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Thursday, July 10 2008 - 11:55 PM Critique No. 2 – THE BASELESS ATTACK ON THE “WESTWARD MOVEMENT” IN UNITED STATES HISTORY. “A unit called ‘the Westward Movement’ is mainstream and Eurocentric because it focuses on movement of European Americans from the Eastern to the Western part of the Unied States. The Ogala Sioux were already in the West and consequently were not moving westward” —Page 254, Ch. 10 – Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform, by James A. Banks. To imply that a curriculum called “the Westward Movement” of white Americans, in the context of U.S. History, is “Eurocentric” is not only petty demagoguery, it plainly ignores the fact that westward movement of white Americans was itself the catalyst for developing what eventually became the United States of today. Since the Ogala Sioux were not directly responsible for the development of the U.S., and transient European Americans were, it seems obnoxiously trivial to allege that the curriculum is “Eurocentric”. History is what it is and facts are facts and you can’t simply gloss over them to appease everyone else’s sensitivities. If you’re actually reading this, you probably think I am some Bill O’Reilly-watching, conservative Republican. The truth is, I am not. I am a Democrat – a relatively liberal one actually – who chooses to think independently. I also have a deep passion for the subject of History and I have a really hard time when History is purposely twisted for any reason. Getting back to the subject: We can mention that the Ogala Sioux and other First Nations people were the victims of theft and unfair land acquisition. As a matter of fact, we should mention this. Manifest Destiny, while important in the development of the U.S. as a nation, certainly was not one of it’s brightest aspect either.
Chew on this...
Matthew W. Keltner
EDBI 476, Dr. Garcia
Critique No. 2
July 10th, 2008
Denise_Latanzi says...
James A. Banks is actually a fantastic historian and one of the nations leading scholars on multiculturalism and what it means in todays world.
Your professor will probably have the same issues with the line of thought presented as I do. While there is little doubt that the westward movement of these new americans was a good thing for nation building, it sure wasn’t such a great thing for the native peoples already living in the west. The term “Eurocentric” is appropriate for several reasons- A) It was the new, European settlers that were moving west, B) In doing so they were displacing non-europeans, and C) they were laying claim to land based on their heritage.
Think about it this way for a second- right now it would not be appropriate for someone to come onto your land or into your city and tell you that it was now theirs and you had to leave, it was now theirs to do as they like with it. It would not be appropriate to base this decision for move all the people out of a city or say that they had no property rights because of their ethnicity, nor would it be appropriate to think that you have more rights than someone else based on yours.
Now, I haven’t read this publication of James Banks, but I sure plan too :)
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Denise_Latanzi says...
If you ever want a really interesting read on the history of multiculturalism in America, try Ronald Takaki’s “A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America”. That particular book takes on the immigration of several differentt ethnic groups into early America, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Irish immigrants.
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mattkeltner says...
Denise,
My issue with Banks was that he implied that merely labeling a chapter in a history book as “Westward Movement” constituted “Eurocentrism” by basically saying that the titles of school textbook chapters are not as sensitive as they should be. To me, that’s petty and I wanted to state as much in my critique.
I read Takaki for a PolSci class when I was at the junior college. You are right about his work! Very fascinating…
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PKShaw says...
Thanks for the tip Denise. I just ordered “A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America” from Amazon. I’ll let you know what I think about it.
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mattkeltner says...
You needn’t have ordered it. I probably have it somewhere.
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PKShaw says...
I ordered a used copy. The postage will cost more than the book!
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138hwy says...
You see what happens when you go to college? They teach you how to be a fag.
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mattkeltner says...
So much for intellectual discourse! :-(
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mattkeltner says...
PK,
There’s a very emotional section in Takaki’s “The Mirror…” where he talks about Native Americans on a reservation in New Mexico whose water supply was intentionally poisoned with reactive waste and, consequently, suffered a rash of children born with various abnormalities.
Since the Irish were not considered “white” for many decades, Takaki spends much time on them as well.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
Takaki has another book that is fascinating called “Debating Diversity: Clashing Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America”.
PK, I think you’ll like Takaki’s work. He’s done some of the best work in multicultural studies I’ve ever seen, and he really brings the immigrants perspective to what he writes.
Matt, If that was Banks assertion, then I don’t blame you for taking issue with it. He’s done some great things, but like Cornell West, I’ve read opinions of his that I find a bit to P.C.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
Matt,
In the same book he shared some of the writings from the Japanese that were placed into Internment camps during WWII. The one that really hit me was between a father in Manzanar and his son who was serving in the US Military.
