The reading from chapter one of Native Nations of North America was quite surprising. I did not realize the extent to which Native Americans contributed to the world’s food supply. So much of our modern diet consists of plants that were cultivated by the Original Peoples and the majority of our population is unaware of this. Staples in our diet such as potatoes, squash, beans, and artichokes are all items readily available at the grocery store. When I pick these items up or cook with them, I assume they are just ‘Canadian’ ingredients; that these are vegetables that the typical Canadian eats because the European influence brought them over. In fact, I did not even give much thought to what the diets of original peoples would have consisted of: perhaps mainly buffalo and wild game. Learning that there was much societal structure and careful agriculture within some of the societies came as a surprise and incurred a newfound appreciation towards aboriginal history. I wish this kind of information was made mandatory in high school to become basic knowledge for all Canadian students. I believe the curriculum needs to be changed for there to be change from negative stereotypes and the formation of respect towards this group of individuals. What I found most incredible of all was the usage of the three sister crops in Iroquois horticulture. As a student with a science background, there is ongoing research into the usage of legumes to fertilize soil without the use of nitrogen fertilizers. This is an eco-friendly option that does not disrupt the natural process of nitrogen fixation within the biosphere. The world’s excessive usage of nitrogen has been shown to cause large and irreversible damage to the world’s aquatic life due to excessive algae blooms. These blooms prevent sunlight from penetrating the lake/ocean’s surface and deplete oxygen from the body of water. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for aquatic life to survive, which in turn affects the natural processes of life. This ties back to the aboriginal belief of all life being interconnected and the importance of living with nature, rather than trying to dominate it. Science is showing that this way of thinking was right all along, and how capitalism is quickly destroying our environment, which in turn affects us. Only in the face of crisis that affects us will we attempt to change, and the prospect of crisis in the near future due to environmental damage is finally beginning to catch everyone’s attention. I work part time in customer service at a home renovation store. I recently encountered a situation that caused me to reflect back on to the course teachings about the concept of economic development and its roots in capitalism. I was ringing an order through for an older aboriginal gentleman, which consisted of pieces of lumber. He commented that the price of the lumber has skyrocketed from 30 years ago and how it is all because the natural resources are being depleted due to the greed of “these people” and “they are destroying [his] country”. Normally, I would disregard this comment and chalk it up to the ramblings of older people wanting to vent out their frustrations. However, I found myself thinking about what he said and the validity of his comments; it is true that the environment is being harmed and his cultural beliefs concerning environmental preservation are being blatantly disregarded. He is justified in being angry with the state of his country and the fate it is headed towards; his culture and beliefs do not condone what is happening. The destruction of the once pristine lands is like rubbing salt in the wounds from colonization. The reading itself brings to light the huge global impact that colonization of the Americas had, not just on Europe, but on the rest of the world. It describes the development of capitalism with an undertone of contempt, using words like “loot”, “dominate”, “destroy”, and “monopolize”. This is the first time I have read an academic piece of literature describing the European process of capitalization as ignoble. This is perhaps due to the large European influences within our academic learning and society, that to describe it in negative terms would be to undermine the founding of what is now Canada. As we know, history is rewritten by the ‘winners’; in this case, the Europeans were victorious in subduing the original peoples and colonizing the land and attempting to turn it into what they deemed to be civilized. Reading about the money capitalism made me feel very uncomfortable. Learning about the subduing of Africans and Original Peoples for the sake of gold, silver, and various resources makes me quite angry that so much corruption was going on. It seems obvious that such actions are selfish and materialistic, which we know to be wrong; it is literally stealing resources from others and profiting off it. Yet, the scale at which this was occurring is staggering and the number of individuals jumping at the chance to be a part of this is appalling. Our society today was founded upon by joint stock companies that capitalized upon the African slave trade and the piracy of American silver. It is quite saddening how full of greed and selfishness our past has been. Worse yet, there is a blind eye turned to this aspect of our history and the façade of Canadians being peacekeepers. The most powerful quote I found to be from the reading was that “Capitalist development was marked by the genocide of tens of millions of Indigenous peoples and the destruction of their societies and cultures”. This explicitly states the magnitude of deaths of the aboriginal populations, with the term “genocide” perfectly encapsulating the purposeful destruction of the cultures. - Farheen Ashrafi, Indigenous Studies Student, November 2014 (shared with permission)
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 20:12:37 +0000
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