...much hostility. The British invaded their land and oppressed the Native American people for hundreds of years due to their cultural differences and lack of understanding. James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar mirrors the discovery of the new world, albeit in a very different light. The American military colonizes and destroys land on Pandora, while showing no regard for the welfare of the Na’vi. Avatar serves as an allegory for warfare and cultural hatred based on ignorance and a lack of multi-cultural acceptance and understanding. The Na’vi society of Pandora is an extremely naturalistic people. The Na’vi are the dominant species of Pandora, much like humans on Earth. They are a humanoid species that very much believes in the spirituality of nature and the world around them. In Na’vi society, there are marriage parallels, and they believe in an all-knowing God figure. This is itself, is a very strong correlation to the Native American cultures of early North America. Many of those cultures had similar beliefs. A lot of these Native American cultures believed in a strong connection between the physical world and the spiritual world, just like the Na’vi and their connection with the “Tree of Souls”. This seems to be a very obvious and intentional symbolization of the Na’vi people and a huge foreshadowing of the persecution they would endure, much like most Native American tribes. On the other hand, the American military force that forces there way upon Pandora and into Na’vi territory...
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...cultures faced fundamental challenges to their cultural identities-not so much a recentering of culture but a decentering of culture.” (Sayre, 2010, p. 419) This quote is saying that many of these cultures are becoming influenced by Western cultures, namely that of America. For instance, in many Asian and African nations McDonalds and other American culture influence like Starbucks and clothing stores are coming to their countries. They are influenced by Western cultures. The non-Western cultures will face challenges to their cultural identities because they have to try and change to get modernized with everyone else. Non-Western cultures face decentering due to the challenges of globalization from the nineteenth century to the twentieth and the present. By the nineteenth and twentieth century, most cultures are trying to get modernized to fit in with all the changes of that time. As the century began, movies, music, and the media had a major influence on fashion and trends in all aspects of life. On contrast to early centuries, one of the most prominent traits of the world during the twentieth century was the drastic growth of technology. More technological advances had been made by the end of the twentieth century. Communications and information technology, transportation technology and medical advances had radically altered daily lives. (www.wvculture.org) As far as the Native Americans and the Europeans, the Native Americans were living a peaceful and fulfilling life living...
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...Weichao Xu Sciology 101 Chapter 7 Native American 1. Sociohistorical Perspective Early Encounters A. Place the pre-European colonization number of Native Americans become United States. a) Tribes changed their values, customs and beliefs. B. Debate about native American and European culture. a) Indigenous people to be savage. b) Incorrupt children of nature always engage in pleasurable activities. C. The stereotype of Native Americans is negative. 1. They obstruct Europeans from occupying the native americans’ land. 2. Cruel, treacherous, lying and dirty health. 3. Scalps, firearms and firewater. D. Outsiders frequently generalize about Native Americans. 1. The Native’s American language decrease from 300 to 175 . 2. English become the main language in home, school and work place. E. The relationship between Native Americans and whites. 1. Whits was the newcomers to Native Americans. a) Distrust b) Uneasy truces c) Violent hostilities F. The major issue whose way of life would prevail. 1. European a) Beatings, hangings , and imprisonment. b) The land would be developed further. 2. Native American Natural state, abounding with fish and wildlife. G. Forced relocation of Native American tribes to encourage westward expansion. ...
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...of cultures between the European and the Native Americans during the 17th century. The film, ‘Black Robe’ depicts some of the differences in culture and beliefs between the French and the native Indians. The film attributes an event that took place during the war between the French funded Algonquin and the British and Dutch funded Iroquois tribe. The film features Father Laforgue a Jesuit priest. This essay will discuss the various challenges that Father Laforgue faces (as portrayed by the film) while trying to spread Christianity to the Native Americans due to the cultural differences. Discussion The film begins by showing how the French settlers were struggling to convert the local tribe of Algonquin (with whom they were collaborating) to Christians with no success. In turn, the leader of the French settlers decided to send one of their Jesuit priest to try saving and accomplishing their failed mission in converting the local tribes into Christianity. The Jesuit priest selected was father Laforgue. He was accompanied by an assistant named Daniel (who was not a member of the Jesuit priests) and a number of locals from the Algonquin tribe. On the way to the village of Huron, Daniel fell in love with one of the locals. This was not an ambiguous occurrence to the locals; however, father Laforgue did not feel at ease with the issue because he was a member of the Catholic Church male congregation that practiced celibacy. While still traveling they encountered the native tribe of Innu...
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...Westernization and European Influences on Various Cultures Angela Lancaster AIU Online HUMA215-1205B-19 Abstract We are asked to analyze and interpret a quotation about the confrontation of Western civilization with other people whose values were often dramatically opposed to the West’s. We are asked to discuss what would the loss of centeredness of culture have meant for a given cultural group. To select from the non-western cultural groups and research the impact of Western or European cultures on the group chosen. Finally we are asked to give an opinion on how non-western culture was prior to the late nineteenth century and how did it change as a result of European expansion. There are several cultures that were affected by the westernization and the colonization of the Europeans. A few of these cultures are the Native Americans, Africans, Chinese, and Japanese. Each of these different cultures had drawn in different ideals, some good, and some bad. Asia did not have as many problems with westernization as the Native Americans and the Africans. The entire culture of the Native Americans and Africans were destroyed from European expansion and colonization, whereas the Chinese and Japanese retained much of their heritage by remaining out of touch with the western world. (Sayre, 2012) The Native Americans had a civilization that was basic and traditional, and it remained that way for several hundred if not thousands of years. They lived off of the land...
