Native Americans and the Dark Skies Movement

• In Event: History After Dark: Histories of Nighttime Environments and Cultures

Abstract

There is a long and well-documented history of exclusion of Native peoples from national parks, environmentalism, and astronomy. Land dispossession to create the parks literally removed Native peoples onto reservations; racism and the trope of the ecological Indian has long trapped worked to exclude them from the environmental movement; and astronomy lags so far behind other physical sciences in including Indigenous Americans that the National Academies has identified it as a “systemic problem” with the field. All these histories converge on and inform the dark sky movement, a relatively new environmental movement that seeks to reduce light pollution and conserve dark nighttime skies as an environmental resource.

Despite this history, some tribes have embraced the dark sky movement, joining to revitalize and highlight Indigenous astronomical knowledge, highlighted through the case studies of Death Valley, Mesa Verde, and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. This does not come without challenges. Lack of resources, intra- and intertribal disagreements, and cultural differences between Native priorities for cultural connection vs. the dark sky creates friction. The consideration of Native knowledges and perspectives in the dark sky movement remains secondary to the overall focus on light pollution reducing policies and technologies. Examining the history of night at each of these places through an Indigenous lens shows that dark nighttime skies are worth conserving as both a natural and a cultural resource. This informs a potential to open the dark sky movement up to be even more inclusive through systemic inclusion of Indigenous peoples and knowledges.

Author

• Doug Sam, University of Oregon