Dear Jinan,
On a research list, it is reasonable to expect that one should post responsible, evidence-based assertions. I downloaded and read the paper, “Redefining sustainability based on the paradigm of indigenous cultures.” There is too much wrong with this paper to allow corrections in a brief comment. What is possible is to offer a broad response on the overall tone of your claims.
The aspirations and political ideology that you espouse are admirable. Nevertheless, many of your factual assertions are wrong. You make many sweeping claims about ALL indigenous cultures with no evidence to support these assertions.
There have been indigenous cultures that were wasteful and unsustainable. Those cultures collapsed. And local indigenous solutions will not solve the massive problems created by the global industrial economy.
One of the main differences between unsustainable indigenous cultures and the unsustainable global industrial economy is simple. Unsustainable indigenous cultures collapse on a local or regional basis. The unsustainable global industrial economy threatens the future of the entire human species on our planet, and it threatens many other species that share the planet with us.
Consider one example. There is no way that local reuse of plastics for toys and tools in any one place can remedy the plastic polluting the oceans or reduce the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The notion that there is no word for the concept of waste in indigenous communities is false. There are numerous examples of indigenous people expressing views on waste and sustainability. The past century and a half provides evidence of many statements on the failure of industrial culture to respect the balance of nature by members of indigenous communities. You apparently haven’t been aware of this.
You sign your posts with the motto, “Text distorts, digital destroys…” I’m assuming from this that you don’t read the books and journals that carefully document the history, pre-history, culture, archaeology, and languages of indigenous cultures. From the fact that you offer no evidence for the assertions in your draft paper, I’m assuming that you don’t have an interest in careful research on the ideas you develop. These assumptions may be wrong, but you seem to believe that you’ve come to a universal understanding of history, pre-history, and culture through intuitive awareness based on your personal observations of the world where you live.
You may be right about the world where you live. This is insufficient to permit the sweeping claims you make about all indigenous cultures everywhere in the world in present times and in the past. Some indigenous cultures did indeed collapse due to their unsustainable ways. And other indigenous cultures explicitly addressed the problem of waste. But if you do not know how to observe or to correct for confirmation bias, it may even be the case that you are wrong about the world where you live. There is no way to know from what you write: you simply state your beliefs.
There is a great deal to learn from indigenous cultures. We don’t learn what indigenous cultures have to teach us by neglecting history.
There are many examples of indigenous scholars, researchers, advocates, and leaders who speak for their own cultures and their own people. To learn what indigenous cultures have to teach us, we must read what they write for themselves.
To claim that “text distorts” is mistaken and simplistic.
One expects better of anyone who posts to a research list focused on doctoral education.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Eminent Scholar | College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning | University of Cincinnati ||| Email [log in to unmask] | Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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