Indigenous Astronomy: Rethinking Space Ethics | Karlie Noon TEDx

Colonialism is a political and economic system where a dominant nation invades and exploits another territory, primarily emerging in the 15th century when European powers like Spain, Portugal, England, France, and the Netherlands expanded into America, Asia, and Africa; driven by needs for agricultural land, market expansion, raw materials, cheap labor, and political control, colonialism involved the imposition of foreign cultures, laws, and governance while exploiting indigenous populations through forced labor and resource extraction, resulting in significant cultural transformation, loss of native languages and traditions, and lasting social impacts across colonized regions.

Colonialism is the practice where one country occupies another region for its own benefit, primarily to gain more geographical, political, and economic power; this historical phenomenon began with ancient civilizations like the Greeks and Romans, intensified during the Age of Exploration with European powers establishing colonies worldwide, and reached its peak between 1870-1914 when European nations seized remaining African territories; colonial powers extracted valuable resources such as cotton, spices, tobacco, gold, and diamonds while forcing indigenous populations to adopt their culture and faith, resulting in widespread oppression, displacement, and violence; the eventual decline came through native uprisings, slave rebellions, and the two World Wars, leading to gradual independence movements like Jamaica's in 1962; however, the consequences of colonialism continue to manifest today through persistent civil wars, poverty, crime, and discrimination in many former colonies.

Colonialism is a form of governance where one nation establishes political and economic control over another territory, characterized by permanent settlement, exploitation of resources, and imposition of foreign political and cultural systems; it emerged from multiple interconnected causes including the discovery of new trade routes, the pursuit of precious metals like gold and silver, the Industrial Revolution's demand for raw materials and markets, religious motives such as spreading Christianity, and the need for labor, ultimately resulting in devastating impacts including the Columbian Exchange that killed 95% of indigenous American populations and the establishment of the Atlantic slave trade that transported millions of Africans across the ocean.

Colonialism is defined as a state's control over another state politically, economically, and culturally, with the purpose of exploiting its natural resources and controlling its people. The term 'colonialism' specifically refers to the act of going to take land that does not belong to you, essentially stealing land from others.

Colonialism (الاستعمار) has two meanings: (1) In its original meaning, it refers to building and developing land, managing people's livelihoods, and achieving empowerment over it, as mentioned in the Quran: 'He who created you in the earth and established you in it.' (2) In the international sense, it means the domination of strong countries over weak countries for the purpose of plundering their resources and exploiting their capabilities. The colonial occupation began in the 19th and early 20th centuries when European powers divided the 'sick man of Europe' (the Ottoman Empire).

Ethnoastronomy studies astronomical systems of world peoples, revealing that different cultures see different things in the same stars. The Two-Eyed Seeing approach, created by Mi'kmaq Elder Albert Marshall in 2004, combines Indigenous and Western knowledge for mutual benefit. The World Asterisms Project, initiated in June 2021, uses this methodology to gather over 13,000 asterisms from 573+ cultures. This work addresses cultural recovery following residential schools that destroyed Indigenous cultures. Historical recorders often translated Indigenous star names using their own charts, creating misinterpretations. The same stars appear in vastly different forms across cultures—the Inca used dark clouds in the Milky Way as constellations, while others focused on bright stars. Leo's seven stars appear as demons, knives, horses, fireplaces, or creation dogs depending on the culture. Between 1300-1900, astronomers created hundreds of non-standard constellations seeking royal patronage, causing communication problems. The IAU standardized the sky in 1922, creating the 88 constellations still used today. With exoplanets discovered at 2-4 daily, the IAU's ExoWorlds project now assigns planets to countries for culturally significant naming.

Ethnoastronomy is the study of astronomical practices and beliefs of contemporary cultures, focusing on Indigenous peoples. It relies on ethnographic and historical records, most oral, involving learning about sky understanding directly from people, particularly Elders who pass knowledge generationally. When studying Indigenous knowledge, relationship comes first and knowledge second - establishing relationships and feeling part of the community is crucial for being trusted with information. Understanding not only the information but what is appropriate to share with others is essential. Different Aboriginal mobs have slightly different interpretations, with links around local food sources, requiring exploration of local context and Elder knowledge.

