Preserving the Indigenous Way of Life

Around the world there exist pockets of indigenous people — from the Matsés of Peru to the Pitjantjatjara of Australia. These tribes have managed to survive thousands of years virtually untouched by mainstream society and technology. Why should we work to preserve the unique ways of life for indigenous people? The following explores why…

1) To preserve their culture / lifestyle.

Each of these tribes subscribes to specific rules and laws that were established hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. By helping them preserve their values, we are helping to maintain this unique way of life. Any culture deserves the right to maintain their lifestyle, especially one that is so resilient.

2) We owe them autonomy

Many are making very conscious decisions not to integrate into modern society and are very strongly opposing logging, development, and displacement in or near their settlements. Bruce Parry, the leader of the series “Tribe,” wrote, “Tribe is also about how indigenous communities round the world are under threat from disease, human rights abuse, water and land rights and marginalisation from nation states and corporations.”

Because they have chosen to maintain their autonomy and adhere to their sets of values, we owe them the ability to be apart from their neighbouring societies/nation states. Further, as members of a thriving and active international community we are obligated to protect the weakest members in their quests for self-sufficiency, in the face of global corporations and aggressive governments.

3) Education

The most selfish reason to preserve the current indigenous ways of life is for our personal knowledge. By studying their way of life, we often can learn some things about our development as a species.

As Bruce Parry has noted, “These lessons have come about from looking at our own culture through fresh eyes.” He has learned to work through his preconceptions concerning all aspects of his life, this “fresh view” owes to his experience visiting these ancient societies.

By looking at ourselves in a new light, we realize that all societies perform acts that seem bizarre to outsiders. We also can assess what activities we do that could be improved or are completely without sense. At the end of the day, by studying different societies, we learn to appreciate our own more fully.

Tags: Bruce Parry Tribes television program, How to visit tribes like Bruce Parry, I want to know more about Bruce Parry, Who is Bruce Parry