Post 6 (17 Oct Class)
Title: The Way to the Wes: Essays on the Central Plains
Elliott West’s The Way to the West revealed the complex relationships between humans (white and Native Americans) to their environment (the land, wildlife, water, soil, vegetation and climate), the affect that each had upon one another. Although largely an environmental history, West dipped his feet into social and cultural history; for example, he discussed white and Native American family units and how they affected and were affected by various internal and external forces.
Cheyenne adapted their culture to the new environment. (p20) Euro-Americans also made their presence felt on the environment, whether they were merely passing through or came to settle. As a result of both groups, the native habitat went through significant changes, changes which affected the bison and the Indians (the whites were later pay a price for their agricultural practices).
Cheyenne to break into smaller units. Increased dependence on trade and bison altered familial relationships, increasing the duties of women, but decreasing their power. Women, both white and native, endured more in the Central Plains. His concluding chapter discussed the myth of the West, stating that these myths’ origins came not from the West, but from the east. (p.131)
Unlike other western histories, West suggested that the Native Americans shared some responsibility for their problems. The “Great Peace of 1840” eliminated the neutral zones, relative safe havens for the bison, reducing their populations and driving them eastward. The trade network likewise had direct and indirect negative consequences on the tribe--increasing dependency on white goods, reduced bison populations, and exposing more Indians to white diseases.
Despite being the shortest book that we have read so far, the author packed it with information. His book was without a doubt, the easiest one to follow. He presented his arguments, reminding the reader from time to time of his overarching theme, and tied it all together in less than 200 pages.
posted by rgault @ 6:25 PM
4 Comments:
Hi, I've been to your blog before i was interested to see if you have updated again, Remember to check our site its Tai Chi related site. Its about helping people with their health.
Regards John
I thought it was interesting you and I both zeroed in on those ideas in pages 135/136, about conflicting responses to the "otherness" of the West once people arrive there. Part of the reason it jumped out at me is I've been working on a project about national parks this semester for my other class. Parks are the ultimate in this conflict...we want them to be pristine and "pure" but we want to be able to stay in hotels, drive on roads, eat in restaurants, and shop in curio stores. Parks historically tried to find the balance by offering all those things, but dressing them up in "parkitecture"--rustic lodges and structures that tried to blend in to the surroundings. Most people wouldn't think of the Old Faithful Inn or Crater Lake Lodge as reflections of the negotiation that takes place between the two impulses Elliot West is discussing. But between this class and my other class project, I'm starting to see national parks, and everything in them, in a new light.
Huzzah! Looks like at least three of us got about the same central information from this book, but what I thought was interesting was our similar reaction to a portion not as central to the story.
The same section jumped out at me as it did to Dan and Ricky. After reading about the proclivity for new arrivals to ruin what they were seeking to mirror where they fled from, I hopped up, dusted off my old Eagles album "Hotel California," and played the last track "The Last Resort" (sorry, the italicizing feature doesn't seem to be enabled on this program). Here's the abridged version of the lyric I was thinking of:
She came from Providence,
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way,
and how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere
to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus,
people bought 'em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind
and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign
Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny and the name of God
And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye
I also found it interesting that West went to great pains to tell the story of Cheyenne migration onto the plains and the fact that this tribe and others were largely responsible for their own decline because of some poor decisions. Certainly the arrival of white settlers and the disruption they caused made a bad situation worse, but it was by no means entirely the fault of rapacious whites for the decline in buffalo herds which left the Indians destitute.
Post a Comment
<< Home