Partnering with the Mountains for Reclaiming Their Land: Conflict Between Indigenous and the Capitalist Perspectives

Indigenous people across the globe who mostly reside under the forest cover of mountainous ranges, view Mountains as sacred—living and active beings. But mountains all over the globe are currently under pressure for being commodified and objectified because of the expansion of large-scale extraction activities and mindless development ventures undertaken by states. I will focus on the sacred logic taken up by the indigenous people in various mountainous regions with a view to partnering with the mountains. When mountains are themselves viewed as powerful and sacred actors, their residents organize to protect their areas from irrevocable destruction caused through mining activities, we see a more effective and stronger logic. Today in the context of climate change and search for an elusive sustainability this logic appears to be more acceptable vis a vis the logic of modern capitalism that views mountains as mere embodiment of natural resources to be exploited for industrializations. For this comparison, the examples I draw are from India, Latin America, and Australia. I concluded that mountains are sacred partners for ensuring environmental justice where the focal point rests on the resident indigenous people.