Historical dictionary of shamanism

ENVIRONMENTALISM

Environmentalism: translation

Shamans cannot strictly be identified as environmentalists because, asanimists, they are members of a large community of life rather than being surrounded by an impersonal environment or “nature.” However, the common indigenous requirement to be respectful and even humble in one’s relationships with all persons (humans as well asother-than-human persons) generally leads to ecologically responsible lifestyles. Shamans in many places are centrally concerned withresource management. In an important article entitled “From Cosmology to Environmentalism” (1995),Piers Vitebskyargues that at the same time as an “intensely local kind of knowledge [i.e., that of shamans] is being abandoned [in many indigenous cultures] in favour of various kinds of knowledge which are cosmopolitan and distance-led,” “shamanism” is being coopted to support environmentalist andtherapeuticprojects.He illustrates this with reference to the changing culture of theSoraofIndiaand theSakha(Yakut) ofSiberia. The Sora are increasingly exchanging their intensely local culture as they become linked into larger markets and contexts: for example, their crops become food and commodities, where they had once carriedancestral“souls.” The Sakha, however, are finding shamans and shamanism iconic in the evolution of a cultural and ethnic identity that fits the needs of their new republic.
All this illustrates and takes place within a larger context of a struggle between globalization (homogenization) and local diversity. It should not be reduced to or mistaken for a contrast betweenneoshamanic“appropriation” and indigenous decline. Indigenous shamans, in some places at least, are appropriating methods and idioms thatmayaid their peoples’ survival and even full participation in global affairs with some degree of autonomy and agency. However, environmentalists do often use representations of indigenous people (especiallyNative Americans) as icons to support their cause.
Vitebsky matches his list of four “key characteristics which [are] reasonable to see as distinctively shamanic” with an insight into the problematic reinvention of shamanism in environmentalist (and therapeutic) contexts. He argues that shamanism’s “localnature is coopted” but immediately relocates the environmentalist or therapist in new ways. Its “holisticnature is shattered,” but because it remains a “cardinal value,” it is replaced by the “weaker concept of globality.” Its “eristicnature suffers a variable fate in the new therapies [because they are “less gutsy”] . . . but becomes a driving force in the heroic side of environmental campaigning.” Finally, its “dissident, or anticentrist nature is likewise retained and enhanced (‘alternative’).” Vitebsky’s argument is supported by reference to the role-play by shamans and shamanism in the practice and discourse of environmental movements among indigenous peoples and in the West. Many activists in the anti-road and “social justice” (i.e., antiglobalization) movements identify as or with shamans.

  1. environmentalism—деятельность по охране окружающей среды природоохранная деятельность энвайронментализм...Англо-русский словарь по экологии
  2. environmentalism—environmentalism translation environmentalism UKu USu nvarmentsuplzsupm USu varmentsupl nounu [Uu] ENVIRONMENTu the study of the environment and the belief that it must...Financial and business terms
  3. environmentalism—environmentalism translation the politicization of concern for the environment and demands for action to protect and conserve it....Geography glossary
  4. environmentalism—Environmentalism translation As in most other European countries concern about the quality of the environment began to emerge in Italy in the s and early s. Overbuilding ...Historical Dictionary of modern Italy
  5. environmentalism—Environmentalism translation Organized Dutch nature protection started around . The Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland Dutch Society for the Maintena...Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands
  6. environmentalism—Environmentalism translation In a country where almost no civil societystrong developed outside the purview of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unionstrong the environme...Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation
  7. environmentalism—энвайронментализм учение об окружающей среде...Англо-русский словарь биологических терминов
  8. environmentalism—n движение в защиту окружающей среды...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  9. environmentalism—n .strong инвайронментализм социологический подход предполагающий анализ социальных реалий через призму среды их существования .strong социальное движение борющееся за ка...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  10. environmentalism—сущ.emstrong инвайронментализм социологический подход предполагающий анализ социальных реалий через призму среды их существования социальное движение борющееся за качеств...Англо-русский социологический словарь
  11. environmentalism—экон.u сущ.u движение в защиту окружающей среды социальное движение борющееся за качество окружающей средыem This research suggests that politicians who claim environment...Англо-русский универсальный дополнительный практический словарь И. Мостицкого
  12. environmentalism—сущ.энвайронментализм инвайронментализма соц. пол. теория согласно которой социальное и природное окружение в большей степени предопределяет поведение людей чем наследств...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  13. environmentalism—Движение за охрану окружающей среды. Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии....Краткий толковый словарь по полиграфии
  14. environmentalism—[nvarnmentlzm] nдвижение в защиту окружающей среды...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  15. environmentalism—environmentalism [nvarnmentlzm] ni движение в защиту окружающей среды...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  16. environmentalism—nvarnmentlzm n движение в защиту окружающей среды...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна