Tribal metaphorization of human-nature relatedness

This chapter is a pilot extension of an argument advanced in a number of earlier papers (Bird-David 1990, 1992a, 1992b). These examined how the Nayaka (a tribal group in South India) relate metaphorically to their natural environment, and how their metaphors link with economic behaviour, thought and organization. Among other things, it was argued that the intrafamily caring relationship, especially the adult-child, constituted for the Nayaka a core metaphor, ¹ in terms of which they thought about their relatedness to the natural environment. ² Here, I further explore the broader claim ³ that the Nayaka illustrate a variation on a theme found globally, especially in cultures in which engagement with the natural environment by means of ‘hunting and gathering’ (shorthand for diverse ways of procuring what the environment gives; see Bird-David 1992b) is viewed as a significant part of the traditional way of life. Examples will include groups from among Australian Aborigines, North American Indians, Southern African Bushmen, Central African Pygmies and Asian Negrito. I argue that in all these cultures, human-nature relatedness is variously represented in terms of personal relatedness. ⁴ While the Nayaka, Mbuti and Batek draw extensively on ‘adultchild caring relatedness’ in representing their relatedness with the natural environment, the Canadian Cree draw extensively on ‘sexual relatedness’, Western Australian Aborigines on ‘procreational relatedness’, and the Bushmen on ‘name-sake’ relatedness. ⁵ Furthermore, I argue that some of the central cultural constructs of these cultural groups are systematic elaborations of their respective metaphorization of human-nature relatedness.