"Many Tender Ties" Introduction
In the introduction of "Many Tender Ties" the author talks about the creation of a different kind of society when the fur-trade was introduced in the territories. Neither Indian nor European, the families were multi-racial and combined different cultures and traditions. Van Kirk talks about how vital the family system was for the fur traders to survive life so far away from home, which created an interesting multicultural situation that was unlike other settler situations.
That is the thing I find most interesting about this book, is how different the relationships were for such a long period of time compared to other settler societies that were formed a short time later in different parts of the country. The fact that relatively peaceful relations were kept for such a long time, and that the two societies started to depend on one another, is an interesting possibility to me that I had never really thought about before.
"Many Tender Ties" Chapter One
The thing that struck me most while reading the chapter was the practice of "wife trading" that was discussed in the chapter, with women being traded to different men, either traders or other Native American men. It was something I haven't heard of before, but it seemed like a pretty awful practice. Then again, we don't really have the full records of what went on, whether the women had a choice in the matter or how they even felt in that situation. So I know I need to be careful before judging or making any assumptions about what is written in books that reflect pretty much only the point of view of the traders or settlers.
But still, it's hard to read about a practice and then hear about how if women committed "adultery" (although with completely different social norms I am not sure what that means in the context of this book) women could be physically mutilated or even killed. Again, I'm not sure how much I should trust these sources and what the traders perceived to be going on. However, one thing this book does note is how closely the traders worked with different tribes and groups of people, learning the languages and customs while marrying women from the different groups. That makes me think that they can still provide an accurate account of what life was like in the societies, because they had more than a passing opinion on what life was like, which comes from working with them so closely. All in all, it's an interesting thing to think about while looking at the accounts provided in the story, and something definitely on the top of my mind while I read from this book.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Readings 9/8/08
Unsettling Settler Societies, Chapter 4: The Fractious Politics of a Settler Society: Canada
This article looked at the effect of settlers and colonizers on the land of Canada, and the people living in it. The thing I found most interesting about the article was the easy comparisons that could be made between Canada and the United States in terms of the lengths they both took to ostracize their Native American populations, while at the same time practicing forced assimilation and other detrimental policies. For some reason, in the back of my head was the assumption that Canada could in no way have as tarnished a history as the U.S., lulled into complacency by their somewhat progressively-minded current government and the stark contrast between that and what the reality is on this side of the border. It was interesting to read about how their history was as rife with racism and violence as ours; it doesn't take a genius to realize why they, too, failed to sign the Declaration of Indigenous Rights.
Their government is still undermining the rights of the indigenous population, something that - again, not-so-surprisingly - is widely unreported or remarked upon. Hopefully the rise of indigenous rights awareness and support that is happening globally will help increase public pressure on the administration, so that wrongs can at long last can be righted.
Chapter Six: Miscegenation as Nation-Building: Indian and Immigrant Women in Mexico
The thing I thought was most interesting about this article was how diverse Mexico really is, with a completely different racial background than either the United States or Canada. While the colonial period was still horrible for the indigenous people, at this point I'm almost not surprised when I hear that. I suppose that's just what happens.
What I thought made this section stand out from the others I've read is the government policies that aim at multiculturalism and a "culturally unified nation" (183), instead of the government policies of the U.S. and Canada that seemed to aim at just wiping out the culture of the indigenous people. The end result is the same, in a way; the loss of identity for a specific group of people is still tragic. But the different terminology used makes it seem less offensive before you think about it.
The article also talks about the conflict between the groups as indigenous women fight for the independence of their culture as well as their rights as women of color. Having to fight so many equally important battles would be hard on any community, and I can't even imagine it for communities that are so alienated/condemned by the rest of society at large.
This article looked at the effect of settlers and colonizers on the land of Canada, and the people living in it. The thing I found most interesting about the article was the easy comparisons that could be made between Canada and the United States in terms of the lengths they both took to ostracize their Native American populations, while at the same time practicing forced assimilation and other detrimental policies. For some reason, in the back of my head was the assumption that Canada could in no way have as tarnished a history as the U.S., lulled into complacency by their somewhat progressively-minded current government and the stark contrast between that and what the reality is on this side of the border. It was interesting to read about how their history was as rife with racism and violence as ours; it doesn't take a genius to realize why they, too, failed to sign the Declaration of Indigenous Rights.
