Global Climate Change Action

Abundance And Scarcity Mentality In Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Social Contexts: Aboriginal Poverty Mindset

http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/ScarcityMentality
by 'Tyson Yunkaporta'

Western Scarcity Mentality has infected Indigenous culture, threatening to eliminate the Abundance Mentality needed for the survival of the planet.
In my article "Christmas In Poverty" I mentioned a Scarcity Mentality that often develops in Indigenous involuntary minorities. Scarcity Mentality is the opposite of Abundance Mentality, which is what existed in Australian Indigenous societies prior to European invasion.

Abundance Mentality

Abundance Mentality is characterised by generosity, and a sense that no matter how much or little you have, there will always be enough resources to go around. The mind is not burdened with concerns about survival, and all a person needs is carried within themselves and the social group and land of which they are an integral part. Material possessions and knowledge are not hoarded, but accepted and shared. There is a sense of connectedness and belonging that guarantees eternal personal security and health.

Scarcity Mentality

Scarcity Mentality is characterised by disconnectedness and a greedy focus on the individual. Material possessions and knowledge are gathered and jealously guarded to build personal power, with efforts also made to prevent others from doing the same. The mind is consumed with thoughts of day-to-day survival. Because this paradigm cannot support a person in a sustainable way indefinitely, a sense of helplessness emerges. This leads to a belief that ultimately there is no hope for long term satisfaction of basic needs, and so the individual's focus shifts away from survival needs and into the realm of sensual gratification. "If tomorrow there is no hope of escaping pain, loss and deprivation, then seize what pleasures today may offer."

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"I need more!" + "There's not enough for me" = Scarcity Mentality

"Share with group" + "There's enough to go around" = Abundance Mentality

Scarcity Mentality - Me, mine, my own, more, now, separation, destruction, non-Indigenous. Abundance Mentality - Us, ours, shared, enough, soon, connectedness, creation, Indigenous.

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Cultural Effects Of Scarcity

Eventually, this Scarcity Mentality becomes a fixed internal mechanism, and overrides all external information to the contrary. Even if your social situation changes for the better and you suddenly have security for life, you still want to control as much of the abundant resources as possible. For example, if you spend your life fighting for the occasional scrap of fruit to avoid scurvy, and then suddenly your family is given a vast orchard, you will probably pick all the fruit while it is still green and inedible and hide it from everybody else. You still get no fruit, but at least you control as much of the available resources as possible.

The irony of this is that it is not a condition produced exclusively by poverty. In fact, the behaviour I just described is probably more common among wealthy people than poorer people. Think of any rich people you have met, and how possessive they can be, and I'm sure you'll agree.

A Clash Of Cultures

Indigenous peoples the world over often have trouble understanding why invading Westerners are so greedy, why they consume and consume the land like locusts, and then when they have taken all they can carry, they take more and simply waste or destroy it. But it is quite simple to understand when you think of it in terms of Abundance and Scarcity Mentalities.

Scarcity Mentality is a Western construct, a cultural disease that has infected our Indigenous ideologies and begun to eradicate the Abundance Mentality that is essential for the future survival of all life on this planet. My nephews would rather sit hungry in front of a new X Box than have a new spear and a full belly of fish. My nieces want a mobile phone so badly that they're happy to see their family starve for a month to pay for it.

The shift to Scarcity Mentality thinking represents a shift away from the paradigm of relatedness and communal living, towards autonomy and individual gratification. At its core, this is a shift from Indigenousness to the relatively recent construct of non-Indigenousness. Non-Indigenousness is nothing more than separation of self from nature. Everyone on the planet was Indigenous until relatively recently in human history, and if we can't return to that soon, this Scarcity Mentality is going to eat our planet alive.