Makah Indians And Whaling Essay, Research Paper
The Makah Indian Whaling: Indigenous Right or
Environmental Injustice
by xxxxx
Abstract
For hundreds of centuries, the Makah Indians have
revolved their culture and traditions around whaling. It
has been part of their tradition as long as the tribe has
ever existed. In the early part of this century the Makah
voluntarily abandoned the whale hunt in recognition of the
precarious situation of the gray whale. When the whale
was listed as an endangered species in 1969 the hunt was
officially banned. The Makah were formally forced to give
up whaling. After seventy years, however, the Makah are
once again in a position to whale. They wish to do so on
the basis of the importance of whaling to their traditional culture. This wish, however, is highly controversial. It is has stirred up much dissent among numerous groups including the International Whaling Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and numerous animal rights groups. Even the Makah themselves are not fully united on this issue of whaling. This paper examines the importance of the whale hunt to Makah culture and discusses the changing nature of tradition. The question is presented as to whether the Makah are reestablishing tradition or simply pursuing a viable commercial opportunity.
Introduction
The Makah Indians are indigenous to what is now
Washington State. Their population is small; only about
two thousand people are on the tribal rolls (The
Economist, 1998). Their traditional culture, like all
indigenous groups, was completely toppled by the arrival
and eventual dominance of non-Native, European groups to
this continent during the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Makah tradition included, as one of its core
components, many of the same hunting and gathering
practices employed by other indigenous peoples. Much of
their livelihood and material culture was based on their
extensive whale hunting activities. In 1928, recognizing
the precarious status of the whale population the Makah
voluntarily abandoned their tribal tradition and gave up
whale hunting (Russell, 1999). In 1969, however, the
whale hunt was officially taken from the Makah with its
placement on the endangered species list (Blow, 1998).
Without the whale hunt the Makah became even more
distanced from their traditional culture. It was a
distance which they both resented and sought to change.
It was a distance which environmentalist justified on the
basis of the endangered status of the whale. One of the
most adamant opponents of restored whaling is the Sea
Shepherd Society, a 45,000 member organization whose efforts to protect the whale sometimes border on terroristic (Strohm, 1999; The Economist, 1998).
The High North Alliance is also another vociferous
opponent to restored Makah whaling (High North). They
maintain an extensive web site on the subject which
contrasts tradition and what they consider greed. This
clash between the Makah view and the environmentalist
views are prominent.
The Literature
Much has been written in recent years regarding
indigenous rights and the Makah whale hunt in particular.
The popular literature is replete with the subject, as is
the environmental literature. A quick search on the
Internet reveals numerous hits as well for web pages which
are devoted to either the cultural plight of the Makah or
the plight of the whale. This paper will concentrate on
the material presented in the environmental literature and
on the material presented on the World Wide Web.
With the removal of the gray whale from the
endangered species list in 1994, whale hunting is once
again a possibility in Makah culture. It is, however, a
possibility which is greatly resented and contested by
environmentalists (Russell, 1999). Despite the protest of these environmentalists and the fact that the International
Whaling Commission has yet to recognize the indigenous
cultural rights of the Makah to the whale hunt, the
Clinton administration granted permission for the Makah to
resume their traditional whale hunting activities (Strohm,
1999). This permission was granted despite the protest
from a number of interest groups. Even the Makah are not
completely united on the issue of whaling (Russell, 1999).
Several of their tribal members have, in fact, been quite
outspoken against resuming whale hunting. One of the most
adamant opponents to whaling who also happens to be Makah
herself is seventy-four year old Alberta Thompson.
Thompson has adamantly defended the whales and spoken out
against hunting (Russell, 1999). She states:
“My dream is that I wake up one morning and
the Tribal Council has called a conference to
make a statement: we now realize that the whale
gave up his life for us a hundred years ago so
that we could eat. Now we want to honor and
protect the whale until the end of time”
(Russell, 1999).
The issue over the resumption of Makah whale hunting
it seems is divided between those that want to maintain
Indian tradition and those that want to maintain the whale
population. Both sides have valid arguments, both arguments are the extensive target of a variety of literature.
Discussion
Although the gray whale population has been restored
to a less threatened population level it still seems
somewhat of an injustice to kill such a phenomenally
impressive creature. There are of course more justifiable
commercial substitutes for practically every product the
whale produces. What there isn’t a substitute for,
however, is the role that the gray whale hunt played in
Makah tradition.
