The Rio Bravo del Norte, or if you will the Rio Grande, is a testament to the force of nature and to the whims of man. Its story is the story of the region, the history, if you, will of places and peoples who converged at this place across time. To ask that such a past be constrained, or that such a present be understood, through the interpretations set forth in specific samples of pottery sounds like the ultimate in hubris. Then again, maybe it is simply genius. For who is to say that, in a single pot, there might not lay the history of humanity? Who is to say that, amongst just two villages, there might not lay the foundations of our present condition? Who is to say that, within the silence of a museum, inanimate objects might speak to us about not only our place but also our future?
The thought alone gave me over to wonder; and, at the same time, as a person who was not born of the region or attuned to its cultural sensitivities, I had to admit to myself that not only was I intrigued but concerned by where my explorations might lead. First of all, such an exploration would challenge general conceptions of what objects are, what meaning they might possibly transmit, and what role they play within our public institutions. It also raised the possibility that what we had assumed to be the case may not be the case at all. If we were able to speak to pots, and pots to us, are we really who we pretend to be and do we really know what we claim to understand? Such a Pandora’s box. But what the hell: are we to live in ignorance all our lives? Just imagine what a world it might be if pots actually spoke. What a story they might tell.
Of Pots and Men
It may well be that pots do not or cannot speak. But for most Americans – in fact, for most people raised in the so-called “western” cultures – it is extremely difficult to think of, even to conceive of, a world in which pots might speak.
Americans and “westerners” are, after all, children of reason; and reason does not readily allow for a world in which “inanimate” objects become animate, become subjects in-and-of-themselves, alive if you will, existing in and of their own accord for their very own purpose.1 Having pots being regarded as both an animate and inanimate object would be a contradiction, and contradictions are the one thing not allowed in a reasoning society, in western societies, at least since Aristotle first articulated the principle of non-contradiction in the Metaphysics.2 It would also run contrary to our predominant religious orientation, i.e., Christianity, an orientation grounded in reason not animism.
Is this not why “westerners” have achieved the success they have, why they are the pre-eminent power in a truly global economy? That is certainly the argument. Embracing reason as the foundation of their worldview has sustained them more than 2000 years, from the rise and fall of Rome through the Dark Ages and beyond the Enlightenment. It has given us democracies and democratic institutions built on individual and human rights; it has produced a scientific method of inquiry that generates medical and technological breakthroughs for improving our general health and well being; and it has provided a means for producing wealth that secures a world of leisure wherein individuals can expand their minds and nurture their families without fear of loss. If reason has brought us to this place, they will ask, why give it up now? And, why give it up for a pot?
Success is a hard thing to argue against, particularly when man himself is, or has made himself to be, the center of the universe holding dominion over all things. But what if the way we are doing things is wrong, both from a moral perspective and from a perspective of personal growth? Is it really proper that people have the right to regard other things, whether pots or people, as nothing more than objects to be appropriated for our own use? And if pots or people were really something other than objects to be appropriated, if they were actually subjects in their own right with rights, might not listening to them help expand our world view and thereby allow us to gain even more perspective about the true choices that need to
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