Assimilation of the Navajos
The history of the United States is one filled with much ups and downs. Of course there have been positive things that have happened and plenty of progress that has been made, but it has not always come free of charge to us all. Some people and groups have taken more of the toll throughout this process than others. Members of the Navajo Nation are examples of this strife and the way "progress" is not always necessarily progress.
For example, one thing I believe to definitely not be an act of progress is the process of assimilation. Culture assimilation is the process of trying to merge two different groups with one another while only maintaining the culture of one group. This is an incredibly demeaning process and it takes away the vast majority of what makes those people the individuals they are. This process involves many things such as schooling techniques/locations, languages taught, languages allowed to be spoken, forced activities, etc. Many tribes in America were severely changed and threatened by this process.
The Navajo Nation was not lucky exactly, but compared to other Native American tribes it has weathered the effects of assimilation fairly well. The process is inevitable practically now in modern days. Through entertainment such as TVs and music, Navajo youth are exposed to the English language and to many things foreign to their way of life. Influence comes from every which direction and the culture is experiencing some definite changes from it but thankfully not anything pressingly detrimental.
Works Cited
"Cultural Survival vs. Forced Assimilation." Reyhner, Jon. Cultural Survival. 25.2 (Summer 2001) Endandered Languages, Endangered Lives. 2001. Web. 4 April 2016.
Because I have grown up in the Western world, I have not been heavily affected by assimilation in a personal way. Typically it seems as though the dominant culture here in the United States is more so what is being broadcast to everyone around the world. People hear our music and watch our television shows and it becomes easy to get lost in certain appeals. For example the visions of romance might effect women in cultures dominated by polygamy or listening to lots of music may push someone to learn the English language. There are many ways assimilation can effect a culture and on top of that it is contributing to the concept of globalization.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned previously that the English language is often exposed to other cultures through a variety of social media platforms and through different forms of entertainment. It is important to note that languages are so often changing and disappearing and evolving that it can be hard to even track a certain one from origin to current routes.
ReplyDeleteOne type of language that I was exposed to during elementary school was the mash-up of Spanish and English most commonly referred to as "Spanglish." In the dialect it is customary to choose words from both the English and Spanish language to formulate a sentence. Spanglish is an example of how after time cultures who overlap in geographical location can experience a sort of melting between the two.
Having friends who spoke frequently in Spanglish actually pushed me to decide to learn the Spanish language itself. It is often underestimated how big of an impact language barriers have on the world. So many subtle things that can be learned about a culture cannot truly be understood entirely without an understanding of their language first.