'Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor'

After reading “Second Thoughts of Colonial Historians and American Indians” by James H. Merrell, it is important to acknowledge the symbolicism of the language used by so many Colonial Historians as they recount significant instances throughout our Indigenous American History. In many comparisons, word selection used to describe the Native peoples, tend to simplify their existence as merely hunters and gatherers.

Initially, the concept of colonisation will be explained, including the forces that were driving the colonisation and the usual ways it was achieved. At a general level, the ideologies underpinning the colonisers’ interactions with indigenous peoples will also be described. A comparison will then be made between the experiences of colonisation for Aboriginal peoples

Since the very first contact, the Native Americans have been treated as subordinates, being mistreated, shamed, embarrassed, and oppressed by white settlers. After the Revolutionary War in the late 1700’s, matters only got worse for the Native Americans. Population was skyrocketing due to a great deal of immigration of white settlers in the early to mid 1800’s, and there wasn’t enough space for everyone. With this came expansion, and to reach the goals they had set out for it, the Native Americans had to go. A prime example of this is shown in Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” where in chapter seven he talks about the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, carelessness and failure by the American government to protect, and multiple slaughters carried out by the American military on the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Sac and Fox, and the Seminole tribes. Closely related is “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” written by Dee Brown, his writings from chapter thirteen focus on the Nez Perces tribe that resided in Oregon, and their attempt at a journey in Canada, and other western Indian tribes’ affairs. To go along with Zinn and Brown, is Alan Brinkley’s “American History,” which posed an unbiased view of what modern day textbooks are informing students across the nation about what happened to the Native Americans. An article titled “The North American Indian Holocaust,” written by

Within the Native culture and the Colonial cultures in North America, there are confusion, misjudging, assumptions and conflicts among the two.

Lawson, Steven F. "Colonization and Conflicts." Exploring American Histories. By Nancy A. Hewitt. Vol. 1. N.p.: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 44. Print.

In addition, association with the Natives was just another obstacle the colonists had to face. Rowlandson’s publication gives a time stamp on how difficult relations with the Native Americans were from a colonial perspective. Time period was so important in Rowlandson’s case because her story this gave first insight to issues of the colonial perspective of the Natives. Before Rowlandson, there was no actual documentation of a front row seat to the world of the Native Americans. For example, during Rowlandson’s fourth remove she witnessed the death of a pregnant mother and the child (264). Imagine hearing this for the first time as a colonist; immediately an automatic biased opinion occurs. In Rowlandson’s case, there was more corruption and “devilish” behavior that clouded the good.

Temperatures are reaching a new high, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more extreme climate events, such as drought, flooding, are taking place. It is not a forecast anymore; greenhouse gases are intensifying the global warming. In 2013, 81.2% of the energy consumption in the world are produced by fossil fuel (International Energy Agency). Could you imagine how much greenhouse gases are produced? Ever since 1980s, scientist has found that the emission of the greenhouse gases is the major factor contributes to the global warming, which intensify the climate change that the human civilization may collapse one day. In the book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, the author Naomi Klein describes that we are headed toward a catastrophic levels of warming. She suggests that the solution to climate change, in short, is to fight for a change in the economic model of capitalism and move towards a low-carbon economy. Making this adjustments will affect every aspects of our life--from how the energy generate, what we consume, and the technologies we use. “Change of this magnitude creates risks but also opportunities. There will be both winners and losers as the world moves towards a low-carbon economy (**).” One of the important aspects which many people care about is the impact of climate change policy on employment. Does the movement improve the employment? Klein suggests that climate change policy has a huge

If that was all in the past, it’s all good now and we’ve made more progress, right? As Angela Cavender Wilson ("Educating America: The Historian's Responsibility to Native Americans and the Public") recounts her story, she remembers feeling dread as her class talked about her ancestors as they have depicted them as “hostile, savage, and primitive”. This statement alone shows the continuity of how Americans have depicted these people with bitter images and yet time may have healed some wounds but then how can we judge fully how bad the colonists feel.           In contrast to those feelings, people still view that some relations were really good. As an example, Ned C. Landsman remarked that in their relations with natives, they had

