After reading the article Fictions of American Prehistory: Indians, Archeology and National Origin Myth in my opinion I feel that the Native Americans were in North America first. I feel that the Native Americans may have been direct descendants of an advanced civilization. I believe that the artifacts found at the burial mounds and the burial mounds themselves some how are an important past to the Native Americans (Kolodny 704-705 ). From my point of view the white people were looking for an excuse for what they were doing to the Native Americans. Some of the Native American beliefs were things white people implemented into daily life. If other cultures visited the lands of the Native Americans those cultures might have had some impact on the Indians way of life but I still believe that the Native Americans were here first.
Why was it so important for historians to doubt the Native Americans and their artifacts?
Why is it that throughout history one race thinks that they are more superior than another?
Kolodny Annette.(2003). Fictions of American Prehistory:Indians Archeology and National Origin Myths. Project Muse Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu
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The thought that one race is better than another was part of what is known as "Manifest Destiny". The thought was that one group was chosen to be superior over all other creatures. This also fed into the stereotype of Native Americans as part of nature - and therefore dominated by man (read "whiteman").
ReplyDeleteDr. Dass