Apache Indians In Arizona Essay Research Paper — страница 2

the land that once belonged to their ancestors. The sense of place that comes with these lands is overwhelming for the people that know the stories that go with the place names. In a story Ruth mentions how a girl went to get firewood and was not careful. In the process of getting the firewood the girl began to grow tired and weak. On her way walking back to camp she stepped on a thin flat rock. She had forgotten that she was carrying the very heavy oak wood and the rock broke off leaving the girl unconscious for a period of time. Upon returning to her camp she related what had happened to her mother and the story was passed down through the generations. Upon retelling this story Basso mentions that Ruth s eyes have filled with tears and she turns away to go back into the house

since she cannot stem her emotions. It s with examples like this of the spread of a capitalistic society from England that started to weaken the Native Americans autonomy and also started through aggressive missionary work ethnocide of the tribes of America. When the Christians were settling America in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries they started a systematic process of converting the indigenous people to Christian-Judeo beliefs. Through this missionary work the settlers began a religious domination in America in order to wipe out the evil religions of the Native Americans. Through many factors and means many native tribes have been hegemonic zed. This was very apparent to me when I was watching the 2001 Grammy awards a few months ago and the winners of the Best Native American

award came up on stage. One of the three men that comprised the group thanked his personal savior Jesus Christ. It seems to be that he was converted to Christianity later in his life due to the way he talked with such a conviction that I have only witnessed in people that chose the religion on their own free will and were not raised in it. This I believe would be a perfect example of how hegemony is still alive and moving in not some remote part of the world, but right here in America. All of these factors combine to form cultural imperialism. Kottak defines cultural imperialism as a rapid spread or advance of one culture at the expense of others, or its imposition on other cultures, which it modifies, replaces, or destroys. This would be a good way to summarize all that we have

learned about what mainstream America has done to the Apache. Not only was popular American culture spread through settlers and fortune seekers, it was spread through missionaries and political agendas aimed at forcibly enculturating the Apache. This enculturation seems to have made the Apache adapt its culture to fit not only mainstream America, but to modernize and keep alive its own traditions and values. Through this modernization and adaptation the Apache culture has survived and endured the test of time. Time will tell what other cultural constructions await the ethnographer bent on an interest in place. But that such constructions are everywhere to be found in deserts and savannas, mountains and rain forests, cities and rural towns is altogether certain. We should begin to

explore them with all deliberate speed, and not, I would emphasize, solely for the purpose of enlarging our knowledge of particular social groups. For as surely as place is elemental existential fact, sense of place is a universal genre of experience, and therefore, as more and more work gets done, it may be found to exhibit transcultural qualities. Keith H. basso