The story follows Pastor Dowe, a missionary, living in an Amazonian indian village in Brazil. The story focuses on the pastor’s inability to understand this foreign culture and how he gradually comes to realize his shortcoming. In broader terms, the story relates the difficulty of directly imposing ideologies from one culture onto another. The pastor is often reminded of the disparity between our western culture. One instance of the this is when Marta, the little girl, has an alligator swaddled in cloth and cradled in her arms. This image is so far out of pastor downs frame of reference that he mistakes the creature for a doll. A small girl holding a doll would not be out of the ordinary in a most western cultures; a small girl holding a potentially dangerous retile, though, is quite unordinary. Perhaps even stranger to the pastor is that neither the girl nor her father, who is standing nearby, seems worried about the harm that the animal could cause the girl. When …show more content…
When speaking of a Psalm, he says “Passages like these would sound utterly pagan in the dialect [of the indians]… But to their ears everything must have a pagan sound. Everything I say on the way to them is transformed onto something else.” This realization is disconcerting and the pastor quickly pushes this thought out of mind. It may be that the reason this is an unpleasant thought to Pastor Dowe is that he is beginning to realize that societal entities only make sense in the cultural context they are developed in, and to transplant one with none of its baggage is futile. This idea surfaces again on the pastors spiritual journey down a river; he wonders if his god’s influence can even reach such remote place as this forest. Here, he may be reflecting again on the disparity between these two cultures, which is preventing the indian people from being receptive to his religion. But again he suppresses the thought
Evangelical missionaries came to change the ways of the indigenous people by showing them the western culture. Schools were built for children to learn about the outer civilizations, but not of their lifestyles. Joe Kane emphasize this with attitude of the people with the missionaries. Rachel Saint is one of the many missionaries that deterred the natives from their culture and have them commit ethnocide which means “killing the culture” (Kane, 7). Rachel Saint place the ministry of education, companies, and religious groups tried to make the Huaorani learn the western ways like the ABCs, mathematics, and geography. This is one of the hardships of the Huaorani because they are losing their culture and are struggling with the adaptation of the western ways. Rachel Saint believed that they are corrupted and need to be helped, “It seemed painfully obvious that [Rachel] by any measure- emotional, physical, material-her remaking of the culture in her own image had been a net loss for the Huaorani (Kane, 88). She is changing the culture of the Huaorani in her way because of her personal experience and it is difficult for the Huaorani to sustain their culture when outsiders are killing it. The hardest part of assimilating into the western world is have their culture dead. It is very sad to see because the years in preservation and living in harmony within the community and the Amazon. Destroying the culture is inhumane and it is shown in the 1990’s. Adapting into a different world is difficult and other worldly. Think of Moi as he walks in the streets of the city, not grasping the concept of society. The change is hard to adapt; the environment is hard to adapt. The city is different from the Amazon. There are so much the westerners can learn from them. They know the ways of the jungle and destroying their culture is like destroying the live history passed from their
In the written piece “Noble Savages” by John Hemming he give an historic account of different European adventures in the Brazilian mainland. He also tells some of the stories about the Brazilian people that were taken back to Europe about the savages’ way of life.
One of the most interesting aspects of Diaz’s narrative is towards the end when Cortés broaches the subject of Christianity with Montezuma. Conversion and missionary work was one of the most important and lasting goals of the conquistadors and other contemporary explorers, they were charged with this duty by the rulers who sent t...
