America and Ethnocentrism
I thought this would be an interesting topic to talk about. Ethnocentrism has existed in
America as far back as when the Europeans first came in contact with the Indians and vise versa. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. It has played a part in the attempts to justify slavery, colonization, a “true” religion, segregation and xenophobia in general.
“The psychological underpinning of ethnocentrism appears to be assigning to various cultures higher or lower status or value by the ethnocentric person who then assumes that the culture of higher status or value is intrinsically better than other cultures. The ethnocentric person, when assigning the status or value to various cultures, will automatically assign to their own culture the highest status or value.” [1]
For example, some who’s born in a particular town, city or country grows up learning the culture and values of that particular location and it will be seen as normal to them. You might say ok, what’s the problem?
The problem is that if it’s a mainly homogenous (all one ethnicity or culture), that particular person might be shut off to the rest of the world in way, as far as directly experiencing various cultures, religions, and ethnicities. This can lead to a heightened form of “culture shock” within the
United States (like starting school at a huge university with all kinds of people whom you’ve never had any contact with, after growing up in a small town all of your life).
“One’s own group is the center of everything against which all other groups are judged” [1]
Ethnocentrism & Colonialism
Colonialism was usually based on the belief that the “way of life” and culture of the colonizer was above the people who were being colonized so a lot of times it is linked to imperialism (The practice of one country extending its control over the territory, political system, or economic life of another country).
European Colonization
The first known Europeans to come in to the Americas were the Vikings who settled many colonies in the Americas, but didn’t last very long, in Newfoundland (That’s in
Canada, by the way). It would seen to be hundreds of years become Europeans ever came in contact with the “new world” and Natives.
The first confirmed European landing in present-day United States territory was by Christopher Columbus, who visited Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493.[2]
Florida was home to the earliest European colonies on the mainland; of these colonies only St. Augustine which was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565 remains.[2]
One of the first groups encountered by Europeans after by Christopher Columbus was the 250,000 Tainos of Hispaniola who were the dominant culture in the
Bahamas. Later explorations of the Caribbean led to the discovery of the Aruak peoples of the less numbered
Antilles. They were enslaved.[2]
The first documented encounter of Europeans with Native Americans of the United States came with the first expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon to Florida in 1513, although he encountered at least one native that spoke Spanish. In 1521, he encountered the Calusa people during a failed colonization attempt in which they drove off the Europeans.[3]
The effect of European immigration to present day
America. Smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria, measles, malaria, and other epidemics swept in after European contact, killing a large portion of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, causing one of the greater calamities in human history. At least 93 waves of epidemic disease swept through native populations between first contact and the early 20th century.[2]
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions”~From the United States of America Declaration of Independence
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html
It's a shame isn't it?
Go to part two: American Ethnocentrism & Religion http://www.progressiveu.org/015620-america-ethocentrism-religion
Sources & Notes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism [1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States#Early_relations [3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas [2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas
