Native Indians Burial Site

Because technology keeps on advancing, there are times when it has head on clashes with socio- cultural practices and beliefs of different communities. This is because, culture has always been there, as old as human civilization itself, while technology on the other hand, continues to develop. As technology continues to expand, it encounters cultural restrictions both in time and space dimension. An example of this case is tackled in this paper, whereby there is to be a plan to build another reservoir for a dam so as to avoid cases of over flooding, and to also increase the extent of the electricity being generated.

At the heart of the issue is a community that claims that the land under which the reservoir is to be expanded is their ancestral gravesite. To the above effect the community argues, carrying out the plan so as to thwart the possible cases of over flooding will be tantamount to committing cultural sacrilege. Pros of letting the area remain a graveyard site It would be wrong to go ahead with the expansion of the hydroelectric dam reservoir under an area that has been a gravesite. This is because the whole process will be disrespectful to the sanctity of human bodies.

It is the belief in this sanctity of human bodies that humans are always accorded decent burial. Philosophically, this is will be absurd. In almost the same vein, it is true that such an act will be interfering with the importance of ensuring that there is cultural preservation. It is this cultural preservation that enables contemporary learners to learn of a people’s way of life. Edmunds (2004) points out that likewise, it is through the maintenance of these sites that anthropologists and archaeologists are able to realize artifacts that can be used for a socio- historical reconstruction.

Alternative Press Centre (2006) has it that the act of expanding the hydroelectric dam reservoir is rather absurd since it compromises the widely admired element of cultural diversity. It is only by keeping or consolidating these burial grounds that other communities will be able to learn the similarities and differences that exist between a certain community’s way of life and theirs. It is through the identification of cultural similarities and differences that different individuals and societies will be able to appreciate each other and welcome each other well.

Still, the discovery made by cultural anthropologists that the area must have been occupied by another ethno-linguistic group, and not the one that claims the area as their ancestors’ burial site does not validate the need to desecrate the area. On the contrary, these anthropologists should be thankful that they have a riddle to solve, and the land, serving as the archeological site should be of high value to them so that they need not cede it away to the expansion of the hydroelectric dam reservoir.

Peradventure, through extensive investigation on the land, more discoveries may be unearthed (Grinde 2002). The pros of expanding the reservoir in the area considered as a gravesite Leaving the land under which the reservoir is to be expanded will be tantamount to letting the land lie unutilized. In any way, cultural anthropologists and archaeologists have pointed out that this land does not belong to the group that thought that the area hosts their ancestors’ remains. In almost the same vein, leaving the land unutilized cannot in anyway generate income or economic accruals to any society.

The corollary to this is that expanding the reservoir will help generate more electricity in the area, and thus, benefiting the very occupants who are diametrically opposed to the idea of expanding it. It is a well known fact that increase in the amount of electricity being generated translates to increased production, and subsequently, ameliorations in the quality of life. In addition to the above, by resisting the plan to expand the reservoir, the community is sitting on a disaster in the making.

This is because serious floods may cause loss of lives, properties, infrastructure and the spreading of waterborne diseases such as bilharzias, cholera, and typhoid, among others. This only means that the plan to widen the berth of the reservoir is nothing more or less an artifice to improve the locals’ quality of life. In any way, with the ever expansive demographic levels, there is coming a time when all land that is being unutilized will have to be put in use. The magnitude of the matter will even see children’s playground even being put under debate whether to be put in alternative use or not.

This will be more so aided by the fact that through technological advancement, children’s playing kits will have come in a different package, and therefore not calling for huge tracts of land. Creating the plan to extirpate the impasse There are only two ways that can be used to bring about a solution in this situation. The first recourse out of the stalemate is to liaise with archaeologists and cultural anthropologists to keep carrying out an extensive research over the area.

This is to the effect that should the results prove convincingly that the inhabitants are not the same with the people whose remains are buried in the land, then the inhabitants can be diplomatically told to cede away this site for the expansion of the dam’s reservoir. This is the most feasible way out of the situation (Ozinga 2005). Another alternative is to divert the course of the dam elsewhere away from the burial site. This will allow for the construction or the expansion of the reservoir in an area that is not anywhere near the bone of contention.

The only problem with this alternative is that it will take long, it is bound to be expensive and requires a lot of logistics. Conclusion and the nature of the case that is being dealt with The matter is of pivotal importance since it poses as an ethnic issue. However, a close securitization of the matter reveals that the issue is multifaceted. Behind the ethnic standoff between the ethno-linguistic group is culture, since this society wants its cultural sites preserved.

It suffices to say also that this ethno-linguistic unit is made up of individuals who are equal citizens with even those who are in the highest echelons of power. This means that the individuals are entitled to their own human rights. Therefore, it is true that the matter is not ethnic only, but also cultural, civil and diplomatic. For instance, Daes (2007) argues that human rights which raise up the issue of civil rights, demands that any property that belongs to an individual or a community, if appropriated or possessed by the government, the former owner must be reimbursed.

References Alternative Press Centre. (2006). Hydroelectric power needs. Yale: Alternative Press Centre. Daes, E. (2007). Protecting Indigenous People’s Heritage. UNHCR. Edmunds, D. (2004). New warriors and native US needs since 1900s. Montana: NWICPA. Grinde, D. (2002). Latin American settlements and technological expansion. California: University of California. Ozinga, J. (2005). Hydroelectric power and the prodigal humans. Michigan: Michigan University Press.

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