An Example of a Book Review for William B. Taylor’s and Franklin Pease’s Violence, Resistance, and Survival in the Americas: Native Americans and the Legacy of Conquest
An Example of a Book Review for William B. Taylor’s and Franklin Pease’s Violence, Resistance, and Survival in the Americas: Native Americans and the Legacy of Conquest
The year 1992 saw the quincentenary of Columbus’ first journey towards the west stumbling upon his discovery of America. Although accidental, this voyage forever changed Europe and unfortunately the lives of those who already inhabited the lands, the now known Native Americans. This book, written in 1994, is a commemoration of what has come to pass since 1492 with the subsequent appearances of the Spanish and British. Comprising of eleven essays from distinct authors, the book gathers together a diverse set of ideas that manage to reinforce one another. The essays, based on presentations by the authors, are from a two-day public conversation that took place in Washington D.C. and College Park, Maryland. The publishers, Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Maryland arranged the gathering back in 1989 to converse about the consequences of Columbus’ journey and what that meant for the Native Americans and Europeans. The writers are from a vast array of backgrounds including Native Americans, European North Americans, and Mexicans. They bring together ideas from various fields which gives a dynamic feel to the text featuring historians, literary scholars, and sociologists. The dynamic air is also enhanced by the fact that they do not all coincide with their ideas of the legacy of conquest.
Separated into three parts and a coda, the eleven essays run in a more or less chronological order. Part one divides into three papers and deals with colonial Spanish America during the sixteenth century. They depict the violence that can arise when cultures collide, reporting the acts of violence that have occurred towards the Natives. Part two also develops over three essays dedicated to the Indian strategies of survival during eighteenth century Mexico. They represent Indian adaption to the changing colonial Mexico, and in José Luis Mirafuentes Galván’s essay, armed resistances are introduced. More in-depth reasons are given for the rejection of Christianity from Seri and Pima Bajo as their intertribal conflicts affect the possibility of living in pueblos as would be required by Christianity. Part three consists of four papers continuing the topic of Native American survival and adaptation, but mainly concentrating on the United States during the nineteenth century. Essays one to three focus on the postcolonial problems of new pressures and uncertainties of the Native Americans being identified as Americans. And the fourth deals with the challenge of social and cultural survival as the result of different kinds of government programs during the 1950s and 1960s. This last essay is the only one to deal with Indian women in society, looking at how they undertake their role as mothers and wives. Lastly, the coda which serves as an alternative perspective is written by Michael Taussig an anthropologist who works as a teacher at Columbia University. He writes about his journey through Machu Picchu with a friend Santiago Mutumajoy, who follows Shamanism. This view completely differs from the rest of the book, taking on a Native American angle emphasising collision and open resistance from their side. It also stresses the loyalty held by the natives towards their own customs but the realisation of pressure to change.
As the title indicates there are two overruling topics developed in the book, the first “violence of conquest” and the second “resistance and survival”. Throughout, the terms are assigned to the groups where they belong and developed into subcategories by the essayists. Several more obvious subcategories can be seen, dividing clearly between “violence for rulers” concerning the Spanish and the British and “armed resistance” relating to Native Americans. The idea ventured as to why this was the case, aside from obvious reasons, was that there existed a lack of understanding between the two sides. This incomprehension, mainly said to be on the invader’s part as to the ways of life of the other, limits the freedom granted for each to carry on with their own. One of the best issues portrayed is the ignorance of the Europeans to think that they could convert the Natives to a different religion. The writers explore evidence that the Christians looked to change the Native’s way of life, without taking into account that anything existed in the Americas prior to their arrival. To add to the religious issue, they also ignored the fact that relationships, whether good or bad, had already been established between tribes, limiting even further the success of any mission the Christians proposed. The first three parts, having been written from a European point of view, aptly criticise where the invaders went wrong and help to capture how far humanity has come.
The book’s setting in the first two parts clearly differs from the third, where the writers start to deal with America’s independence from Great Britain. Overall, the papers set to mark a shift in thinking from defeat to survival. Although disputes, even over agreements, are a topic present in all eleven essays, the battles and violent injustices are confined more to the first two parts. At first they leave an impression of defeat over the Indians, but as violence fades and human rights come into practice the writers express more signs of hope. Between the essayists there are a good many reliable sources, to support this particular idea, Duane Champagne refers to Patricia Limerick, who is considered one of the best historians of the American West and notices “that resistance has changed from battlefields to courtrooms” (1994, 8). This is one of the most interesting aspects raised, and from this moment onwards the courtroom is present, as nowadays it is such an important issue to rectify as much of the injustice as possible that took place over the centuries. Champagne’s essay deals with the trouble of unearthed objects that have been taken by non-Natives for anthropological reasons, because although it is not difficult to recover sacred objects in general, the law that states the dead belong to no-one has posed problems for the Natives to reclaim and rebury their ancestors.