Their government is still undermining the rights of the indigenous population, something that - again, not-so-surprisingly - is widely unreported or remarked upon. Hopefully the rise of indigenous rights awareness and support that is happening globally will help increase public pressure on the administration, so that wrongs can at long last can be righted.
Chapter Six: Miscegenation as Nation-Building: Indian and Immigrant Women in Mexico
The thing I thought was most interesting about this article was how diverse Mexico really is, with a completely different racial background than either the United States or Canada. While the colonial period was still horrible for the indigenous people, at this point I'm almost not surprised when I hear that. I suppose that's just what happens.
What I thought made this section stand out from the others I've read is the government policies that aim at multiculturalism and a "culturally unified nation" (183), instead of the government policies of the U.S. and Canada that seemed to aim at just wiping out the culture of the indigenous people. The end result is the same, in a way; the loss of identity for a specific group of people is still tragic. But the different terminology used makes it seem less offensive before you think about it.
The article also talks about the conflict between the groups as indigenous women fight for the independence of their culture as well as their rights as women of color. Having to fight so many equally important battles would be hard on any community, and I can't even imagine it for communities that are so alienated/condemned by the rest of society at large.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Readings 9/3/08
"Unsettling Settler Societies": Introduction
In this book, edited by Daiva Stasiulis and Nira Yuval-Davis, the introduction starts by both summarizing the ideas/theories of the writers contained within the book. It also outlines the main themes throughout the book that we should be aware of. One of the themes is that settler societies have commonalities and similar challenges, partly due to the diverse indigenous and migrant populations that exist together within the same general area.
There were four key points about what history has done in settler societies. The first point is that history of settler societies has, for the most part, distorted history and has simplified the societies of indigenous peoples that were here before the Europeans appeared. This has happened through the trivializing of the storytelling traditions of most indigenous cultures, pushing the belief instead that written word is more reliable and thus that is how we should remember history.
Another thing that has happened is that by focusing on the British and other European migrants and/or institutions has again simplified what life was really like and the huge variety that existed in the settler societies of the time. The third thing that happened through our selective view of history is that we have only really focused on a narrow group of societies. The result from these methods of revising history is that one or a few societies have been placed in higher significance than others. I feel like this can be seen when we think back to our history classes in school and what we were taught. We were taught about Christopher Columbus, the Trail of Tears and a few individual groups (maybe). Instead of having entire lesson plans devoted to teaching us about many of the extremely varied tribes that existed here, we learn about one or two and that's considered "good enough."
"Unsettling Settler Societies": Chapter 5
This chapter looks at settler colonization in the United States from 1590-1990. It examines the experiences for the different groups here in the United States at the time, to examine how things were different depending on what racial or ethnic group one was in. The time periods are split up into the different forms of colonialism the United States was in at the time, either Colonial America, the Expansionist Republic or Modern America. Within those time periods the author looks at the experience of the Native American population, the Mexican American experience, the African-American experience of the Euro-American experience. I'm glad that the author made sure to note that within the Euro-American experience there was a class division that created severely different realities for people within different classes of the racial group. Here in the United States we tend to think of things in only racial or ethnic terms, and tend to forget what an important factor class has had, and will continue to have, in our society.
Another thing that has happened is that by focusing on the British and other European migrants and/or institutions has again simplified what life was really like and the huge variety that existed in the settler societies of the time. The third thing that happened through our selective view of history is that we have only really focused on a narrow group of societies. The result from these methods of revising history is that one or a few societies have been placed in higher significance than others. I feel like this can be seen when we think back to our history classes in school and what we were taught. We were taught about Christopher Columbus, the Trail of Tears and a few individual groups (maybe). Instead of having entire lesson plans devoted to teaching us about many of the extremely varied tribes that existed here, we learn about one or two and that's considered "good enough."
