Source on Viola Cordova

“Ever so rarely a writer comes along and says what others have not found words to say. Usually this writer is a poet and not a philosopher. And yet, philosopher Viola Cordova writes like a poet. As an American Indian woman and thinker, I have long wished for a person who could bring to light and language the significance of indigenous knowledge and the cultural differences of our peoples so eloquently and brilliantly as Viola Cordova, an Apache philosopher. She has gone beyond Euro-Western philosophy into the heart of the indigenous knowledge system and philosophy, as far as the limits of English will allow.”

“According to Viola Cordova, the mystery of understanding tribal concepts of being and goodness seems beyond the comprehension of Europeans who have tried to understand systems that seem to be too complex for them. The anthropologists and those studying tribal peoples too often write their own interpretation of what is said because they are unable to see larger, to think beyond their own thinking enough to come to what is really spoken, meant, and known about the world. For indigenous peoples, each place has its own intelligence, its own stories. "We are not only creatures of this planet but of very specific and fragile circumstances of this planet. We are herd animals. Humans are animals of the group."”

“Viola Cordova looks at Native knowledge systems and languages across the country, encompassing a history of continent-wide pain and the effects of European colonization and dominance, and bringing to words how all of our Native systems derive from the heart of place.”

“In her system of knowledge, there are no Native correlates to the terms soul or god. The things we seek are balance and harmony.”

“Viola Cordova writes that the stories of all people need to be laid out on the table before one understands how to be fully human.”

“There is a given upon which everything else hinges. Viola says that troubles began when the Europeans found that the Indians did not share their sense of land. And, they had no consciousness of what other life forms they were (and are) disturbing. They were, essentially, unaware of living things. Yet community lies beyond family within the surrounding, enfolding environment.”