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...February 2015 Cross-cultural Alliance: The Only Way Humans are innately a combative species who thrive on conflict. However, it is sometimes more important to dismiss differences and work together to become successful. In the early days of the New World, fur trade linked two fundamentally different groups of people. The first were the Natives to the land who believed in utilizing every resource they had available to them. The newcomers to the land, Europeans, were coming to ravish the land for its precious metals and luxurious furs. A full time settlement soon became necessary to extract the maximum amount of wealth from the land. The Europeans first colony, Roanoke, served as a test of whether or not this was a realistic goal. Roanoke was first established in 1585 with little provisions leading to an exodus back to England just one year later. A second wave of brave men was sent back in 1587 under the direction of John White. White soon left the colonists to fend for themselves and returned to England and the 110 brave men were never heard from again. When the settlement was checked on three years later only writings of problems with supplies and threats from the natives were found. Many things could have caused the colony to fail but there was one certain way to prevent that end was to learn from those who had lived there for thousands of years and respect their wishes. Although, there was a large cultural barrier between Colonists and Native Americans, peaceful interactions...
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...complex interaction of cultures that resulted with the arrival of European explorers and colonies. Was this interaction more harmful or beneficial to both Europeans and Native Americans? The cultural interactions between the Europeans and the Native Americans were ultimately destructive for the natives, but overall beneficial for the Europeans. It is clearly stated in many history books that the European diseases brought over to the Americas decimated much of the native population. This dramatic loss of population affected the natives willingness to resist European assimilation, and thus contributed to the loss of many native cultures but a blending of European and native cultures. Furthermore, the natives were often...
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...conducted on Native American reservations, specifically their relationship with the criminal justice system. The topics that will be discussed include rape, structural disadvantages and Native American violence, and finally how society views these issues through the context of difference, inequality, and division. Native Americans have been the victims of oppression since Europeans came to North America. Europeans considered themselves to be an advanced civilization, who created social constructions of young America. Europeans introduced the term race to already existing societies in America, by differentiating Native Americans by the color of their skin. Through time, these Native American societies accepted the constructs of race and were referred to as “us” versus “them” to distinguish which race they represented. As Europeans settlers began to expand their civilization over Native American territories, their hierarchical power grew as well. The way Europeans inherited this hierarchical power was due to their technology (e.g. guns, education, medicine, etc.) leaving many Native Americans powerless. The textbook, “Investigation Difference” by Vernon Anthony states, "…use difference as a resource as we have done so ably in the past, or we can use power, coercion, and hate to try to eradicate diversity from our country as many fundamentalist, militant, and radically conservation groups and individuals advocate" ( Anthony, pg. 5). After the European settlers dominated Native American...
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...Tribal Homelands of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Monica N. Griffis Southeastern Oklahoma State University Tribal Homelands of the Chickasaw and Choctaw This paper describes the primary geographic characteristics of the ancestral homelands of the indigenous Chickasaw and Choctaw people in North America, prior to first contact with European nations and continuing into the settlement timeframe of early colonists. These homelands originally included a significant portion of Louisiana and Mississippi, although the most closely held region was near the ancestral Nanih Waiya mound, which according to oral traditions held the origins of these tribal people. Prior to the surge of Western settlement, Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes were similar to other Native American nations in occupying the expanse of their territory not by personal land ownership, but instead through a series of communal villages governed by cultural leaders. Their occupation of the land was driven by natural resources and trade routes, and the prime positioning of these homelands proved to be too valuable to escape aggressive dispossession by colonial settlement. Early Chickasaw and Choctaw homelands occupied a large territory east of the Mississippi River in an extremely favorable location, especially related to waterways, trade routes, fertile land, and climate conditions. According to the research of St. Jean (2003), the centralized location of these tribes was advantageous...
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...COMPARING AND CONTRASTING THE SPANISH EXPLORATION FROM THE ENGLISH EXPLORATION Sean Kazmierski HIEU 201 6 December 2015 Introduction Evidence of the earliest travel by European explorers into the ‘new world’ can be traced back to 1000AD. It began with the Vikings sailing from their native land in the British Isles to Greenland where they created a colony. Later, they left Greenland for North America where they saw virgin land with exotic plants, animal species, and indigenous people[1]. The Vikings returned home with stories about the marvels of the places they had visited, but their home authorities lacked the will power or the resources to make a follow-up on these explorations. As a result, European states continued to make commerce across the Mediterranean Sea with North Africa for many years that followed. Research has shown that the methods and motivations of exploration were unique from one state to the other. As Europeans continued their explorations, we will examine the similarities and differences on how the Spanish (1492-1548) and English (1584-1648) conducted their exploration and expansion. Comparison Between the British and Spanish in North America The first Spanish to arrive in America was Hernan Cortes in 1519. He did the groundwork for the creation of the Spanish colony. In 1607, Christopher Newport set foot in what would later become Jamestown, laying the foundation of the British Empire in North America...
