I'm very glad you did mention the Mound Builders, because this is an issue
that seems to have died out in the public interest ever since it was proven
that the highly advanced Mound Builder societies really were local Natives
and not some "lost race" that is now extinct. It's as if, in its collective
guilt, the dominant culture couldn't deal with this cold fact and so decided
to bury the Mounds, literally and figuratively.
Therefore (and this also serves as a reaction to Gary's post on the
excellent "Spirit and Nature" program), there is a question that you just
don't see thrown around that often when discussing Native Americans, and
one about which I personally am intensely curious:
WHY did the Native people of North America utterly ABANDON this so-called
"advanced" culture?
The reason I think this question is not asked very much is because the
dominant society is afraid of the answer. No drought or other single
natural phenomenon could have so swept the ENTIRE continent that it
forced the whole population to abandon these centralized, technological,
European-style cities and return to small hunting, gathering, and
occasional subsistance farming communities. Therefore, this radical
and unilateral change in lifestyle had to have been made by CHOICE.
What this would imply is that the Native people knew something that
Europeans don't - that "civilization" is a dangerous game, fraught
with social and economic imbalance and unhappiness. Perhaps this
realization was brought on by a "fall" similar to that of the Roman
Empire, or a revolt of the lower classes. Or perhaps it was achieved
less tragically; it is possible that the holy people of the tribes
foresaw such a fall unless the people returned to the Earth. In any
case, to ponder this one question is to ponder the very validity of
the whole economic and social structure on which European (and there-
fore white American) civilization was built - a civilization which
is utterly dependent on the notion that the European technological
form of "advancement" is the absolute crown of creation. As such,
it's no wonder the question of the abandonment of the Mounds has been
buried along with the mounds themselves.
Why does a centralized lifestyle like this one invariably die out
while tribal lifestyles have flourished for thousands of years?
The obvious reason is that centralized government and technological
advancement rely on the exploitation of land and resources, which
cannot continue forever. However, less obvious but equally important
is another reason: man becomes decadant and unable to make good
judgements in such conditions. Why?
It seems to me that as soon as one moves beyond hunting, gathering
and simple farming for one's livelihood, he has in effect made a
statement that he no longer trusts in the earth, or trusts in the
Great Spirit, to nurture him. When a people believe they can control
their own environment, and depend on a paternalistic centralized
government or corporation for the distribution of goods, they have
become out of touch with the Earth, God and themselves. Making a
living becomes an abstraction of itself in which the means of live-
lihood has nothing to do with the immediacy of living itself. The
people of such a society can't help but become observers of their
lives rather than participants, and in the quest to participate
more in their own lives they become more and more consumptive and
indulgent. This in turn promotes guilt, and the denial of the
obvious inequities they are creating. Of course, then they must
figure out a way to justify the guilt, and soon become so good at
it that they are able to gloss over the most horrendous and inhumane
of acts. Thus continues the cycle of consumption, self-hatred
and ignorance which inevitably has to end all such societies.
Americans are now experiencing this separation of self from spirit
in the form of loss of identity, the breakup of families, and the
need to acquire and spend money beyond all reason. Some of them are
aware of these problems; others have built up increasingly elaborate
systems of denial. However, in either case no amount of political
activism can save the environment or the indigenous peoples without
first raising the consciousness of mainstream society to a point where
they can understand WHAT THEY HAVE LOST by sweeping the unspoiled
natural world and its indigenous people under the rug; and WHAT
THEY HAVE TO GAIN by re-establishing relations with these.
We need to be very aware of that here on the NativeNet. On this
network we are bombarded each day with an endless litany of injustices
being meted out to Native peoples, of lands being destroyed, of
continuing racism and intolerance by the dominant culture. It can
be very discouraging for some. Others do their best to write letters
and do whatever we can; however it needs to be emphasized that these
measures are ONLY A BAND-AID, and that the people we are up against
could care less about human ethics for their own sake. The mechanisms
of denial and justification are too well entrenched. Therefore the
public at large needs to get back in touch with what makes them human,
what makes them ALIVE, and they need to know that Native people can
help them do this. They also need to recognize that the tribal
lifestyle was CHOSEN and not entered into by default by a people
who were simply too "backward" to understand the so-called glory
of progress. Otherwise, indigenous peoples must resign them-
selves to being slowly "phased out" of the inevitable "forward"
advancement of the dominant society, doomed to either assimilation,
death or the white man's purgatory of reservation poverty and
dependence.
However, if people of the dominant culture can learn to appreciate
the value of the indigenous lifestyle, and see it as a means to
save themselves from their OWN purgatory of consumption, separation
and denial, then we have a chance. Of course, this is an effort
that will pretty much need to be made by the indigenous peoples
themselves, since no effort is forthcoming from the mainstream!
For this reason, I think it's important to discuss, plan and promote
such efforts among Native people and their supporters here on this
network.
Comments, anyone?
Mitakuye Oyasin (We Are All Related) -
= Lee =