Since the United States of America was officially founded in 1776, American citizens have considered this country a free land that holds its arms invitingly open to everyone. Emma Lazarus depicts this ideal in her poem “The New Colossus” by describing America as a “golden door,” and a sanctuary for the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” However, America’s past has not always represented these ideals. Some historical examples of failure to reach these aspirations include the enslavement of Africans and the holding of Japanese-Americans in prison camps during WWII, which correspond to poems by Langston Hughes and Dwight Okita. After considering both the positive and negative aspects of American history, we can reach the conclusion that America has, the majority of the time,

Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, where a nation establishes and maintains its domination over dependent territories. In the words of Fanon, in the reading The Wretched of the Earth, “National liberation, national reawakening, restoration of the na­tion to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event.” (Fanon, 1). Frantz Fanon was one of many authors who supported decolonization struggles occurring after World War II. He breaks down decolonization into two senses: one being the physical act of freeing a territory from external control of a colonizer, and the other being the psychological act of freeing the consciousness of the native from the alienation caused by colonization. Fanon particularly advocated that violence was justified by overthrowing colonial oppression. In his reading, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon wrote on why and how colonialism must be stopped. Fanon argued that the colonial infrastructure must be destroyed. “Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is clearly an agenda for total disorder. But it cannot be accomplished by the wave of a magic wand, a natural cataclysm, or a gentleman’s agreement. Decolonization, we know, is an historical process: In other words, it can only be understood, it can only find its significance and become self coherent insofar as we can discern the history-making movement which gives it form and substance,”

Decolonization, according to Todd Shepard, can be defined as “merely the end of European states’ formal colonial empires” (p. 9), and in the time period from 1945 to 1965, decolonization became more of an inevitable concept than an unimaginable one. Decolonization intersects with W.E.B DuBois’s ‘color line’, which promoted decolonization by way of the colored side of the line’s desire to: obtain sovereign rights, put to rest the myth of “race”, and be heard and taken seriously.

Methods Statement: Through the analysis colonial primary sources, Plane explores the different models of colonial relationships: primarily Native American marriage, but also interracial relationships, and colonial marriage (as a foil to

The Western existence of modernization, especially technological and industrial development, economic growth, material prosperity, urbanization, and democracy, has been built upon a long line of industrial capitalism, an economic system predicated on the accelerating extraction and consumption of fossil fuels for energy (Clark & York, 2005). A major unintended consequence of the use of fossil fuels is an increase in the average temperature of the earth; known as global warming or climate change. Recognizing and responding to climate change, arguably the most challenging social problem of the modern era (Giddens, 2009), thus poses a fundamental critique of continued modernization processes around the world (Freudenburg, 2003). Climate change is a major issue that affects all life across the

Fanon insists that decolonization entails a violent struggle between two parties since decolonization is "the replacing of a certain 'species ' of men by another 'species of men" (The Wretched of the Earth 35). In other

After living a certain lifestyle for an extended period of time, a sudden change in lifestyle abnormally envelops not only a society as a whole, but the individuals who live in that society. The psychological state of the indigenous people worsens due to the forced ideas of the colonizers mixing with their own, which can cause a rift in their thinking. A decision has to be made eventually; however, the colonizer typically tries his hardest to prevent them from making what he believes is the “wrong” decision. Although the colonizer appears to be helping the indigenous people, his true intentions are all but innocent. Due to their technological disadvantages, the colonizers have an advantage over the indigenous people, causing the previous existing people to feel undermined. Even after the colonizers leave, the colonized people continue to bear the scars left behind by the colonizers, as stated by Hayes who argues that, “Post Colonial Theory recognizes the trauma resulting from the alienation of indigenous people from their own land, even after achieving independence” (Hayes). Colonization leaves behind permanent psychological damage, even long after independence has been obtained.