Pete Shemitz (pshemitz@ukanvm.bitnet) writes:
> the cuna, of panama, are operating a very successful operation.
> if you are looking to become invovlved in setting up something,
> or want more information about the cuna, there's a bunch of
> material available-- from the panamanian consul.
I'm posting something more on the Kuna, and their reported failure to
accomplish their goals, from an article in New Scientist last month.
Dhanu
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KUNA PROJECT A FAILURE?
In "Losing the way of the Great Father", (New Scientist, 1781,
10 Aug, 1991, pps 34-38) Mac Chaplin outlines what he sees as
the failure of the Kuna people of Panama, the tribe referred to
in a positive light by Pete Shemitz in:
> Slamming Eco-Groups (was: Navajo/Hopi)
The article is also interesting in light of the recent posting on:
> indigenous peoples as caretakers.
and my earlier posting to > Slamming Eco-groups <.
Note that I am posing a summary of the article, and the
opinions and facts expressed in it are my interpretation of the
author's, and not necessarily my own opinions.
Chaplin notes in the article that while the Kuna have been
largely hailed for their work in setting up some of their
traditional lands, some 60,000 ha. of rainforest on Panama's
east coast, as a nature reserve, things aren't as rosy as
they've been made out to be.
***************************************************************
The initial plan for the Proyecto de Estudio para el Manejo de
Areas Silvestres de Kuna Yala (PEMASKY) was that the Kuna would
manage the project, utilising their traditional knowledge of
the ecology to ensure the reserve is well-run. It was to be a
model of co-operation between science and tradition, with
scientific research stations staffed by scientifically trained
Kuna guided by traditional elders, and contracted experts from
outside the tribe.
The problems Chaplin outlines is the failure of the hoped for
integration of science and tradition. Basically, he says that
Kuna involved in science research and park work pay little real
attention to traditions, and are often ignorant of either the
traditions themselves, or the background needed to understand
them. The Kuna have become culturally fragmented as a result of
western education and the incursion of western economics into
their culture. Children go to school instead of learning
practical ecology (hunting, fishing, farming, tracking) with
their fathers in the forest. After school, most prefer to play
basketball, and engage in other forms of "recreation".
Attempts to "contact Kuna roots" by the more educated involve
giving children Kuna names, demanding Kuna language classes and
courses in Kuna culture and history, taping chants, and
incorporating "mythical" themes into art, poetry, and theatre.
Attempts to integrate science and traditional ecological
knowledge have failed and been abandoned. Attempts to tape and
transcribe ritual life has also been abandoned. Attempts at
systematising traditional agroforestry have also died out.
Attempts to re-introduce the annual round of rituals where
villages no longer practice them have also failed. Attempts at
modern Kuna art have resulted in essentially European art with
Kuna window-dressing, e.g. theatre pieces might revolve around
a "florid romanticism that has no place in traditional Kuna
culture". (They are, nonetheless, popular and successful).
Basically, Chaplin says the failure comes because traditional
culture is a result of a synergy of impressions, actions,
experiences, and knowledge based on living entirely within the
culture from birth. Traditions, legends, and chants draw on
everyday experience of hunting, farming, and growing up in the
Kuna way. Within that context, and the context of life in a
village where there are an abundance of people, it makes sense
for a member or two from each family to devote their lives to
traditional sacred knowledge, which takes years to learn. In
the context of someone "studying Kuna culture", the process of
learning is too long and complex. People entering it at 20 or
25, simply don't have the background. Learning the sacred
traditions take far longer than going from high school to a PhD.
In addition, the fact that many children and young people are
leaving the village life for school, or to go to towns to work
(even if only for a while), complicate the situation. Families
no longer have an abundance of people, and everyone is needed
for production of food and other necessities. So, even in
traditional villages, the basis for tradition is being eroded.
Where villages are traditional, people see no need to preserve
culture, they simply live it. Where it is disappearing, people
have little impetus to re-establish it, since it would require
them to abandon their new ways. It is difficult to re-establish
in any case, because of structural changes to activities and
society.
The result is that the Kuna culture is being lost, although the
Kuna maintain control of their traditional lands. What is
"preserved", is increasingly preserved in the museum sense of
being pickled in formaldehyde, or in books and museums. The
PEMASKY research team is increasingly based in the bureaucratic
world of Panama City, rather than on the land, making
connections with tradition even more difficult for them.
In the closing, Chaplin says: "It may well be that the Kuna
will manage to preserve their social, political, and economic
autonomy for some time to come, and they will endure as a
group. But they may emerge with a social system that renders
much of the old world-view anachronistic and irrelevant.... A
new synthesis will surely emerge (between old traditions and
new way of life). But the core of the Kuna's rich expressive
culture, encompassing the collective history of the tribe and a
complex of beliefs relating to the way in which the universe
operates, can only be retained in the traditional setting. This
is disappearing rapidly."
"One crucial question relating directly to the work at
Nasugandi (the PEMASKY reserve station) remains: if the
traditional belief system disappears form their culture, will
the Kuna continue to treat the Earth and all its creatures with
the same respect? If the Kuna take on board the new ecological
ethic of Western scientific tradition, will it be able to
supplant the traditional beliefs and perform anything
approaching the same function?"
Mac Chaplin has been working with the Kuna since 1967, has
published a book on Kuna mythology, and is programme director
of Cultural Survival, Cambridge Massachusetts.
***************************************************************
I think this article raises a number of questions rather well.
- In going for native control, is it only as an interest
group within western socio-culture?
- Is it because they have some cultural claim for superior
sensitivity/responsibility?
- If the latter, to what extent does that depend on
retaining the culture?
- To what extent is "retaining culture" simply a way of
making native peoples into a "living museum" for study?
- If native people's opt for western economics, to what
extent is a call for environmental control on economic
activities justified?
Hopefully this will stimulate some debate directly on these
issues.
Dhanu