Without doubt, I am sure you are right. There are characteristics from a
number of societies and cultures that one can respect and admire (dare I
say, even our own). My point was not to suggest that there are none, but
rather to observe that merely eliminating the disasterous effects which
capitalism has had (assuming one had the power to erase the effects of
history) would not restore indigenous societies to some state akin to
nirvana, which is too frequently implied by the way some folks speak about
Indian peoples. It is easy to celebrate selected elements of Indian
societies (which were not all alike, even though too often they are treated
as undifferentiated) as if those could be disentangled from their cultural
and material contexts. Fantasy and stereotypes may inhabit the imagination,
but make poor substitutes for historical and cultural analysis, and offer
little in the way of insight as to what strategies should be pursued given
that the historical clock only winds forward.
Michael E.
At 06:32 PM 12/21/97 -0800, Steven S. Zahniser wrote:
>
>On Sun, 21 Dec 1997, Michael Eisenscher wrote:
>
>> Second, without laying claim to any particular expertise, I seem to recall
>> that long before Europeans drove the indigenous peoples from their lands,
>> Indian tribes quite regularly engaged in pretty significant inter-tribal
>> warfare over hunting grounds and resources. Capitalism brought horrific
>> devastation to these tribes, but their pre-capitalist lives were not idyllic
>> or free from conflict and human suffering as some who overly romanticize
>> them would have us believe.
>
>Even after setting romanticism aside, I suspect that a comprehensive
>assessment of the pre-conquest civilizations of the Americas
>would identify a number of characteristics that we might admire.
>
>Steven Zahniser
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>P.S. Happy Holidays!
>
>
