In the video clip, “Unspoken: American’s Native Americans boarding schools, the white man tries to do away with Indian culture, a move which is disguised as civilization. Culture has acquired traits and building blocks and hence cannot be easily taken from humans. Its complex nature makes culture vary in beliefs, art, habits, and speech and distinguishes people within a community. From this, some characteristics of culture can, therefore, be established and be used to define culture as shared learned, based on symbols, integrated, and dynamic. This paper, therefore, discusses five Indian cultures: keeping long hair, dress code, sacred land, language, and dharma the white man tried to do away with, how they connect to cultural characteristics, and how the tactics used can destroy a culture.
The first Indian culture the “white man” tried to destroy was Indian hair. The Indian hair symbolizes rich Indian culture and gives one cultural identity. The significance of the hair shows that the culture is based on symbols. By cutting the hair of the Indians, the white man tried to destroy the cultural identity of Indians, symbolizing a sense of belonging, pride, and self-respect (Konishi, 2019). The hair in the Indian culture is therefore connected to the character trait of basing a culture on symbols.
The second Indian culture that the “white man” tried to destroy was their language. The Indians, according to the video, were forced to learn English, a move that made them adopt some of the “white man” culture. This shows that culture can be taught to share various views and aspects of the culture or to understand it better. The third Indian culture the “white man” also tried to do away with was stealing their land. The Indian native land was sacred and was used to practice most of their traditions. This shows that culture can be integrated with other cultures. Moving Indians to other lands that were not theirs made them subject to learning different ways, forgetting theirs, and being less united.
The fourth Indian culture, the “white man,” also tried to steal from the Indians their attire. Dressing the Indians into military uniforms that symbolize chaos showed that the peace-loving Indians were being turned into brutal beings. The idea, in this case, caused trauma and can be characterized as culture being dynamic and influencing beliefs. Lastly, the “white man” in the video also went for the children who are seen as the continuity of the Indian culture and subjected them to schools such as Santa Fe Indian School. The move eroded the children’s culture and forced them to learn new ways. This satisfies the culture to be learned since the children were subjected to assimilation.
The “white man” tactics could eventually destroy culture due to the traits of culture. The first tactic is waging war, resulting in death while stealing the Indians. For example, when one moves away from their native land to be in other towns or regions, they try to fit in since most cultures are diverse. The longer an individual stays away from their native land, the higher the chance of eroding their culture, an idea the “white man” used on the Indians. Additionally, cutting the Indian hair, a sign of prestige portrays one as defiant of their culture.
In the video, the “white man” also applies brutal force to take away the Indian children who have not developed much knowledge about the culture. Integrating the Indian culture makes it easier for them to adapt to new ways depending on how long the assimilation will take. Dressing the Indians in a military uniform also makes them possess a destructive nature rather than the peacekeeping nature the Indians have while wearing their attire, hence cultural destruction.
Reference
Konishi, S. (2019). First Nations scholars, settler colonial studies, and Indigenous history. Australian Historical Studies, 50(3), 285–304.