Natal alienation

Last updated

Natal alienation is the estrangement or disconnection from historical memory which occurs by severing an individual from their kinship traditions, cultural heritage (including language and religion), and economic inheritance through experiences of social death. It creates the conditions in which an individual, now estranged from knowledge of their social heritage, can become a commodity defined by their relationship to systems and structures that often caused and benefit from their very alienation. [1] [2]

The term was coined by sociologist Orlando Patterson in reference to the conditions of African slaves through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. [1] The natally alienated individual is embodied in the colonized individual who has been forced to reject or forget their own histories, being born into a society which prevents them from participating in or knowing their traditions and conditions them to forget them. [3] [4] It has been described as the inheritance of disinheritance [1] and an existential homelessness. [5]

Examples

American-born African enslaved people who were brought to the American colonies experienced high rates of natal alienation. Scholar Cornel West identifies that, while only 4.5% of all Africans imported to the "New World" arrived in North America, this percentage quadrupled "through an incredibly high rate of slave reproduction." As West identifies, this had the following result: "Second- and third-generation Africans in the USA made sense of and gave meaning to their predicament without an immediate relation to African worldviews and customs." [6]

Aboriginal Australians have been described as undergoing extreme forms of natal alienation. As Belinda Wheeler details, "successive removal policies have directly resulted in generations of mothers with 'no prototype' for transmitting the basics of mothering knowledge to their own children, let alone knowledge of traditional Aboriginal worldview, practices, and values." [7] Australia instituted policies in the twentieth century to "eliminate Aborigines through the eugenic expedient of 'breeding them white,'" which was standardized in all of its states by 1937. [8]

The majority of the Indigenous peoples of California experienced natal alienation through the California Genocide by the end of the nineteenth century. Scholar Wendy Cheng writes that they "were reduced to naturally vanishing, picturesque figures in a sentimentalized history." [9]

Huanani-Kay Trask writes that natal alienation creates a psychological dependency for Indigenous peoples: "Generations become addicted to the worst cultural habits of colonial society which increases both, ignorance of, and alienation from the native culture...." [10]

Related Research Articles

Black people is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is mostly used for people of Sub-Saharan African descent and the indigenous peoples of Oceania. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures. The term "black" may or may not be capitalized. The AP Stylebook changed its guide to capitalize the "b" in black in 2020. The ASA Style Guide says that the "b" should not be capitalized.

Kinship Human relationship term; web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of most humans in most societies; form of social connection

In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox states that "the study of kinship is the study of what man does with these basic facts of life – mating, gestation, parenthood, socialization, siblingship etc." Human society is unique, he argues, in that we are "working with the same raw material as exists in the animal world, but [we] can conceptualize and categorize it to serve social ends." These social ends include the socialization of children and the formation of basic economic, political and religious groups.

The First Nations are groups of Canadian indigenous peoples, who are classified as distinct from the Inuit and Métis. Traditionally, the First Nations were peoples who lived south of the tree line, and mainly south of the Arctic Circle. There are 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands across Canada. Roughly half are located in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

Quadroon Person with one quarter African and three quarters European ancestry

In the slave societies of the Americas, a quadroon or quarteron was a person with one quarter African and three quarters European ancestry.

African philosophy is the philosophical discourse produced in Africa or by indigenous Africans. The term Africana philosophy covers the philosophy made by African descendants, including African Americans. African philosophers are found in the various academic fields of present philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political philosophy. One particular subject that several modern African philosophers have written about is that on the subject of freedom and what it means to be free or to experience wholeness. Philosophy in Africa has a rich and varied history, some of which has been lost over time. Some of the world's oldest philosophical texts have been produced in Ancient Egypt (Kemet), written in Hieratic and on papyrus, from ca. 2200 to 1000 BCE, one of the earliest known African philosophers was Ptahhotep, an ancient Egyptian philosopher. In general, the ancient Greeks acknowledged the Egyptian forebearers, and in the 5th century BCE, the philosopher Isocrates declared that earliest Greek thinkers traveled to Egypt to seek knowledge; one of them Pythagoras of Samos who “was first to bring to the Greeks all philosophy.” In the 21st century, new research by Egyptologists has indicated that the word "philosopher" itself seems to stem from Egypt: "the founding Greek word philosophos, lover of wisdom, is itself a borrowing from and translation of the Egyptian concept mer-rekh (mr-rḫ) which literally means “lover of wisdom,” or knowledge." In the early and mid-twentieth century, anti-colonial movements had a tremendous effect on the development of a distinct modern African political philosophy that had resonance on both the continent and in the African diaspora. One well-known example of the economic philosophical works emerging from this period was the African socialist philosophy of Ujamaa propounded in Tanzania and other parts of Southeast Africa. These African political and economic philosophical developments also had a notable impact on the anti-colonial movements of many non-African peoples around the world.

Language death Process in which a language eventually loses its last native speaker

In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the death of a language from natural or political causes, and rarely glottophagy, the absorption or replacement of a minor language by a major language.

Native American studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues, spiritual, sociology and contemporary experience of Native peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas. Increasingly, debate has focused on the differences rather than the similarities between other Ethnic studies disciplines such as African American studies, Asian American Studies, and Latino/a Studies.

Aboriginal Australians Indigenous Australians who live on the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and Tiwi Islands

Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders collectively. It is generally used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed. Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups. The Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status.

Ethnoecology is the scientific study of how different groups of people living in different locations understand the ecosystems around them, and their relationships with surrounding environments.

