"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.
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