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...etc…). Such a challenge is compounded for the historian studying Colonial America, as North American Indian groups in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did not leave the kinds of written sources usually needed to write extensive narratives about Indian economic, political, legal, and cultural practices. Of course, we do have the written sources of European observers to construct these narratives. As we’ve seen, though, first-hand descriptive accounts of Indian ways of life provided by Europeans can be fraught with misunderstandings and cultural prejudices. This week’s assigned readings, by zeroing in on points of intersection in the public lives of Indians and Europeans in Colonial America, offer a resourceful approach in drawing out Indian cultural and political mores from the historical record (as well as those of their European counterparts). We saw a couple of weeks ago how the initial points of contact between Indians and Europeans opened up to each group a new, almost incomprehensible world (whether it be the interior of the continent for Europeans or the manufactured goods of Europe’s trade networks for Indians). Similarly, this week’s readings demonstrate how points of conflict between Indians and Europeans primarily arose as a result of both groups attempting, and sometimes failing, to apply their own economic, cultural, and political frameworks to a cross-cultural setting. In other words, the points of conflict (which...
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...have proved this theory to be wrong, and proved that biologically there are more differences within racial groups, than between them (Cartmill 653), this idea of separating individuals on the factor of skin color still exists. On the basis that there is no biological justification for classifying race, the function of the division of race is to further maintain and reinforce social differences and classes. This ideology of race in America is particularly confusing and discriminatory for those who have a belonging to more than one ethnic group. Particularly, this brings attention to the relationship between those of African-American and Native American ancestry belonging to the Wampanoag tribe. When researching...
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...In Ceremony, Tayo embodies the combination of both Native American and white cultures. Taking on two cultures makes Tayo bear the effect of a whole society’s confusion at the ways in which the world is changing. Tayo encounters difficulty in identifying his identity, especially since he never knew his father and he was abandoned by his mother at the age of four. He is raised by his aunt who constantly reminds him of his difference. Tayo is educated by a predominately ran white school. However, unlike his friends, he often finds the white ways of life damaged and continues to respect and believe in the Native American traditions that he learns from his family. However, even though Tayo views the white ways of life faulty, he learns that he has to embrace the American culture in order to reflect back to his Native American culture. This explanation is what Tayo learns about being an American. Furthermore, World War II interrupts Tayo's life drastically as it does to most Americans of his generation. The majority of the Native American men who return from World War II turn to alcohol to drown their trauma, which is full of confused anger. More specifically, Tayo along with his cousin Rocky were in World War II. Rocky was killed in war and Tayo became emotionally disturbed. Tayo was more violent when he came back from war. He was disoriented and changed by the foreign culture of war. His aunt who watches over him is still in shock and continues to change the sheets for her two...
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...Native American Oppression Santucee Bell Case Western Reserve University Native American Oppression Introduction & Focal Population Imagine living in a world that consistently devalues your existence and is heavily populated with individuals who are quick to use and abuse your resources, but are slow to share the wealth that is accumulated from those resources. How would you feel? Unfortunately, certain populations do not have to visualize the disparity that is pictured above. This is because inequity is one of the most demoralizing social issues that plague America today. The worst thing about inequity is the fact that it continues to disproportionately burden individuals who are categorize as being minority in today’s society. This is especially true for the American Indian/Alaska Native population. This population continues to be one of the most vulnerable minority groups. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 (2011), “American Indian or Alaska Native refer to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central American) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment” (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011, p. 3). 2,475,956 out of 308, 745,538 people that live in America are believed to be American Indian/Alaska Native, including those who report affiliations with tribes and South and Central American Indian groups (Humes et. al,, 2011, p. 4). This number is...
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...capturing the cultural differences between the Jesuits and the Algonquin Indians. The movie is an accurate and realistic of the clash between two cultures. His work in film follows the central theme of cultures in conflicts. Other movies that he directed were, “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Tender Mercies”, “Fringe Dweller” and etc.. The film, “Black Robe” is set in New France in 1634, when Samuel de Champlain, founder of the settlement sends French Jesuit, Father Laforge a non jesuit, Daniel along with their Algonquin allies on a mission to convert the Native in the Huron village. Samuel Champlain sends them on this mission because the Natives are “savages” and “uncivilized” that need to be converted. An experienced traveler, Chamina leads the group through their mission, however his dream about Father Laforge killing him is what makes his perception change on the mission and Catholicism. Mishaps and problems arise because of the religious and cultural differences between Father Laforge and the Algonquins. As the movie continues the viewer is abruptly introduced to another native culture when Father Laforge, Daniel and the Algonquins are taken into captivity by the Iroquois to be then saved by a heroin and Chomina daughter, Annucka. Furthermore, the observer also gains an understanding of not only the discrepancies between the Jesuits and the Algonquins, but the Algonquins and the Iroquois. In all, the film, “Black Robe”, accurately challenge the cultural differences that occurred...
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