Let’s face it, most of us, most of the time, assume insects are simply too tiny and primitive to interact with in any meaningful way except to objectify as pest, mindless bug, or at best, ecological agent (e.g., pollinator, predator, or even food). After working with bees and wasps, I’m convinced there is so much more to them, and I have updates on my carpenter bee saga to share in the next few posts. But here, I want to look at age-old attitudes toward insects and their surprising lack of representation even among indigenous wisdom traditions where you would expect to find them.
READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/the-least-of-these-our-insect-teachers/
REFERENCES:
- Capinera, J. L. Insects in Art and Religion: The American Southwest. American Entomologist, Volume 39, Issue 4, Winter 1993, Pages 221–230, https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/39.4.221
- Si, A., & Turpin, M. (2015). The Importance of Insects in Australian Aboriginal Society: A Dictionary Survey. Ethnobiology Letters, 6(1), 175–182. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26423615
- Native American Insects of Myth and Legend. Retrieved May 24, 2022 from Native Languages of the Americas website http://www.native-languages.org/legends-insect.htm
- Canyon de Chelly & Kokyangwuti: Spider Woman. Retrieved May 28, 2022 from Okar Research blog http://balkhandshambhala.blogspot.com/2013/04/canyon-de-chelly-kokyangwuti.html