The first time I ever read Takaki was in a PolSci course in College and he stuck with me. I went to a lecture he gave about 12 years ago at Berkeley, and he was a stunning lecturer, very funny. He really makes you think.
He has an interesting Op-ed out now on the Obama candidacy and what it means to him, but I won’t post it to your blog or you’ll need troll repellent :)
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PKShaw says...
Matthew, the delete button is there for a reason.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
the sound is a bit difficult, but its a fascinating lecture :)
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PKShaw says...
There is no doubt Europeans committed what can only be justly described as atrocities on many of the tribes of earlier inhabitants. (I refuse to call them “Native Americans” because they were no more “native” that any other group; they just arrived earlier) But it worked both ways. Early inhabitants did some rather dastardly things to the Europeans as well.
If you read the histories of other countries you will find the same types of atrocities performed all over the globe. What was considered right, or civilized, was a very different concept in those times. I read a book about Russian history during the time of Alexander the Great and was shocked to learn what was considered okay for humans to do to each other.
While much of what went on was unquestionably wrong in early America, it did get us where we are today so I am thankful that it happened. Much sacrifice was made on the part of so many and it’s up to us to make sure that sacrifice serves a greater purpose. So far I think we have done just that.
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mattkeltner says...
PK,
The new academic term is “First Nation” isntead of “Native American”, as there is presently a great deal of debate on the subjectivity of the term “native”.
“First Nations” is also a better description because it grants that these people did have established forms of government and were very advanced in many ways.
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mattkeltner says...
“First Nations” in that they were the first known established nations in North, Central and South America.
When you take the term from that point of view, it makes sense.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
I grew up with one foot in a culture that believes in handing down stories. It’s probably what first got me fascinated with history, listening to my great grandmother, my grandmother, my grandfather and my father. With the exception of my Grandfather, they were all born in Tahlequah, OK on Cherokee land.
I don’t think that they would think that their suffering served a greater purpose, at least not for their people. So in a sense, their story as Americans is very different from even my story. They had a unique seat in our nations history, and their view of history was shaped by the stories they grew up hearing, what was happening around them, and what happened to those that came before them.
I think I love history so much because I am fascinated with other people’s unique stories of how they came to be here. The collective American story is very unique and very different than most the worlds because it is a relatively new story, and we certainly have the most culturally diverse population in the world.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
One of the interesting things about the Takiki lecture I put up is he talks a bit about gender and immigration patterns, or as he puts it, herstory instead of history :)
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Marilyndal says...
One’s property can be taken any time, any place; it’s now called eminent domain. (“Eminent Domain: the power of a government to take private property for public use; the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution and articles in many state constitutions allow this practice provided that just compensation is made.”)
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bear says...
If we didn’t have that type of a law we wouldn’t be able to move forward for the good of the many.
PK, your sre so right when it comes to Indians being called native Americans, they may have made it here first but they were not native.
The part where the white man came and took land from the Indians also was happening with in the Indians themselves taking over lands of other Indians. The same thing was happening with the blacks in Africa, they had their own slaves and sold their own people as slaves. All this talk about the white man being so bad and owing every one something for what they did is a joke. The black man in America are so much better off than they were and so are so many Indians. The Indians that got their ass off the federal hand outs and got and education and found themselves good jobs are doing great. The ones that sit there and say the white man owes them a living are lazy people.
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Frankbradshaw says...
To discuss that a westward migration is somehow Eurocentric may be a good sociology study, but it doesn’t really have a place in a historical discussion.
Taking over another peoples’ lands is not a 19th Century phenomenon. Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Mongolians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Arabs, Vikings, Zulu, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and Germans have all overrun their neighbors and taken their lands. The historian’s job is to interpret the events in the context of previous events. The sociologist can make a judgement call regarding a certain culture’s predilection to overrun another.
I tend to disagree with you bear regarding your assertions about slavery. Because they had slaves in Africa doesn’t justify Europeans taking slaves. Slavery in Africa was a whole different animal than slavery in America. Also, your argument that they’re better off in America is somewhat akin to saying that if you beat someone to a bloody pulp and they got taken to the hospital, and they then find out that they have cancer and they caught it in time that it somehow justifies the beating. It may be true that they’re “better off” in America. How about if you get taken forcibly from your home and are taken to a nursing home? You’re better off there, at least according to me. But it’s not what you chose.
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bear says...
