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<DIV>On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:22:45 -0700 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px">
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face=Candara size=4>We have read a lot about the
Apache. They were raiders.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face=Candara size=4>NA culture was lost when
they found fire water.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face=Candara
size=4>Jeanene</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>I beg to differ. Somewhat. There was a relatively short period when the
Apache were raiders. Like the Kiowa, the Nerm (Commanche),* and the plains
tribes farther north, they were impoverished hunters and gatherers on foot until
horses were introduced by the Spanish. Then, for a period of perhaps a century
or so, they all became raiders. They became expert horsemen, but this was a very
different culture than existed before the horse arrived. So which was "genuine"
and "authentic" Native American culture? Then, some branches of the Apache lived
in settled communities with extensive orchards -- it was destruction of their
orchards and seizure of their flocks that gave the U.S. cavalry a chance to
subjugate them. Yes, whiskey didn't help, but it wasn't enough by itself.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>* Nerm means "The People" -- which in their own language is what most
Native Americans called themselves. Commanche, in the language of one of their
neighboring peoples, means "people who always want to fight me." The Tonkawa,
who enlisted in large numbers as scouts for the Americans, had an ancient
tradition of eating captured Commanche. Therefore, the Nerm referred to the
Tonkawa as Nermateka (People Eaters), just as the Penateka Commanche were the
"honey eaters."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This leads me to another observation from Africa. What is today called
"authentic African culture" was frozen in time at the moment of European
colonization. Left to develop on its own, any African culture would have
changed, evolved, developed, over two, three, four centuries, just as, for
example, European culture and politics in 1600 were very different from 1900 or
2000. Certainly African culture was very different in 1700 than it was in 1300,
which was very different from 900. But, whatever indigenous practice was in
effect when Europeans took over administration and started reorganizing the
"natives" into European auxiliaries, is now considered to be the "authentic
African" way of doing things. Some of that happened in understanding "Native
American" culture also.</DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>