Columbus Had It Coming is a humorous title for this essay. And the first sentence is light hearted as well "Let us begin with the discover of America, an amusing concept". It seems they leave the fact that Columbus sent Natives away from their homes over seas was left out of the history books. The story about the boy who wrote so small so that he might control his teachers with his language is amusing as well. It shows the power language and literature can hold. What struck me more however was with the suggestion that a native learning European culture is in fact a foreign language yet the school system does not make that consideration. The thesis of this essay is that it is important to read across cultures, and to read into them, not just about them.
Marrow Memory throws a perspective about ancestory at me which I have never considered. To think of bones as a container both physical and spiritual of history and memory constructs a vision of a very real spiritual world. Imagery is used such as the whirlwind of ancestor ghosts. This view of history understands the importance of storys as a tool for wisdom and understanding in a world that seems to neglect the spiritual world. The story about Martha and the nun doesn't surprise me. That kind of neglegant teaching and religious practice sets me off. The ending remarks of this essay are also very interesting. "Their genetic material contained more than DNA and genetic markers, they contained tribal memories that live still in the bones of their descendants. In this way, the vitality of the people still lives, connecting contemporary people with distant relatives, so that we may know."
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Listening to ghosts: an alternative (non)argument
I enjoyed this piece and the way it was written. Malea Powell challenges modern discourse and various other educational practices. I particularly like when she has to say about our theories of civilization and that in Western culture, we are taught that folks are either "savage" or "civilized." I this is still very relevant today in the way media depicts the other countries of this world. Canada is a vast forest with country neighbors... South America and Africa are poor and disease ridden with an excess of crime. Muslim nations are filled with extremists and infidels. There are so many false ways we describe the world around us. We dehumanize the people that live in these places, and our society is flawless. Her tattoo truely relates to some of my beliefs. Especially that of the spiral.
For Indian people to have reinvented themseleves through English is an insightful theory. That the languages we speak give us a means of defining ourselves. And she follows with the idea that the native peoples are given a chance to reinvent themselves further by following up on their roots, by learning the ancient languages. I am impressed with the way she begins her discourse, with the image of clearning the wax from the ears and realizing that "Hey, you are speaking now". Even further, that she decides to finish with an invitation. An invocation. Listen to the whispers of ghosts. There is so much to learn from the history.
For Indian people to have reinvented themseleves through English is an insightful theory. That the languages we speak give us a means of defining ourselves. And she follows with the idea that the native peoples are given a chance to reinvent themselves further by following up on their roots, by learning the ancient languages. I am impressed with the way she begins her discourse, with the image of clearning the wax from the ears and realizing that "Hey, you are speaking now". Even further, that she decides to finish with an invitation. An invocation. Listen to the whispers of ghosts. There is so much to learn from the history.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sum it up already...
I'll start by explaining myself. I am lazy and arrogant. I neglect my journal because of this. Now that we have established this, I will discuss my opinion toward the American Indian and their struggle.
I will begin today with the rhetoric of empire. Rhetoric is the art of both spoken and written word. Rhetoric seeks to understand and develop methods which become increasingly persuasive through skill. The rhetoric of empire seeks to diminish the conquered by both dehumanizing them while legitimizing the efforts of the conqueror. The Christians have been particularly good at this through the ages. When I watched the movie The Kingdom which was about the first crusade, there was a preacher calling to all incoming soldiers claiming "to kill an infidel is not a sin". People often deal with the guilt of murder by claiming the glory of God. It is sickening. Rhetoric can also be used to rally the confused to their call. By offering land to white men who would settle the west, they were able to expand the American population and draw new people to its cause. This duality of rhetoric among the conquered and the conqueror is both frightening and powerful.
