Richard Nelson's Eskimos And Their Way Of Life

Richard Nelson did a great job putting together an argument. He has seen both perspectives of a civilization way as well as a hunter-gatherer way, and remained unbiased and insightful throughtout his argument. He shared numerous stories and examples to back up his conclusions, and each conclusion he came to all supported his main idea. He represented the Eskimos fairly, as well as remained curteous to those civilizations who would not be considered biophilic, which could allow the reader to be more open to what he has to share about the Eskimos and their way of life.

After seeing the Eskimos way of life, he argued that there could be wisdom in opening ourselves to different viewpoints of the world. He gave a great example by mentioning

how amazing he found it to be that humans can live in the environment for such an enormous amount of time with such little degredation to the land. He brought up a very valid point as well as important statement, considering first world countries, who are the complete opposites of hunters and gathers, are facing a major problem with land degredation and global warming by our modern and less than simplisitc ways. He continued by sharing a analogy describing a fish never having a concept of water if it had never left it, with humans being the fish and water being nature. His analogy was a great way to get someone thinking about themselves, nature, and their culture. Having

been part of a developed culture and a traditional culture, he brings such a fresh and knoweledgable aspect to light of all the things we have to gain from other cultures rather than just labeling them as exotic from different

customs. He believes it can be essential to learn from traditional cultures, especially those who depend on nature for a living. The Eskimos live in one of the harshest climates, but have learned to adapt very efficiently from all of the knoweledge passed down from ancestors as well as through their own observations while becoming one with nature. Not only did all of their observations taken over centuries teach them about the animals in nature, but they were also able to learn from them, making it possible for them to live in such a tough environment and adapt so effectively.
The evidence given is very solid and all interconnects nicely.

He described himself as doubting many things he was told when he got there, but began to believe them more the longer he was there. One could believe his whole argument is just biased from that one statment, by interpreting it as his love for the Eskimos over time clouded his judgement, but he gave great evidence to explain why he began to believe in their traditions instead of being biased. He shares how he was hesitant when hearing the observations by ancestors told by locals of polar bears excavating igloo domes for seals, until a young man told him about all the excavated domes he found recently. That story also backed up his statement that we could learn from traditional cultures, such as the Eskimos, by becoming one with nature during observations and utilizing the information found;by the ancestors observing how polar bears hunt seals, they were able to successfully kill seals themselves by imitating a polar bear. The personal story Richard shared, describing a time he went out hunting for whales with the locals was also a great example of all the things we could learn from nature by becoming more involved with it rather than depending on technology. An outsider to that culture could be apprehensive of the thought than man could just sense when a whale is coming, hense Richard being caught off guard when the hunters scrambled out of the tent, but the affirmation he recieved when he made it out of the

tent to find a whale in the water when they haven't seen one for days, and the other men being calm as though it's a typical day for them just shows all the wondeful things we can learn by living as one with nature and being open to different customs.
In conclusion, I don't think this article had any weaknessess. The author was not criticizing to developed civilizations for not living as Eskimos. He was very insightful of all that we can gain and the importance of passing down knoweledge for generations to come can be. The article gave great information to show what it's like for Eskimos and while also showing that there can be more to just labeling a different lifestyle with exotic, and to take a step back and see what there is to learn from the world. He observed and came to a conclusion instead of coming to a conclusion without supporting it. Lastly, he kept in mind opposing observations.