1991 by Eugene Linden, Describes How Traditional

¶ … 1991 by Eugene Linden, describes how traditional knowledge and expertise are vanishing as tribes die out or are being lured to the technology-rich modern world.

Throughout the centuries, the long-established customs and rituals of indigenous peoples have served them well. They know how to navigate oceans, utilize the medicinal purposes of plants, and understand the ecology of harvesting. Much of this knowledge has already disappeared. Scientists from the western world viewed it as having little value. However, some modern scientists realize the importance of this knowledge and are working to preserve it.

Linden explains it as a voluntary crisis, one brought on, in large part, by the younger tribal members. It is the young tribe members who are entranced by the modern world and view the traditional ways as illegitimate and irrelevant. These young members are turning away from time-honored methods, thereby breaking the chain of oral traditions. As the young members leave the tribes for the vast fruits of modern society, they quickly forget the ways of their elders. Linden cites language as one example. "If a language disappears," Linden said, "traditional knowledge tends to vanish with it..."

The "price of forgetting," he added, is that the soul of the culture slowly dies and with that goes all the traditional knowledge, leaving behind only a shadow of a culture. This lack of knowledge has led to violence in cities and a population explosion as traditional methods of birth control have been forgotten.

When the young people move away from their tribes, they see a modern world they can't explain to their elders. And as they begin to lose their culture through their acceptance of the modern world, they often times lose their respect for their traditions.

Tribal members realize too late that they have something of value in their traditional rituals and methods. And as the elders die off, so to does the invaluable knowledge they possess.

Researchers and scientists who work out in the field with tribes are trying to salvage the traditional knowledge before it is all lost. Scientists are now looking beyond the myths and superstitions of tribes and seeing an abundance of information and data that must be preserved. The medicinal and nutritional value of plants, the traditional aspects of agriculture, and the rich variety of crops that are providing botanists with a wealth of genetic reservoir "from which to breed future varieties."

Anthropologists want to keep the traditional knowledge alive by promoting economic incentives that would protect the areas where tribes live. However, there are problems with this viewpoint, in that it will disrupt the natural way of life of these tribal members and destroy the integrity of the cultures.