Book Review: People as a Part of Nature: Reviewing the Law of the Mother

Abstract

This is a review of a Sierra Club book entitled Law of the Mother: Protecting Indigenous People in Protected Areas. The book is a collection of essays about indigenous people and the efforts to protect the environment surrounding them. The conservation community needs to recognize the role of indigenous people as an inherent part of nature rather than as intruders. While the essays are informative, the editor romanticizes indigenous people into guardians of a mystical code called "the Law of the Mother."

Keywords: indigenous people, environmentalism, Phoka, Cree Indians, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, hatam, Kuna Indians, Native Americans, Law of the Mother