Understanding Indigenism: Building A Different Future for Us All
“Defining one’s ‘culture’ is a life long process,” according to Indian rights activist Norman DesCampe of the Grand Portage Chippewa Tribe. “You have to live it.” Today, the life long process of understanding indigenous cultures is limited by terms of “cultural survival.” The ability of future generations to define themselves as Inuit or Kayapo is threatened as their natural environments and social integrity is hurt by government negligence: indigenous cultures must be protected under a political structure that allows the people to live as they choose to live, outside of the transformative power of established nation-states, and the assumptions of these powers.
Thus, international organizations must actively ensure the rights of impoverished indigenous “states within states”: The right to “exchange equitably” (Rose 234) as autonomous states with nation states is the basis for the new politically explosive global phenomenon (Neisen 1) of indigenous sovereignty and cultural autonomy.
However, in Western government, “native peoples are in the way because they are thought to undermine the state- whichever state they find themselves in- because of their struggle to maintain their own ways of life” (Wolfe, “Tribes”). Because they present economic challenges to land use and resource exploitation, indigenous peoples share sufferings under political oppression, deracination and racism and are, as in the case of Australian Aborigines, the “poorest of the poor.” Destroyed by a “rhetoric of hate,” genocide and mass murder are the tools of nation states to control the unwanted obstacles in economic development (Niezen 55).
Colonialism transformed the indigenous life of the Yanomami, the Maasai, the Hawai’ians, the Aborigines and hundreds of other indigenous peoples. Industrialization moved humanity beyond the “world in which people mattered to a world in which they are expendable” (Wolfe). Today, still entrenched in the imperialistic ideology of colonialism by modern forms of globalization, nation states noisily quarrel over the rights to exploit both land and people for economic power without regard to indigenous existence. Non-Hawaiian haoles crudely render false historical interpretations of their “settler society” as a blessed yoke of “civilization” to the pitiful “feudal” Hawaiians (Trask). Some indigenous people attempt to assimilate, as “for years [one Aboriginal man] had ‘sweetened’ himself up just like tea, trying to make himself and others understood [to invading Western cultures]’” but “‘nothing been come back. Just nothing’” (Rose 195). Without political muscle, indigenous people are forced to promote ecologically harmful projects, such as hydroelectric dam proposals, to survive within the paradigm of the Western world.
The people of Hawaii and other Pacific Island Nation groups have experienced great injustice from their colonial powers and the acts of imperialism. Lands were seized, cultural practices banned, language lost, and people were even forced to move away from their homes for the purpose of bomb testing. The United States and other countries abroad sent out representatives to do their work for them; in return their future actions would be justified in describing the Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders as savages that need to have wider powers enforced upon them; thus resulting in a tangled web of political mythologies.
Until the 16th century, Aboriginal people were the only inhabitants of what is now Canada, hence, they were an independent and self-governing people till the Europeans had the capacity to dominate Canada's original inhabitants and possessors (Elias 1). The European Invasion brought about The 1876 Indian Act, which was developed over time through separate pieces of colonial legislation regarding Aboriginal peoples across Canada such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. In 1876, these acts were consolidated as the Indian Act (Hanson). This essay aims to explain how the Indian Act tried to destroy the Aboriginal culture through residential schools and unequal recognition of women, successive acts,
First I will define the definition of terms used in this paper. When I use the word Aboriginal, I understand this as a label given from the colonizers/ Europeans to identify Indigenous peoples. Canadian legislation defines Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal, I understand this as indifferent from the dominant ideology, therefore, the colonizers named Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal. According to teachings I have been exposed to it’s a legal term and it’s associated with discrimination and oppression. However, audiences I have written for prefer the use of Aboriginal. More premise to this reference is Aboriginal, Indigenous, First Nations, Indian and Native are used interchangeable, but it should be noted these names do represent distinct differences. Furthermore, I will use Indigenous to represent an empowering way to reference a unique general culture in Canada. Under the title of Indigenous peoples in Canada, for me represents: First Nations people, Metis people and Inuit peoples. These are the two titles I will use when I reference Indigenous people from an empowering perspective and Aboriginal from a colonizer perspective.
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
As European domination began, the way in which the European’s chose to deal with the Aborigines was through the policy of segregation. This policy included the establishment of a reserve system. The government reserves were set up to take aboriginals out of their known habitat and culture, while in turn, encouraging them to adapt the European way of life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 established strict controls for aborigines living on the reserves . In exchange for food, shelter and a little education, aborigines were subjected to the discipline of police and reserve managers. They had to follow the rules of the reserve and tolerate searchers of their homes and themselves. Their children could be taken away at any time and ‘apprenticed” out as cheap labour for Europeans. “The old ways of the Aborigines were attacked by regimented efforts to make them European” . Their identities were threatened by giving them European names and clothes, and by removing them from their tra...
“In about half of the Dominion, the aboriginal rights of Indians have arguably been extinguished by treaty” (Sanders, 13). The traditions and culture of Aboriginals are vanishing at a quick pace, and along it is their wealth. If the Canadian Government restore Native rights over resource development once again, Aboriginals would be able to gain back wealth and help with the poverty in their societies. “An influential lobby group with close ties to the federal Conservatives is recommending that Ottawa ditch the Indian Act and give First Nations more control over their land in order to end aboriginal poverty once and for all” (End First). This recommendation would increase the income within Native communities, helping them jump out of
LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1999. Print.
