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Title: Indigenous Anarchic Hierarchy Author: Eepa Date: November 2, 2020 Language: en Topics: indigenous anarchism, indigenous, Indigenous Anarchist Federation, hierarchy, Murray Bookchin Source: Retrieved on 2020-12-28 from https://iaf-fai.org/2020/11/02/indigenous-anarchic-hierarchy/
What is hierarchy outside of the European anarchist cosmology? Hierarchy
is something that is often overlooked among Indigenous anarchics, but is
essential for understanding social relations in Indigenous cosmologies.
These forms of hierarchy are not based in the same relations and need to
have broader discussion among Indigenous anarchics as we move forward
outside of European political paradigms.
It is possible to characterize positions of hierarchy within some
Indigenous systems as hierarchies based on respect, not domination.
People may hold a position as ‘chief’ in a hierarchy that encourages
people to follow their guidance, but there is no mechanism to enforce
obedience or observance of these leaders’ ideas.
Caribs/Kalinago would never abide an order to go fishing, but at the
suggestion that fish was needed by the chief, people would join him in
fishing. Among Yuman tribes, chiefs & orators would lead in offering
suggestions for activities, but mutual consent was required for action.
In another instance of this among a Yuman tribe, the Kwapa war parties
could only be successful if the person urging the military action could
convince people to join him in combat.
Looking at my people, the Kwapas, we see select forms of respect-based
leaders serving in different roles. The most prominent was the chief,
who acted as the unitor and coordinator for the entire tribe. It was his
responsibility to gather people together for funerals, for deliberations
of justice, for trade, and for diplomatic discussions with foreign
emissaries. Kwapa chiefs usually came from a family line, but this was
not always the case. Patrilineal chiefs arose largely because the son of
a chief was expected to learn from his father, to participate in his
father’s duties, and to prepare to one day lead with wisdom. This
usually worked, but in cases where the son wasn’t able or willing to
provide wise leadership, another person who held the community’s respect
would take up the mantle. Orators followed a similar tradition to
chiefs, passing from father to worthy son or too another man who had the
respect & knowledge to fill the role. Orators provided spoken wisdom.
Orators would be present in each village, getting on the roof of a
home/ramada each day to tell stories that were relevant to social
conditions on that given day. They taught ethics, morality, and some
aspects of spirituality. Often a respected man without the oral wisdom
of an orator would act as a capitan, helping lead the logistics and
cooperative labor for a village/clan in daily activities.
Another positions for leadership was only active during times of war.
The kwinemi (war chief) was selected by all Kwapa people, men & women,
at a general meeting. His selection was based on his oration, his dreams
for how to accomplish the war. A previous kwinemi could not appoint a
new leader; this was seen as a community decision because it involved
the lives of so many families, and might invoke retribution on the
entirety of the tribe. Once selected, a kwinemi would lead through the
entire battle, unless incapacitated, at which time a new leader would
spontaneously arise, usually from the ranks of the experienced warriors.
Secondary, were the ñakwil bakas (feathered lance warriors) who had
demonstrated great courage and carried with them great experience, who
carried only a double pointed feathered lance. The tertiary fighters of
less experience would be shield warriors and archers, divided based upon
personal preference for weapon and the needs of the campaign.
With these hierarchies, we see that leaders are given preferential
‘authorities’ to suggest actions, but no authority to compel it. This
authority hinges on respect, with a person being demoted from their
position in the hierarchy, without ceremony, when people lose respect.
Hierarchies within these communities were not solely based on respect;
domination-based hierarchy existed, particularly with regard to women,
children, and slaves. With respect to the Kwapa, Women were given
autonomy over their choice of partner and could leave a non-providing
partner at will. Women, however, were historically denied opportunities
to lead or to craft an identity independent of a man. All leaders were
men and women all had the same name, with specific women being
referenced by which mans home she lived in. With the exception of trans
men, there was no option in this. This was the first way that hierarchy
and domination manifested in Kwapa culture.
