عنوان

Sacred Sites as a Threat to Environmental Justice?

Number

LA129723

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Sacred Sites as a Threat to Environmental Justice?

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Mark S. Cladis

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

I explore the intersection of environmental spirituality and environmental justice with special attention given to indigenous ecologies. Indigenous communities often employ the language of discrete "sacred sites" to protect portions of their lands from environmental harm. However, the concept of the sacred in Western traditions is typically accompanied by its binary opposite, the profane. Do protected sacred sites implicitly license harm to such "profane" sites as low-income sacrifice zones? Is environmental spirituality in tension with environmental justice? After explicating this problem, I resolve it by exploring indigenous notions of the sacred-notions that are not binary. Indigenous notions allow for treating some discrete lands as places of special power and healing while still maintaining that all lands are sacred and worthy of environmental protection. These are not hierarchical notions of the sacred but variegated ones (or what I call hózhó sacred weaves). I explore the intersection of environmental spirituality and environmental justice with special attention given to indigenous ecologies. Indigenous communities often employ the language of discrete "sacred sites" to protect portions of their lands from environmental harm. However, the concept of the sacred in Western traditions is typically accompanied by its binary opposite, the profane. Do protected sacred sites implicitly license harm to such "profane" sites as low-income sacrifice zones? Is environmental spirituality in tension with environmental justice? After explicating this problem, I resolve it by exploring indigenous notions of the sacred-notions that are not binary. Indigenous notions allow for treating some discrete lands as places of special power and healing while still maintaining that all lands are sacred and worthy of environmental protection. These are not hierarchical notions of the sacred but variegated ones (or what I call hózhó sacred weaves).

Date of Publication

2019

Physical description

132-153

Title

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

Volume Number

23/2

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5357

Subject Term

environmental justice

Subject Term

environmental spirituality

Subject Term

indigenous ecology

Subject Term

Native American and indigenous religions

Subject Term

religion

Subject Term

sacred geography

Subject Term

sacred mountains

Subject Term

sacred sites

Mark S. Cladis

Call Number

10.1163/15685357-02302001

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y