English Colonists and Indians - Essay Example

ENGLISH COLONISTS AND INDIANS It is a question that has bedevilled humanity from time immemorial: can different ethnic groups live on the same land? How can they do so without violence? The answer is that it is very difficult. It has a long and bloody history and many people have tried and failed to solve it before. The English colonists and their relationship with the American Indians is an important one to consider in this respect. We know a lot about it based on primary sources such as diaries and letters of the time, and from Indian oral histories. It was clearly a period of great turmoil. These sources reveal things and obscure some things. Each source has only a small view of the world and is subject to any number of prejudices. Because human identities are not stable they can be manipulated by demagogues and bad people. It is easy for propaganda and newspapers to whip people up into an aggressive frenzy. Ethnicity and nationalism can be used to convince people to kill their neighbours, or blow themselves up on buses full of civilians. It can cleave nations in two, and destabilize whole regions. As Edward Said has written, “Human identity is not natural and stable, but constructed and occasionally even invented outright” (Said). In the course of this conflict, ethnic nationalism—a collective aspect of human identity—plays a very significant role. The conflict between colonists and Indians was shaped and motivated by people who wanted to secure their claim to land and history. What would be a better solution to this conflict than the one that happened (violence)? A better solution would lie in trying to stabilize ethnic groups’ identities in a way that is inclusive and not aggressive. People have to share more, whether that means land or resources. They cannot define their existence in opposition to another group. They will get nowhere by focusing on what separates them or in what proves their victimhood. It is unfortunate that the colonists and Indians didnt pursue this path. Part of this is the fault of the English who saw North America as a huge place ripe for the taking. They didnt believe that the Indians had any real rights there. Many of the first colonists were Puritans from England who were living that coutnry because they had been persecuted. They knew what it was like to feel unwanted and looked down upon and were hoping to find a better life in North America. They did treat the Indians they met very well. Indeed, this was part of the Puritan dilemma-- "the paradox that required a man to live in the world without being of it." It was hard for the Puritans faith to match up the practical experiences of human lives. STORY ABOUT COLONISTS Today I woke up on a brand new sunny day. It was very cold because the fire had gone out sometime late at night. I went over to the stove to start it up again. I was feeling a bit lonesome. I remembered my wife who had died in childbirth several years earlier. Our boy I had sent back to England to live with my sister as life in the colonies was too difficult for him. After a breakfast of oatmeal I went out to talk to some of the leaders. They were looking for someone to do some trading with the Indian folk up the river. We needed some meat from them. They were excellent hunters, even if they led primitive lives. They hunted much better than we did, even though we had rifles and they had only their tools. I had met with the Indians several times before, so I elected to represent the colony and go to speak with them. It was about a three hour journey up the river by canoe to reach the group of Indians. It was a hot sunny day so I was sweating profusely by the time I reached them. There were a number of Indian women by the water cleaning some tools. I showed them my open hands and said a greeting to them. They were not scared, but they didnt look happy to see me. I pulled by canoe up onto the shore and started to make my way to the place where I knew they had a camp. I had in my pocket a number of beads I was planning to trade with them. The Indians loved these beads and believed they had great value. To me they meant nothing. It was an interesting economy: trading nothing for something. I came upon one of the Indian leaders. Neither of us spoke the others language so I had to mimic what I wanted. I pretended to be eating and showed him what I wanted. I pulled out the beads. I was always impressed at how easy it can sometimes be to communicate with Indians even though there is no real language. He understood what I wanted right away and took me to a little smoke hut where the meat was sometimes cured. I looked at the large supply of fine meats. What I had a hankering for was bison and I saw the bison flank hanging there. He saw me looking at the meats and he could tell I was very hungry and salivating. I wondered if he thought I was foolish for not being able to hunt as well as him or his people. We did the exchange, me giving to him the beads and me taking the bison. I bowed to him because I didnt know what else to do, but he found this quite funny. Then I took my bison and went back down to the boat. The sky was beginning to darken a bit. I wondered how the Indians tents would hold up if it started to rain. I knew how leaky our own roofs were—surely theirs was worse. When I got back to the colony I put the bison down on the leaders table. They looked at it and smiled. “That was a good trade, friend,” one of them said. They talked about how they would collect more beads in the future in order to do more trading. I was happy to be of use. But I couldnt help wondering to what use the beads I had traded were being put to use. Works consulted Said, Edward. Orientalism. Toronto: Random House, 1979. http://books.google.ca/books?id=zvJ3YwOkZAYC&dq=edward+said+orientalism&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_navlinks_s Read More