I would like to reflect on Cosmology. As an overthinker, I like questioning my purpose and existence. For that reason, I was surprised to learn what cosmology meant. “Cosmology is the union of all of these sciences, focused on understanding how the universe came to be, how it has evolved, and how it will continue to change in the future.” The analysis of how cosmology varies between Latin America and the West was eye-opening. Realizing that indigenous look at the universe from nature and spiritual perspective, while western societies tend to focus more on calculable science, made me reflect on my own life experiences.
My mom believes in energy. When we were little, she would use indigenous (Zapotec and Chatina) traditions (p.8) that she learned from my grandma to take away the “mal de ojo” (bad energies). She would do it by passing an egg over us and then breaking the egg on a glass of water. She has done it since we were babies. However, it was never a problem for me until I started growing up. I started getting very critical and skeptical about all of her methods. Honestly, it didn’t make sense to believe that passing an egg around someone’s body would have any real effect. I started to even get ashamed that my mom believed that, and I tried really hard to convince her that there was no way that her traditions worked.
This class made me rethink my own ideas and be more open to other ways of seeing life. Learning how western knowledge has been imposed and how indigenous knowledge is not always recognized made me do more research on the topic. I now feel ashamed of feeling ashamed about my mom’s traditions.
Hi Fernanda!
I thought your post was really interesting! I can definitely relate to your skepticism towards these type of traditions (I’ve been passed the egg by my grandma as well!) and I agree when you say that we’ve been imposed to believe on Western knowledge. It’s definitely frustrating to see so many Indigenous practices to fall subject to skepticism, as well as a huge rejection of their cosmology when engaging in research.
This is a solid connection between the “cosmology” definition from Keyword 2 and your own life. One of the most interesting observations I’ve made since I began studying Latin American Indigenous cultures is that most Indigenous peoples are perfectly happy to learn from and integrate Western sciences into their culture, particularly as relates to health. We saw this with Arévalo and the Shipibo-Konibo, for instance. In that case, Arévalo noted that Shipibo sciences are able to heal and identify a particular set of health problems, but that sometimes shamans must tell a patient, “you also need to go to an oncologist.” In the case of the Garinagu, many interviews note that the Dügu ceremony, for instance, is undertaken *in addition to* turning to Western medicine. Perhaps we Westerners need to realize–like many Indigenous peoples already have!–that these various approaches to medicine and health can be complementary, not either-or. In which case your mom’s and Valentina’s grandma’s “limpieza con huevo” may supplement, not replace, Western medicine. Thanks for the productive reflection, Fernanda!
Hi Fernanda! I really enjoyed your reflection! I too have been constantly question the purpose of existence since I was a child. I think the Western way of knowing is very limiting and as we advance our understanding in quantum physics , the western world is starting accept the energetic basis of this universe. If you think about it, our external reality is nothing but a comprehension of our neuro-system. Did consciousness reside within the synapses of the neurons, or the synapses of the neurons are just an expression of this vast consciousness?
Omg! I am excited to see that you have a tradition for “evil eye” I’m not sure if you have heard but in Turkey, we have an evil eye bead usually made of glass that is believed to drive away from the bad energy if it is worn on a piece of clothing. The concept of it is so connected to my culture that most of the time when something goes bad I can just blame it on the evil eye and bad energy on me. As I am not sure of the impact of wearing this bead as you have mentioned, I absolutely love the way it looks, and I love to see it around me as well. Maybe I am so conditioned to see it as only attracting the good energy, now it actually makes me feel better to even see it sometimes!