Arhuacos Way of Life: An Indigenous Perspective on Nature and Degrowth
Abstract
We are living in an age of ecological destruction. Our planet's ecosystems are changing rapidly due torising global temperatures. The effects of the climate crisis are already evident on every continent, andclimate change is now considered the most significant health threat facing humanity. The globalcommunity is looking for solutions and alternative ways to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. Inthis context, it is worth asking whether it is possible to find solutions within the same epistemology thatcontributed to creating the problem in the first place. Within Western epistemology, dualistic andreductive thinking have made it easier to think of nature as an object, a "resource" that can be extractedand put into a process where economic growth is the end goal. Conversely, in the Sierra Nevada de SantaMarta in Colombia, the Arhuacos and three other indigenous groups have a different way of relating tonature, which includes a notion of responsibility for the environmental protection of the mountain range.Believing in the interconnectedness between all beings, the Arhuacos regard the Sierra Nevada as "theheart of the world," on which all the planet's beings depend for their well-being.
Based on 2.5 months of fieldwork in Santa Marta in the autumn of 2021, this thesis seeks to analyzeArhuaco's relation to nature and explores whether Arhuaco knowledge coincides or diverges with thedegrowth movement, a movement closely rooted in anti-colonial perspectives, sharing many of thedemands of social movements in the global South. The study aims to contribute to the research fieldconcerning indigenous people’s connection to the natural world and bring light to different ways ofperceiving human-nature relations. Findings from the research analyzes Arhuaco's relation to naturefrom three perspectives: (1) Nature in daily life, (2) Nature as sacred ensuing responsibility, and (3)Nature as identity. The thesis demonstrates that Arhuaco's perspectives and the degrowth movementalign in the following aspects: (1) A belief in ecosystems' inherent value, (2) Critiques of uniformizationof culture, and (3) Critiques of growth. The central tension between the two perspectives is the separationof nature and culture in the degrowth movement.