The mutability of the postcolonial relationship between Indians and the republics becomes most apparent after 1850. The ideals of liberty and equality went astray in the late nineteenth century being destabilized by an upswing of another form political policy, liberalism. This liberalism was interwoven with racism and sexism, and colored by positivist interpretations of science, society and knowledge that were becoming common currency in Western Europe.
In order to understand the reaction to liberal policies of native populations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it is important to focus on the scientific method that was applied to social phenomenon at the time. These new urban elites embraced the scientific techniques that were developed to apply to social interaction. New diagnostic techniques allowed reformers to asses the capacity of Indians to improve themselves and their race (Larson p.64).
The formation of positivism is central to understanding how the elite viewed the non white subalterns. The difference in the ideals of the elite and indigenous populations was part of the contradictory nature of the national identity and that the elite wanted to resolve. The native was caught in a dichotomy that made Indians fundamental and contrary to the liberal ideals of progress and civilization (Larson p.246). Race theorists worried about the capacity of their own multi-ethnic societies for modernity (Larson p.65). These positivist theorists identified any indigenous, African, or mixed race to be inferior to the "whiteness" of Europeans. Positivist racism helped elites reconcile the difference between the rural population and themselves. The ideas associated with scientific racism identified Europeans as...
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While each of the different countries in the Andean region had particular circumstances, several things remained constant. There was still a high concentration of land ownership with elites or foreign firms, a displacement of communal lands, orientation around export economies, low values of native human capital, and the continuation of the dichotomy between rural and urban populations. Creole elites had hoped to change their countries from what they considered backwards and rural into nations that were more inline with European ideas of technology and progress. Regardless of the intensity of liberalism after 1850, when discussing the extent of Indian reaction to these policies, it is important to remember that it was not all reactionary and that some Indians used the social and cultural gaps created by the racial discourse to improve their situation.
The validity of this generalization can be evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional and practical concerns that shaped national Indian policy between 1789 and the mid-1830’s.
This program is part of the PBS series American Experience. In this episode, a critical eye is cast on the early efforts by Congress to "civilize" Native Americans. This homogenization process required the removal of Native American children from their homes and placing them in special Indian schools. Forced to stay for years at a time without returning home, children were required to eschew their own language and culture and learn instead the ways of the white man. Archival photographs and clips, newspaper accounts, journals, personal recollections, and commentary by historians relate the particulars of this era in American History and its ultimate demise. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.
Overall, politics are key in determining whether this era was predominantly liberal or conservative as well as economic and social reforms. On an aside, conservatism can be defined as a political philosophy based upon tradition and social stability while liberalism can be defined in two ways. Modern Liberalism emphasizes liberty and rights but, believes in strong government intervention in order to prevent the growth of a capitalist society, while classical liberalism advocates liberty and the autonomy of the individual. With these definitions given it can be concluded that the progressive era promoted change as well as government intervention to prevent capitalism from spreading and the autonomy of the individual. In conclusion, for the most part the Progressive Era from 1901-1907 was a triumph for modern and classical liberalism.
Talking Back to Civilization: Indian Voices from the Progressive Era edited by Frederick E. Hoxie is a book which begins with an introduction into the life of Charles Eastman and a brief overview of the history of Native Americans and their fight for justice and equal rights, it then continues by describing the different ways and avenues of speaking for Indian rights and what the activists did. This leads logically into the primary sources which “talk back” to the society which had overrun their own. The primary sources immerse the reader into another way of thinking and cause them to realize what our societal growth and even foundation has caused to those who were the true natives. The primary sources also expand on the main themes of the book which are outlines in the introduction. They are first and most importantly talking back to the “pale faces”, Indian education, religion, American Indian policy, the image of the Indians presented in America. The other chapters in the book further expanded on these ideas. These themes will be further discussed in the following chapters along with a review of this
During the second half of the nineteenth century, the lives of the Plains Indians were affected by both technological advancements and government actions. The American government made treaties with the Plains Indians, promising it would be fair, yet attempted to isolate American Indians and replace their culture with white heritage. In the later half of the nineteenth century, the Plains Indians were forced into a disparate lifestyle by both technology and government actions that disregarded the lives of the Indians.
“It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.” (Jackson).
The U.S. Government sponsored solution to the “Indian Problem” started in the early nineteenth century among the southern s...
His book clears the smoke from our eyes of the stereotypes of indigenous populations, their cities, and their cultures. Through reading this book, we find that natives were so far advanced that most of their inventions and discoveries still hold true today. The book also proves to us that textbooks are not always the best resources, even though we have relied on them since public education systems became the norm. Mann’s recount of his studies have opened up a world of more civilized, intelligent, and useful depictions of Indigenous populations and flourishing cities throughout North and South
In the first section, Monroy describes the Indian and the Iberian cultures and illustrates the role each played during missionization, as the Indians adapted ?to the demands of Iberian imperialism.?(5) He stresses the differen...
Stark, H. K., & Wilkins, D. E. (2011). American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving
of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1
Racial formation can be defined as “the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed” (Omi and Winant 55). Both Indians and African Americans were subject to this categorization of race. From Andrea Smith’s racial hierarchy system to Edward Countryman’s examination of projects of colonialism and slavery, the oppression of races, which connects both racialization and colonization, can be seen as the ideal in which the nation is built upon. The creation of racial representation, policies, and social structures seek to undermine other races as inferior, all the while justifying the acts of cruelty and deception in which the nation is founded on.