There is no arguing the fact that the whale hunt was
of tremendous importance to Makah tradition. The Makah
were a people of oral tradition. They had no written
language prior to the arrival of the Europeans to their
homelands but never-the-less they were able to maintain
their history and their culture from one generation to the
next. Because the Makah had not developed a written
method for recording information, they depended heavily on
oral history both to remember information which was
critical to their survival and to remember their complex
social and cultural moral practice. Much of the oral history of the Makah revolves around the traditional whale hunt. One of the earliest Makah legends relates the story
of the all-powerful Thunderbird who ruled the universe
(Russell, 1999). The Thunderbird was so powerful that it
could hunt the great whale, lifting it from the water and
carrying it to its roost to be devoured (Russell, 1999).
According to the legend, the privilege of the whale hunt
passed to the Makah people with the death of the great
Thunderbird (Russell, 1999).
The whale hunt to the Makah was not taken lightly.
It was a deeply religious experience which took one year
of spiritual preparation for an individual to participate
(Russell, 1999). Preparation for the hunt included
prayer, fasting, sexual abstinence, icy plunges into the
waters which surround the Makah homelands, and even an
underwater walk from one bank of the Waatch River to the
other carrying a large rock to ensure that a potential
participant stayed submerged for the entire walk (Russell,
1999). The Makah had to “become one with the whale” in
order to participate in the hunt (Russell, 1999).
Anthropologists contend that these ceremonial preparations
have been carried on for at least 1,500 years by the Makah and their ancestors (Russell,1999).
The argument that the Makah are entitled to the whale
hunt is more than tradition, however. By treaty the Makah
were awarded the right to the whale hunt (Russell, 1999).
With their 1855 treaty the Makah gave up almost all that
they had but they were ensured the right to the whale
(Russell, 1999). Many Makah argue that a return to their
traditional ways is necessary for the physical as well as
religious health of the people (Russell, 1999). Keith
Johnson, the chairman of the Makah Whaling Commission
notes:
“Many of our tribal members feel that our
health problems result from the loss of our
traditional seafood and sea mammal diet. We also
bel
people stem from lack of discipline and pride.
And we hope that resuming whaling will help
restore that” (Russell, 1999).
The only chance of survival for the hundreds of
Native American cultures is tradition. Being a people
whose histories were recorded orally until only recently
in history, tradition is rooted in the memory of the
people. In the Makah memory tradition is the whale hunt.
To the environmentalist the whale hunt is where it
belongs, in the memory. The whale hunt to them is nothing
but commercial exploitation, killing for a profit. Indeed, there is a profit in whaling. The Makah have shown interest in this profit. They have looked at foreign markets and they have explored the possibility of a processing plant in which foreign markets would have
been a definite possibility (Russell, 1999). Whale meat
it seems means more to the Makah than simple tradition.
It is a means of addressing the reservations sometimes
seventy-five percent unemployment rate and it is a bridge
from the past to the future.
Currently the Makah are allotted only four whales a
year for the next five years (Strohm, 1999). Those who
favor the Makah view that whaling is their innate right
contend that four whales a year could not possibly impact
the whale population which is estimated at twenty-five
thousand individuals (Russell, 1999). While it may be
conceded that this number is indeed small and unlikely to
directly impact the whale population, the real concern
lies in the precedent which will be set by the allotment
(Russell, 1999). The United States, in fact, is not the
only country who has expressed an interest nor are the
Makah the only indigenous people (Makah Whaling Commission). The Chukotka people of Russia have expressed
an interest along with the Makah in traditional rights to
the whale (Makah Whaling Commission). Russell (1999)
reports that indigenous people of eighteen other countries
have endorsed “commercial activities related to the
sustainable use of whales”.
Conclusions
The issues surround the rights of the Makah to whale
hunt are numerous and complex. It is true that whale
hunting was an integral part of their traditional culture.
It is also true, however, that traditional cultures
change. Sometimes these changes are negative but
sometimes they can be very positive. The Makah have
existed without whale hunting for over seventy years.
Those who do remember the whale hunting days remember them
only as children or only through the early histories of
their ancestors. The questions which must be addressed
regarding the controversy is exactly what is it that the
Makah hope to attain by restoring the hunt. Although
their preparations include the wooden canoes that were the
tradition of their people (The Economist, 1998), do they
include the wooden bone pointed harpoons and hand corded
lines that were a part of their traditional culture as
well or do they include the modern equipment of the modern
whaler (High North)? How many of the potential hunters
have made the one years worth of spiritual preparation
that tradition dictates (High North)? How many have
walked underwater from one river bank to another? These
are the questions which must be addressed if the Makah
contention of following their traditional culture is to be
either supported or refuted.
