GERARD
RASSENDRAN
Christ
University, Bangalore
Paper
Title: “Do Notions of the Sacred Guide the Ethic of
Reciprocity? A Case of
Rongmei Indigenous
Environmental Practices and Economic Behaviour.”
Abstract
There are cultural differences with respect to
moral attitudes towards the environment. There can be no global or overarching
ethic of nature and one can argue, at best, only within the format of
pluralistic values and viewpoints. Different cultures present a variety of
philosophical and moral resources in this connection ranging from a more
acquisitive to the sacred. These cultural values, norms and beliefs are
transmitted across generations through the process of socialization and
particularly, with indigenous communities, the tools of these socialization
processes are myth and folklore. When a particular social/cultural group
relates their temporal and secular existence to something that is
transcendental and sacred, internalized normative behaviour emerges and these
norms are followed reflexively without pecuniary cost-benefit calculations. Out
of these engagements, the indigenous communities have evolved standards of
personal and social conduct that takes cognizance of both the human and the
non-human entities of the environment. This paper presents the cultural and
eco-philosophical worldviews of the Rongmei indigenous community in Manipur to
investigate how notions of the sacred guide practices ensuring
intergenerational justice, preservation of biodiversity, sustainable forms of
livelihood and ultimately guide the rubric of secular choice behaviour. In this
study, by critiquing the standard neoclassical economic approach to
environmental valuation, we propose an alternative method to assess
human-environment relations through narratives and the cultural discourse
embedded in the belief systems of this community.
Gerard
Rassendren is Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Christ University,
Bangalore. His interest is in the use of
biographical, historical and cultural narratives to identify and explain
economic behaviour. His areas of
academic and research interest are History of Economic Ideas, New Institutional
Economics, Economic History and Ethics.