Passing the Blame

On page 95 of his biography, Benjamin Franklin relates how some Native Americans got drunk on rum. Franklin relates their justification and discusses it. “ ‘The Great Spirit, who made all things, made everything for some use, and whatever use he design’d any thing for, that use it should always be put to. Now when he made rum, he said ‘Let this  be for Indians to get drunk with,’ and it must be so.’ And indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for the cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the sea-coast.”

Franklin implies that white settlers had nothing to do with the absence of Natives from the east coast. They exterminated themselves by drinking too much. This casts Indians in role of annoying children, who do not have to be taken seriously, and leaves whites blameless. 

A Renaissance Man

A friend once told me of Leonardo Da Vinci's self improvement logs. Though I was unable to find further evidence that these logs were real, Benjamin Franklin has holds several Renaissance values.

Benjamin Franklin identified 13 attributes that he should have, and every day marked if he had failed to achieve some virtue or another. He very systematically tried to get them all. "Tho I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining..." (pg 71 of his autobiography).

Perfection was one ideal of the Renaissance, as was an orderly approach to life and achieving virtue. Franklin believed that perfection might be achievable by a human.

Identity Crisis

Yesterday I wrote that "the Westernized Native doesn't fit in modern in society, has no archetypal role." I said this because Westernized Natives cannot fully claim either identity. This cultural vagueness is older than I expected. In Things Material, Butler discusses Indian clothing in the colonial era (142), describing how they would wear blankets as capes and the men would often wear shirts.


"Still, an important change among the Iroquois demonstrates powerful links between housing and broader cultural change. Eighteenth century Iroquois longhouses were distinctly smaller than their seventeenth-century predecessors and put to different uses. They were narrower, shorter, and built for ceremonial functions, such as Iroquois council meetings. The was noticeable to English officials: New York lieutenant goverenor George Clark wrote in 1742 that 'most of the 6 Nations have of late years lived dispersed forgetting their Antient Custom of dwelling together in Castles.' After the 1740s Onadagas lived in 'cabins' that one obseverer described as 'made of bark, bound fast to poles set in the ground, and bent round in the top' and housing one or two families, not entire clans. Eighteenth-century Senecas built European style cabins, also holding only one or two families, although they used a smoke hole rather than a European chimney. Only the Cayugas seem to have retained some traditional longhouses. Yet among the Cayugas, Onadagas, and Senecas alike the change in function produced at least symbolic change, and their principal historian notes that in all three societies the eighteenth-century builsdings lacked 'the elaborate carving of clan animals or other figures that adorned the entrances to dwellings a century earlier.' For the Iroquois as for Europeans and Africans, housing said much about culture and power, not just taste and refinement."(150).


The changes in clothing and architecture show that already, traditional forms were crumbling and Indians were adopting hybrid customs.

In modern times, many tribes are adopting flags with the name of the tribe in English. A flag is a very Western way of establishing identity. Even in the recent resurgence of Indian pride, the old ways have been replaced by Western ones. What Butler describes is the beginning of the modern Natives' identity problem.

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd

In Pocahontas, Niel Young sings "Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me." The song is about Indians who have some remnant native identity but otherwise are lost in modern society. Specifically, Young wishes he were a trapper so he could sleep with Pocahontas.

Actor, singer songwriter, and princess. Though white, in the song Young takes on the identity of an westernized Indian male. Really we have:

Actor, Native American and princess. The Indian seems like the odd one out. A sexy masculine actor and a sexy exotic princess go together nicely. This is part of the point of the poem: the Westernized Native doesn't fit in modern in society, has no archetypal role.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me John Smith

The real Pocahontas married an Englishman, converted to Christianity, dressed as an English noblewoman, and had her portrait painted. The Pocahontas archetype can't do that, because she is innocent and free. William Rasmussen saw the same thing in art. "Although she looks English, Christy's Pocahontas seems by no means ready for absorption into English culture, by either conversion or by marriage. No crucifix hangs at the end of the prominent necklace she wears, and she is clearly resisting, perhaps disdainful of, her English suitor. As Daphne could find happiness with neither god nor mortal because she had been smitten by the arrow of Cupid, Christy's Pocahontas could not return the apparent love of her pursuer because to do so would cost this independent young woman her freedom, a vital characteristic to the "Christy Girl." Daphne transformed herself into a tree to avoid Apollo; Christy's Pocahontas seems nearly ready to do the same"(Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend). This whole situation is deeply ironic, because Pocahontas is also a sex symbol for white males, a kind of ultimate virgin. This is why the Disney Pocahontas found herself so conflicted: she must maintain both her purity and a relationship with John Smith.

