Gray Whales, Green Indians, and Sea Shepherds

Abstract

In recent years, scholars in disciplines outside the field of religious studies have attempted to explain the behavior of anti-whaling activists opposing the Makah tribe's attempts to being whaling in this contemporary era in terms of theories of totemism. This thesis questions the conclusions reached by those scholars and argues the following: 1) analysis of contemporary anti-whaling activism as "totemism" is ineffective because of the problematic and outdated nature of the concept; 2) contemporary scholars who employ the concept also fail to make the more general argument that anti-whaling activism is an endeavor informed by religious beliefs; 3) the fact that scholars have attempted to rehabilitate the term may tell us more about their own ideas regarding religion than those of the people whom they study. Specifically, it is the argument of this thesis that such application of the totemism concept illustrates the ideological bias that perceived human-animal relationships on the part of indigenous peoples are permissible, but are not permissible among non-indigenous individuals or groups.