Andean Llamas and Earth Stewardship - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 83

downplay human needs and their right to use nature for survival. Such anthropology
and concern ought to be maintained. Nevertheless, an exclusionary anthropology
ought to be avoided in favor of an anthropology that overcomes the dualism charac-
teristic of many environmental ethics that counter-pose “biocentrism” to “anthropo-
centrism.” This can happen by understanding that the human being is not only
biological but also cultural and lives historically; the human is an animal, but not
just another animal. 3
Rather, human beings are, as theologian Gordon Kaufman proposes, “biohistori-
cal.” “This way of conceiving the human emphasizes our deep embeddedness in the
web of life on planet Earth while simultaneously attending to the signifi cance of our
radical distinctiveness as a form of life” (Kaufman 2004 , p. 42; cp Rozzi 1997 ). Or,
in the words of Ricardo Rozzi, we are “biocultural” (Rozzi 1997 , 2001 , 2012 ).
“Biology” and “culture” are merged in humans and this union makes humans differ-
ent from other forms of life. Human beings do not lose their importance, nor are
other forms of life excluded or less appreciated. As in the Adam and Eve story,
humans remember themselves as creatures of the earth who can relate to other living
creatures. Among the Aymara, as well as other peasant societies, human need is not
put aside nor underestimated. Indeed, much of the Earth-caring these societies dem-
onstrate is in order to assure human welfare. Llama dung is respected precisely
because it enriches the fertility of the soil that produces food. Yet it would be erro-
neous to consider the Aymara and other peasant societies as anthropocentric for
whom llama dung is only of instrumental value. Their relationship to the Earth is
not that of master-servant.
The idea of people as biohistorical or biocultural creatures offers a holistic
framework for discussing the meaning of stewardship. It provides a conceptual
basis for stewardship as symbiotic mutualism, thus undermining dualisms such as
anthropocentrism versus biocentrism, instrumental versus intrinsic value, or nature
versus culture.

7.3.2 Environmental Advocacy

Andean llama stewardship, however, is not passive but rather proactive in the
defense of the Earth through concrete actions on its behalf. The many rebellions by
Aymara and other Andean indigenous people demonstrate this. The Earth steward is
Earth advocate. Alterity is the philosophical mode for understanding environmental
issues. This view understands the Earth as “other”, as the subaltern. This requires
both an understanding of the modes and procedures that produce subalternity and
political and other intervention to secure its liberation (Ortega 2011 , p. 296).
It denounces policies and activities that do not contribute to its health and
announces ones that do. In this sense, stewardship is subversive of destructive poli-
cies and worldviews. Without Sabbath, stewardship becomes corrupted by power,

3 For a discussion of human uniqueness in relationship to other animals, see Van Huyssteen 2006 .