Indigenous peoples' ways of life and the environment: an ecofeminist authority assertion

Abstract

What is the ecological value of the indigenous ways of life? For several years now, there has been a widespread conviction, at the institutional and academic levels, that indigenous or native ways of life are a resource for biodiversity conservation. In contrast to this idea, which leads to strategies with significant implicit dangers, this article defends the thesis that the way of life of the original peoples is a valuable experience that contributes to enhance the necessary wisdom to sustain those actions aimed to genuinely repair the current fracture between humanity and nature. With this in mind, the author explores ecofeminist proposals that offer grounds for acknowledging authority over experiences that have remained at the periphery of the modern mainstream: precisely those that are carried out by indigenous peoples.