Cree Worldview “From the Inside”

Not all cultures in the world share the dominant Western view of a secularized, utilitarian, depersonalized nature. The existence of alternative views of the natural environment is important as part of the cultural heritage of humankind. This cultural diversity is akin to biodiversity as the raw material for evolutionarily adaptive responses (Gadgil 1987; Turner and Berkes 2006). Indigenous worldviews are diverse and different from the dominant Western worldview. This chapter provides a look into the worldview of one North American aboriginal group from the eastern Canadian boreal/subarctic.