Table Of ContentENVIRONMENT AND BELIEF SYSTEMS
Part of the series Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies, this book focuses on the concepts
that recur in any discussion of nature, culture and society among the indigenous.
T he book, the first in a five-volume series, deals with the two crucial concepts
of environment and belief systems of indigenous peoples from all the continents of the
world. With contributions from renowned scholars, activists and experts from around
the globe, it presents a salient picture of the environments of indigenous peoples and
discusses the essential features of their belief systems. It explores indigenous perspectives
related to religion, ritual and cultural practice, art and design, and natural resources, as
well as climate change impacts among such communities in Latin and North America,
Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands), India, Brazil, Southeast
Asia and Africa.
B ringing together academic insights and experiences from the ground, this unique
book’s wide coverage will serve as a comprehensive guide for students, teachers and
scholars of indigenous studies. It will be essential reading for those in anthropology,
social anthropology, sociology and social exclusion studies, religion and theology, and
cultural studies, as well as activists working with indigenous communities.
G .N. Devy is Honorary Professor, Centre for Multidisciplinary Development Research,
Dharwad, India, and Chairman, People’s Linguistic Survey of India. An award-winning
writer and cultural activist, he is known for his 50-volume language survey. He is
Founder Director of the Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh in Gujarat, India, and was formerly
Professor of English at M. S. University of Baroda. He is the recipient of the Sahitya
Akademi Award, Linguapax Prize, Prince Claus Award and Padma Shri. With several
books in English, Marathi and Gujarati, he has co-edited (with Geoffrey V. Davis and
K. K. Chakravarty) Narrating Nomadism: Tales of Recovery and Resistance (2012); Knowing
Differently: The Challenge of the Indigenous (2013); P erforming Identities: Celebrating Indigeneity
in the Arts (2014); and T he Language Loss of the Indigenous (2016), published by Routledge.
Key Concepts in Indigenous Studies
Series Editor: G. N. Devy
Honorary Professor, Centre for Multidisciplinary Development Research,
Dharwad, India, and Chairman, People’s Linguistic Survey of India
This series of volumes offers the most systematic and foundational literature
available to date for use by undergraduate and postgraduate students of indig-
enous studies. It brings together essays by experts from across the globe on con-
cepts forming the bedrock of this rapidly growing field in five focused volumes:
Environment and Belief Systems (Vol. 1); Gender and Rights (Vol. 2); Indigeneity and
Nation (Vol. 3); Orality and Language (Vol. 4); and P erformance and Knowledge (Vol.
5). These contain short, informative and easily accessible essays on the perspec-
tives of indigenous communities from all continents of the world. The essays
are written specifically for an international audience. They thus allow drawing
of transnational and cross-cultural parallels, and form useful material as text-
books as well as texts for general readership. Introducing a new orientation to
traditional anthropology with comprehensive and in-depth studies, the volumes
foreground knowledge traditions and praxis of indigenous communities.
E nvironment and Belief Systems
E dited by G. N. Devy
G ender and Rights
E dited by G. N. Devy
I ndigeneity and Nation
E dited by G. N. Devy
O rality and Language
E dited by G. N. Devy
Performance and Knowledge
Edited by G. N. Devy
F or more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Key-Concepts-in-Indigenous-Studies/book-series/KCIS
ENVIRONMENT AND
BELIEF SYSTEMS
Edited by G. N. Devy
F irst published 2021
b y Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
a nd by Routledge
5 2 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
R outledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, G. N. Devy; individual chapters,
the contributors
T he right of G. N. Devy to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A ll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-24517-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-41018-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-81427-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This volume and four others in this Key Concepts in
Indigenous Studies series are dedicated to the memory of
Geoffrey Davis, a life-long friend of the indigenous and
the marginalized, formerly Professor of English at RWTH,
Aachen, Germany, and Chairperson, Association of
Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, whom
I knew as a friend for over three decades, with whom I
collaborated on several intellectual projects and who would
have been co-editor for this series but for his unexpected
demise before the work was completed.
CONTENTS
List of figures ix
Notes on contributors xi
P reface xiii
A cknowledgements xvii
Introduction 1
G . N. Devy
1 Ritual and cultural practice among Indian adivasis 10
A rchana Prasad
2 Forests now speak English: the indigenous at odds
with the state 31
G . N. Devy
3 Indigenous peoples and the Great Lakes in North America 38
D eborah McGregor
4 Indigenous art, resilience and climate change: Australia,
Aotearoa New Zealand and Samoa 57
T racey Benson, Lee Joachim, Huhana Smith, Penny Allan,
Martin Bryant, Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni, Penehuro Fatu Lefale
and Charles Dawson
viii Contents
5 Indigenous religions of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
and the South Pacific Islands 91
James L. Cox
6 Indigeneity, the environment and Africa: some key concepts
from the /Xam of southern Africa 115
M ichael Wessels
7 Can there be religions without belief? Religion in
Latin America 135
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
8 Indigenous peoples and the environment: views from Brazil 167
Seth Garfield
Index 190
FIGURES
4.1 Lake Barmah. Still image from video “Words for Water: Stage 1.” 60
4.2 Map of the Clarence River catchment area showing the main
drainage lines and key geological features. Inset shows area location
in northern New South Wales (1:500 000 scale map), Australian
Geological Survey Organisation, Canberra. 63
4.3 Whakapapa connects land and people. Hīkoi is the journey
through the land with people. Kōrero tuku iho or oral narratives
are ways of telling the story of the past for the future. 67
4.4 The large tidal estuary of Kuku Ōhau towards Waikawa, with
its changing dunes, rivers and flood plains – the human memories
held within represent whakapapa. 68
4 .5 Detail of consolidated data for the first Wai o Papa window
exhibition. 70
4.6 Maramataka exhibition at Te Aro site, Victoria University,
Wellington. 70
4.7 One of the dairy sheds before clean-up. 71
4.8 Close-up of main sea level rise maps in the Hīkoi -themed
dairy shed. 72
4.9 Thresholds in the Kōrero Tuku Iho or oral narratives shed. 73
4.10 Views into the exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum, Lower
Hutt, Wellington. 74
4.11 Samoa and American Samoa. 77
4.12 Traditional Samoan fale with thatched roof and stone foundation. 79
4.13 Example of fale palagi or European-designed houses in Samoa,
in Vaitele Uta, a non-traditional village in the Faleata district. 80
4.14 A cluster of contemporary Samoan f ale . 80
