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the-south-asian.com March 2001 |
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Page 5 of 5
Reflections on Traditional Cultures - their wisdom and challenges by ISABEL ALLENDE
IT WOULD BE NAIVE to suggest that at the threshold of the year 2000, when the pace of life is every day faster and more intense, we should go back to the tribal traditions and large families as the solution to individual isolation and the cruelties of our social system. Most members of indigenous and endangered cultures live for generations in the same spot; we are constantly on the move. It is estimated that Americans move - often out of state - an average of every five years. We lack the 'sense of place' that characterizes indigenous peoples, and this is not something we can acquire artificially, by simply willing it. But now that it is lost to us, we should at least admire it and try to preserve it in other societies.
ALTHOUGH THERE ARE many positive aspects of these cultures, we should not ignore the problems. As a woman, I am horrified at the treatment my sisters receive in some tribes: they suffer genital mutilation; their fingers are amputated in mourning rituals for dead relatives; they are sold as slaves; they are beaten in male-initiation rites; they are forbidden to marry again if widowed, to be educated, to possess goods, even to move about freely. There are more women who have never gone farther than a hundred meters in any direction from their huts, others who spend their lives shrouded from head to foot in a mantle with only a hole at the level of their eyes. Everywhere in the world, women are the poorest of the poor.
I COME FROM A LARGE FAMILY in which interpersonal connections are very strong. I grew up following a strict code of honor, within a system of traditions that today is considered antiquated. It was expected that each member of the family would be responsible for others; that no one would move up without helping those left behind; that no one would run the risk of doing anything that would stain the honor of our name. We had the responsibility to look out for anyone who shared our blood, even if the relationship was a distant one. Now that I live in the United States, I can see that this is not always an advantage. To develop my personality fully, I had to abandon my 'tribe' and my 'village'. In my case, the terms are exaggerated, but they illustrate my point. During the time that I was watched over and directed by my relatives, always fulfilling my duties as a daughter, mother, wife, sister, even as the eldest grandchild of my grandfather, I could not really break loose and fly. Despite my rebellion against the patriarchal system into which I was born, I would never have cut myself off from my family voluntarily. It took a military coup that unleashed brutal repression to cause me to leave my country. Alone, without roots and in a foreign land, I tested my creativity for the first time and found within me a strength I did not know I possessed. My calling as a writer was born of exile. By offering this personal example, I want to illustrate that the system of community, which has managed to preserve the indigenous and endangered cultures has the drawback of limiting personal aspirations and freedoms.
UNFORTUNATELY, all too frequently indigenous peoples and endangered groups, because they are marginalized by modern society and because they lack political or economic power, are prey to the greed and negligence of governments and corporations who consider them irrelevant. As a consequence, these people are subjected to the worst abuses of human rights; their villages and temples are destroyed; their lands are invaded; their freedom is taken from them; they are subjected to every humiliation and form of violence; they are obliged to abandon their customs, their languages, and often their religious beliefs and to become refugees and beggars. Day after day, these people are losing the battle to preserve their identities. Day after day, the human race is losing another portion of the diversity that has been the source of its strength and resiliency.
IF I HAD MY UNCLE'S crystal ball and could see into the future, I would wish for the next millennium to be an era of peace. Bending over the crystalline sphere, I would hope for a world in which there is a true community of peoples, nations, and tribes, where human rights apply to all. I would hope for a future when we will beautify the earth, this magnificent blue marble dancing through the astral space in which it is our fate to live. The richness of the human race lies in its diversity. Progress is not based on uniformity; rather, the opposite is true: the preservation of diverse cultures brings progress. Life is pluralism, distinctness, transformation. Only death is the same for all. ______________________
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