What insights about intercultural communication is revealed when one considers the histories, power and identities documented in the intercultural interactions portrayed in the video? ”. The following analysis shows the implications of power on people? s conditions of living in the present as well as on people? s perception of history in the past. Moreover it shows how history influences our understanding of who we really are and therefore shapes our personal identity.
All those points are the cause of disparity between two culturally different groups. According to the similarity-attraction approach, people tend to avoid others who are unlike them (Colquitt, Lepine, Wesson, 2013), so that a huge barrier between the two diverse groups arises. But does this justify a discriminatory and even hostile behavior toward the inferior group? The documentary “Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo” shows Angie Debo as a 98-year old lady, reflecting on her experiences in life. In the documentary she talks about Oklahoma?
History of depriving its five Native American tribes of their land and resources in the 1930s from the perspective of the displaced. Native Americans during this time were seen more than ever as a bounded group by the European Anglo-Americans [in the following analysis, the dominant European Anglo-American group is referred to as whites to simplify the reading]. In comparison to whites who felt superior and avowed to themselves the power to dominate the inferior race, the Native Americans were ascribed a strongly subordinated position in society and were treated in a discriminatory way by the whites.
The Term Paper on Martin Luther King Jr’s Place in American History
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968), American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner, one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King's challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States. After his assassination in ...
History is always about perceptions. Therefore there are generally two sides of history: the “winner? s” and the “loser? s” side. As history is normally written down by the winners, which is called grand narrative, only few people know which experiences the losers, or in this case the Native Americans, really made. Mostly, the loser? s side of history is only orally passed from generation to generation. Often, this part of history gets gradually buried in oblivion as it is not written down and after all it is lost forever.
If this is the case, we refer to it as absent history, because there? s no written document which reminds us of what happened from the perspective of the bounded group, so that nobody knows how this specific group perceived the happening. Angie Debo was the first person tracking and writing down Oklahoma? s history from the perspective of the Indians in her book “And Still the Waters Run” with the intention to let people know what Oklahoma? s politicians really did with reference to the Native Americans. But Oklahoma? s politicians’ didn?
t want to her to publish the ugly truth about their systematic criminal activities toward the Native Americans living in Oklahoma. This is the reason why it took several years until her book was finally published by the director of the University of Oklahoma Press at the time, Joseph Brandt. This shows the influence of a dominant group. The dominant group has the power to hinder for example the publication of certain incidents so that parts of history remain unknown for the public. This part of history which is literally hidden from the publicity is for this reason called hidden history.
Like the previous paragraphs indicate, power can strongly influence people? s knowledge about history because the dominant group can decide how history is narrated and they can even prevent certain incidents or parts of history from getting published. Besides of influencing the perception or rather influencing people? s knowledge about the past, the dominant group can also influence the conditions of living of the bounded group as it is shown in the documentary. Whites avowed to themselves the power to dominate others and ascribed to the Native Americans an inferior position in society.
The Essay on Civil War: Based on African American and White People’s Having Equal Rights to Life
The civil rights movement was based on African American and white people having equal right in all aspects of life. During the 1960s there was still a lot segregation in different establishments such as bars, dinners, variety stores and more. And it had got to the point where a lot of African Americans where getting fed up with being treated differently. So finally, on February 1, 1960 four ...
They executed their self-ascribed power by suppressing and depriving the Native Americans of their land and resources without asking about their opinion or approval. By rebelling and resisting against the unjustifiable take-over, the Native Americans tried to weaken the whites’ power over them. But instead of reaching personal freedom, whites detained them, even women and children, and punished them for their revolting behavior. As they were numerically inferior in population to the whites, they couldn? t do much against their arbitrariness.
This is the reason why Native Americans soon abandoned their rebellion and endured the happening of getting dispossessed. Another point that influences intercultural communication and our understanding of who we are is history. Thus to understand why there has always been such a huge clash between whites and Native Americans, you have to consider the difference in their historical background. In general, history is composed of many different kinds of history. One part of history is for instance intellectual history. Native Americans never even learned how to read or write, whereas whites had a profound secondary education.
This shows that there? s a big gap between whites and Native Americans only referring to their intellectual education, but it also shows the different attitudes of telling personal histories. Native Americans didn? t write their personal histories down. Instead, they submitted them orally like all their ancestors did in the past. This shows that they valued personal relationships and traditional behavior much more than the whites did. Another part of history which differs from one another is social histories, concerning the style and common habits of everyday life.
Also the fact that the family histories of whites and Native Americans are different, are another example for unequal history. While the ancestors of the Native Americans of that time were the first people migrating from Asia to the United States, the ancestors of the whites that time came much later and migrated from all over the world to the United States. Their ancestors made completely different experiences as they travelled in different time frames of history. Those are only a few examples for aspects you can consider when talking about history. Nevertheless, they illustrate that there?
The Term Paper on Early 20Th Century U.S. Immigration: The New American
... in which being an American does not mean you are white and your ancestors were from the original ... Tuttle. A People & A Nation: A History of the United States. 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin ... a “barred zone”(Asia-Pacific triangle), whose natives were also inadmissible. This Act made Mexicans inadmissible. ... had the most political representation of all the groups They had Ferillo LaGuardia, mayor of ...
History is composed of numerous histories which create our identity and our understanding of who we really are. As the both groups we were talking about, whites and Native Americans, are completely different in their histories, their understanding of themselves is very distinct form one another so that a strong barrier between those two groups arises which makes communication between them problematic. In my opinion, the huge gap between those two groups concerning their history, their different life styles, their position in society, etc. builds a strong barrier between them, however, it doesn? t justify the discriminatory and depreciating behavior of the whites towards the Native Americans.
I think that there? s always a way to live aside each other in a peaceful way without dominating and harming other cultural groups. They just need to be willing to understand and accept other people? s identities and life styles. If people treated others the way they want to be treated, the world would be so much better. Therefore people should at least try not to judge and label others just because they are different.
