ETHN 100: Native American experience: European Contact Week 3 Session 2

Last Session Discussed the reflexive commentaries on Ch. 1-3 of The Latehomecomer Categorized terms from The Spirit of Crazy Horse Defined culture and explored the concept’s meaning in relation to symbolism in HG Well’s “The Country of the Blind.”

Today Discuss Native American and European contact. Select key terms from the Zinn chapter. Listen to a short lecture on Native American and European contact.

Revisiting “Country of the Blind” We observe that power and culture shape one another. Nunez’s “discovery,” Ethnocentrism, deciding to leave. How did Europeans establish and maintain a position of cultural dominance? Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997). UCLA Med School – Ornithology and Ecology

Power/Resistance Identity Culture Structure Overt and Covert control Identity How groups and individuals see themselves and are seen by “others” Culture Bounded system of values and traditions shared by a group Structure Institutions and patterns of social interaction

Howard Zinn (1922 - 2010) Among Zinn’s most popular works is A People’s History of the United States. Social History – experiences of ordinary people in the past. “History from the bottom up” versus from the “top down” Rejects literary evidence of the past as elitist and untrustworthy.

Pair Activity Read over your reading notes on Zinn. Select a key term (event, person, idea) that you think illustrates the significance of the reading. Discuss this term with a partner. Be prepared to share.

The “Unique Position” of Native Americans Migrated to the Western Hemisphere via glaciers on the Bering Straight 12,000 – 50,000 years ago. Not immigrants Indigenous to the land Cultures and societies developed here.

Native Americans at the Time of European Contact Late 15th Century (Erikson 500 years earlier) Estimated population of indigenous people living north of the Rio Grande was between 1 million to 18 million. Organized into hundreds of tribes or nations, some quite “advanced” in social organization and technology. Languages and cultures varied among tribes and nations. No such thing as “Native American” in this regard. Instead, multiple ethnic groups.

European Supremacy over Native Americans Subordination of Native Americans Four conditions for ethnic stratification (Marger, 2006): Contact Context of contact: Exploration and colonization Motivation – goods, spices, land, escaping religious prosecution, increasing spheres of influence. Ethnocentrism Native Americans were seen as heathens Ideology of “civilized” versus “savages.”

Competition Contact between groups doesn’t alone create hierarchy. Competition for resources is a key factor. Differential power Technology – arms Lack of resistance to diseases imported from Europe

Colonial Interests in the Western Hemisphere From the beginning of European settlement to the end of the eighteenth century, Indian-white relations centered primarily on the fur trade. Three major colonial powers were fighting for economic resources in the Western Hemisphere: Britain, France, and Spain. Each had different colonial objectives.

Colonial Interests: Spain, France, and Britain Spain – exploiting the mineral wealth, particularly of those in the southern part of the hemisphere. Indigenous people in present-day Mexico, Central and South America, and parts of the Caribbean were brutally exploited as a labor force. France – supplying European markets with furs. Mainly in the northeast and central areas of North America. In contrast to the Spanish, the French nurtured close relations with North American Indian nations and were aided in their economic goals. Britain – Also interested in fur trade. The rivalry between France and Britain led to alliances with different Native nations.

The British Triumph When the British triumphed in North America in the late eighteenth century, the emphasis in Native-White relations shifted from fur to land. Compared to the French, the British placed higher value on land. Both the colonial government and the early US government sought to control the acquisition of lands by American settlers and to protect the rights of Indians, but both governments failed.

The British and the Early United States Hunger for Land At the start of the eighteenth century, the relationship between Native and White Americans evolved into a contentious one. As the quest among Whites for land intensified, so did the efforts to displace Natives from their lands. Two schools of thought on how to separate Native Americans from their lands: Assimilation – encouraging Native groups to give up their tradition of communal landholding in exchanged for western values of private property. Removal – relocating Native groups through negotiated purchase of land or through conquest.

Next Time Online Session Week 4: Chapter 1 of Takaki Reflexive Commentary for Yang, Ch. 4-6 Writing Assignment 1 due 2/20 (Section 03) or 2/21 (08 and 09)