Brainstorm Week 9 - Emily Eckey

UW Professor Dian Million’s "Indigenous Matters" connects with the idea of buen vivir and Mother Earth by providing an overview of indigenous relations and holistic politics. Million discusses the relationships between indigenous concepts of place and ecologies and the idea of place-thought explaining, “Indigenous Knowledge cannot be separated from the people who hold and practice it, nor can it be separated from the land/environment/Creation” (Million 98). Million's understanding of place-thought is strongly connected with the ideas of buen vivir and La Pachamama discussed last week and centers around this idea of protecting the natural environment as a source of cultural knowledge and understanding. What Million defines as "place-thought” also leads to understanding place as sentient. This connection to both the land and environment allows indigenous people to continue their ancient traditions.

Ybarra’s article “Goodlife Writing” also relates to buen vivir in this way by discussing  how Latinas/os have sustained a mutual relation with the natural environment over many years through their values and practices, even when confronted with environmental injustice (Ybarra 4). Ybarra explicitly references the practice of buen vivir writing, “Goodlife writing embraces the values of simplicity, sustenance, dignity and respect” (Ybarra 4). These four values are key to expressing support of the environment and to focus on healing post European colonialism.