Native Peoples of North America Textbook Conclusions

Conclusions I one of our greatest traditions is precisely . In earlier eras , Indians were su ose ) to surrender instead we . We were su ose ( to die of from war and starvation and disease instead we survived We were su ose ) to assimilate instead we kept our traditions and languages . We were su ose ( to leave reservations for cities instead we live in cities , towns and reservations . Paul Smith , You Know about Indians is Wrong ( 185 ) Recently I was driving to Montreal , with a friend . We had to take a route to get there because the International Seaway Bridge across the Lawrence River had been closed by the Canadian government in response to protests by . I didnt mind it was a beautiful drive through farmland and small villages along the Lawrence River . I appreciated the standing up in a democratic and manner to the Canadian government new policy to have armed border guards who have harassed . Because of the reasons we were taking this longer route , my friend was asking me about the situation at , and what I foresaw for the future . I don remember how the issue of assimilation came up but it did , and my friend was very surprised when I said I didnt think the or the indigenous peoples of the Americas in general would ever totally assimilate , nor should they . Assimilation is basically the adoption by individuals or a group , aspects of another , usually dominant , culture . It can be voluntary , or it can be forced . For example , if you travel to other countries known to be very different than those of the United States or Canada , the countries of Africa for example , you might be surprised to see people dressed very much as they would in your home country . I have heard people who had visited the Holy Land be very disappointed to see people dressed in Western style clothes as opposed the robes of the Bible . The time I went to Mexico City I saw young girls wearing leg warmers in the fall heat , because thats what they saw in movies 190

Peoples North Conclusions and magazines . Just about anywhere you go , you will hear American popular music . One of my professors from graduate school told a story about traveling for days on a donkey to get to a remote Maya in southern Mexico to study a nearly extinct dialect ( one of the major languages of the Maya ) that was still spoken in the vil , age . As he and his donkey came over the last hill to the village , he could hear the pop group the blaring from a radio in the village . These are examples of voluntary assimilation . Or are they ?

One of the reasons people around the world wear our clothes , watch our movies and television shows , and listen to our music is because we are a dominant world power culturally , politically , economically , and militarily . I am referring primarily to the United States , but those of you who live in Canada know what I mean . I live close to the . can watch two Canadian television networks . One of them broadcasts Canadian shows , and the other one airs shows like . A factor that gets left out when discussing assimilation is that of hegemony the dominance of one social group over another . The dominance of hegemony can be based on gender , race , economic class , and number of factors . For example , when people immigrate to the United States , they are expected to learn English . But when people of the United States travel to other countries they expect people wherever they , Italy , Germany , or Thailand , for speak English . They do not consider that they should learn at least a few words in the language of the country they are visiting . And they expect they should be able to eat American food , not the cuisine of the country . That hegemony . I not saying that travelers never attempt to learn the language or try the food of the countries they visit . But while traveling , I have observed and talked to people who see no reason to learn a bit of Spanish while traveling in Mexico . The early European immigrants to the Americas did not learn , or Mohawk , or Cherokee . But they did expect the indigenous peoples to learn the language of the incoming settlers , either English , French , or Spanish . In the nineteenth century , Christian churches and the and Canadian governments established residential schools to , in the words of William Pratt , kill the Indian in the children who were forcibly removed from their families and taken to the schools . When children arrived at the residential schools , their hair was cut , their clothes were 191

Peoples North Conclusions burned , and they were given new , often , clothes to wear . In the case of Pratt Carlisle Indian School , those clothes were altered military uniforms . The children were punished if they spoke their own languages or practiced their religious rituals . They were forced to attend Christian church services . Residential schools had cemeteries where the children who died from malnutrition , disease , abuse , and loneliness were buried . The education the children received was compared to that of children . Children at residential schools spent most of their time working in the school buildings doing the cooking and cleaning if they were girls , or farming the surrounding if they were boys . What education they did receive was , designed to lead to the extinction of their languages and cultures . At the same time , their families and communities were forced to live on reservations or reserves , sometimes at great distances from their homelands . In the twentieth century , the land bases of many were reduced or entirely eliminated . In the United States some reservations and the treaty obligations that went along with them were terminated . Across the country , Native peoples were coerced into relocating to slums and tenements , taking jobs in cities such as Oakland , Milwaukee , and Chicago . These are examples of forced assimilation . Yet despite all this , the First Peoples of the Americas remain . According to census counts in both the United States and Canada , their populations are growing . While over 60 of Native peoples live in towns and cities , not reservations or reserves , they still have ties with their home communities , speak their languages , and practice their ceremonies . As I told my friend during our drive , if Native peoples haven assimilated yet , despite the worst that was thrown at them , what makes you think they will now or in the future ?

Not entirely assimilating doesn mean Native peoples don usually dress as most other or Americans dress . It doesnt mean that they dont drive cars and trucks instead of ride , remember , were introduced by the Europeans . Canadians and Americans don dress or drive around in a horse and buggy like their founding mothers and fathers . Does that mean they re not American or Canadian ?

