Three must reads for understanding the Indigenous mind, just in time for Indigenous Peoples Day (a.k.a. Columbus Day) through Thanksgiving. Columbus and other Cannibals: The We’tico Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism and Terrorism By Jack D. Forbes Forward by Derrick Jensen From the book jacket: “American Indian thinker Jack Forbes’s Columbus and other Cannibals was one of the founding texts of the anti-civilization movement when it was first published in 1978. His history of terrorism, genocide and ecocide told from a Native American point of view has continued to inspire America’s most influential activists for decades….this radical critique of modern “civilized” lifestyle is more vital now than ever before. “ Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Christian Doctrine of Discovery By Steven T. Newcomb Forward by Peter d’Errico From the book jacket: “Using history and cognitive theory, Steven Newcomb demonstrates how US government officials have used religious concepts of Christendom, often unconsciously, to justify the taking of Native American lands and to deny the original independence of Indian nations. He demonstrates that the landmark case Johnson v. M’Intosh is premised in part on the Old Testament narrative of the “chosen people” having a divine right to the “promised land” and how continued US reliance on ancient religious distinctions between “Christians” and “heathens” violates the bedrock doctrine of separation of church and state. …Pagans in the Promised Land makes a compelling case for the reversal of this conqueror-based doctrine, which continues to influence US policy at home and abroad. Thinking In Indian: A John Mohawk Reader Edited by Jose Barreiro From the book jacket: “These essays, produced and published over thirty years, are prescient in the prophetic tradition yet thoroughly current. They reflect consistent engagement in Native events and issues and deliver a profoundly indigenous analysis of modern existence. Native sovereignty, cultural roots and worldview, land and treaty rights, globalization impacts and mitigation, spiritual formulations and fundamental human wisdom coalesce to provide a genuinely indigenous persrpective on current events.” For those who want to study further the ideological underpinnings of the madness we live in these times, I would add: Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Genocide By George E. Tinker From the Preface: “The years 1492 seems to have triggered the “Western world” mythology that has come to dominate the entire globe’s economics, politics, and academics, imposing itself as the natural, unquestionable norm of human existence. This illusion of Western world superiority has functioned implicitly, and at times brutally explicitly, to facilitate the conquest and enslavement of native peoples, the exploitation of their labor and natural resources, and the genocidal destruction of whole cultures and peoples. The religious institutions of the “West” (that is, the churches of Europe and then the immigrant churches of the Americas) have been closely associated with this history of colonialism and conquest and have consistently lent legitimacy to those acts. “
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 12:03:46 +0000
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