07-24-2018, 09:31 AM
I would argue somewhat differently on all of our modern day cultural practitioners - based on the underlying (community) purpose of showing respect for traditional practices. Presumably, we show respect for those practices primarily because they are the vestiges of beliefs and understanding of the environment and human interactions by a prior culture even though those practices are not an integral part of modern life. An analogue would be, say, the Victorian houses of San Francisco - they aren't energy efficient, the rooms are cramped and poorly lit with natural light, the plumbing is questionable and not always reliable, whereas a modern building could do everything that they do with greater comfort and a lower energy demand - but we preserve them as a cultural artifact of a different age.
The traditions and beliefs can also be "mined" for useful information about the culture - the Pele chants being a record of past eruptions - or using the practices and beliefs to try to track the early people back to their origins.
However, if we accept and allow propagation of false cultural practices, those can easily overshadow and possibly obliterate the true ancient beliefs - a case in point: it's been pretty well validated that the cultural prohibition from removing lava rocks from the volcano was something completely made up by National Park rangers forty or fifty years ago - yet the young Hawaiian children now believe that this was an authentic cultural practice from ancient times.
In my opinion, these modern activist cultural practitioners are doing real harm to the culture that they are supposedly protecting - and doing that harm for entirely self-serving purposes. IF they respected their traditions and their original culture, they would do their best to portray it in as accurate a way as they can and only when and where those practices were applied. Making ad hoc claims of this or that being against their culture, or required by their culture, just so that they can get what they want, will ultimately result in diminishing of interest in preserving the culture.
It is also an unfortunate side effect of the "identity politics" that has become so popular recently....
The traditions and beliefs can also be "mined" for useful information about the culture - the Pele chants being a record of past eruptions - or using the practices and beliefs to try to track the early people back to their origins.
However, if we accept and allow propagation of false cultural practices, those can easily overshadow and possibly obliterate the true ancient beliefs - a case in point: it's been pretty well validated that the cultural prohibition from removing lava rocks from the volcano was something completely made up by National Park rangers forty or fifty years ago - yet the young Hawaiian children now believe that this was an authentic cultural practice from ancient times.
In my opinion, these modern activist cultural practitioners are doing real harm to the culture that they are supposedly protecting - and doing that harm for entirely self-serving purposes. IF they respected their traditions and their original culture, they would do their best to portray it in as accurate a way as they can and only when and where those practices were applied. Making ad hoc claims of this or that being against their culture, or required by their culture, just so that they can get what they want, will ultimately result in diminishing of interest in preserving the culture.
It is also an unfortunate side effect of the "identity politics" that has become so popular recently....