Re: Amerindian navigators and Eurocentrism in scholarship

[yuku@globalserve.net (Yuri Kuchinsky 17784)]

[A poster whose name I'm not going to reveal, and whose email address had
some error in it, sent me the following message.]

On Mon, 8 Sep 1997, xxx wrote:

> Yuri Kuchinsky 17784 wrote:
> > 
> > ...Somehow, and Eurocentrism has
> > certainly played a role in this area, the academic consensus was
> > formed that the South American Natives were "land-locked" (imagine
> > this!) and ignorant of the arts of shipbuilding and navigation....
> > ... Could it be that old academic Eurocentrism making
> > its appearance here once again? ... the gallery of ignorant fellow Eurocentrists,
> > as it were...  You get the picture...
> 
> All this pointed mention of "Eurocentrism." Are you saying that
> mainstream scholars believe that Europeans were the first to travel to
> the Pacific islands? Where is the "Eurocentrism" in the prevailing
> picture of the Asiatic origins of Polynesians and Micronesians? The
> "native" Polynesians, as far as I know, have never been depicted as
> Europeans. It seems odd to insert the term "Eurocentrism" into a debate
> that explicitly concerns a time and place before the advent of
> Europeans. One might as well decry "Eurocentric" theories of star
> formation or ribosomal function.

My dear friend xxx,

I mean exactly what I say. Amerindians are not given credit for their
achievements because of the prevailing false dogmas and academic
ignorance. I'm simply pointing out that these people are denying the
obvious. I think it is quite reasonable to ask the question why is it that
they have such an attitude. 

Regards,

Yuri.