Afro-Argentines

Afro-Argentines are Argentines of primarily Sub-Saharan African descent. The Afro-Argentine population is the result of being brought over during the transatlantic slave trade during the centuries of Spanish domination in the region, which had a major role in Argentine history. Although in recent years many descend from or are recent immigrants from Africa.

Culture Social behavior and norms of a society

Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.

Indigenous archaeology Sub-discipline of western archaeological theory

Indigenous archaeology is a sub-discipline of western archaeological theory that seeks to engage and empower indigenous people in the preservation of their heritage and to correct perceived inequalities in modern archaeology. It also attempts to incorporate non-material elements of cultures, like oral traditions, into the wider historical narrative. This methodology came out of the global anti-colonial movements of the 1970s and 1980s led by aboriginal and indigenous people in settler-colonial nations, like the United States, Canada, and Australia. Major issues the sub-discipline attempts to address include the repatriation of indigenous remains to their respective peoples, the perceived biases that western archaeology's imperialistic roots have imparted into its modern practices, and the stewardship and preservation of indigenous people's cultures and heritage sites. This has encouraged the development of more collaborative relationships between archaeologists and indigenous people and has increased the involvement of indigenous people in archaeology and its related policies.

Slavery in New France

Slavery in New France was practiced by some of the indigenous populations, which enslaved outsiders as captives in warfare, but it was European colonization that made commercial chattel slavery become common in New France. By 1750, two thirds of the enslaved peoples in New France were indigenous, and by 1834, most enslaved people were black.

Historical trauma (HT), as used by social workers, historians, and psychologists, refers to the cumulative emotional harm of an individual or generation caused by a traumatic experience or event. Historical Trauma Response (HTR) refers to the manifestation of emotions and actions that stem from this perceived trauma.

Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas

Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas refers to slavery of and by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It began during the Pre-Columbian era, when many societies across both continents enslaved prisoners of war or instituted systems of forced labor. Contact with Europeans transformed these practices, as the Spanish introduced chattel slavery through warfare and the cooption of existing systems. Other European powers followed suit, and from the 15th through the 19th centuries, enslaved between two and five million people. It had a devastating impact on many indigenous societies, contributing to the systematic genocide of indigenous peoples. After the decolonization of the Americas, the enslavement of indigenous peoples continued in the frontier regions of some countries, notably parts of Brazil, Northern Mexico, and the Southwestern United States. Some indigenous groups adopted European-style chattel slavery during the colonial period, most notably the "Five Civilized Tribes" in the United States. Far more were involved in the selling of indigenous slaves to European buyers.

The archaeology of religion and ritual is a growing field of study within archaeology that applies ideas from religious studies, theory and methods, anthropological theory, and archaeological and historical methods and theories to the study of religion and ritual in past human societies from a material perspective.

Detribalization

Detribalization is the process by which persons who belong to a particular Indigenous ethnic identity or community are detached from that identity or community through the deliberate efforts of colonizers and/or the larger effects of colonialism.

Marie Smallface Marule Canadian academic administrator, activist, and educator

Marie Smallface Marule was a Canadian academic administrator, activist, and educator. She served as executive director of the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB), chief administrator of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP), and secretary of the Indian Association of Alberta. Marule was president of Red Crow Community College for two decades, and led the creation of several indigenous studies programs. She was previously an assistant professor of Native American studies at the University of Lethbridge.

Lynette Wendy Russell, is an Australian historian, known for her work on the history of Indigenous Australians; in particular, anthropological history ; archaeology; gender and race, Indigenous oral history, and museum studies.

Indigenous media is the use of communication tools, pathways, and outlets by indigenous peoples for their own political and cultural purposes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hong, Grace Kyungwon (2015). "Blues Futurity and Queer Improvisation". Death Beyond Disavowal: The Impossible Politics of Difference. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN   9781452945484.
  2. ↑ Feldman, Allen (2015). Archives of the Insensible: Of War, Photopolitics, and Dead Memory. University of Chicago Press. p. 384. ISBN   9780226277332.
  3. ↑ Reparations: Interdisciplinary Inquiries. Oxford University Press. 2007. pp. 218–220. ISBN   9780199299911.
  4. ↑ Guenther, Lisa (2013). "Fanon's Critical Phenomenology of Social Death". Solitary Confinement: Social Death and Its Afterlives. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN   9780816686278.
  5. ↑ Bohls, Elizabeth A. (2014). Slavery and the Politics of Place: Representing the Colonial Caribbean, 1770–1833. Cambridge University Press. p. 165. ISBN   9781316148150.
  6. ↑ West, Cornel (1993). Prophetic Fragments. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 161. ISBN   9780802807212.
  7. ↑ Sepie, Amba J. (2018). Sacred Inception: Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth in the Modern World. Lexington Books. p. 87. ISBN   9781498546706.
  8. ↑ Wolfe, Patrick (2000). "White Man's Flour: The Politics and Poetics of Anthropological Discovery". Colonial Subjects: Essays on the Practical History of Anthropology. University of Michigan Press. p. 199. ISBN   9780472087464.
  9. ↑ Cheng, Wendy (2013). "Diversity on Main Street". The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN   9781452940274.
  10. ↑ Tsosie, Rebecca (2000). "Sacred Obligations: Intercultural Justice and the Discourse of Treaty Rights". UCLA Law Review. 47: 1615–72 – via Indigenous Rights.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.