"Unsettling Settler Societies": Chapter 5
This chapter looks at settler colonization in the United States from 1590-1990. It examines the experiences for the different groups here in the United States at the time, to examine how things were different depending on what racial or ethnic group one was in. The time periods are split up into the different forms of colonialism the United States was in at the time, either Colonial America, the Expansionist Republic or Modern America. Within those time periods the author looks at the experience of the Native American population, the Mexican American experience, the African-American experience of the Euro-American experience. I'm glad that the author made sure to note that within the Euro-American experience there was a class division that created severely different realities for people within different classes of the racial group. Here in the United States we tend to think of things in only racial or ethnic terms, and tend to forget what an important factor class has had, and will continue to have, in our society.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Readings 8/25/08
"The Squaw Drudge: A Prime Index of Savagism" by David D. Smits
This article looked at how colonizing people started to categorize the Native American/Indigenous population in certain ways in order to justify their actions in the Americas. They created the idea that Native men were lazy who made their wives virtual slaves to their needs. In doing this, they were able to create an undesirable attitude towards both Native men and Native women. The women in the European societies were considered ladies if they were dainty, submissive, dependent on males for survival and educated in fields only considered "feminine." Because Native women a lot of times were relatively independent (they were able to leave their husband at any point, for example, a luxury their European counterparts could never even imagine) and capable of sustaining their communities with the fruits of their labor the European men did not consider them to be the ideal type of woman. At the same time, they saw Native men as lazy and brutish, something associated with the lower classes.
According to the reading... "By projecting onto Indians those values and behavior patterns most scorned in themselves, Whites may have viewed warfare with Indians as both a purge of their own society's defects and the destruction of an obstacle to civilization." This would be spread through Europe in the form of stories from settlers/colonizers - stories about the women being forced to work long hours outside while the men sat by and did nothing, how their children ran amok and the entire population was "uncivilized". The fact they followed religions other than Christianity also gave the Europeans what they felt was enough justification for what they did do the Native populations.
"Indian Women as Cultural Mediators" by Clara Sue Kidwell
This reading looks at the stories our country tells about women such as Sacagawea and Pocahontas to see if there is any truth in the story, while also examining why it is that the history of the United States has numerous women in the position of mediator. Kidwell looks at the stories of Sacagawea, Pocahontas, Dona Marina, and Nancy Ward. Separating the story-book version from reality is not easy, because as Kidwell points out the women were not able to write down their own stories for us to examine in the present. They were either written about by men or their stories were spread by story-telling, both forms that leave room for exaggeration and selectivity. That is why we must take their stories with grains of salt in the present day, appreciating the role in history those women played while remembering that we do not know the whole story.
One thing Kidwell looks at is the reasoning behind why so many women played key roles in the history of the United States. Many of the women probably did not have choice in the roles they played; Sacagawea was sold to her abusive husband, and when she found out the rest of her family had perished she was left with no other choice but to stay with him in the expedition of Lewis and Clark. So while our stories tend to romanticize the idea that she chose to travel the country with two great explorers, the reality of the situation says something quite different. But, as Kidwell, there is no real way for us to know what the truth really was. One thing we do know: there were many situations where women acted as mediators, and their roles were integral in the relations between the different cultures.
This article looked at how colonizing people started to categorize the Native American/Indigenous population in certain ways in order to justify their actions in the Americas. They created the idea that Native men were lazy who made their wives virtual slaves to their needs. In doing this, they were able to create an undesirable attitude towards both Native men and Native women. The women in the European societies were considered ladies if they were dainty, submissive, dependent on males for survival and educated in fields only considered "feminine." Because Native women a lot of times were relatively independent (they were able to leave their husband at any point, for example, a luxury their European counterparts could never even imagine) and capable of sustaining their communities with the fruits of their labor the European men did not consider them to be the ideal type of woman. At the same time, they saw Native men as lazy and brutish, something associated with the lower classes.
According to the reading... "By projecting onto Indians those values and behavior patterns most scorned in themselves, Whites may have viewed warfare with Indians as both a purge of their own society's defects and the destruction of an obstacle to civilization." This would be spread through Europe in the form of stories from settlers/colonizers - stories about the women being forced to work long hours outside while the men sat by and did nothing, how their children ran amok and the entire population was "uncivilized". The fact they followed religions other than Christianity also gave the Europeans what they felt was enough justification for what they did do the Native populations.