The Naytiri Noggin Knot

On page 9 of Native Women's History in Eastern North America, Rayna Green introduces her essay The Pocahontas Perplex, writing "I have to believe that somehow, all those college course lists and reprints will eventually vaccinate enough Americans against the Perplex and they'll just laugh the next resurgence right out of the box office. That's why I keep writing."

The success of Avatar must have disheartened Green. Neytiri, the heroine, is Pocahontas reincarnated. Literalistically, the two have a lot in common--both rescue their white lovers, and both are Indian princesses. Neytiri also offers Jake, the hero, a mystical connection to nature. Pocahontas offers this in Christy's painting and the Jamestown statue. Green discusses this in terms of healing powers and use in advertisements. Neytiri is exotic, powerful, dangerous and beautiful--Green's description of Pocahontas. The Pocahontas Perplex has not innoculated the Americans. The public welcomed the next resurgence intop the box office with praise and ticket sales.

The Only Good Indian is a Dead One

John Smith often wrote of combat with Native Americans. In the 1608 accounts, he writes:

"Anchoring in this Bay, twentie or thirtie went a shore with the Captain, and in coming aboard, they were assalted with certaine Indians, which charged them within Pistoll shot: in which conflict, Captaine Archer and Mathew Morton were shot: whereupon, Captaine Newport seconding them, made a shot at them, which the Indians little respected, but having spent their arrowes retyred without harme."

In the above account Smith gives indication of why the Native Americans are attacking the settlers. He makes racial conflict sound perfectly natural, and ignores the possibility that whites might have offended the Indians somehow.

Productive and peaceful relations with natives are possible. Smith and other whites of the same mindset (Custer) harm themselves and the Indians by assuming war is the only way. In Brazil, Candido Rondon gave violent tribes free tools as gifts. If his party was attacked, he would not return fire and let his troops be killed. If a tribe agreed to negotiate, he offered them jobs helping to construct telegraph lines. One native compared Rondon to Ghandi, saying "their mission was identical, to live for others, altruism." (http://www.vidaslusofonas.pt/candido_rondon2.htm) If Rondon had come three hundred years earlier, he could have been a role model and prevented centuries of bloody extermination.

Dorm Room Inventory

This post is not a response to something I read. It responds what is in my dorm room.

This assignment happened to be the same weekend as a back\packing trip. Of all the things in my dorm, I had to choose what was important enough to carry for four days.

·          

N  Nonessentials (stuff I didn’t take with me on the backpacking trip)

o   Recycling Bin and garbage can

o   Books Papers

§  For Classes:

·         Textbooks, sheet music, handouts, lab notebooks, binders, notes

·         ChBi, AmCon, Stats for Econ, Chinese, Piano, Voice

§  The Book

§  The millions of papers I was handed during week one

§  Map of the natural lands, map of Northfield

§  Spare time books: Left Hand of Darkness by Ursala Le Guin, another novel, a nonfiction about neuroscience, two scientific Americans, piano and guitar music

o   Laptop

o   Office supplies: pens pencils, stapler whole punch etc

o   Sewing Kit

o   Bike Patch kit

o   Electronics: Camera, shaver, sundry chargers, batteries, calculators

o   Spare glasses

o   Decoration: Picture of Spock, Poster on door (Escher meets landscape), national park postcards, picture and David Wagner

o   Half a bike computer

o   Parts for an electric motor

o   Tool kit

o   Fan

o   Floor and desk lamps (but only one light bulb)

