\/span>In my view FamTrad practitioners are neither politically nor culturally
\nindigenous – the two most important meanings of the word in practical use.  <\/span>They may be historically indigenous to
\nanother continent (or their own continent if they live in Europe), but by now
\nthey and their immediate ancestors are culturally modern Westerners.  <\/span>Culturally they share vastly more with
\ntheir fellow Westerners than they do with indigenous peoples.  <\/span>Politically their relation to Western
\nreligious and cultural domination cannot help but be different from that of
\nindigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

That being the case, in my opinion at indigenous gatherings
\nsuch NeoPagans are essentially every bit as much as any other NeoPagan is. What
\nthey share that is indigenous is no more indigenous<\/i> than what the rest of us practice.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is a sign of respect towards indigenous peoples that we
\nrespect our difference in cultural and political experience. Doing so gives
\nthem the opportunity to honor us by recognizing our commonalities, and inviting
\nus to be their guests in many events. 
\n<\/span>As they often do.<\/p>\n

We are trying to address our relationships with other Pagans
\nusing concepts created by the imperial mind set from a position assuming
\nunquestioned superiority. 
\n<\/span>“Indigenous” originally implied primitive as well as different and of
\nlong habitation.  <\/span>Now it is being
\ntaken over by “indigenous” people and used to identify what they have in common
\nunderlying their different languages, cultures, and ways of relating to the
\nworld.  <\/span>What they have most in
\ncommon is a history of being victimized by imperial exploitation.  <\/span><\/p>\n

They are seeking to turn a term of disrespect into one of
\nhonor. <\/p>\n

To accomplish this they are seeking to have their cultures<\/i> respected as worthy ones as well as to gain the
\npolitical independence needed to enable their ways of life to evolve primarily
\nby their own understanding rather than having an alien world view imposed on
\nthem.  <\/span>In other words, I think the
\ncommon thread within the term indigenous is an emphasis on<\/span> culture<\/i>.  <\/span>It
\ninitially separated them from imperial powers, and now is providing a common
\nideal for resistance to the modern manifestations of that power.<\/span><\/p>\n

We NeoPagans are in an ambiguous position.  <\/span>Our beliefs have long been victims of
\nthis same imperial exploitive mentality. 
\n<\/span>In almost every case we once shared that mentality. <\/i>Today we are slowly breaking free from it.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 25 years of being Pagan, I am increasingly aware of just
\nhow different the world appears when viewed consistently through Pagan eyes
\nrather than Christian or secular modern ones.  <\/span>Almost everything changes, sometimes a little, sometimes a
\nlot.  <\/span>It is ultimately much more
\nprofound than simply celebrating Moons and Sabbats.<\/p>\n

As we integrate into this venerable spiritual tradition, one
\nthat extends into the prehistory of our kind, we are bringing something new:
\nthe mentality of the modern world.  
\n<\/span>If forced to use the term, I would say we are indigenous to modernity,<\/i> and I would argue we are indigenous to modernity far
\nmore deeply than is Christianity itself. 
\n<\/span>We are moderns who have rediscovered or encountered the spiritual
\nreality that exists within the world, and not simply transcendent to it.   <\/span>For example, NeoPagans do not
\nhave problems with science anywhere to the degree that Christianity and other
\nscriptural religions do.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We bring being moderns to a spirituality recognizing the
\nsacredness of this world and its cycles. 
\n<\/span>As with any culture there are strengths and weaknesses.  <\/span>Regarding modernity’s weaknesses, which
\nare many, we can learn from the best of the indigenous traditions.  <\/span>They have much to teach us.  <\/span>Regarding modernity’s strengths, which
\nare also significant, they can learn from us.<\/p>\n

To harvest the best fruits of both indigenous and modern
\ncultures within a Pagan context, I think we should not try and claim to be
\nindigenous ourselves to anything but the modern world.<\/p>\n

Becoming Indigenous<\/b><\/p>\n

We are not yet really indigenous, most of us, to our
\nconcrete place.  <\/span>Our culture is a “porta-culture”
\nalmost as standardized as the international airports that link us together
\nregardless of where we live. Like Christianity we also have a portable
\nreligion, and our Sabbats and Circles follow very similar scripts, often
\nidentical ones, wherever we may be. 
\n<\/span>In this way we are significantly different from most indigenous
\npeoples.  <\/span><\/p>\n

But this is a strength if it can be melded with a knowledge
\nof and respect for the places where we live. When we have finally achieved that
\nmeld, so that our landscape and its energies are truly home to us, and we have
\na genuine sense of ancestors, we will have become, finally, indigenous to this
\nwonderful place where we live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During last year’s Parliament for World Religions a dispute arose over whether Pagans were properly considered indigenous religions.  One person prominent in our community insisted he qualified by virtue of his membership in a “FamTrad,” that is, a family held tradition that while practiced in the US today, had its roots old England. 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