Nature and the native

Author:

Vasko Timothy Bowers1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Barnard College of Columbia University, USA

Abstract

Critics of climate collapse and colonization in the Americas rightly identify the origin of these twin crises in early modern political theologies. They seek to combat these crises with new political theologies of nature that pay greater reverence to “native” peoples’ ecological knowledge. But in doing so, these critics subtly, perhaps unwittingly, recall elements of the colonial power they criticize. I explain why this is the case, examining Bartolomé de Las Casas’s use of naturales in his critiques of Spanish Conquest, and Thomas Harriot’s use of naturall inhabitants in his writing on English colonization to describe “native” Americans. Both authors aimed to promote politico-theological reverence for “native” peoples and their relationships with “nature.” This set into motion a productive form of power operating in modern political theologies. This power works by legitimizing the European-Christian presence in the Americas through their ability to recognize, respect, and protect “native” relationships with “nature.”

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Religious studies

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Samson Occom;Relig Culture Public;2023-11-06

2. Power, Profit, and Prometheanism, Part II;Journal of World-Systems Research;2023-08-22

3. Indigenous Religious Traditions and the Limits of White Supremacy;Pacific Historical Review;2023

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