Re: Amerindian navigators and Eurocentrism in scholarship

[matts2@ix.netcom.com (Matt Silberstein)]

In sci.anthropology yuku@globalserve.net (Yuri Kuchinsky 17784) wrote:

>Bill Perez (p_covalent@xnet.com) wrote:
>: Yuri Kuchinsky 17784 wrote:
>
>	...
>
>: > I mean exactly what I say.
>
>: That it is "Eurocentric" to believe that only Polynesians travelled long
>: distances in the Pacific prior to the sixteenth century?
>
>Yes, in so far as Amerindians are not given the recognition for doing the
>same. 
>
That certainly seems an odd use of Eurocentric. Would Polynesian
Centric fit better?
>	...
>
>: And why would dyed-in-the-wool "Eurocentrists" be so ready to dispense
>: "credit" to Polynesians,
>
>Because no bigot however misguided can deny the reality that the
>Polynesians were there for ages.
>
Are you explicitly claiming that your opponents are bigots?

>: while withholding it from South Americans?
>
>Because bigots and/or ignoramuses in some very high places can and still
>do pretend that this didn't happen. But it did happen. 
>
Or do we get to chose which we are, bigots or ignoramuses?
>
>: At any rate, you did not question. You emphatically asserted:
>: "Eurocentrism has certainly played a role in this area."
>
>Can you deny this? 
>
>Actually the out and out _racism_ of the Spanish colonialists played even
>a bigger role in this area. It was the Spanish who destroyed this proud
>chapter of Native history, i.e. the extensive coastal trading networks. 
>
>I'm not interested at all in trying to establishing who was more/less
>advanced than someone else. Please don't misinterpret what I said. All I'm
>trying to do is to point out that these great achievements of the
>Amerindians are being ignored. Politics definitely is a factor here. 
>
Especially, it seems, 500 year old politics.


Matt Silberstein
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CAUCHON. And you, and not the Church, are to be the judge?

JOAN. What other judgment can I judge by but my own?

_Saint Joan_ by GBS, Scene VI