Indigenous People: A Mythological Analysis

“In what ways did Indigenous peoples resist the non-Indigenous settlement of Australia in the frontier period and how did non-Indigenous peoples retaliate? In your answer, discuss and analyse the initial and ongoing impact on Indigenous communities.”

According to Summers (2017), the indigenous worldview can be defined as “a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world” (slide 8). Each person has a particular way in which they view the world (worldview) and includes a combination of their experiences, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about their cultural identity (Summers, 2017). For someone to develop a strong and healthy identity, it will be vital to resist and confront the dominant cultural norms that socially determine one's association to a particular social group (King et al., 2009). I agree with Summers that it is important not to make assumptions about an Indigenous person's cultural identity because each of their experiences are unique (Summers, 2017).

In this essay, the articles ‘Listen to the north’ by John Ralston Saul and ‘Which ‘Native’ History? By Whom? For Whom?’ by J.R. Miller will be analyzed, specifically looking at each authors argument and his appeal to ethos, logos and pathos. In the first article, ‘Listen to the North’, author John Ralston Saul argues that current Canadian policy when it comes to our north, and the people that reside there, is out of date and based on southern ideals that hold little bearing on the realities that face northern populations. He suggests instead that the policies and regulations should be shaped by people who know the territory and it’s needs, namely people who live there. In the second

The Navajo nation keeps the skin walker myth alive through artistic work, such as Navajo jewelry and art. These Navajo myths always have a connection to the sacred land of the Four Corners region in the American Southwest. Because it is believed that skin walkers wear the skins of the animals they transform into, it is considered taboo to wear the pelt of any animal. In fact, the Navajo are only known to wear two hides, sheepskin and buckskin, both of which are only used for ceremonial purposes. The Navajo people have a very strong emotional bond with the Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms that are so much a part of their everyday lives.[citation needed] Certain animals are more sacred to some individuals, families and tribes. They believe

Native Americans are a group of people that lived in America before European settlers colonized here. Native Americans had practiced several traditions. Traditions that would be considered strange to our ways of life. They did not have writing they only had speech and inscriptions. Since they only spoke their were many stories called myths.

The process of colonization and attempted assimilation by Settlers left Indigenous populations across Canada in a broken state. High rates of suicide, lower overall health, higher rates of poverty,

National mythologies, as argued by Razack (2002), are “stories about a nation’s origins and history . . . [that] enable citizens to think of themselves as part of a community defining who belongs and who does not belong to the nation” (Razack 2002: 2). There is an idea where Europeans and the immigrants imported to build Canada were equally respected and treated. These immigrants were the necessary immigrants needed for the “Canadian imaginary”, however when the construction projects were complete, laws which excluded Black and Asian people, were set up and immigrant were essentially displaced as they were deemed unsuited to the harsh ‘northern kingdom’ climate only suitable for ‘northern races’ (Mackey 2002). Many Natives who lived in the Ontario and Quebec areas were essentially pushed northwards to escape the presence of the Europeans settlers, and the Natives who remained were isolated from society on land reserves (Mackey 2002). This generated the idea that Indigenous people were disappearing with the progression of civilization and settlers (Mackey 2002) or “presumed to be mostly dead or assimilated” (Razack 2002: 2) as grade-school history taught us, as one member of the discussion brought up. Our group agreed that pushing the Indigenous out of the Ontario and Quebec areas was solely beneficial for the Europeans as they got to keep the preferable environments, and the Indigenous were pushed to northern, harsher conditions. Once those of non-European decent where displaced, Canada was viewed as “superior to the USA because [of] the racial similarities of the English and French [that] made the country homogenous” (Mackey 2002: 31) – a desirable state of uniformity to

Thanks to the contribution of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and the many crew members were able to uncover the unknown land as well as providing valuable information about topography, the bilogical studies, the ecology, ethnic, and linguistic studies of the American Indian as they uncovered the mysteries that lay in the Louisiana

If you were to travel back 10 000 years and make a journey across, what is today known as, Canada, you would be simply amazed. You would find myriads of distinct bands and tribes, each thriving in their own niches. You’d discover an array of unique cultures, painted with the colours of their earth and their sky, their mountains and their rivers, their flora and fauna, and everything they wholeheartedly believed in. Each tribe was just as beautiful as it was diverse from another. But then, some strangers arrived, who were fair and friendly in the beginning, but the thousands of years of turmoil that would follow, were unexpected, to say the absolute least. When the Europeans arrived in Canada with the intent of imperialization, although civil

In order to understand the relationship between Indigenous Canadians and other Canadian identities we must first have a basic understanding of this relationship throughout history. The knowledge of behaviours and conduct of historical Aboriginal and European settler relations is essential to a contemporary analysis of current cultural genocide and identity theft. Historical colonial practices and attitudes deeply contribute to a severe loss of identity and livelihood for Aboriginal Canadians. These learned behaviours by non-Aborigines massively impact the weight of unacknowledged social and political issues. The resolution of these problems and de-colonization rely heavily on a “reshaping” of outsider views of Indigenous identity (Lawrence), recognition of historical and current malpractices, and the preservation and respect of cultural traditions. There are two sides to every story, but often we only recognize the validity of the side that aligns with our values and that emphasizes what we identify with. Therefore, when we are presented with conflicting narratives it can be difficult to acknowledge the harsh realities of what we once thought was a golden tale. For some, it’s a matter of willful ignorance, we are aware of historical facts but choose not to recognize the effects or how we may be contributing to these problems. This willful ignorance is perpetuated by stereotypes founded in education which infect media and

Examine the representation of the encounter between white settler-invaders and Indigenous peoples in Jeannette Amstrong’s “History Lesson” and Roughing It in the Bush.

The Native American people were a humble and self-sustaining race that was taken advantage of and exploited for their generosities. You will see that the Europeans will maneuver and essentially take a land inhabited by Native Americans by a series of actions that took place in the late 1400s to the late 1770s. Europeans will display acts of what seem to be kindness but is just a an act that in turn will weaken the Native American people.

Canadian citizens understand genocide to be a terrible thing that other countries have done, or are doing. The eradication of an entire population of civilian women, men, and children along with their culture and national sovereignty is something we condemn in our media. When we see genocide happening elsewhere, we debate when we should step in with economic sanctions or military action when it is time to put a stop to a crime against humanity. Rarely, if ever, do we examine our own history long enough to understand that Canada was created by people who committed genocide against the people who were already living here.

Each individual makes up the society as it is, and various characteristics and beliefs makes up an individual. Although, individual lives together with a variety of personal ideologies, emotions, cultures, and rituals, they all differentiate one person from the other making up one’s own identity. This identity makes up who one is inside and out, their behaviour, actions, and words comes from their own practices and values. However, the profound history of Indigenous people raises question in the present about their identities. Who are they really? Do we as the non-native people judge them from the outside or the inside? Regardless of whether the society or the government were involved in their lives, they faced discrimination in every

In the contact narrative of early Anglophile and Francophile settlements in Canada, the dominance of white European identity in the historical record is based on vastly different perceptions of indigenous/ aboriginal as being inferior to the “civilized” world. These misrepresentations of the indigenous peoples of Canada are primarily based on linguistic and cultural scholarship in the Eurocentric tradition, which were based on primitive tribal customs and social norms. In many cases,