The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other

Last updated

The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other is a book by Tzvetan Todorov first published in 1982, detailing Spanish colonials' contact with natives upon the discovery of the Americas.

Todorov analyzes texts and arguments from Spanish figures such as Pedro de Valdivia and Francisco de Vitoria. Todorov argues that the latter "demolishes the contemporary justifications of the wars waged in America, but nonetheless conceives that 'just wars' are possible," to make the Spanish "not only subject to the decision but also its judge, since it is they who select the criteria according to which the judgment will be delivered; they decide, for instance, that human sacrifice is the consequence of tyranny, but massacre is not." [1]

It has been described as "one of the most provocative books of our time" by Princeton anthropology professor Gananath Obeyesekere, writing in his 1992 book The Apotheosis of Captain Cook that deals with a similar theme of initial contact between Western and indigenous cultures. [2] Obeyesekere also critiques several of the approaches taken by Todorov and the latter's reliance upon Spanish conquistador sources that are themselves responsible for generating stereotypical views on the "Otherness" of the native population—stereotypes that Todorov had in part set out to counter. [3]

Todorov's book was translated from French into English by Richard Howard.

Notes

  1. Todorov, Tzvetan. The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other. Harper & Row. pp. 148–150.
  2. Obeyesekere (1992, p.16)
  3. Obeyesekere (1992, p.17)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Columbus</span> Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer (1451–1506)

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Oceania</span> Historical development of Oceania

The History of Oceania includes the history of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and other Pacific island nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cook</span> British explorer (1728–1779)

James Cook was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Sahlins</span> American anthropologist (1930–2021)

Marshall David Sahlins was an American cultural anthropologist best known for his ethnographic work in the Pacific and for his contributions to anthropological theory. He was Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tzvetan Todorov</span> Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist

Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist. He was the author of many books and essays, which have had a significant influence in anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary theory, intellectual history and culture theory.

The fantastic is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Menéndez de Avilés</span> Spanish explorer and governor

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral, explorer and conquistador from Avilés, in Asturias, Spain. He is notable for planning the first regular trans-oceanic convoys, which became known as the Spanish treasure fleet, and for founding St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. This was the first successful European settlement in La Florida and the most significant city in the region for nearly three centuries. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited, European-established settlement in the continental United States. Menéndez de Avilés was the first governor of La Florida (1565–74). By his contract, or asiento, with Philip II, Menéndez was appointed adelantado and was responsible for implementing royal policies to build fortifications for the defense of conquered territories in La Florida and to establish Castilian governmental institutions in desirable areas.

Pālagi or papālagi (plural) is a term in Samoan culture of uncertain meaning, sometimes used to describe foreigners. Tent and Geraghty (2001) comment that the origin of the Western Polynesian Papālagi~Pālagi and the Fijian Vāvālagi~Pāpālagi remains a matter of speculation.

The Spanish Requirement of 1513 (Requerimiento) was a declaration by the Spanish monarchy, written by the Council of Castile jurist Juan López de Palacios Rubios, of Castile's divinely ordained right to take possession of the territories of the New World and to subjugate, exploit and, when necessary, to fight the native inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Noche Triste</span> Event during the Conquest of Mexico

La Noche Triste was an important event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, wherein Hernán Cortés, his army of Spanish conquistadors, and their native allies were driven out of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Peter Dillon was a ship's captain engaged in the merchant trade, explorer and writer. Dillon discovered in 1826–27 the fate of the La Pérouse expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire</span> 16th-century Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquistadors, their indigenous allies, and the defeated Aztecs. It was not solely a contest between a small contingent of Spaniards defeating the Aztec Empire but rather the creation of a coalition of Spanish invaders with tributaries to the Aztecs, and most especially the Aztecs' indigenous enemies and rivals. They combined forces to defeat the Mexica of Tenochtitlan over a two-year period. For the Spanish, the expedition to Mexico was part of a project of Spanish colonization of the New World after twenty-five years of permanent Spanish settlement and further exploration in the Caribbean.

Gananath Obeyesekere is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and has done much work in his home country of Sri Lanka. His research focuses on psychoanalysis and anthropology and the ways in which personal symbolism is related to religious experience, in addition to the European voyages of discovery to Polynesia in the 18th century and after, and the implications of these voyages for the development of ethnography. His books include Land Tenure in Village Ceylon, Medusa's Hair, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini, Buddhism Transformed (coauthor), The Work of Culture, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, and Making Karma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Kamakau</span>

Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau was a Hawaiian historian and scholar. His work appeared in local newspapers and was later compiled into books, becoming an invaluable resource on the Hawaiian people, Hawaiian culture, and Hawaiian language while they were disappearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third voyage of James Cook</span> Royal Navy exploration voyage to the North Pacific from 1776 to 1780

James Cook's third and final voyage took the route from Plymouth via Cape Town and Tenerife to New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, and along the North American coast to the Bering Strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janusz Wojcieszak</span> Polish philosopher

Janusz Wojcieszak (1953–2012) was a Polish philologist and philosopher, specialist in the history, literature and culture of Latin America. He graduated from Warsaw University's Department of Spanish Studies in 1977 and the following year was hired by his alma mater as an assistant, eventually rising to the rank of professor. He committed suicide in October 2012. Initially declared missing, his body was found floating in the Vistula close to Gdański Bridge on 17 October 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahlins–Obeyesekere debate</span>

The Sahlins–Obeyesekere debate is an academic controversy in anthropology about the death of the British explorer James Cook, particularly whether the native Hawaiians believed him to be Lono, a deity associated with fertility, agriculture, rainfall, music and peace. The debate took shape in 1992, when Gananath Obeyesekere published The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, which criticized the work of Marshall Sahlins on the issue. In addition to the factual issues, the debate has become symbolic of deeper issues in anthropology, including whether Western scholars can understand non-Western cultures.

The Conquest of America is a name given to the European colonization of the Americas.

The Gottschalk Prize is awarded for an outstanding historical or critical study on the 18th century and carries a prize of US$1,000. It is named in honour of Louis Gottschalk (1899–1975), second President of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), President of the American Historical Association, and for many years Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. His scholarship exemplified the humanistic ideals that this award is meant to encourage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiximes</span>

The Xixime were an indigenous people who inhabited a portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the present day states of Durango and Sinaloa, Mexico. The Xixime are noted for their reported practice of cannibalism and resistance to Spanish colonization in the form of the Xixime Rebellion of 1610.

References