Personally, I feel that the common ideas between many American Indian belief systems run parallel with many of my own. I have spent a long time studying religion. I never considered myself a Christian, and my parents raised me to be open to all ideas. For a time I was very interested in ancient religion. I learned that in the beginning, god was the mother, the earth. That many small societies were run by women, and that the feminine was sacred. But it was the patriarchal societies that brought war among them. Ancient Greek religion although patriarchal and polytheistic, still recognized the mother as a significant power. I have always known that we come from the Earth, and we will return to the Earth. The Earth is so beautiful and so powerful. It is a damn shame what we do to her.
John Trudell blew my mind. I had heard of him previously but did not recognize his name. The incident at Oglala had been told to me before but I was unsure of the details. Hearing Trudell speak really opened my eyes and made me return to many of my revolutional thought processes that predominated my mind as a high schooler. The strongest image for me in this video was the burning of the American flag on the FBI steps. But what struck me even harder was Trudell's justification. He said that the American flag has been desecrated, and that there is only one proper way to deal with a flag that has been desecrated. Such deep understanding of the soul of a country astonishes me. I start to wonder what we can do to make our world a better place. Fighting the system from within eventually will corrupt. "and there is usually nothing wrong with compromising a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another thing entirely." -Immortal Technique.
Today in class we examined a poem by Trudell about Crazy Horse. I found it interesting while doing my research assignemnt that horses were not native to the Americas. Of course this makes perfect sense, but it had never occured to me before. One of the strongest images from the poem put to music on youtube was the image of Trudell on a chair outside with South Dakota hills as a backdrop. This was a stillframe taken from the video we watched, but thinking about it again really takes me deep. His home has no roof. His home has no walls. How can we claim ownership over anything?
I will begin today with the rhetoric of empire. Rhetoric is the art of both spoken and written word. Rhetoric seeks to understand and develop methods which become increasingly persuasive through skill. The rhetoric of empire seeks to diminish the conquered by both dehumanizing them while legitimizing the efforts of the conqueror. The Christians have been particularly good at this through the ages. When I watched the movie The Kingdom which was about the first crusade, there was a preacher calling to all incoming soldiers claiming "to kill an infidel is not a sin". People often deal with the guilt of murder by claiming the glory of God. It is sickening. Rhetoric can also be used to rally the confused to their call. By offering land to white men who would settle the west, they were able to expand the American population and draw new people to its cause. This duality of rhetoric among the conquered and the conqueror is both frightening and powerful.
Personally, I feel that the common ideas between many American Indian belief systems run parallel with many of my own. I have spent a long time studying religion. I never considered myself a Christian, and my parents raised me to be open to all ideas. For a time I was very interested in ancient religion. I learned that in the beginning, god was the mother, the earth. That many small societies were run by women, and that the feminine was sacred. But it was the patriarchal societies that brought war among them. Ancient Greek religion although patriarchal and polytheistic, still recognized the mother as a significant power. I have always known that we come from the Earth, and we will return to the Earth. The Earth is so beautiful and so powerful. It is a damn shame what we do to her.
John Trudell blew my mind. I had heard of him previously but did not recognize his name. The incident at Oglala had been told to me before but I was unsure of the details. Hearing Trudell speak really opened my eyes and made me return to many of my revolutional thought processes that predominated my mind as a high schooler. The strongest image for me in this video was the burning of the American flag on the FBI steps. But what struck me even harder was Trudell's justification. He said that the American flag has been desecrated, and that there is only one proper way to deal with a flag that has been desecrated. Such deep understanding of the soul of a country astonishes me. I start to wonder what we can do to make our world a better place. Fighting the system from within eventually will corrupt. "and there is usually nothing wrong with compromising a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another thing entirely." -Immortal Technique.
Today in class we examined a poem by Trudell about Crazy Horse. I found it interesting while doing my research assignemnt that horses were not native to the Americas. Of course this makes perfect sense, but it had never occured to me before. One of the strongest images from the poem put to music on youtube was the image of Trudell on a chair outside with South Dakota hills as a backdrop. This was a stillframe taken from the video we watched, but thinking about it again really takes me deep. His home has no roof. His home has no walls. How can we claim ownership over anything?
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