"Indian Women as Cultural Mediators" by Clara Sue Kidwell
This reading looks at the stories our country tells about women such as Sacagawea and Pocahontas to see if there is any truth in the story, while also examining why it is that the history of the United States has numerous women in the position of mediator. Kidwell looks at the stories of Sacagawea, Pocahontas, Dona Marina, and Nancy Ward. Separating the story-book version from reality is not easy, because as Kidwell points out the women were not able to write down their own stories for us to examine in the present. They were either written about by men or their stories were spread by story-telling, both forms that leave room for exaggeration and selectivity. That is why we must take their stories with grains of salt in the present day, appreciating the role in history those women played while remembering that we do not know the whole story.
One thing Kidwell looks at is the reasoning behind why so many women played key roles in the history of the United States. Many of the women probably did not have choice in the roles they played; Sacagawea was sold to her abusive husband, and when she found out the rest of her family had perished she was left with no other choice but to stay with him in the expedition of Lewis and Clark. So while our stories tend to romanticize the idea that she chose to travel the country with two great explorers, the reality of the situation says something quite different. But, as Kidwell, there is no real way for us to know what the truth really was. One thing we do know: there were many situations where women acted as mediators, and their roles were integral in the relations between the different cultures.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Native Women and Labor
Instead of doing a standard search for this assignment, I decided to focus on the Alaska Native population to get it a little more focused.
The first thing I noticed while searching is the noticeable absence of information about Native women. When looking at the Alaska Native labor force statistics, men are the ones pointed out as switching between subsistence and other labor during the year in rural Alaska. Not a word is mentioned on how women “made it by” leaving us to make assumptions.
Overall, during this time period there were significant differences in the labor statistics of the white population and the Alaska Native population.
From Alaskool.org,
Employment increased by over 77,000 jobs in Alaska during the 1970s. About 52,000 of these jobs were in urban Alaska. Employment in rural Alaska (including the regional centers) grew by about 24,000 jobs (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1970, 1980).
The share of rural jobs held by Natives between 1970 and 1980 slipped slightly from 26 percent to 22 percent. At the same time, their share of urban jobs rose from 2 to 4 percent. Overall, Natives held only about 9 percent of the jobs in the state through the decade of the 1970s, while making up about 16 percent of Alaska's total population.
Women are mentioned when they do something better or when there are more of them than men.
Native women appear to get their education earlier than Native men. Over twice as many Native women as Native men attended college in the age groups of 20-29 years. However, for older age groups, the proportions are roughly the same for Native men and women. Since educational levels are correlated with labor force participation rates, we should expect that labor force participation rates of Native men would increase at older age cohorts but that this would not be true for Native women. We would also expect higher participation rates for Native women than men under the age of 30. In fact, these relationships were found in the 1980 Census data.
The labor force participation rate for Native women rose from approximately 32 percent for women 16-19 years of age to a peak of about 60 percent for women 25-29 years and then very slowly declined. For Native men, the labor force participation rate rose from 29 percent for those 16-19 years to a peak of 75 percent for the age group 35-39.
The labor force participation rate of Native women was 9 percent higher than that of Native men between 16 and 19 years of age. In the twenties age group, the participation rate of Native women fell 15 percent below that of Native men, and in the thirties it fell 35 percent below that of Native men. This pattern corresponded with increased education of older Native men.
It is possible to do a search for “Alaska Native Women Labor” and find relevant sources that have been well documented and are obviously used for professional reasons. But the fact that you have to be looking for that specifically is something to keep in mind.
The journal “The Status of Women in Alaska” by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research is a 92 page long document dedicated to the status of women in general. It can be found here. Differences between rural and urban areas of Alaska are noted, but as far as I have read so far there has not been a distinction made between Alaska Native women and non-Native women. That is an interesting thing, because in both instances specific parts of a population have been picked out, the Alaska Native population in relation to non-Alaska Native, or women in Alaska compared to men of Alaska. In both instances, the Native woman was invisible.Something to think about.
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