o   Toiletries

o   Flip flops and dress shoes

o   Most of my clothes

o   Music stand

o   Air filter

o   Guitar +accessories

o   Skis+accessories

o   Panniers

o   Helmet and St Olaf hat

o   Bed and bedding

o   Snow boots

o   First aid kit

o   Suitcase

o   Hangars

o   Plate, fork, cup

o   Towels

o   Frisbee

o   Laundry soap

o   Glowstick

o   Tea, hot chocolate, and popcorn, electric kettle

o   Antique MP3 player+headphones

o   Swimming trunks

o   Lab goggles

·         Essentials (I carried these for four days)

o   3 coats, long underwear, snow pants, gloves, etc

o   Walking shoes

o   Messenger bag+1 improvised bag made out of duct tape

o   Bowl, spoon

o   Duct Tape
O Glasses

o   Water bottle

o   Lot and lots of food

o   Wallet, cell phone, keys, Ole card

o   Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap

o   Flashlight+batteries

o   Sleeping bag

o   Chapstick

o   Change of clothes+what I was wearing

o   Carabineer

The only thing revealed by the division between things I brought and didn't bring on the trip is that most of the items in my dorm room are not survival essentials. That I am not battling for survival has profound consequences, but is obvious.

The presence of items that store information--books, laptops, calculators, posters, MP3 players, etc--doesn't say a lot about the owners. (Again, the abundance of information items has profound consequences, but is obvious.) What is more revealing is what information is stored in those items. It says something that I have two calculators. More revealing is that I've spent hours programming them to perform impractical tasks. A lot of students have books beyond schoolbooks. The content of mine is somewhat unusual: a novel that questions patriotism and gender, nonfiction about neuroscience, a novel I haven't read yet, and two issues of Scientific American. I could continue for all sheet music and other electronics, but that would be a separate exercise: an inventory of all the information you've made readily available to yourself. What webpages do you usually visit? What books do you have? This would tell you about the person but not the society. Making a physical inventory tells us things about society (not worried about day to day survival, information is important).

What I have in common with Colonial America

The following quote is from pg 35 of Playing Indian by Phillip Deloria.

"The liminary participants enter a peculiar and ambiguous social space. 'Betwixt and between' the categories of social life, liminality is the experience of the social 'other.' Neither here nor there, the perticipant in the liminal experience is, socially speaking, 'elsewhere.'
 This confers immunity for otherwise unlawful acts; it provides an alibi and an excuse. It is also, perhaps, the fulfillment of wishes that cannot ordinarily be satisfied, or in other words utopia."

A couple of years ago I read My Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan. The author, an anthropology professor, lives in the dorms and takes classes with all the other freshman. In the process, she gains an understanding of student culture. This drastically alters the way that she teaches, and she wrote the book to share her insights with the higher education community. Towards the end of the book, she analyzes her experience through an anthropology lens, and describes college as a liminal experience. Unfortunately, I had no idea what a liminal experience was. This is why I was  excited to find a good definition of the word liminal, and to find that I was in the same boat as colonial America.

Rappaccini's Revenge

This quote is taken from page 135 of Landscapes of the Sacred by Belden C. Lane. He is describing how Puritans perceived god, and summarizes "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Howthorne as an example.

Falling in love with the sorcerer's daughter also appeared in the Tempest, and I can't shake the feeling it's also cropped somewhere else (besides Forbidden Planet). Father's messing with their daughter's love lives happens often enough in reality. Still, this synopsis gave me an unusual urge to write a short. Why?

Part of the Rappiccini's appeal lies in his name. "Darth Vader." "Voldemort." The names of these villains sound similar and sinister. This begs the question: Why do Italian names sound evil to Nathaniel Hawthorne? Rappaccini doesn't sound evil to me.

Societies tend to demonize those that are close enough to cause offense but not close enough to understand. (Arabs and Russians are frequently villainous in US films. Native Americans tended to fight their neighbors neighbors.) For an England with sailing ships, Italy is the right distance away.

Rappaccini's character taps into our mad scientist archetype, but with a little bit of mad alchemist thrown in. The ironic nature of the garden--toxic, but needed for healing elixirs--adds mystery and and magic. All this combines to make the perfect premise for a story.