Kwapas also took kwabayau (slaves) in battle and would trade them for
goods with neighboring tribes. The master-slave relationship in Kwapa
society was markedly different than that of western chattel slavery.
Kwabayau were often adopted into families and were expected to act as
Kwapas. Some, especially those captured in revenge battles, were subject
to abuse. Children born to captured Kwabayau were considered free and
full members of the tribe and would be treated as such. This was the
second way that hierarchy and domination manifested in Kwapa culture.
One culture we can look to too for an almost complete absence of
hierarchy is the Hadza people of West Africa. The Hadza have a simple
solution to those who feel they have the right to control others. They
pack up camp and leave them behind. They do this until the person stops
attempting to control them. In Hadza culture everyone is one the same
level of a respect based hierarchy, in that a person can only fall from
grace, not aspire to it.
Anarchy & Anarchism take their name from the Greek root anarchos, broken
down to its roots- an meaning without and archos meaning ruler.
Without-ruler has differing interpretations, the most rigid being the
absolute destruction of hierarchy. This has led many Indigenous
communities to steer clear of defining themselves under the rigid
definition used by some to be anarchism, an ideological dogma that
pushes aside material and spiritual realities of our peoples. Rigid and
often European centered interpretations of anarchy/anarchism do have
variations within them: herein we will briefly explore
For the absolutist position on hierarchy, we can look to a contemporary
writing in Anarchy Vs. Archy: No Justified Authority Or Why Chomsky Is
Wrong by Ziq. The author expresses the position that anarchy is not
defined as the absence of rulers, but specifically states that
“Hierarchies exist for rulers to maintain their social control & power
over the population. This control is maintained with violent force by
authorities appointed by the rulers: the army, national guard, police,
courts, prisons, social workers, the media, tax collectors, etc.” While
Ziq makes allowances for services and advisement by specialists, they
fail to acknowledge the deference between respect based hierarchies
(such as the deference to specialists) and the coercive hierarchies with
their machinations to maintain coercive power.
Edwin Hammer analyzed hierarchy as manifest in the role-playing needed
to allow hierarchies to exist. They write:
“The role mediates authenticity, preventing the experience of directly
lived life. One does not experience any particular generalized activity,
one experiences the responsibilities and duties demanded by one’s role
in that activity. If at times it appears social life permits individuals
to transcend their roles, this is merely the assumption, the animation
of another preexisting role, or perhaps even the creation of a new role,
but it is not transcendence at all. It is a new context, a replacement
into the hierarchically structured enterprises that predominate: a new
role, with new, specialized duties, and the power to execute those tasks
or ensure their accomplishment.”
Ever shifting roles allow us to delegate of parts of our existence for
others to perform or oversee. This analysis of hierarchy strikes more
deeply at both respect based and domination based hierarchies as a
fragmentation of the self.
Murry Boockchin understood oppressive hierarchy as centralized in
domination. He argued against much of the European left’s incorrect
analysis that domination-based hierarchy arose from a desire to free
ourselves from the ‘domination of nature.’ Indigenous people have long
laughed at these assertions by Marx and others. It has always been
deeply alienating. Bookchin calls it out with an understanding we can
appreciate as Indigenous people:
“However much the writings of liberals and Marx convey the belief that
attempts to dominate nature “led” to the domination of human by human,
no such “project” ever existed in the annals of what we call “history.”
At no time in the history of humanity did the oppressed of any period
joyfully accede to their oppression in a starry-eyed belief that their
misery would ultimately confer a state of blissful freedom from the
“domination of nature” to their descendants in some future era.”
He also wrote,
“Domination of human by human did not arise because people created a
socially oppressive “mechanism” — be it Marx’s class structures or Lewis
Mumford’s human-constructed “mega-machine” in order to “free” themselves
from the “domination by nature.” It is exactly this very queasy idea
that gave rise to the myth that the domination of nature “requires,”
“presupposes,” or “involves” the domination of human by human.”
