Image from Heritage Daily. Courtesy of John D Smith. Mount Rushmore at Sunset.1
Mountains: scientifically they have the mundane definition of being formed through the collision of tectonic plates. However, it is what is not included within this dry definition that is the true value of these features. From posing a challenge to hikers to creating and shaping the various ecosystems around them, mountains serve roles unlike anything else in nature. Yet when you look into the history of these peaks, it becomes abundantly clear how little our own nation cares for the Native American beliefs instilled within these ranges. The expansionist path that the US has taken led to the near-annihilation of Native religions and cultures, but no example is more apparent than that of Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe (also known as Mount Rushmore). This path of expansionism and colonialism is not unique to the US, and has created long-lasting effects on the cultures oppressed.
The Lakota people of North and South Dakota worshiped Tȟuŋkášila for generations. The name itself means six grandfathers, each representing a sacred direction — north, south, east, west, above, and below. The religious values the Lakota people instilled within Tȟuŋkášila are not unique. In fact, you can see its presence halfway across the world with the South Indian Mountain Arunachala. Much like Tȟuŋkášila, Arunachala is a cultural center, with the name meaning ‘Hill of Wisdom’. By analyzing how these two cultures retaliated against colonialism, we can better understand how we can become more connected to the natural world.
From the battle of Little Big Horn to the Black Hill Gold Rush, the Lakota people have struggled with the imperialistic expansion policies of the US under the ideal of Manifest Destiny. It is this so-called “destiny” that led to Tȟuŋkášila being desecrated by the White American colonists. To add insult to injury, the faces of their oppressors were engraved upon their holy mountain. The very icon of their beliefs was desecrated so that the American people could mark their territories. A similar picture is viewed across the world and nearly two centuries beforehand with Arunachala and the surrounding town of Tiruvannamalai. From the 17th century to the 20th century, the town, and by extension the mountain, was conquered by the Mughals, the French, the British, the Mysores, and then again the British. The location of the Mountain served each conquering force as a central location where they could post their forces. This led to many of the conquering forces, particularly the British, to expel and prevent pilgrims from venturing to the Mountain. The British in particular, with the use of the Anglo-Hindu case law, prevented these pilgrims from even venturing on the premises by cherry-picking mistranslations to weaponize their own beliefs against them. The British would in particular quote mistranslations that made it seem as though the idea of these pilgrims even trying to come to Arunachal was wrong in and of itself. Their own beliefs were weaponized by their colonizers, preventing them from stepping foot near their holy mountain.
These groups, both of whom lost access to their cultural center, never had a choice in the matter. The conquering of these mountains left these people without their ties to the land, making it easier for them to be colonized. The idea of even respecting the smallest of agreements when it comes to compromising on the machine of industry is something foreign to the minds of these imperialistic powers. The case of Worcester v. Georgia, for example, displays how the militaristic conquest of land by the US could not be halted, even when it went against the Constitution. This is not even an event of a distant past. Today with cases like United States v. Lara (2004) and United States v. Wheeler (1978), the idea of where tribal courts end and federal courts start begins to blur. The very sovereignty of the tribal nations is called into question when federal prosecutors are able to charge people with the same crime, when it has already been decided upon in Native courts. With the growing federal overreach into Native lands, the idea of resource exploitation in Native lands becomes more of a modern fear than it was recently in years past.
With major global conflicts devastating the international supply chain, the US has begun to increase its own domestic mining operations, notably a $3.6 billion increase from 2021 to 2022 in nonfuel mineral production. With the major increase in surface mining operations, particularly the mountain-top removal method, US corporations are able to change the landscape drastically to increase profit margins. Less invasive methods, such as open pit mining, are not able to meet current demands for rare earth metals, leading to the massive spike in landscape-changing mining methods. Under former President Trump, through his famous “two for one” policy, key regulations to the mining industry were lifted, opening the door for the detrimental programs that have devastated landscapes across the globe. Even with President Biden rolling back some of the Trump-era legislation, the trend is clear, and Washington’s overall blatant disregard for the cultural significance of the features being destroyed is apparent. However, this disregard by the federal government has been met by pushback from members of the scientific and academic community.
One such academic, Fausto O. Sarmiento, Ph.D., is a professor of Mountain Science in the Geography Department at the University of Georgia. Within Dr. Sarmiento’s classes, one of the key focal points he makes is regarding the conservation of mountainscapes and their impact on surrounding environments. He emphasizes that mountains do not just serve the environment through natural functions, but also benefit the surrounding communities in cultural and religious effects. The cultural effect of mountains allows for communities to develop and is arguably the foundation of modern-day societies.
These mountains, the literal basis of civilization, are being desecrated in irreparable ways so that we can gain resources quicker. With Biden giving out oil contracts despite saying he would not during his campaign, the federal government might even start giving out contracts to start mining on Native land. The lack of care for Native sovereignty has been made clear over the years, and the flip-flopping stances of the federal government has been made even clearer. In an era where people have been trying to right the wrongs of the past, the neglect we have had towards Native landmarks has been made apparent through the nearly 400 million dollars made yearly through tourism of Tȟuŋkášila. This holy mountain has, by no stretch of the imagination, been turned into a mockery that deifies the very oppressors who devastated the Lakota people.
The way in which we have treated these mountains, icons of worship, is fundamentally absurd and it goes against everything this country stands for. We must create a world in which we do not harm other cultures and the natural world for our material gain. We cannot continue to abuse our position in the world to devastate the cultures present before us, instead, we must focus on trying to reconcile with native populations and create a world in which no place of worship is stripped in favor of greed.
1 Smith, John D. Mount Rushmore at Sunset. January 28, 2023. Heritage Daily. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/01/the-hidden-chamber-at-mount-rushmore/146048.
2 V., Jagadisa Ayyar P. “Chapter VI: Tiruvannamalai.” Essay. In South Indian Shrines, 190–204. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1993.
3 Cohn, Bernard S. “Command of Language.” Essay. In Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge the British in India, 68. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2006.
4 Cohn, Bernard S. “Law and the Colonial State in India.” Essay. In Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge the British in India, 83-90. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2006.
