This year, the Idle No More movement called for Earth Day rallies to focus attention on the links between Indigenous issues and the environmental movement
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I noticed that too. I was thinking, what about the people who moved about? What was their experience of culture and roots and homeland and home? How does it differ from that of modern-day "civilized" migrants, or from European immigrants 300 years ago?
One thing that stands out to me is that it would have been more connected, culture-wise and people-wise. The migrations of bands/groups/tribes/cultures, as opposed to the migrations of individuals/families/parts-of-families.
The movement of immigrants to the early US and Canada were a mass of individuals, a horde of singular entities who while often having culture in common, had left their previous homeland in search of a better means of survival, abandoning a homeland where they were for the most part poor or otherwise lacking some important ingredient of what makes people thrive. In other words, they were ex-pats of a culture/society/homeland which had failed them in some fashion, and they discarded it to sail off into the unknown and seek out prosperity on an individual basis.
The original migrants of humanity, on the other hand, driven by climate change or population pressure, or perhaps warfare---something that threatened all in a group, rather than something that downgraded the welfare of some, would have generally done this moving out as a tribe, as a group, as a community, and they did so not seeking prosperity but seeking home---a place that would sustain them, a place where they could love and a place where they could settle down and live---as a culture.
There are various differences which in any one example could be more or less relevant, but in general I think it boils down to "home as the place of an individual" vs. "home as the place of a culture, of human connections," and "home as the place of your life" vs. "home as support staff to your (individual) prosperity."
Cultural roots and connections are part of what helps a home become permanent and valued; without that, it becomes easier to discard one home and replace it with another, better one, always moving on to something better and never valuing home as a concept in ways that might convince a person that what they've got is worth staying with and making into a place to set down a full set of roots.
One thing that stands out to me is that it would have been more connected, culture-wise and people-wise. The migrations of bands/groups/tribes/cultures, as opposed to the migrations of individuals/families/parts-of-families.
The movement of immigrants to the early US and Canada were a mass of individuals, a horde of singular entities who while often having culture in common, had left their previous homeland in search of a better means of survival, abandoning a homeland where they were for the most part poor or otherwise lacking some important ingredient of what makes people thrive. In other words, they were ex-pats of a culture/society/homeland which had failed them in some fashion, and they discarded it to sail off into the unknown and seek out prosperity on an individual basis.
The original migrants of humanity, on the other hand, driven by climate change or population pressure, or perhaps warfare---something that threatened all in a group, rather than something that downgraded the welfare of some, would have generally done this moving out as a tribe, as a group, as a community, and they did so not seeking prosperity but seeking home---a place that would sustain them, a place where they could love and a place where they could settle down and live---as a culture.
There are various differences which in any one example could be more or less relevant, but in general I think it boils down to "home as the place of an individual" vs. "home as the place of a culture, of human connections," and "home as the place of your life" vs. "home as support staff to your (individual) prosperity."
Cultural roots and connections are part of what helps a home become permanent and valued; without that, it becomes easier to discard one home and replace it with another, better one, always moving on to something better and never valuing home as a concept in ways that might convince a person that what they've got is worth staying with and making into a place to set down a full set of roots.
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