As a science, anthropology was also anthropocentric for a long time and, according to Notermans, this is entirely in line with the Western pattern of thinking that mankind is a cut above nature rather than the view that people coexist with it. But since the debate surrounding the Anthropocene (the era in which changes in the earth and climate have mainly been influenced by human activity), focus has also been placed on the relationships between humans and non-humans. Notermans herself is researching the social relationship between mankind and nature in and around the north Indian city of Udaipur. “The people there don’t make a conceptual distinction between mankind and nature,” explains the anthropologist. “Everything is intertwined. The ‘natural environment’ consists of living matter with which people establish social relationships of consideration and mutual care.”
The tree as a married woman
Notermans travels to India twice a year, so that she can provide student guidance in April and May and conduct fieldwork in October and November. During both periods, there are major religious festivals, such as the Dasha Mata festival, which is a celebration that is held in honour of the Peepal tree, which simultaneously represents a married woman and the goddess Dasha Mata. The women adorn the tree with the jewellery and clothes that they themselves wear as married women: a red sari, gold chains, tattoos made from henna and a red dot on the forehead.
By performing such rituals, the women show that they are treating nature as a person rather than single-handedly depleting it, that they are giving something back, explains the researcher. “They have a personal relationship with such a tree and they identify with it. There is no distinction between the tree as a married woman and the women themselves. By taking good care of her, the women hope that in return, they will receive food, well-being and health.” That may sound a bit new-agey here, but Notermans claims that it is definitely not the case over there. “The rituals are grounded in everyday life. A tree is as much a part of the family as a brother or mother. The social, divine and natural orders are deeply intertwined.”
Care relationship
“In the West, these types of rituals have long been dismissed as primitive and uncivilised,” she continues. “But because of the planetary crisis, there is also a growing realisation here that we need to make a change and that we might actually learn from these kinds of customs and world views. We need to treat the non-human world with care and respect. This was also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world was dominated by a tiny organism for several years. It successfully demonstrated the power of nature and our interdependence.”
Anthropocene or symbiocene
According to the researcher, you could say that the subject of this research study is living in the symbiocene, an era in which human beings and nature coexist in a balanced way. However, she does wish to guard against drawing an us-and-them dichotomy. “It’s not that case that ‘we’ here in the West live completely differently from ‘those’ people in India.” Land grabbing is also prevalent in the area where Notermans is conducting her research, with the wealthy urban elite buying up agricultural land so that they can build profitable resorts with swimming pools and golf courses. This has resulted in a visible increase in waste and also in water scarcity in rural desert areas where people have traditionally been careful with water. This means that an animistic or biocentric world view does not preclude anthropocentric or capitalistic behaviour. She believes that it is also the other way round in the Netherlands. “Even though capitalist agriculture is dominant, the small-scale organic farmers here also know what is right for the environment and how they can work the land without depleting it, for example by putting different crops together instead of planting huge fields with just one species of vegetation. This knowledge also exists, but it’s not common information. It’s essential that we take this knowledge seriously and start applying it. As a result, we’ll also be able to save ourselves.”
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Photo: Karsten Russ