The article Fictions of American Prehistory: Indians, Archeology, and National Origin Myths by Annette Kolodny discusses the prehistory of America. It is widely accepted that American prehistory is the time before Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the New World, but agreement about prehistory ends there (Kolodny 2003, p.693). The article discusses the two dominating theories about America’s prehistory, one being that before Columbus’s discovery, the continent had been visited by many other civilizations, and the other being that Columbus’s discovery was the first (Kolodny 2003, p. 694). The article continues to state that some individuals tried to rewrite the prehistory of America, and erase American Indians from it, which in turn caused historians to overthrow the oral histories of the Native Americans (Kolodny 2003, p. 703-704). In every cultures history, there are commonalities, such as a Great Flood, and Native Americans are no exception to that (Dass 2009). However, their oral histories are considered illegitimate. Why are historians so quick to doubt the Native Americans history, but not others?
Kolodny, Annette. (2003). Fictions of American Prehistory: Indians, Archeology, and National Origin Myths. Project Muse. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.eduDass, Dr. Rhonda. (2009). AIS 230 American Indians in Minnesota. Class Lecture. Sept 2, 2009
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It struck me too how historians could overthrow all Native American history and replace it with their own flawed versions. Why can't we listen to native stories and give them space to figure out where and how they belong to history. They are a major part of this country's roots and have earned that right.
ReplyDelete-Kendra Rasmuson
A large factor is our education system - sadly. In order to give our system legitimacy, other ways of knowing had to be challenged and replaced. Oral histories from other cultures were abandoned in favor of written history as well. The lose of language in combination with the oral history is what has been most devastating.
ReplyDeleteDr. Dass