The unit readings argue that anthropologists insist that global flows also partake in affecting local practices. The beliefs and customs of the Inuit are accounted for their interaction with the environment, but these factors also interrelate with neighbouring societies, global capitalism, and international NGOs, as Martha of the North describes. The Inuit were used by the Canadian government in a form of racism and cruelty. To affirm sovereignty in the vast arctic land, Canada had to have permanent residences residing within these territories. They had created a façade that they were providing the Inuit with the opportunity of a better life when in reality, they did not care about them at all. The government had less than honest intentions. What the people who represented the nation did to the relocation of the Inuit is unacceptable and its effect can be explained through holism but also goes beyond the concept on an international scale. Global practices influenced the local practices of the Inuit in the High Arctic. The government representatives of Canada at that time did not value the lives of these people and only cared about their own
In the nineteen eighties Canada saw a multitude of positive and negative changes that taught Canadians many valuable lessons. Firstly, In Canada we are known for many good things and many bad things, and unfortunately we are very dependent on other nations such as the United States, Which leads us into creating the NEP also known as the National Energy Program. The NEP had three main goals to achieve before the mark of the nineteen nighties and it was to establish at least fifty percent of Canadian ownership of the oil and gas industry, to make Canada more self-sufficient in energy and lastly to create a better distribution of the revenue from the oil. Along the way of the NEP program there had many bumps on the road but in the end the control of the energy industry was increased by 19 percent, giving us a great economic feat (Don Quinlan, 291).This was very significant because it had reduced Canada’s dependence on foreign oil and also helped us gain control of the Canadian energy industry. In 1987 the Canadian government had agreed upon the Canada-united states Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA); this agreement had created the elimination and reduction of tariffs therefore allowing Canada ...
Dark, imposing, devious, powerful beyond measure, Sauron is evil personified in the Lord of the Rings universe. He is the be all and end all when it comes to villiany in the Lord of the Rings tale. He is a major reason that the Lord of the Rings is regarded as a pinnacle of epic fantasy story telling. But he is not an overly complex villain, with morally gray motivations that some may say are required if an evil character, especially the central one, is to be regarded as important and beneficial to the plot. But the genius of Sauron's villaint is his absence of complex reasoning or motives that could be seen as not entirely evil. His one goal is to destroy the world of men. He can't be reasoned with or sympathized with, and this is what the this insatiable, all powerful, purely destructive nature of his villainy so vital to the Lord of the Rings. Sauron and his purely diabolical nature are the constant that every protagonist is leaned against and tested upon, and the podium on which Tolkien showcases the character growth of the many protagonists in this novel from the beginning of the story until the end.
Hurtig, M.(2002). The Vanishing Country. Is It Too Late To Save Canada? Toronto. Canada. McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
Her book focuses on the myriads of issues and struggles that Indigenous men and women have faced and will continue to face because of colonialism. During her speech, Palmater addressed the grave effects of the cultural assimilation that permeated in Indigenous communities, particularly the Indian Residential School System and the Indian Act, which has been extensively discussed in both lectures and readings. Such policies were created by European settlers to institutionalize colonialism and maintain the social and cultural hierarchy that established Aboriginals as the inferior group. Palmater also discussed that according to news reports, an Aboriginal baby from Manitoba is taken away every single day by the government and is put in social care (CTVNews.ca Staff, 2015). This echoes Andrea Smith’s argument in “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” that colonialism continues to affect Aboriginals through genocide (2006, p. 68). Although such actions by the government are not physical acts of genocide, where 90% of Aboriginal population was annihilated, it is this modern day cultural assimilation that succeeded the Indigenous Residential School System and the Indian Act embodies colonialism and genocide (Larkin, November 4,
Since 1840 the Hawaiian Islands have been an escape to a tropical paradise for millions of tourists. People all over the world encounter alluring, romanticized pictures of Hawai'i's lush, tropical vegetation, exotic animals, beautiful beaches, crystal clear water, and fantastical women. This is the Hawai'i tourists know. This is the Hawai’i they visit. However, this Hawai'i is a state of mind, a corporate-produced image existing on the surface. More precisely, it is an aftermath of relentless colonization of the islands' native inhabitants by the United States. These native Hawaiians experience a completely different Hawai'i from the paradise tourists enjoy. No one makes this as clear as Haunani-Kay Trask, a native Hawaiian author. In her book, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i and through her poetry in Light in the Crevice Never Seen, Trask provides an intimate account of the tourist industry's impact on native Hawaiian culture. She presents a negative perspective of the violence, pollution, commercial development, and cultural exploitation produced by the tourist industry. Trask unveils the cruel reality of suffering and struggling through a native Hawaiian discourse. Most of the world is unaware of this.
Project, Harvard. The State of the Native Nations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 221-222.
...ther embracing the feminine roles of wife and mother, which disgust Sam. But through her quest, Sam seems to become more comfortable with her body. After her encounter with Tom, she has a different understanding of her body: “She imagined him driving up now. ‘I came over to play with your breasts,’ he might say.” Dawn’s pregnancy, which precludes Dawn’s desire “to play daddy” because she’s “sick of playing mommy,” and Sam’s mother’s home life, with her dull spouse and baby, repulse Sam at first, but by the end of the novel she seems more comfortable with her half-sister. She reconnects with her mother by giving her the cat statue. Her quest for the extreme masculine exhibited in war leads to her achieving a balance between the masculine and feminine. Emmett too finds that balance as he is able to smile, staring at the names of his friends at the Vietnam Memorial.