author analysis

8/13/2019 Author Analysis

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Hsuan Ming Yu (Peter)

The historically developed framework of indigenous studies has a serious flaw in terms

of interpreting indigenous worldviews with Western cultural lens without adequate knowledge of

indigenous peoples cultural logic.

Non-indigenous people use their binary logic and their misguided understanding of

indigenous language to study indigenous cultures, which leads to misinterpretations of their

religions and lack of awareness of their political struggles. In David Shorters indian, he

discusses how indigenous people are economically suffering from non-indigenous people

colonial perceptions about their "spirituality". David Shorter confronts our colonial mindsets

which believes Native American are more "spiritual" and use it as our excuse to restrict them

from any physical connections to resources. He argues that public needs to be in a paradigm shift

toward understanding and respecting both spiritual and materialistic part of indigenous culture.

The author conveys that poor understanding of indigenous worldview has been causing native

people unnecessary lost both economically, and politically. In David Shorter's "Indian": First

critiques our ignorance on Native people's fiscal struggle; second, exposes public's binary

colonial way of thinking that restrict Native Americans from most economical benefits; and last

explores how difference in languages has cause the problem, and urge of awareness.

All western investigations on indigenous worldview are incomplete since the outsider;

view of cultures is biased in personal value, and language differences. In The Little

Community An Outlook on Life, Robert Redfield proves that nonindigenous people as


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outsiders can not fully understand indigenous worldview, unless a framework is constructed.

Redfield convinces the reader that investigating indigenous worldview, as an outsider will not be

able to fully understand it. He demonstrates one can understand indigenous worldview deeper by

construct an insider framework. The author challenges investigators to examine their ineffective

method of studying indigenous worldview. In this article, Robert Redfield: First, examines the

challenges of investigators on the case of Zuni Indian, and Nuer; second, presents the

ethnographical dilemma, the difference between outside and inside view, as the core of the

problem in the field indigenous studies; and last portrays how all world views essentially are

outside views of the world itself.

The essential differences between western representative language and indigenous

generative language become great challenge for cultural outsiders to investigate native

worldviews. In Beyond the Supernatural, Morrison implies that the representative language of

Western world cannot interpret indigenous peoples culture and religion correctly. Author

Kenneth Morrison critiques the ways investigators study Native American's religions and

cultures through the lens of representative language. The author reveals the underlying problems

of investigating indigenous people's culture without adequate knowledge of their language.

Morrison persuades nonindigenous people to examine the generative characteristic of Native

American language, and how indigenous people use it to explain their reality. In this article,

author Kenneth Morrison: First, presents the academic ignorance on the importance of

indigenous language; second, identifies the difference between the generative languages of


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indigenous world, and representative language of the West; and last raises awareness on the

consequences of our complicity.

Western public with their lack knowledge of indigenous cultures believes that

indigenous people are primitive and illiterate which leads to a false conclusion that western

culture are superior and indigenous values will not lead people to progress and prosper. In Into

the forest dimly, Sam Gill critiques the public perspectives and expectations of indigenous

people as primitive and illiterate. Gill guides the reader to understand primitive is a

Western term which evokes false representation of indigenous cultures, Gill also differentiates

the difference of illiteracy and non-literacy. Sam Gill informs the importance for investigators to

understand that indigenous people are non-literate, and that they are not unable to be literate. The

author highlights the urge for reflecting our misrepresentation and perception of indigenous as

they were built from the essence of dehumanization. In Into the forest dimly, Gill: First,

examines the term primitive and how itleads to devalue indigenous religions as superstition

and strengthen the belief of indigenous people as sub-humans; second, expands on indigenous

culture as non-literate that in indigenous worldviews, existence are through actions, and last

emphasizes on the point that indigenous people are not primitive.

Misguided investigation of indigenous cultures and definition of development have lead

to conflicts in Western Africa between westerners and indigenous people. In The Sacred Egg,

Ogbu U. Kalu probes the modernization failure in Western Africa due to different worldviews,

value systems, and ideology. He challenges the ways Western societies force their ideas of


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development and success of a community onto West Africa states without respects of their

indigenous cultural and social values. Kalu explains that developing and aiding of a community

needs to be symbiotic for all cultures and their relationships to the native environment. Failure in

development aid is destined unless the indigenous prospective and the effects on native

environment has taken into account. In Ogbu U. Kalu's "The Sacred Egg": First inspects the

failures in Western Africa development; second, assess the cultural conflicts between Western

society and native African; and last critiques Westerner's irreverence of indigenous value system,

and their attempt to modernize Western Africa for their own economic gains.

Western students of Yoruba land with their westernized intuition, have failed to

recognize gender as not a social category in their work, and failed to view world through native

cultural logics. In Oyewumis Visualizing the Body, she debates that using gender as a social

category to study not vision-focused culture of indigenous worldview is destine to be failure. She

challenges the study of Yoruba through the Western body-oriented ideology of gender to be

incorrect interpretation of Yoruba cultures. Oyewumi promotes a change in our epistemology of

gender as a social category and indigenous cultural logic that gender is a Western construction,

not a universal lens to view all cultures. Through this article, Oyewumi clarify the flaws in

Western biological determinism and its misappropriation in the study of indigenous worldviews.

In Oyeronke Oyewumis Visualizing the Body, the author: First, gathers the origin of Western

concept of gender as a mean for organizing social status; second, compares the biology and


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social orders of gender in Western civilization; and last underlines that there is no gender in

Yoruba land, and social status are determined by age.

Medias and schools failed to educate majority American about the uniqueness of Native

American and their sovereignty, this results in public ignorance of Natives political struggles

and their significance in the US. In the article, Indian Peoples Are Nations, Not Minorities,

David Wilkins convinces the reader that Native Americans are unique to other minorities in the

US through their historical and political significance. David Wilkins critiques the unclarity of

status, sovereignty of indigenous nations in the US, and its' relationship to the federal

government. He supports the public to raise awareness to indigenous nation issues, and

encourages United States government to have serious conversations with the tribal nations to

establish a clear status for indigenous nations. Indigenous people in United States gone through

many political struggles to gain their sovereignty which majority in America still have little

knowledge to. In Wilkins "Indian People are nations, not minorities": First inspects Native

Americans inhabitant originality; second, proves their sovereignty through treaty making,

trust doctrine; and last demonstrates the uncalrity of their status through plenary power of the

congress.

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