{"id":2594,"date":"2011-02-09T08:23:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T13:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=2594"},"modified":"2021-06-12T07:14:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T12:14:38","slug":"not-uncontacted-just-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/02\/09\/not-uncontacted-just-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Not ‘uncontacted,’ just ‘free’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fuss over Survival International’s “uncontacted tribes” (see my earlier piece<\/a>) hasn’t ceased — the Huffington Post<\/a> and others<\/a> continue to spread the original news largely uncritically. (William at the excellent Integral Options Cafe<\/a> shared that news, but has now kindly amended his post in response to my own comment regarding it.)<\/p>\n

Now Greg Downey at Neuroanthropology<\/a> has stepped in to clarify things in much greater detail than I could possibly have done. His \u2018The last free people on the planet\u2019<\/a> is a very well balanced and informative summary which, while it raises the question of what it means to be “free” and especially “last,” renders the issue much more understandable.<\/p>\n

There’s a part of me that hopes this will be the last word on the topic. But of course that’s the problem — it shouldn’t be the last<\/em> of anything. Freedom, including freedom “from civilization” (as technological societies like to characterize themselves), should remain an option for as long as there remain people on the planet.<\/p>\n

In his 2008 Seed<\/em> article<\/a>, Downey had summarized the matter well:<\/p>\n

“The crucial issue raised by these photos of a remote group isolated from our society is not whether, in an age of worldwide connectivity, surveillance satellites, and explosive population growth, we might still have undiscovered neighbors on a shrinking globe\u2009\u2014\u2009we don\u2019t. In fact, one of [Brazilian Indian Affairs spokesperson] Meirelles\u2019s friends first noticed the clearing where the tribe was found while browsing Google Earth.<\/p>\n

“In truth, our reactions to and perceptions of these people reveal far more about us than about them. We easily believe that a band of hostile Indians confronting an airplane from a clearing do so out of ignorance and fear. But the likely truth is harder to face: The tribe might have threatened the observers precisely because they had encountered some of the worst aspects of our culture before, and suffered grievously. These images of a people courageously standing against us are not symbols of their ignorance, but of ours.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fuss over Survival International’s “uncontacted tribes” (see my earlier piece) hasn’t ceased — the Huffington Post and others continue to spread the original news largely uncritically. (William at the excellent Integral Options Cafe shared that news, but has now kindly amended his post in response to my own comment regarding it.) Now Greg Downey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[17806,454990,17805,16860,17804],"class_list":["post-2594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-amazon","tag-decolonization","tag-fourth-world","tag-indigenous","tag-uncontacted-tribes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-FQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2546,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/02\/05\/first-contact-again-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":0},"title":"First contact (again & again)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to the \"Jungles\" segment of BBC's Human Planet series, Survival International's photos of an \"uncontacted tribe\" in the Amazon are making the rounds once again -- see Environmental Graffiti's \"Images of the Last Uncontacted Tribe on Earth\", Ron Burnett's \"Never Before Seen Footage of an Amazonian Tribe,\" and MSNBC's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Amazon\"","block_context":{"text":"Amazon","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/tag\/amazon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2011\/02\/uncontacted.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13296,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/12\/22\/indigenous-identity-vermont-an-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":1},"title":"Indigenous identity & Vermont: an update, updated","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a follow-up to a series of posts shared here on the topic of Indigenous identity, allyship, and the situation in my local state of Vermont. The first three can be found here: titled \"Reindigenization and allyship: starting points,\" \"Reindigenization & allyship, part 2,\" and \"Reindigenization & allyship, part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/05\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11762,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2021\/05\/03\/how-decolonizing-science-makes-for-better-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":2},"title":"How decolonizing science makes for better science","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Two new publications -- one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the other in The Atlantic -- help make a point that critics of the \"Anthropocene\" (the name, not the geological designation) have been making for years: that it's not humanity that is somehow at fault\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Science & society"","block_context":{"text":"Science & society","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/TWcyIpul8OE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1240,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/04\/13\/the-remainder\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":3},"title":"the remainder…","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"For an indication of why I'm interested in the \u201cmore\u201d that object-oriented philosophers grapple with, the \u201cremainder\u201d beyond what can be accounted for of an object or phenomenon through relational accounts, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few paragraphs from my 2001 book Claiming Sacred Ground. On\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/05\/08\/cape-winds-next-gen-ecology\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":4},"title":"Cape Wind’s next-gen ecology","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"How refreshing to be finally moving into the era of green-green conflicts -- ecological controversies in which both sides claim to be defending what we used to call \"nature\" (or \"the ecology\") and both actually make a good case for it. The Cape Wind energy project presages the kind of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eco-culture"","block_context":{"text":"Eco-culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecoculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"istock-offshore-wind-.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2010\/05\/istock-offshore-wind-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12939,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/09\/21\/reindigenization-allyship-part-3-on-getting-it-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":5},"title":"Reindigenization & allyship, part 3: On getting it right","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is the third in a series on the topic of Indigenous identity, universities, and processes of (re-)indigenization. Part 1 can be read here; Part 2, here. While the following is most relevant to the case of Vermont, I hope it can also contribute to a broader consideration of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural politics"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural politics","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cultural_politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.28.52-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.28.52-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.28.52-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/09\/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.28.52-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2594"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11945,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions\/11945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}