The San Diego River has been a place of life and relationship for the Kumeyaay people and other Indigenous communities of the region. The river has never been an empty landscape waiting to be explored. It has been a part of a living world where water, plants, animals and people are connected through responsibility and care.
The Kumeyaay understood the river through stewardship. They gathered plants for food, medicine, tools, and their different ceremonies. They also had deep connections with the creatures that they lived with and besides. With the intimacy with which they were connected to the world around them, they had a deep understanding of the river and its surroundings in a way that we now struggle to, due to an increased detachment with nature.
Reflective Questions:
- What does it mean to understand the river as a lived place rather than just a resource?
- How did the Kumeyaay's relationship to the river shape the way that we should interpret and experience a river's landscape?
- Why is this history important to learn about?