Close reading: Nature by Luther Standing Bear
Since the industrial revolution in the late eighteenth century, a western style of modernity has been adopted. This has led to a critical traction in environmental humanities due to the unforeseen ecological consequences of the progress of modernity. Standing Bear shows readers the importance of ecological awareness and the kinship that exists between humans, earth, animals, and plants. In the first lines of the text, Standing Bear draws attention to the sacred connection that exists between the Native American tribe Lakota and nature, by noting how they are “true naturists” and “lovers of Nature” (327). This is combined with the love for the earth and “all things of earth, the attachment growing with age” (Standing Bear, 327). The kinship of humanity, nature and earth are interconnected and powerful. These emotions are further accentuated by the inclination of the tribe to feel close to the soil and the mother power of the earth which leads the people to let their “bare feet on the sacred earth” (Standing Bear, 327). Standing Bear produces these intense images and feelings to achieve the spirituality of the tribe which opens up a new world to the reader. By showing these emotions, readers can see the outcomes of being connected to earth.
The trauma created by human civilisation on earth calls attention to the Anthropocene as an essentially “dialectical concept” (Ford, 65). This requires people to think together about what has been mainly understood about the distinct orders of being. Similarly, to the concept of Anthropocide, when exploring the Anthropocene’s unprecedented conflations of natural process and human history, a challenge of existing forms of historical understanding is brought to one’s attention. Both Anthropocide and the Anthropocene requires people such as historians to “to mix together the immiscible chronologies of capital and species history” (Chakrabarty, 220). In Nature, Standing Bear explains the values and beliefs of the Lakota tribe and how a close relationship with Mother Nature is essential when embracing nature spiritually. This is exemplified in the lines, “the animal had rights – the right of man’s protection, the right to live, the right to multiply, the right to free, and the right to man’s indebtedness – and in recognition of these rights the Lakota never enslaved the animal and spared all life that was not needed for food and clothing” (Standing Bear, 328). Standing Bear uses repetition of the word “right” to stress the importance of understanding how the lives of animals are being impacted by mankind’s relationship with them. Moreover, Standing Bear touches on the idea of being unified as a community amongst nature’s animals, plants, the soil, and other people to understand and gain ecological awareness to intrinsically become part of nature. Since humans and animals share common traits, a hierarchical relationship should be removed to create these connections. Through these interconnections and by treating animals as fairly as humans alike the Lakota tribe, all lives part of earth will be appreciated.
Since the rise of modernity, nature has been transformed in ways such as private property and exploited for capitalist production and consumption. Animals are subjected to the most drastic danger and threat, leading to the extinction of numerous species. Standing Bear challenges ideas of ethnocentrism to enrich readers understanding of nature through the Lakota tribe’s values and ethics. This is juxtaposed in the text with how a Eurocentric perspective impacts how one interacts with the world, “I have come to know that the white mind does not feel toward nature as does the Indian mind, and it is because, I believe, of the difference in childhood instruction” (Standing Bear, 328). In these lines, the cultural differences between the social groups are highlighted to show through the cultivation of knowledge, one’s perceptions can be drastically changed. Standing Bear further criticises the Eurocentric view and their actions, “I have often noticed white boys gathered in a city by-street or alley jostling and pushing one another in foolish manner. They spend much time in this aimless fashion, their natural faculties neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling the varied life that surrounds them” (328). Following this negative perception, Standing Bear condemns the actions of them, noting their inattentiveness to their natural skills which are used to see life in nature. These comparisons indicate how a Eurocentric view only allows nature to be perceived as wilderness and something that can sustain life. However, when recognising nature using the Lakota tribe’s values and instruction, an individual can embrace a unique sense of life that is only seen in the natural landscape.
In essence, Standing Bear encapsulates the Anthropocide’s crucial values when discussing about the reality of humanity. Through a sensitive and proactive perspective, change can occur for the future. Importantly, Standing Bear outlines how the categories of natural and unnatural can be harmful when seeking relationships with nature. By removing this hierarchical relationship, humanity can establish premises that are ontological and egalitarian.
References:
Bristow, Tom, and Thomas H. Ford. A Cultural History of Climate Change. Routledge, 2016.
Dipesh Chakrabarty. “The Climate of History: Four Theses.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 2, The University of Chicago Press, 2009, pp. 197–222, doi:10.1086/596640.
Luther Standing Bear. “Nature.” Land of the Spotted Eagle, University of Nebraska, 1933.
Thomas H. Ford. “Aura in the Anthropocene.” Symploke (Bloomington, Ind.), vol. 21, no. 1-2, University of Nebraska Press, 2013, pp. 65–82, doi:10.5250/symploke.21.1-2.0065.