Comparison Of Multiculturism In The American History Of Native Americans

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1. Parrillo’s primary argument in this chapter is that it is erroneous to assume that multiculturism began in America once the Europeans arrived, when in reality multiculturism was present among Native Americans long before the Europeans arrived. Furthermore, Parrillo is arguing against the traditional view of Native Americans seen as brutish savages or being associated with tipis, buffalo, warriors on horseback, war paint etc., and Native Americans were a single entity. Instead, Parrillo is aiming to illustrate the idea that Native Americans were different from one another in multiple areas, and these differences were usually based upon factors such as a tribe’s language, culture, and geographic location, and that if are to understand Native …show more content…

What is ironic about Parrillo’s blaming of White-Europeans for the manner in which Native Americans are presented is that most of his evidence comes from these white Europeans who were simply observing the Native Americans, and what’s more is that not all of the views of the natives were negative showing that not all white Europeans viewed the natives the same way. For instance, Lewis and Clark illustrated the differences in phonetics among Native American Language, and these two were white men. Furthermore, John White’s 16th century watercolor of an Algonquian village further portrayed the multiculturism present among Native Americans and he too was a white …show more content…

I believe that the misrepresentation Parrillo puts forward is that while multiculturism was present among Native Americans long before the Europeans came, this multiculturism was not strictly between the natives. Instead, this multiculturism also evolved to be between the Europeans and Native Americans. Both cultures were different but also took things from one another. By writing as if multiculturism among native Americans was only among the native Americans and there was not much multiculturism with the Europeans Parrillo is coincidentally grouping all the natives into one group and the Europeans into another. When in reality both cultures are part of a much larger

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