Essay - Lost Tribes, Lost Knowledge This Article, Written in 1991 by...

Lost Tribes, Lost Knowledge

This article, written in 1991 by Eugene L*****den, describes how traditional knowledge and expertise are vanishing as tribes die out or are being lured to the technology-rich modern world.

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

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

The "price of forgetting," he added, is that the soul of ***** culture slowly dies and with that goes all the traditional *****, leaving behind only a shadow of a *****. Th***** lack of knowledge h***** led ***** violence in cities and a popul*****tion 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 ***** begin to lose ***** culture through their acceptance ***** the modern world, they often times lose their respect for their traditions.

Tribal members realize *****o late that they have *****thing of value in ***** traditional rituals and methods. And as the elders die off, so to does the invaluable ***** *****y possess.

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

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

Linden *****, "Preserving tribal wisdom is as much an *****sue of restoring respect for ***** ways as it is of creating financial incentives." There are several scientists ***** researchers who are now working to bring back honor and respect the elder tribes members once had w*****h