Keeping the
FIRE ALIVE
What Indigenous Knowledge Can Teach Us About Technology and the Future
By Simone Athayde, World Resources Institute
But as we’ve invented faster, stronger, and smarter tools, we’ve also grown disconnected from the natural world that makes them possible.
In today’s industrial societies, most people never see where their stuff comes from: the water that powers turbines, the oil that fuels cars, the metals that become phones. We depend on nature for everything, yet we often forget its origins.
In contrast, many Indigenous communities in the Amazon keep a close, hands-on relationship with the materials they use.
In these communities, knowledge is passed from generation to generation. A young Indigenous woman might learn from her mother and grandmother how to plant and spin cotton, weave hammocks, or dye fibers with forest plants. She becomes—in her own way—a scientist, engineer, and artist all at once. Every object, whether a basket, canoe, or headdress, carries both beauty and purpose.
Anthropologists call this “material culture.”
But for Indigenous Peoples, it’s more than that.
Making something useful is also making something sacred.
A Kayapó headdress, for example, made from macaw feathers, is not only a piece of art, it’s also a spiritual object and a symbol of identity and pride.
Amazonian artisans work with materials found in their environment.
They use clay, stones, fibers, wood, feathers, and seeds. Each has its own story and spirit.
The Kawaiwete people, for instance, weave baskets from a plant called arumã, which they harvest carefully so it grows back. The same basket might be used to store cotton, for healing rituals, or to sell. It’s a powerful reminder that even simple objects hold deep cultural and ecological meaning.
Today, many Indigenous groups are using art and technology to keep their traditions alive and share them with the world. One inspiring example is Daiara Tukano, an artist from the Tukano people of the Brazilian Amazon. In 2024, she created Wirõ ah’cipá (Shimmers of the Wind), a stunning mural for the Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands. Her mural blends Amazonian cosmology with European art. Her paintings have been acquired by the Harvard Art Museums and featured in major U.S. exhibitions.
Like the myth of the stolen fire, art reminds us that knowledge, creativity, and respect for nature are what keep the flame of humanity burning. Keeping that fire alive means learning from Indigenous wisdom, reconnecting with the Earth, and making sure our technologies help the planet, not harm it.