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What is "primitive"? Is it subjective? Is it colonialism? Often a technology that works & fits a social or economic need is branded by outside cultures as primitive, backward, archaic, etc. If it has suited a need for 1000s of years, why change? Is there a cost-ratio benefit...1/
to adapting to a new foreign technology? Does purchasing a new plow, for instance, make sense it it cost 3 years to pay for it. How much labor does it save? What drawbacks? Ask our indigenous peoples the drawbacks of wagons & plows they were given or bought. 2/
Holmes (1932 Vol. 8) showed a 1900 photo of Cuban farmers with a board plow with tree pole pulled by 2 oxen. Not the yoke board is tied behind the horns. /3
Almost identical plows at Cochiti Pueblo were called primitive by visiting New Yorker Carl Eickemeyer & wife (1895:99): Wagons, plows, firearms, etc. often were freely given to natives by the government/traders, but when they broke down, who would fix them? 4/
Debo documents some of the problems, as the Creek people were given these items by the government to make a new start, but promised blacksmiths for 5 years + training a tribal member, more often than not, never came to pass. In some cases it was graft by the Indian Agents or 5/
local military leaders, either for profit or for suppression. A colonialism trick, get a people to agree to move by promising them help & tools, then once they& #39;re relocated, renege on the deal. This happened to most tribes in one way or another. 6/
Some tribes did try to bypass ineffectual complaints with local agents/military & petitioned Washington directly. Sometimes this led to a renegotiating of a treaty, many times with less than agreeable results. Often the direct result of not getting the promised government help 7/
was showcased as reason to not give them further assistance. If I remember correctly, one agent/commander noted that they had given the Creek plows & cattle, but the cattle were slaughtered for food. Yes, because they were moved in the winter & the promised seeds to plant 8/
either never arrived or were too few to help. They had to eat the cattle to survive in an unfamiliar land. Again, colonial suppression at work. I think some Creek leader once said along the line of "If the government had honored their promises, we would be a great nation today".9
Primitive.
"In a land of plenty, we have nothing" is another statement.
Primitive is a subjective term that has been used to diminish peoples worldwide. They don& #39;t have what we have, thus they are primitive. Doesn& #39;t matter if they need it, in only matters that they lack it. /10
"In a land of plenty, we have nothing" is another statement.
Primitive is a subjective term that has been used to diminish peoples worldwide. They don& #39;t have what we have, thus they are primitive. Doesn& #39;t matter if they need it, in only matters that they lack it. /10
Self-justification to intrude...to take over...to conquer...to make irrelevant. The colonial mindset. It still occurs today. 11/
Sorry. It& #39;s one of those afternoons. Reflections. We can do better.
Sorry. It& #39;s one of those afternoons. Reflections. We can do better.