I sometimes feel that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are like the cavemen on television 192 Peoples North Conclusions commercials . First , are surprised to out they re still around and then media advertisements continue to portray the urban Cavemen wearing animal skins and carrying clubs . The First Peoples of the Americas are still here they still do their traditional dances , but they also go to country music dances on Saturday night at the or to dance clubs , classical concerts , and operas . Sometimes they are the performers . Was Maria any less Indian because she was a ballet dancer ?

When I told my friend that I didn think Native peoples would ever totally assimilate , I was referring to the Mohawk demonstration . Despite the fact that may look like any other rural community in northern New York , southern and , it is not . Despite the fact that people at typically dress like other people in the area and shop at many of the same stores doesnt mean they aren culturally different . They are , and throughout 400 years of encounters with and Canadians they have been constantly reminded of how different they are . In the couple of hours it took my friend and I to get to Montreal , the discussion about assimilation led to a discussion about another issue of great importance to aboriginal peoples of the Americas that of sovereignty . Sovereignty is the right to exercise within a specific territory the highest authority of law . In other words , the , as other Native peoples on reservations and reserves , expect to be able to exercise their laws in their territory , such as to not have armed border guards on their territory . There are over 200 treaties that ensure that Native communities can exercise their own laws on their own lands for as long as the sun shines and rivers run , as the law that removed the to Oklahoma states . But as you read throughout this book , these treaties and laws have been violated time after time . As I write this , it remains to be seen how the and the government of Canada will resolve the issue of the bridge closure . This is but one issue of sovereignty in one reservation . It is one example of the ongoing struggles of Native communities in Canada and the United States . Basic to the issues of assimilation and sovereignty is the issue of identity not only who is an American Indian or First Peoples , but what does it mean to be an American Indian or First Peoples . It often seems like peoples want to control aboriginal identity . The 193

Peoples North Conclusions and Canadian governments , through agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada have attempted to control the identity of Native peoples through various policies like ( Chapter ) Native peoples often hear , Well you don look like an Indian , or Can you speak any Indian ?

or What part of you is Indian ?

or Some of my best friends are Indian and they think ( this last one was published by a reporter in the Albany Union newspaper ) Identity is essential to the issues of assimilation and sovereignty if you look like us , and dress like us , you must be like why should you be treated any differently ?

American aboriginal people may at times , like peoples in Mexico or or Thailand , choose to dress like people of the dominant culture , or eat the same food and listen to the same music . That doesn mean they have assimilated , or given up their identity or sovereignty . Within these issues of assimilation , sovereignty , and identity , are many other issues hunting and rights , land and mineral rights , and water issues of population growth , economic , and climate change continue in the , the sovereignty and identity of indigenous peoples and nations will be challenged . These issues will establish the patterns of encounters between Native peoples and nations and the United States and Canada . As you have read in the various chapters , in the late twentieth century continuing into the century , the courts and even occasionally the governmental agencies of Canada and the United States , have been more willing to acknowledge that past interactions with Native peoples have been wrong , illegal , and uncertainly have not lived up to their expressed ideals of justice for all . Will the indigenous peoples of the North America assimilate to the dominant cultures that surround them ?

Remember in Chapter you read about the Basque people of Europe , those who are probably the descendants of the people who made the cave paintings found around Europe to years ago ?

The Basque were in Europe when very different peoples migrated to western Europe and pushed them to the margins and no doubt tried to assimilate them . We don know much about the process because people weren writing back then . What we do know we must infer from archaeology , linguistics , and the oral tradition . Surrounded by dominant cultures for 194

Peoples North Conclusions thousands of years , the Basque adopted some traditions , for example , they are Christian . But the Basque still have their own language , they tend to still live in the mountains between France and Spain . When they migrate , they tend to keep their language , and seek the same type of labor they did in their homeland , largely and . In Europe the Basque have been very active politically , sometimes violently , in trying to establish their autonomy from Spain and France and create their own . Thinking about the Basque and what you ve read in the previous chapters , do you think the indigenous peoples and nations of North America will ever fully assimilate to the dominant societies of the United States and Canada ?

In these aspects , it is frustrating to write a book about the indigenous peoples of North America because there is still so much that should be written and shared . I ve written about the border closure at , but across Indian Country there many other events occurring that also demonstrate the continued identity and sovereignty of Native peoples . Do you know about any of these incidents around your home ?

For all the examples I included in this book , there are hundreds of other incidents that I could have written about . I hope this book will inspire you to learn more about the First Peoples of the Americas . Each chapter has a list of resources that will be a good place to start . Remember , the ongoing history of Native peoples hasn stopped , any more than the ongoing history of Canada or the United States has stopped . The other knowledge I hope you take away from this book is the amount of diversity among the aboriginal peoples of the Americas . In my classes , I tell my students if they remember nothing else from class to remember that the Native peoples of what is now the eastern United States were farmers , as were the peoples of the Southwest . Those peoples who were may have gotten most of their food through , not hunting , certainly not hunting on horseback more than 500 years ago . Some Native societies had chiefs , some had kings , and in some it would be to tell who was in democracies . The roles of women in societies such as the would inspire women in the United States to campaign for full political and economic rights . Over 700 languages were spoken across these societies , and so much more . Indian County was and continues to be a very diverse place . 195