Our second poem displays the lost meaning of religion, confusion of love and how our misinterpretations on both lead us to think. Take for instance this line: “No way is [he] bringing me home. He wants someone to fix his religion.” Humans constantly want another human to give meaning to their lives in any kind of way. Some even go as far as interpreting sex and one night stands as actions of sincere love. Our secondary character is trying to find meaning in his religion once more, probably thinking if he finds someone to have sex with, eventually they’ll fall in love and it’ll give his life meaning again, ultimately “fixing” his religion. The character’s self-doubt about his religion and his actions to recuperate that meaning displays the lost meaning of religion. The line “Believe me I love religion, but he’s too quiet when praying” shows the lack of knowledge in America when talking about religion. Praying is a sacred time for people to talk to God and be thankful for them or to ask for guidance. Stating that “he’s too quiet when praying” shows a kind of lost in the meaning of religion, as it’s not a thing that’s enforced as much as it was decades
Nathan Price is the epitome of opposition in regard to cultural ignorance and global injustice. When Anatole is first introduced, he is invited to dinner with the Price family. At dinner Anatole tries to explain to Reverend Price that “Tata Ndu is concerned about the moral decline of his village”(127) because of the introduction of Christianity that is causing many Congolese to disregard their traditional religious duties. Anatole also tells Nathan that the villagers are carefully watching to see whether the Price’s god is capable of bringing them better luck than their local gods. In trying to explain this situation to Nathan, Anatole explains that most, if not all, of the congregation present in the Reverend’s church are known as “the lenzuka”(128). These are the people who have either shamed themselves or have had very bad luck. Such bad luck in fact, that many of the peo...
The study of religion is often a rigorous process because the central tenets of the subject: image, ritual, and myth are often copious in their complexity. For example, consider the multiple meanings that are inherent in the image of a crucifix. Some Christians might view it as an image of suffering, whilst others would reject that notion and instead perceive it to be one of love. These differences may seem inconsequential at first, but they can overtime shape the beliefs of an individual and by extension a community. To understand this dynamic better one only has to analyze the Christo Aparecido (Christ Appeared), an authentic Mexican crucifix with a fascinating history from the colonial era to the present. This history is made known by the text, Biography of a Mexican Crucifix: Lived Religion and Local Faith from the Conquest to the Present by Jennifer Hughes, from which I contend that over the life of the Christo Aparecido there continues to be an understanding among devotees that this crucifix is sacred because it displays animus while being a vestige for the sacred to occupy. To support my position I will attempt to relate the moments where the Christo Aparecido is said to show signs of life, in particular his stay in Mexico City during the colonial era and his role in more modern times with rival groups clashing over its efficacy in the village of Totolapan.
The events of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and the film Sugar Cane Alley detail the lives of a fictionalized Nigerian village and sugar cane harvesters in remote Martinique, respectively, during similar time periods of the 1900s. Both works contain explicit references to Christianity, and how the imposition of religion and white culture have negatively affected the African characters. European religious practice was used as a means of pacifying as well as terrifying the Umuofian people and the inhabitants of Sugar Cane Valley.
Society is quick to identify problems in the lives of others, but always fails to recognize its own shortcomings. From the past to the present, this has been an issue that continues to plague mankind. In John Oskison’s, “The Problem of Old Harjo”, Miss Evans, a Caucasian missionary in the Indian
Large-scale education and social consciousness may not be enough, though; even when the government becomes involved and offers a scholarship for Babamukuru and Maiguru to pursue higher education in South Africa, the missionaries feel a sense of entitlement to the natives’ bodies and minds and later coerce this same pair to continue their education in England. This lends itself to a description of “missionary goodwill as a form of benevolent tyranny” that works to alienate individual natives from others and prevent them from taking any sort of united stand (Paustian
The spreading of Christian views and beliefs were very popular amongst the French and Spanish societies. Both the French and Spanish missionaries took it upon themselves to travel to the “New World” to spread the message of Christ. Many of the missionaries were not prepared to deal with the very different lifestyles and religious views that the natives had. The missionaries had to use many tactics to relay the message of Christ to the native people of the Americas. Many missionaries would struggle at converting the natives while on their religious quest to mission. Both the French and the Spanish would feel as though it is their duty to try and convert these pagan believers to Catholicism. This would ultimately lead to conflict amongst the different cultures. This paper will discuss the many different tactics used by both the French and Spanish missionaries in trying to convert and spread Catholicism. It will also discuss how they also viewed the lifestyle and culture of the natives. Lastly I will discuss how the natives responded to the missionaries and what they thought of these foreign invaders.
