As wildfires rage across national forests turned to tinderboxes — their historic stewards driven from the land or forbidden to tend it — while our waterways waver between historic droughts and catastrophic floods, it just may be time to stop fighting to control the earth and work to heal it. It stands to reason that if we wish to understand what the world we live in is telling us, we should seek the counsel of those who already speak its language.
This new exhibit, created in part through a collaborative effort with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, seeks to re-enforce the relevance and underscore the importance of recent initiatives by organizations, institutions, and even governments — from the Federal level on down — to integrate the knowledge and experience of indigenous cultures into policies and decision-making.
When pioneer settlers began to colonize South Florida in the late 1800s, the most successful of their lot were those who not only befriended but also listened to and learned from the people who had called the Everglades their home for centuries.
Sharing the Path explores both the past influence and the future possibilities of implementing traditional indigenous knowledge in everything from land management to decision-making. The exhibit uses the words and voices of indigenous people from South Florida and beyond to communicate the shared belief that all living things are connected and how that understanding can aid us in navigating challenges in everything from global diplomacy to our most personal relationships: with each other, ourselves, and the earth itself.