Bookchin generalizes some of the conceptions of hierarchy and property
in Indigenous societies, but does note that outside of European or
similarly feudal societies globally, Indigenous people generally did
conceive of nature literally permeating “the community not only as a
providential environment, but as the blood flow of the kinship tie that
united human to human and generation to generation.” The connection to
land & nature often coexists with respect-based hierarchies but also can
exist in domination-based hierarchies.
Western academics have noted the difference between hierarchies and have
attempted to test and quantify. They state that certain hierarchies are
based in domination are inherently based in ‘rule,’ the ability to enact
domination to ensure compliance. This social structure, also seen in
some Indigenous systems, is a hierarchy that relies not on mutual
consent/respect, but on domination /competition.
Dominance and Prestige are used in some psychological literature to
explain the differences between these already extant Indigenous systems
(Cheng et al, 2012). These have been competing models for how
hierarchies are established and maintained. Similar language can be seen
with “selfish or servant” leadership where selfish leaders act to
empower themselves and allies at the cost of the greater community
(Gillet et al, 2011). Servant leaders are seen to act out of empathy and
a sense of duty to the community, often taking a broader perspective
than just those of the narrowly interested parties. As Cheng discussed,
these both can exist within the same systems, something that we as
anarchic Indigenous people are eager to change, expelling
dominance-based leadership and hierarchy mobilities and building systems
that rely on respect (academically known was prestige or servant
hierarchies).
Forward
We as anarchic Indigenous people, oppose domination-based hierarchy,
rejecting it entirely as self-serving and to the detriment of everyone
in the community. Mutual consent & respect are essential. Domination
must never be used against others in our communities to enact
compliance. Indigenous systems, like those seen in the Mayan communities
who have helped build the governance systems of the Zapatistas, provide
a way forward, safeguarding against domination.
We must drive out domination-based hierarchies. Who is a man to coerce a
woman to do anything? Abolish Patriarchy. Who is a woman to coerce a
woman to do anything? Abolish domination. Who is a light skinned person
to coerce a dark skin person to do anything? Abolish anti-Blackness and
colorism. Some of these things are deeply rooted in parts of our
cultures. It may be painful for some to see these changes, but we must
act towards equity within our Indigenous societies if we are ever to
escape the workings of self-centered rulers. Free from internal
domination, we can finally unite in an effective fight against colonial
domination and capitalist domination.
Indigenous people can find strength in our spirituality. We must
discover our spirituality for ourselves and remember that colonizers
have tainted some of our spiritual practices. Equally, some of our
spiritual practices may have been developed as a means of enforcing
domination-based hierarchies. With open eyes and loving hearts, we can
lay these truths bare, building from what we find, spiritualities that
are true to our ancestors and true to the generations that shall come.
We can find strength in respect, mutual cooperation, and leadership from
those who hold no coercive power. We must be equally ready to build
systems in our societies to root out self-serving people who use acts of
domination to achieve their goals. No matter the goals of the community,
domination is not to be used as a tool used to plant revolution by
so-called Indigenous revolutionary leaders. That is a dangerous path
that which wash away with the first hard rains, into authoritarianism.
Indigenous anarchic futures are ours to create. They will be different,
without a doubt, from Indigenous society to Indigenous society; our
cultures, both as they are and as they will be, reflect our lands, our
experiences, our struggles, and how we wish to shape our existences in
the future. All colonized people have lost so much, but with what we
have left, we can start anew. We can learn from each other, we can
share, we can build new networks of relations and trade to replace those
that were destroyed. Without centralization we can unite in material and
intellectual solidary. With the wisdom of our ancestors and living kin
today, Africa, Americas, Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia,
Arctic, and Asia can unite in cooperative, decentralized struggle. What
hierarchies provide us with benefits? How have other people lived
without domination? Look around the world; Indigenous people have
answers.