...hing “bad” happened they found a way to rejoice in the suffering. The Puritan believers were selfish with sharing their faith. A plantation missionary stated that sharing the gospel to slaves would “promote our own mortality and religion.” However the gospel and religion the masters shared with their slaves did not remain the same. The slaves were able to apply their faith to their lives, their work, and their future. The faith the slaves possessed was rich in emotion and free from preexisting regulations. In this class we focus on the many faces and interoperations of Christ that change with the seasons of history. The slave faith represented in Jupiter Hammon’s poem shows a high level of integrity and selfless, personal application of faith. The emotion and need for Christ the slaves had during this time created a new realm of relationship in the evangelical era.
Martin Luther King Jr begins his essay with “My Dear Fellow Clergyman” in an attempt to form a sense of parity between himself and the men being addressed. More ever, he says that he believes that these criticisms are “sincerely set forth” and the men are “of genuine good”. Through this, he applies a Rogerian tactic, where the writer attempts to find a common ground as an alternative to further dividing the sides. His demonstration of equality due to the inter-connectedness of all people is a central idea of the entire letter. He notes that his “secretaries” can’t answer the amount of tedious “criticisms that cross [his] desk” since “constructive work” requires superior attention. In the informational second paragraph, King, “the president
“I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams filled with people slaughtered by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Then you will know that I am god. Ezekiel 35:8,” said Pastor Obadiah as he finished his sermon. Except that his voice was slightly more shaken than normal, it was a fairly normal day. Obadiah had been preaching since Marissa’d been in diapers. So naturally he was an elder of the church. He didn’t need a cane, but he was fairly close; his legs always seemed to quiver when he had to walk alone. Because of this, his designated seat was a pew in the first row.
By utilizing an unbiased stance in his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe promotes cultural relativity without forcibly steering his audience to a particular mindset. He presents the flaws of the Ibo tribe the same way he presents the assets—without either condescension or pride; he presents the cruelties of the colonizers the same way he presents their open mindedness—without either resentment or sympathy. Because of this balance, readers are able to view the characters as multifaceted human beings instead of simply heroes and victims. Achebe writes with such subtle impartiality that American audiences do not feel guilty for the cruel actions of the colonizers or disgusted by the shocking traditions of the tribesmen. The readers stop differentiating the characters as either “tribesmen” or “colonizers”. They see them simply as people, much like themselves. With this mindset, the audience starts to reflect upon their own cultural weaknesses. Conversely, the colonizers forcefully declare their religion onto the tribesmen instead of neutrally presenting their beliefs. Achebe prevails over his anger to present his opinion without forcefulness and with open-minded consideration. Yes, the colonizers succeed in converting many tribesmen into Christians; however, their success is subjective because they destroy African culture in the process. Ultimately, Achebe is successful in delivering his political views, but he does so by encouraging open-mindedness and cultural relativity instead of forcing his individual ideals upon his readers.
In the introduction to “The Pure Products Go Crazy,” James Clifford offers a poem by William Carlos Williams about a housekeeper of his named Elsie. This girl is of mixed blood, with a divided common ancestry, and no real collective roots to trace. Williams begins to make the observation that this is the direction that the world is moving in, as Clifford puts it—“an inevitable momentum.” Clifford believes in that, “in an interconnected world, one is always to varying degrees, ‘inauthentic.’” In making this statement, Clifford is perhaps only partially accurate. In the western hemisphere, where Williams was located, perhaps it can be said directly that the influence of modern society has attributed to the lack of general ancestry, as one culture after another has blended with the next. Perhaps it can be said as well that, as Clifford puts it, “there seem no distant places left on the planet where the presence of ‘modern’ products, media, and power cannot be felt” (Clifford, 14). The intention of this paper is to contend first that there is essentially such a thing as “pure” culture, and contrary to Clifford’s belief, that there are “pure” unblended cultures that remain (while not altogether untouched by foreign influence), natural within themselves. It will be argued as well that the influence of modern society does not necessarily lead to a loss of cultural soundness itself, but rather that a presence of certain cultural practices within the respective cultures has attributed to the lasting “purity” of certain cultures. In this case, we will be discussing the cultures that exist in Haiti and Bali.