Anthropology - Book Report/Review Example

Anthropology Literature Review Task Anthropology Literature Review Context Thomas King is one of the Native American based storyteller and scholar. Essentially, he grew up off any reservation within California and he pursued his philosophy degree in English before moving to Canada where he taught in various universities. King is highly known for his contemporary based novels about the Native Americans along the US/Canadian based border. Apart from the text;The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, King has published other set of books such as the Truth about Stories found to explore the need for stories in modern society and especially about own culture(Logan, 2009). The text; The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America shows how King is curious and angry about what has taken through on his people. However, he mixes his anger with some humor and little common sense. King believes that the past and the stories narrated about it are very essential in our lives. This can be reflected in his book; The Inconvenient Indian. In the book, he narrates how the relationship between theEuropean settlers and the people who occupied the North American continent has been for several decades. In this book, King starts by telling a story of a small town in North Dakota, which as a history mark of how 300 white men were massacred but in reality, the incidence never took place. In this story, he proceeds to reveal that we often prefer the legency behind Indians rather than the real information about them. Moreover, in the book, he created Native American characters for entertainment. He proceeds to reveal that Americans and Canadians prefer the dead Indians instead of those living. They fear seeing those who are alive because they will demand a portion of land. In fact,the first period of the settlement process saw some of the European settlers try to exterminate liveIndians. The Indians were pushed toward the periphery of the continent although no treaties were being signed. This shows that what whites wanted was just the piece of land .King look into the past and reveals that nothing has changed. It is essential to read this book because King drive us into understanding that Indians must take a stand on two issues; resources such as land and tribal based membership. They need to fight for the sovereignty from the white’s hand (Logan, 2009).. However, there are certain things King does not address in his book such as the various ways in which treatment of Native based Americans was shaped by the large numbers of Africans taken into the country as slaves. The Africans were source of labor for the white rather than the Native Americans who were on certain occasion driven away or killed. This is the reason why the history of the original people in the land and the Indians differ and secondly a lot of prejudice against them varies across different locations. However, it should be noted that his viewpoint is not just objective or the ideas which most of us hold about the Native Americans. Therefore, it is enjoyable to read the book because even those who have great deal or knowledge about the Indians will find some surprises and challenges in digesting and understanding it. Content (The main body of the paper) Novelist Thomas king describes some his brilliant based but insightful story in his peevish book about the native people popularly known in America as Indians as a series of various conversation that he has created for his and the adults in life. By making little excuses for the intrusion of his personal based biases and the lack of the footnotes, King comment that we view the Inconvenient Indian text not as a history but a story telling kind of text describing fraught of Indian history. Thomas King did not deny talking on behalf of the hundreds of nations within United States and Canada by noting that there was no collective based beginning (Logan, 2009). He eschews various terms such as Native American and the first nation for the favor of those who are less politically correct in term of history such as Indians. The book roams so freely that it shows how King explored the idealized alternate romanticized and demonized picture of the Native Americans in culture by examining some of the popular cultural based assimilations such as residential schools. Moreover, the assimilation was tainted with hypocrisy of the whites against Indians. He reveal how from the trail of tears to the Ipperwash, the issue of land was used to fuel enmity between the non-natives and natives. According to King, the Europeans spent a lot of time on ensuring that broken treaties, racist laws, force able land removal of the Indians from their land materialized. The personal based experience was also injected into the story with King’s humor taking a center stage of how the natives made critical decision about their own lives on the land. Headmits those casinos and hotels were not the ideal solution for Indian based economic woes where gaming was being used to hold their lives. However, he put humor aside to show that the Native Americans were highly chided for dwelling so much on the past yet in reality it was hard to retain what they lost in the past(King 2013). However, they should soldier on and forget completely. However, the story reveals that it is hard for the Native Americans to forget about their past just like how they abide to own culture, policy and law. Essentially, the two hundred and seventy pages book have ten chapters which include; Forget Columbus, the end of the trail, too heavy to lift.one name to rule them all, we are sorry. Like cowboys and Indian, forget about it what Indians want, as long as the grass is green and finally happy end after. The story reveals several themes about the relationship between the whites and the Native Americans (Indians).On of the theme was land conflict. We observe that the whites took away the Indian resources such as land and pushed them toward the corners. In addition to that, some were also killed or beat up once they objected the land grabbing. As a result, this has been one of the greatest issues, which have triggered a lot of conflict between the two communities. The Indians blames the white because they never purchased it but grabbed. Secondly, the text highlights the theme of hypocrisy. Suffused with anger, wit and dejection, King shows how the European acted in hypocritical manner in order to grab the land. They arrived in America before welcome by the Indian. Later the Indians ended up losing land to the visitors. The Europeans wish it is better to have dead Indians than alive because the dead one cannot demand land. The devastating and sub-versed history revealed that later, Africans were taken to the land as slaves where they were tortured seriously. Amazingly, the resources were not taken at peace, rather, the Indians were subjected to forced removal, genocidal violence and broken treaties. Currently,the whites admits that certain atrocities were committed and therefore there should be reconciliation, a matter that King describes to be full of cynic and pessimism because both; white and native Americans cannot sit together and chat the way forward. Therefore, the book; The Inconvenient Indian cannot be ignored in reading because it ispurely couched in a plainspoken based forthrightness of shocking issues. Essentially, those who care about Canada and the issue of Native Americans must read it. King strengthens the perverse historical injustices with a lot of humor in order to bring out the suffering of the Indians in America. Moreover, the author’s wise, hilarious, incorrigible, keen eye wit and strong story telling talent make the text easy to read. In fact, the book should be recommended to every school and university in North America. This will help the students know that there are atrocities committed by their fathers and therefore it is the high time to reconcile and live as brothers and sisters in America. The Critiques A critical analysis of the book reveals that The In convenient Indian is not just a must to read book but an insightful based count down account to those who believe in democracy, fight for historical injustices and comprehensive examination of the national based policies such as land. Essentially, those who believe in honesty and candor should also read the book because such lessons are vividly brought out to show how the indigenous people and whites colluded to take away resources and sow racism in America. A keen eye into the book from the first to the last; two hundred and seventy two pages reveal a powerful reminder to the whites of how is a natural person or a human being. Human beings should not be subjected or subject others to atrocities, sow racism, evict others from their land among others. However, the whites did so a reflection of how ignorant they were towards the Indians. Amazingly, the whites chide the Native Americans for dwelling so much on the past instead of looking forward. However, we find that Thomas king was quick to reveal that the natives are not ready to leave their past, which was coupled with community, and human massive based environmental and land accidents. The writer’s experience in writing was also depicted thanks to the humorous statements used to console those who read it and fumed after thinking about the injustices. Essentially, we find that he reasonably understands those to read the text and tries to reconnect with their emotions through open themes and examples. Amazingly, the heading of his chapters attract ardent readers for instance too heavy to lift and we are sorry. As a reader, we are obliged to read textbooks, which have funny chapter headings to get a glimpse of what is inside. People will be interested to know what the writer uses the heading we are sorry among others. Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that Thomas King connected to his readers well. Moreover, the readers of the textbook are occasionally subjected to think that the text reflect a factual historical perspective of the Native Americans. However, it is not a history but just a story of the various fraught of historical injustices that hit Native Americans in their soil. This is the only part of the book that pose a challenge to the reader, although the whole writing work was exemplary excellent; theme wise, humor and understanding of the historical perspectives. References King, T. (2013).The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press. Logan, J. H. (2009). A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina: From the Earliest Periods to the Close of the War of Independence. Spartanburg, S.C: Reprint Co. Read More