The customs and practices of Native Americans have been both a cultural and societal sustainment within the United States today; however, not in the way traditional sustainment is seen. In Phillip J. Deloria’s book, Playing Indian, he asks how across American history “has the notion of disguised Indians dumping tea in Boston harbor had such a powerful hold on Americans’ imaginations?” (9) What is it exactly that captivates the minds of Americans’ regarding the culture of our Native American predecessors? Before the passing of the Stamp Act in 1795, American colonists started mentioning Tamenend, a Delaware chief who allowed William Penn to pass through his lands. The Shuylkill Fishing Company started a trend of clubs commemorating to the
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The idea that Native American cultures were being commercialized brought a New Age of the American outlook on the Natives that had existed for hundreds of years. Into the 1960’s and onward, a form of “hippie counter-culture” arose among the youths of those decades; it brought out a sense of rebellion and need to go against societal norms for the sake of having a cultural borrowing and imitation of the Native American people. Such desires to be a part of this counter cultural movement was described to be “longing for the utopian experience of being in between” (185) by using the symbols and art of the Natives to show their feelings of freedom and domination of their own lives. A sort of Indian counter-culture existed within the Indian societies as well. Since a lot of Natives, over the years, have started to assimilate into the White American society in both a cultural aspect and a need to as a tool for political advocacy groups. Deloria has stressed, however, that the presentation of Native American culture to being already recognized by Europeans and need to be closely related to the topic he is addressing and that accepting the cultures and imitating them is more widespread than what is originally believed. It is further expressed that the assimilation of Indian cultures into the …show more content…
I was a little surprised by the lack of full detail of the tragedies of the Native American cultural downfall. However, I’d like to give Deloria some credit; he introduced something new and scholarly in his understanding of Natives unlike what’s the common outlook of Native American cultures in the eyes of regular citizens. Through the significance of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and the hobbyist movement of the hippie counter-culture, Deloria expressed that Indians have found validation in non-Native American societies. I further enjoy the overhaul of cultural backdrops being interceded within non-Native American society. It 's amazing how the people of Native American background are interceding with American politics and utilizing their minority status to reap the benefits that was seen to be a detrimental factor in the progressive New Age. An example is tuition exemption within higher education in certain states and genealogical connections to an indigenous tribe. I can somewhat sympathize with their plight, but I am of Indian descent from a different means that of the Aztecs and the Mayans. I feel a sense that Native Americans, nowadays, are reaping in benefits that are comparatively to other indigenous tribes in different countries. Mayans and Aztecs were once flourishing like the Natives, but were then killed off on a greater and more sudden swoop than the
The idea that Native American cultures were being commercialized brought a New Age of the American outlook on the Natives that had existed for hundreds of years. Into the 1960’s and onward, a form of “hippie counter-culture” arose among the youths of those decades; it brought out a sense of rebellion and need to go against societal norms for the sake of having a cultural borrowing and imitation of the Native American people. Such desires to be a part of this counter cultural movement was described to be “longing for the utopian experience of being in between” (185) by using the symbols and art of the Natives to show their feelings of freedom and domination of their own lives. A sort of Indian counter-culture existed within the Indian societies as well. Since a lot of Natives, over the years, have started to assimilate into the White American society in both a cultural aspect and a need to as a tool for political advocacy groups. Deloria has stressed, however, that the presentation of Native American culture to being already recognized by Europeans and need to be closely related to the topic he is addressing and that accepting the cultures and imitating them is more widespread than what is originally believed. It is further expressed that the assimilation of Indian cultures into the …show more content…
I was a little surprised by the lack of full detail of the tragedies of the Native American cultural downfall. However, I’d like to give Deloria some credit; he introduced something new and scholarly in his understanding of Natives unlike what’s the common outlook of Native American cultures in the eyes of regular citizens. Through the significance of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and the hobbyist movement of the hippie counter-culture, Deloria expressed that Indians have found validation in non-Native American societies. I further enjoy the overhaul of cultural backdrops being interceded within non-Native American society. It 's amazing how the people of Native American background are interceding with American politics and utilizing their minority status to reap the benefits that was seen to be a detrimental factor in the progressive New Age. An example is tuition exemption within higher education in certain states and genealogical connections to an indigenous tribe. I can somewhat sympathize with their plight, but I am of Indian descent from a different means that of the Aztecs and the Mayans. I feel a sense that Native Americans, nowadays, are reaping in benefits that are comparatively to other indigenous tribes in different countries. Mayans and Aztecs were once flourishing like the Natives, but were then killed off on a greater and more sudden swoop than the