Nez Perce Place and TEK

Yesterday I remember Professor Pena talking about place and the environment. That picture he posted on the PowerPoint slide was so beautiful and reminded me of an essay I read by Benedict J. Colombi titled "Salmon Nation: Climate Change and Tribal Sovereignty" from Susan Crate and Mark Nuttal's book Anthropology & Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions.
As Nazila mentioned in her previous post, TEK is endangered of being lost. Notions of place are constantly shifting and with impacts from globalization lead to regional impacts. Colombi explains that these impacts have the "overwhelming potential to change Nez Perce homelands and sense of place, as well as transform contemporary political, legal, and economic contexts. A changing river, changing salmon returns, and how people respond to them, all contribute to changing ideas and understandings of place."
The degradation of ecosystems, dramatic human environmental change to native habitat, hydroelectric dams, irrigation projects, and less snow pack every year is devastating for the Nez Perce. The Columbia River salmon fishery is slowly being destroyed because of loss of habitat due to the impacts just mentioned. "The Nez Perce (niimiipuu) story is about water, land, salmon, game, and roots. Theses are the ideological and material foundations from which Nez Perce built their indigenous culture. Without these ideological and material foundation, Nez Perce creation is nonexistent. Thus, Nex Perce respond to these traditional forms of natural resources with prayer and contemporary reverence... Nez Perce stories and the history of kin relations and community are also tied to salmon and water, with individual and collective identities vested in symbolic and material sources of salmon, places to fish for salmon, and water in the Columbia Basin. Nez Perce develop relations and identity in regard to family, band, tribe, and their relation to land, water, and salmon. Social cohesion and basic values are therefore enhanced and governed by these aforementioned relations."
The physical world, water, and salmon are all interdependent and helps shape the human experience, relationships and how humans shape the natural history of an area. Social and environmental justice in response to these local effects requires effective participation and organization in the areas that have power. TEK is important to recognize patterns for every season, but with a rapidly changing climate and environment, TEK may become less and less reliable.

Source:
Crate, Susan, and Mark Nuttall. Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Pr, 2008. 186-95. Print.