How My Thesis Relates to the Course Content
The following are articles my class viewed in HIST 2110-01, as well as my personal reading logs, that I believe relate to the quote “History is written by the victors.”
Ronda, James P. “We Are As Well As We Are”: An Indian Critique of Seventeenth-century Christian Missionaries.”
This is an example of a dominating societal group flooding our textual sources with their viewpoints, thereby washing the indigenous peoples’ perspectives almost completely out of history.
Reading Log 2
The main argument for Ronda’s article on the Jesuit missionaries and their effect on the aboriginal peoples is that in order to achieve a full historical understanding of this time period, one must not focus solely on the point of view of the missionaries and instead cater more to that of the native Americans. Ronda accomplishes this by going into great detail on the various responses the missionaries received from different aboriginal groups supported by the quotes of Huron religious leaders and chieftains as well as some converted aboriginal Christians; thereby giving the reader a greater understanding of why some groups supported Christianity and others dismissed it.
This tactic works in Ronda’s favour as it succeeds in offering a greater insight into the exchange of spiritual beliefs between both the missionaries and the native Americans and the conflict that inevitably arose from it. This article also helps to answer many questions about the native Americans in this time period and why such differences existed in the ways certain individuals responded to the missionaries. Such as how the openness that existed in their own religion allowed for many aboriginals to accept the Jesuit’s teachings and eventually become converts.
Overall Ronda’s idea of allowing for more aboriginal points of view to be stated and explored when discussing time periods and historical events that affect them has a very strong case behind it, and should be applied to other groups throughout history who are often overlooked in order to focus on the more devious and atrocious figures.
All content provided by…Ronda, James P. “”We Are As Well As We Are”: An Indian Critique of Seventeenth-century Christian Missionaries.” The William and Mary Quarterly 34, no. 1 (January 1977): 66-82. Accessed September 13, 2016.
Holly, D H, Jr. “The Beothuk on the eve of their extinction.”
&
Ralph Pastore, “The Collapse of the Beothuk World”
This article is a literal example of the victors writing history. The European settlers claimed that the Beothuk died of their own accord, without mentioning their part in the Beothuk extinction. Both groups fought over the land in order to survive, and the Europeans one allowing them to share their version of events.
Reading Log 3
Concerning the Beothuk and their extinction, both articles agree that one of the primary factors was the economic relationship between the indigenous people and the Europeans. This idea is presented by Pastore in his article and is later referenced in Holly’s; however, while Holly details the violence which played into the Avoidance, Pastore merely disregards the notion due to lack of reliable sources.
Instead, Pastore claims that the extinction of the Beothuk was due to lack of resources, such as seal and fish meat, stating that this was natural occurrence that happened regularly before Europeans ever arrived in Newfoundland. Though whether this deflection of the blame placed on European interference is due to the time in which this article was published or personal bias is up for debate.
As for Holly, his agreement with the economic stance on avoidance and extinction has a vastly different basis. In this newer article he states that the economic expansion of the Europeans, as well as their failure to trade peacefully with the Beothuk, was what eventually led to the death of the people. The Beothuk were essentially driven to the centre of the island out of fear of the violence inflicted on them by the settlers, and the need to maintain their cultural identity.
It was interesting the learn how different history can become over time through these articles, and also how the Beothuk didn’t allow themselves to be victimized and tried to stay true to their culture. It raises the question on whether or not these people’s extinction will be viewed differently in the future, and what else historians may be currently ignoring.
All content provided by…Donald Holly, “The Beothuk on the Eve of their Extinction,” Arctic Anthropology 37: 1 (2000), pp. 79-95.
Or…Ralph Pastore, “The Collapse of the Beothuk World,” Acadiensis 19: 1 (Fall 1989), pp.52-71.
Afua, Cooper,“Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803″
This article argues that, despite popular belief, the people who were enslaved in Canada resisted their masters. This is an example how dominant societal views can alter our perception of history, resulting in us bypassing important historical events and, in this case, dehumanizing a certain race even further.
Reading Log 6
- Slaves resisted in two ways, individually and as a group
- Individual resistance included breaking/destroying tools, livestock and other moveable property, as well as talking back and malingering
- Group resistance involved arson, permanent self emancipation, rebellions/ revolts, and homicide
- Women in particular resisted with poison, controlling birth rates with abortion, and infanticide
- Aqua says this resistance helped the Africans achieve personhood and dignity
- Slavery is what set the divide between whites and blacks, surprising line as late as the 1650s where black skin became equated with slavery
- The slaves were viewed in society as chattel but never recognized themselves as such
- Rebellion, such as that of Chloe Cooley, eventually allowed for no new slaves to be brought into Canada, and the gradual decline slavery
- Perhaps it is racist to equate the slaves as being too much the victim as it insinuates that they were mindless sheep who did as they were bid, but to paint them as non-victims is racist still because they had limited power and faced extreme punishments such as branding, whipping and legal murder
- Yet some had good relationships with their masters, was this common? Did some prefer their status as slaves? How did the white children who grew up with black slaves react to them in their adult years?
All content provided by… Afua Cooper, “Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803,” Ontario History, Vol.99, Issue 1 (Spring 2007), pp. 5- 17.