Subject: Re: museumizing the other/native.....
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 23:01:06 EDT


Linda,
thanks for the clarification. I would welcome a discussion on the education 
sytem and how to effect change. To be a postcolonialist in North America 
means to me not only to analyse colonialist discourses and practices but to 
help dismantle them as well. The museumizing of Native people is just one 
example of a school curriculum steeped in colonialism.
Renate


>From: "Linda L. Grabner-Coronel" <lgrabner-AT-mediaone.net>
>Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: Re: museumizing the other/native.....
>Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2000 17:43:03 -0400
>
>Renate,
>I meant off the subject of my specific e-mail. Since I was already going
>into rather more detail than I had originally intended, and I could easily
>go on for twice that long regarding educational reform, I did not want to 
>go
>into that topic in any more detail at that time. Certainly it could be
>something worth debating as another thread on the postcolonial list --since
>I'm sure all of us have strong ideas about ways we might redirect teaching
>in any event!
>Linda
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Linda L. Grabner-Coronel, Ph.D.
>The University of Michigan
>Lecturer, Romance Languages & Literatures
>4402 Modern Languages Bldg.   Phone: 615-4204
>Consultant, Learning Technologies Group
>1321 Media Union   Phone: 615-4317
>lgrabner-AT-umich.edu
>http://sas.upenn.edu/~lgrabner
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Renate Eigenbrod <renate_eigenbrod-AT-hotmail.com>
>To: <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
>Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 10:38 PM
>Subject: Re: museumizing the other/native.....
>
>
>| Linda,
>| thanks for your thoughts - but why would an obviously necessary 
>"revamping
>| of the education system" be "totally off the subject"? And do you mean 
>the
>| specific subject of your email or the subject of the postcolonial list in
>| general?
>| Thanks.
>| Renate
>|
>|
>|
>| >From: Linda Grabner-Coronel <lgrabner-AT-umich.edu>
>| >Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>| >To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>| >Subject: Re: museumizing the other/native.....
>| >Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 22:42:01 -0400
>| >
>| >In response to both Michelle and Rebecka, I'm not sure I have any
>| >suggestions for change, since change ultimately has to come from within 
>-
>| >that is, within both the native culture that has been victimized for so
>| >long, and within the dominant culture that has done it.
>| >
>| >However, in thinking about the points that you both raise, I find
>| >interesting parallels and contrasts with the situation of the indigenous
>| >peoples of the Andes region in South America.  In terms of parallels, it
>| >could easily be argued that the Quechua and Aymara peoples of the Andean
>| >highlands are "museumized" in the same way that the Native Americans 
>are,
>| >and in fact, the imagery of the highland dress and way of life has gone
>| >beyond the museum to the tourist industry: The "picturesque" native 
>dress
>| >and lifestyle is very often the image of Peru (or Bolivia or Ecuador)
>that
>| >is promoted in tourism as being the heart and soul of those countries.
>And
>| >while it certainly does still exist in many areas, in many more areas 
>the
>| >Andeans have become more "westernized," at least in terms of dress and
>mode
>| >of earning a living, if not in belief systems. Certainly there has been 
>a
>| >vast influx of migration from the highlands to the coastal cities in the
>| >last 3 or 4 decades, and it has typically not been practical for the
>| >indigenous people to maintain their dress, many of their cultural
>| >practices,
>| >and even their language if they want to survive in the midst of criollo
>| >(essentially western european) culture. One can see some of the obvious
>| >parallels with native North Americans in mainstream US society.
>| >
>| >On the other hand, the South American native peoples vigorously *reject*
>| >being called Indians, specifically because it *has* always been such a
>| >pejorative term. They prefer to be called indigenous peoples or simply
>| >Quechuas or Aymaras, which for them reflects who they really are, rather
>| >than the product of a deluded Genoan's imagination in thinking he had
>| >landed
>| >somewhere far other than where he actually was (Christopher Columbus, of
>| >course).
>| >
>| >Perhaps some insight might be gained in both situations (north and south
>| >American natives) by being able to see someone else's experience, taking
>a
>| >cross-cultural look at how different native groups in different regions
>of
>| >the world (or at least regions of the American continents) have 
>attempted
>
>| >to
>| >deal with how they are viewed by their respective dominant cultures.
>North
>| >and South have certainly treated their indigenous groups very
>differently:
>| >in the north, it was attempted to isolate them as completely as possible
>| >from mainstream society, while in the south, they were not (perhaps
>mostly
>| >because the original colonizing Spaniards viewed them as cheap labor and
>so
>| >could not afford to isolate them on reservations, completely separate
>from
>| >the white men).
>| >
>| >I have to say I do not know how the indigenous peoples of Peru are
>| >represented in Peruvian history or social studies classes. However, in
>| >terms
>| >of the Amerindian representations in the US, I think there is some value
>in
>| >learning about the historical aspect of Amerindian cultures. At the same
>| >time, I think it very likely that such history lessons suffer the same
>fate
>| >as my own American history classes in general: at no time in 12 years of
>an
>| >American education did any of my history classes ever make it past the
>19th
>| >century in American history. It would be very easy to say that such a
>| >historical gap should be addressed, but realistically, knowing 
>everything
>| >that teachers are pressured to cover these days, we should probably be
>| >amazed that they even make it up to the end of the 19th century. Talking
>| >about revamping the educational system is a whole other ball of wax that
>| >would be completely off the subject here, but that would certainly be 
>one
>| >suggestion for addressing Michelle's question of whether we begin
>| >museumizing the indigene at the grade school level (the answer, of
>course,
>| >is yes, we do), and what we could do about it.
>| >
>| >Anyway, I'm not sure I have contributed anything substantive to the
>| >dialogue, but (being a Latin Americanist) I was just struck enough by 
>the
>| >parallels between north and south that I wanted to comment on them.
>| >
>| >Regards,
>| >Linda Grabner-Coronel
>| >
>| >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>| >Linda L. Grabner-Coronel, Ph.D.
>| >The University of Michigan
>| >Romance Languages & Literatures
>| >Consultant, Learning Technologies Group
>| >1321 Media Union
>| >lgrabner-AT-umich.edu
>| >http://sas.upenn.edu/~lgrabner
>| >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>| >
>| >
>| >
>| >      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>|
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