Natives and Nature A Comparative Look at Yupiaq and Quechua Philosophies on War and Peace Elizabeth Sumida Huaman, April 2003 The Re-making of the World The indigenous peoples of the world have experienced varying degrees of disruption or loss with regard to their traditional lifestyles and worldviews. This disruption has contributed to the many psychosocial maladies that are extant in indigenous societies today. The Western worldview with its aggressive educational practices and technoscience orientation has placed indigenous cultures in “harm’s way.” These cultures, having been characterized as primitive and backwards and therefore wanting, are subjected to an endless stream of assimilative processes to bring their practitioners into mainstream society. The indigenous people are forced to live in a constructed and psychic world not of their own making or choosing. Little is left in their lives to remind them of their indigenous culture; nor is there recognition of their indigenous consciousness and its application of intelligence, ingenuity, creativity, and inventiveness in the making of their world.[1] ---- Tukillapmi llapanchik llachakushun. Let’s all live together in a beautiful way.[2]