23 Jul 2021
It also takes an international or global perspective to recognize, identify and teach about unique local indigenous cultures. If you are simply in it or you walk past it each day, you may not recognize what is rich and exciting and unique about a local or indigenous culture. But if you have a perspective about how it is different, what is unique about it, how this particular space was created and why it exists as it does – as a result of colonialization, as a result of globalization – and what reasons there might be to preserve it, then you know why it is important, what you are fighting against, and what is it you are trying to save. The act of identifying local and indigenous preserves is a sort of global consciousness.
In the face of an emergency, we take emergency measures. When there is no emergency, we tend to avoid taking drastic steps, even when drastic steps are needed to fix real problems. Maybe it is because when there is an emergency, pretty much everyone agrees on what the problem is. When there is no emergency, we often get bogged down in debate – not just about solutions, but about our problems. What is a problem for some is an advantage to others, so it is hard to delineate. This pandemic made many inequalities starkly clear. My hope is that this clarity does not get washed away amid our relief that we can go around maskless again.