Ethnoastronomy studies contemporary astronomical knowledge among indigenous, Afrodescendant, and traditional communities, both rural and urban. Examples include Maori agricultural practices in New Zealand that follow lunar phases for cultivating tubers, and beliefs in rural Mexico about protecting pregnant women during eclipses with red ribbons. Different indigenous cultures project their own cultural figures onto the night sky, such as the ñandú (ostrich) in Amazonian Brazil. The anthropology of space exterior studies how humans relate to the universe once they leave Earth, examining the cultural and behavioral implications of space exploration. Astrotourism is a growing phenomenon that includes tourism related to astronomical events such as eclipses, as well as tourism toward space exterior. Astronomical knowledge in prehispanic Mexico was determined by multiple factors including the type of society (hunter-gatherer, agricultural), social class, gender, and function within society. In prehispanic cosmology, the universe was conceived as a stratified world divided into multiple layers. According to Miguel León-Portilla, the Toltecs believed there were 12 divisions of the sky. Above the Earth, the Moon was located, followed by clouds, then stars, the Sun, Venus, and comets. At the top were Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the primordial creator couple, from whom 400 gods emerged. Celestial bodies were understood as divine beings or gods. The stars were seen as 'eyes celestes' (celestial eyes) representing the divine.

Ethnoastronomy studies beliefs and practices concerning the sky among modern peoples, particularly indigenous communities. Key concepts include emic (insider) and etic (outsider) perspectives. A major challenge is that despite cultural continuity, present-day interpretations cannot be projected onto the past as if cultural concepts were static. Ethnographic analogy has been both used and abused in archaeology. Rock art may have been produced for different reasons in prehistoric versus historic times, and meanings of design elements may have changed through time. Zuni accounts describe rock art panels depicting poisonous insects carved by a war chief who sang a song requesting the insects to sting the Navajo, representing sympathetic magic. Another panel depicts a humpback flute player or rain priest, horn toad, and insect, all placed to attract clouds and moisture. The spirals represent the Zuni emergence myth period when people traveled looking for their center. A critical challenge is distorting feedback, where external influences alter indigenous interpretations. A Zuni informant's interpretation of spirals evolved from representing the journey in search of the center (1979) to marking solstices (1981) to representing the Sun's travels (1984), demonstrating how outsider interpretations can infect indigenous understanding.

Ethnoastronomy is the scientific study of astronomical knowledge developed by indigenous peoples, which examines how different cultures have historically understood and interpreted celestial phenomena through their own unique perspectives, traditions, and survival needs. This field gained formal recognition when UNESCO began supporting indigenous astronomical knowledge in 2008, and the first Brazilian work in this field emerged in the 1980s. Each indigenous culture, such as the Aztecs, has developed its own constellation systems and astronomical observations that serve as instruments for survival and cultural preservation, representing a diverse global heritage of astronomical understanding that deserves recognition alongside Western scientific astronomy.

Environmental ethics requires distinguishing between exploitation and stewardship: (1) Exploitation treats nature as a resource to be used without regard for consequences; (2) Stewardship treats nature as a community of creation to be cared for. This distinction has theological roots in how humans are called to relate to creation. Environmental ethics requires both intellectual understanding and emotional engagement with nature.

The three fundamental principles of environmental ethics are: (1) Establishing Balance (إقامة التوازن) - maintaining equilibrium between human desires for control over nature and environmental conservation; (2) Respecting Living Beings (احترام الكائنات الحية) - recognizing that humans do not live alone and must respect plants, animals, and all living things; (3) Respecting Future Generations (احترام حقوق الاجيال القادمه) - considering the rights and needs of future generations when making decisions about environmental use and conservation.

There are three main types of environmental ethics: Development ethic follows 'if it can be done, it should be done,' believing nature and resources are for human consumption and consumption is a human right. Preservation ethic suggests nature has intrinsic value and deserves protection, advocating no extraction from nature and allowing it to flourish by itself. Conservation ethic represents a balanced view, believing resources should be used judiciously with balance in activities, provisions for renewal, and maintaining nature's balance while enabling individual development.

Environmental ethics is guided by four fundamental principles: (1) Love for all life and the environment - humans are inseparable parts of the environment and must love all life beyond themselves; (2) Preservation of nature's balance and beauty - humans should strive to maintain the preservation of the balance and beauty of nature; (3) Wisdom in using limited natural resources including energy resources; and (4) Recognition that the environment exists not only for humans but for all living things.

Environmental ethics is a branch of ethics exploring the relationship between humans and the environment, examining how ethical principles influence human-nature interactions. It establishes that human beings and other living organisms are all members of society, and humans must respect all life forms as significant components of the biosphere. The three major types of environmental ethics are: (1) Frontier Ethics, which holds that resources are unlimited, humans are masters who manage the earth, and human society is separate from nature; (2) Sustainable Ethics, which assumes resources are limited, humans are part of nature, and should share resources with other living creatures; and (3) Land Ethics, proposed by Aldo Leopold in 1949, which expands the ethical community to include soil, water, plants, and animals, treating land as a citizen rather than property. Conservation should preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community, not just economic necessity.