Many of these blacks were being taken forcibly by their black counter parts in Africa and used as slaves. Others were being rounded up by other blacks and being sold. I don’t say it was right but that is the facts of life. It was stopped and now its time to move on, so many blacks think the whites now owe them a living. They try and blame everything on the whites. They now can have all black this and that and yet the whites can’t, do you think thats right? I believe we all should now be treated the same, if blacks want something all black then so should the whites or Jewish people or what ever people they are. Having this black history month is pure crap, if they want to cover all races then they should but not just one race of people.
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Spin says...
Matti’s first exposure to history, and to the….....CSU apparatchiks. Wow. That’s what you get when the PC multiculturalists and marxistas take over: Thom. Jefferson’s just another nazi, as is R.E. Lee, according to Maestro Garcias (of course they generally don’t discuss say what a Pancho Villa was).
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avbornbred says...
When the settlers moved west across North America, wars with the indians were inevitable. As the US military aided in the expansion, the native Americans were defeated. Many injustices happened to the Indians during the war, with tribes being wiped out, and with the internment of whole tribes. Also, the US government pissed backwards on promises, treaties, and the treatment of the surviving tribes. That is all well known in American history.
The US government has made many concessions to the tribes in recent decades, allowing indian tribes to make money with the building of indian casinos. Although, that does not please all of the Native Americans, it is a start to allow them to become wealthy.
If anyone has driven though the Dakota’s and Wyoming, it is not hard to see Native Americans living in poverty in dilapidated mobile homes along freeways, and in some of the reservations.
To this day, the US Government has not given enough back to the Native Americans to improve the living conditions for these people. The tribes that have casinos, also have failed to spread the wealth generated to aid their own peoples.
Native American activist would be better off using their voices to ask for aid for people on the reservations rather than the few idiots who worry about athletic teams using Native American names and mascots for schools and teams.
The activist should fight for better medical care and general services for Native Americans. Also, by eliminating the Native American team names, would be like eliminating peoples thoughts and attention to Native Americans in general. If they truely want to be a forgotten people, eliminate the indian mascots.
The Native Americans are a proud people, and the US should not dismiss any aid or treatment, and assistance, that would greatly repay these people for the injustices that our government allowed to happen.
The Native Americans need to get the right people speaking for them rather than some radicals trying to make a few bucks for suing a school or team because of a mascot.
Other ethnic groups in this country have gained far more from our government than the Native American people have. Lets give them a fair shake, and let them know that they are true Americans. Stop giving all this aid to the illegal aliens and give it to Americans!!
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Spin says...
That’s not entirely accurate. The Dawes Act of like 1887 or so gave away thousands of acres to the natives. All they had to do was homestead, ranch or farm, etc. Most did not. The reservations are more or less welfare (as is the native-casino biz).
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bear says...
The American Indian can get off their ass and do like every one else, start working instead of waiting on a hand out. They have made for themselves what they have today. Times have changed, they can move off the reservation, become part of America and work like every one else. This crap of trying to live like the old days has gone on way to long. I know some of the heads of these Indian movement groups and they all think they are owed a living. Dennis Banks for one and his brother Mark, thats all they talk about is how all this land is Indian land and the white man owes them big time. Well just like the black man they are not the people that were slaves and they are not the people that the Army ran off their land. Who said it was their land any way? did you see a deed to the land. Land belongs to whom can hold on to it, they couldn’t they lost it.
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bear says...
I knew the chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill Keeler, he lived in Bartlesville and became president of Phillips 66 oil company. These people are what they make of themselves
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bear says...
1949 – W.W. Bill Keeler appointed chief of the Cherokee Nation by President Harry Truman.
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Marilyndal says...
“If we didn’t have that type of a law we wouldn’t be able to move forward for the good of the many.” **
(Just to be the devil’s advocate) –
Isn’t this the argument often used and told to the few who are forced to sacrifice ”. . . for the good of many”?
This reasoning is widely accepted, but I feel there is something intrinsically nefarious about it.
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Denise_Latanzi says...
I’m surprised Larry would make such a “socialist” suggestion.
Tyranny of the majority is still tyranny.
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bear says...
Without eminent domain I would hate to see the highway system today or the railroads or even the cities. This place would be in such a mess.
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bear says...
Is this the type of president you want? Not me.
http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036
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Jeff Spicoli says...
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mattkeltner says...
This was an assignment I was given. We had to pick a statement or passage in our textbooks and then write a critique about it.
I chose this passage because I find it disturbing that this is what is expected and taught to potential teachers in public (and some private) schools. This is a state-mandated class, by the way.
I will probably end up on the professor’s SL
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Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time… :-)
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