09-16-2015, 06:10 AM
How am I supposed to read a book like Empire of the Summer Moon and reconcile it with this Native American Code of Ethics? Even the League of the Iroquoise by Lewis Henry Morgan mentions in passing how very early in their history as a people they were in conflict with another tribe, and THEY WIPED THAT TRIBE OUT. I am working from memory but I remember reading that and thinking that this information came from the oral history of the Iroquoise and that they were essentially proud of it as a defining moment for them. The book itself was written in 1851. Had it been written today nobody would have admitted to being proud of committing genocide. The Iroquoise confederacy itself was based on the need to consolidate power and ensure protection and it was developed prior to western contact. The Iroquoise literally oppressed weaker tribes and colonized their territory in the same way that modern apologists like to blame Europeans for.
I also recall reading a paper on the practice of scalping in North America. Anthropologists uncovered archaeological evidence from the 1300s in the plains that showed how common scalping was, that people often survived being scalped, and that the ratio of male victims to female and child victims was something like 60/40. Combining that with information from early interviews with Native Americans, it was clear that they had no problem with scalping children. In fact bring back the scalp of a child proved your bravery to an exceptional degree in that you had to have penetrated all the enemies defenses to get it.
So as a reality check to see how relevant this Native American Code of Ethics is, first ask, which Native Americans?
I also recall reading a paper on the practice of scalping in North America. Anthropologists uncovered archaeological evidence from the 1300s in the plains that showed how common scalping was, that people often survived being scalped, and that the ratio of male victims to female and child victims was something like 60/40. Combining that with information from early interviews with Native Americans, it was clear that they had no problem with scalping children. In fact bring back the scalp of a child proved your bravery to an exceptional degree in that you had to have penetrated all the enemies defenses to get it.
So as a reality check to see how relevant this Native American Code of Ethics is, first ask, which Native Americans?