Bringing a twist to the first ten essays is Michael Taussig, who starting from a European point of view gives the only glimpse into purely Native foresight. He shows quite plainly that there is a difference between the so called ‘us’ and ‘them’. Seen through the writer’s eyes, the European reader can identify with what he perceives as beauty, but demonstrates how the same image represents nothing but suffering to a Native. This reinforces that everything written previously has been done so by anyone but a faithful Native. The opinions raised are merely one side of a complex story, and an indication of perhaps why one can identify with what has been said. Delving into other matters, the coda also debates the need to do what we are doing, raising the question: Why investigate the subject? Taussig specifically wants to know “who benefits from studies of the poor, especially from their resistance?” (p283). Once one has read the book they will be knowledgeable in one version of the story and left with gaps about the other. As a final request the reader is asked to “consider the legacy of conquest as something more than a story of European agents and Indian victims” (p12).
Other sources that support arguments, such as in the case of Franklin Pease, are taken from the Spanish Chronicles of the conquest of Peru. They are used to reveal the preconceptions that the Spanish had of the Native’s leadership to justify colonization. José Rabasa, for example, used a more individualistic account made in the sixteenth century by Cabeza de Vaca who was shipwrecked, experiencing Spain’s colonial empire from the outskirts. One last credible source would be the Tohono O’odham and Yaquis women, who were used in a survey to find their different living situations within homes. Jennie R. Joe references this source to give insight into the average number of children per family, those who were single mothers or suffered from drug abuse at the time. It also lends a perspective of what children go through in their non-Native environments. Within the book there is a solid amount of evidence to support the ideas raised, not only coming from people who experienced the colony itself but also some Natives still following traditions today.
However, having said that, some parts of the book are weaker than others because although some interesting ideas are raised, the actual theme of the book does not present anything new. The understanding of the brutality of the situation during the colonization from both sides is something that has already been covered extensively. Also, due to the fact that there are eleven different essayists, the reader might get the feeling that information is being repeated to them once and again. The only real disappointment with any particular essay could be with the one by Duane Champagne, which upon reading does not hold the same level of writing as the others. Within one paragraph, the same word can be found multiple times not allowing for a smooth flow, and excessive repetition of ideas may give the impression that the reader is not advancing within the text. This leads to an unwarranted explanation of ideas and words, where the other essays will only elaborate on Spanish translations due to the book including South American documents and trying to stay true to the original texts and names. Where this is initially a good thing, there are moments when it would seem the book is in Spanglish, and perhaps it would have been simpler to translate everything directly into English. On a more personal note, one might find this book is more graphically violent when describing such things as punishment than other books on the same topic. Understandably, this may help to grasp a more realist approach to what genuinely happened to the Natives during the colonization, however, it feels that one can not simply read a word and pass on but are made to dwell on punishments for half a sentence.
The title is very simple and effective, pinpointing the exact themes to be found in the book, nevertheless, it is also true that it does not specify any precise geographical points and could have perhaps indicated that it develops in South America and Western North America. Where one might intuit this, doubt arises as to whether or not it will deal with the Natives once they are integrated into the rest of America, which the book does not. The essays strictly stick to where there are large numbers of Native Americans living, whether they follow their traditions carefully or not. The content, as previously stated, more or less follows a chronological order making events easy to follow: it starts shortly after the invasion of the Spanish into South America and then moves onto the colonial expansion, with reactions from the Natives, and then finishes with contemporary North America. Although it does not go into any details about colonial North America, it seems a conscious decision was made to include the more interesting periods from each zone. This selection helps to make a continual timeline and avoid jumping from one state to another or one moment in time to another. Perhaps over all, the introduction is the most informative and clear part of the book, it includes all the principle ideas and sources providing a good basis to develop on when reading the essays. The explanations of terminology, on the other hand, which are used in the texts, are not particularly in-depth, so previous knowledge may be useful when various tribes and locations are being mentioned. Even so, one can read the book through and look up any queries afterwards without jeopardising their understanding. In general, a basic awareness of the timeline would be advantageous, nevertheless, each essay clearly states the period that is being explained. So although the book might be informative for those who already have a background in the field, it is also suitable for those who want to expand their basic knowledge.
If one requires a history of America concerning the Native Americans since Columbus’ initial voyage, then this book is a must read as it offers vast detail on the confrontations between the Europeans and the Natives. It explores an array of responses made towards the overshadowing power of the British and Spanish Empires, and the continued search to adapt after their withdrawal. It is a particularly interesting read as it shows a fair bias towards the Natives, demonstrating how the brutality of Europeans at this time was cruel and unnecessary.
Taylor, William, and Franklin Pease. Violence, resistance, and survival in the Americas: Native Americans and the legacy of conquest. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.