Ecology and Development as Narrative Themes of World History

Abstract

Primal' Narrative The stories told in primal communities are the earliest form of world history. They constitute the ancestral tradition of humankind before writing, before rationalistic criticism, and before the inquiry that historians call history. One of the most notable characteristics of these stories is the prominent place they give to natural beings: to animals, plants, and parts of the world that the modern mind regards as non-living things, such as rivers, winds, mountains, and stars. For example, in their ancient story of origins, the elders of the Navajo Indians recounted that the female reed plant helped the people when they needed to climb up to this Earth from an underworld through a hole in the ground, which is the sky of the world beneath. She was the only plant that could grow tall enough, after several others had failed. The people were led by the cicada, an insect that emerges from under the soil in the spring. Upon entering this upper glittering world, the people received advice and help from Spider Woman, who taught them how to weave thread into cloth. Changing