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<DIV><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Richard, Thank you for your insights and perspective again,
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> I'd love to hear your other stories...</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I have
one from a recent conference that I attended regarding a reference to
ceremonial items as "trash". The conference was about Nature Culture and
Religion, put on by a new organization with that focus. I listened to a speaker
share a paper about the ecotourism of local a cenote by the indigenous people of
the area and then about their own use of sacred caves for their spiritual
ceremonies ( not used for ecotourism, private in other words). During the talk
the indigenous people were critiqued for not picking up "trash" away from the
trail to the cenote, but doing so along the "tourist" or public trail
to the location. Then there were pictures of sacred offerings in plastic
containers, and candles in caves which were then referred to "ceremonial trash".
Indigenous people were then said to be damaging the ecology of their own sacred
caves by leaving this "ceremonial trash". It was very
unsettling and disturbing to hear "trash" and "ceremonial" offerings
together and worries me about setting some kind of precedent for the taking
of ceremonial locations to "preserve" them from indigenous "ceremonial
desecration" . So what the archeologists have done in your examples
is now being continued with words and talks like this one by those writing about
ecological issues in indigenous environments and under their control.
</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
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<DIV><SPAN class=655044915-03052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Jan</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Indigenous Languages and
Technology [mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Richard
Smith<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 03, 2006 12:54 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [ILAT] anthropology with no
apology<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Thanks Jan <BR>For your reply,sure you can use it<BR>I
have a few other stories I could share with you too.<BR>One little
uncomfortable event could always have been just an archaeologists bad
day.<BR>But I have several others which really make me wonder sometimes.<BR>A
British-born archaeologist who freely ads to his own private collection <BR>To
us Wendat/Wyandots he gives the mystic answer- “because the spirits give
pipes” to him.<BR>And another where Park Rangers ask children to actually
police their parents for studying a pot sherd.<BR><BR>The analytical dominant
language of English creates thought patterns that are very different than our
indigenous languages. “TAKING” patterns ...Collecting and filing of data,
charting and graphing even of spirituality to seek to <BR>Comprehend (based on
its own limited presumptions) and it seeks to unravel, and <BR>control that
which has always been utter mystery. <BR>When a pot sherd is taken by an
archaeologist it is a sacred event...(because it is “information”)<BR>when an
artist (even a native artist) picks one up,to feel the past ,its a Federal
violation of the Law.<BR><BR>But foreign thought processes alter whatever is
touched or taken...without possibly realizing it.<BR> Latin based
language-thought-systems have created a yearning to define all that
exists.<BR>It is a conquerors tongue...and still conquering, and will not stop
its quest.<BR>Knowledge becomes supreme diety, (Gnosis) Information is
salvation...<BR><BR>Fortunately,of course, it can also be used (as I’m doing
here ) to question even itself.<BR>And it can create technologies which are
tools we can use.<BR>But I’m concerned about its own subtle prostlytizing
effects <BR>And its unspoken claim to total objectivity<BR>And.... I’ve
noticed that converts seem to be increasing.<BR><BR>Richard Zane
Smith<BR><BR><BR><BR>On 4/30/06 12:57 PM, "Jan Tucker"
<jtucker@starband.net> wrote:<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT
face=Arial>Richard, thanks for your story, I'd like to share it with my
applied anthropology class and race and ethnic relations class ....with your
permission of course. More of your perspective needs to be heard and this
story is a great way to share your perspective. I agree with you, and I can
certainly talk to some of your points, however since this is a language and
technology discussion group, I'm respectfully not going to. Let me however
apologize for those who aren't willing to even have dialogue and share this
quote by John Kenneth Galbraith Oct 15 1908-Apr 29th 2006.
</FONT></FONT></SPAN><FONT size=4><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><B>"The modern conservative is engaged in one of
man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy;
<BR></B></SPAN></FONT></FONT><B><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">that is, the search for a superior moral
justification for selfishness." and </SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">"People of
privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender
any material part of their advantage."<BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT face=Arial>Jan
Tucker<BR></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><BR></FONT></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>