Blow, Richard. (1998, Sep-Oct). The great American whale
hunt. (Makah Indian tribe of Neah Bay, Washington,
plans to revive whale-hunting tradition). Mother
Jones, v23 n5 p49(7)
Booth, Anne; Jacobs, Harvey M., “Ties That Bind: Native American Beliefs as a Foundation for Environmental Consciousness,” Environmental Ethics 12.1 (1991):27
De Alessi, Chad, “Tender Loving Hunters,” New Scientist 150.2035 (1996):47
The Economist. (1998, Nov 21). To catch a whale. (Makah
tribe’s dubious permission from the International
Whaling Commission to kill five migrating gray whales
produces mass protests). The Economist, p31(1)
Makah Whaling Commission. Management Plan for Makah
Treaty Gray Whale Hunting for the Years 1998-2002.
http://www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahplan.html
Pascua, Maria Parker, “Ozette: A Makah Village,” National Geographic 180.4 (1991):38
Russell, Dick. (1999, Spring). Tribal tradition and the
spirit of the trust. (organization allowed resumption
of gray whale hunting). The Amicus
Journal, v21 i1 p29(4)
Strohm, Mike. (1999, Jan). The Battle of Neah Bay.
(natives’ right to whale under dispute). Audubon,
v101 i1 p18(1)
Websites
High North. Arguments, Facts and News. http://www.highnorth.no/default.htm
Whales and West-Coast Natives
http:whales.magna.com.au/Policies/makah.html
The Makah Indians: Keeping their Culture Alive
http:www.highnorth.no/th-ma-in.htm
Makah Whaling Claim Supported by U.S. Authorities
http:www.highnorth.no/ma-wh-cl.htm
Whaling- A Part of Our Culture
http:www.highnorth.no/wh-a-pa.htm
Might Whale meat Once Again Find a Place on the Menu?
http:www.highnorth.no/mi.me.htm
Should the Makah Tribe be Allowed to Resume the Hunting of Grey Whales
http:www.highnorth.no/th-ma-co.htm
The Makah Whaling Dance
http:www.highnorth.no/ma-wh-da.htm
An Open Letter to the Public
http:www.conbio.rice.edu/mae/docs/makaheditorial.html
Management Plan
http:www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahplan.html
The Makah Indian Tribed Whaling
http:www. conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahfag.html
Cetacean Society International
http:www.elfi.com/csi99101.html
Cetacean Society International
http:www.elfi.com/csi98401.html
Makah Whaling Rights
http:www.weber.u.whashington.edu./_rural/fieldnotes/neahbayfield.html
Bibliography
Blow, Richard. (1998, Sep-Oct). The great American whale
hunt. (Makah Indian tribe of Neah Bay, Washington,
plans to revive whale-hunting tradition). Mother
Jones, v23 n5 p49(7)
Booth, Anne; Jacobs, Harvey M., “Ties That Bind: Native American Beliefs as a Foundation for Environmental Consciousness,” Environmental Ethics 12.1 (1991):27
De Alessi, Chad, “Tender Loving Hunters,” New Scientist 150.2035 (1996):47
The Economist. (1998, Nov 21). To catch a whale. (Makah
tribe’s dubious permission from the International
Whaling Commission to kill five migrating gray whales
produces mass protests). The Economist, p31(1)
Makah Whaling Commission. Management Plan for Makah
Treaty Gray Whale Hunting for the Years 1998-2002.
http://www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahplan.html
Pascua, Maria Parker, “Ozette: A Makah Village,” National Geographic 180.4 (1991):38
Russell, Dick. (1999, Spring). Tribal tradition and the
spirit of the trust. (organization allowed resumption
of gray whale hunting). The Amicus
Journal, v21 i1 p29(4)
Strohm, Mike. (1999, Jan). The Battle of Neah Bay.
(natives’ right to whale under dispute). Audubon,
v101 i1 p18(1)
Websites
High North. Arguments, Facts and News. http://www.highnorth.no/default.htm
Whales and West-Coast Natives
http:whales.magna.com.au/Policies/makah.html
The Makah Indians: Keeping their Culture Alive
http:www.highnorth.no/th-ma-in.htm
Makah Whaling Claim Supported by U.S. Authorities
http:www.highnorth.no/ma-wh-cl.htm
Whaling- A Part of Our Culture
http:www.highnorth.no/wh-a-pa.htm
Might Whale meat Once Again Find a Place on the Menu?
http:www.highnorth.no/mi.me.htm
Should the Makah Tribe be Allowed to Resume the Hunting of Grey Whales
http:www.highnorth.no/th-ma-co.htm
The Makah Whaling Dance
http:www.highnorth.no/ma-wh-da.htm
An Open Letter to the Public
http:www.conbio.rice.edu/mae/docs/makaheditorial.html
Management Plan
http:www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahplan.html
The Makah Indian Tribed Whaling
http:www. conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/makahfag.html
Cetacean Society International
http:www.elfi.com/csi99101.html
Cetacean Society International
http:www.elfi.com/csi98401.html
Makah Whaling Rights
http:www.weber.u.whashington.edu./_rural/fieldnotes/neahbayfield.html