Daniel Richter's Essay War And Culture

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In Daniel Richter’s essay War and Culture, he uses a mix of primary sources and his own comprehension of history, to formulate a general understanding of the native experience. In our experience watching The Black Robe we were able to analyze history through a chain of sources. There are many similarities to analyze from these sources. Harmony and balance is the root of many aspects in Native culture including: dependency on Europeans, warfare style, rituals and customs, mourning, population maintenance, and ultimately adoption-torture.
(The Black Robe 1) begins with gifts being presented to the Natives by the Europeans. This is the first instance of dependency we see in the film. The tools provided such as bowls and agriculture harvesting tools became important …show more content…

Their capture is strategic as they are the novel members of the tribe. Richter quotes (Paul le Jeune 8) in saying “The chief virtue of these poor pagans being cruelty”. From an outside perspective this is a very easy assumption to make when they are first brought into the Native community. The violence expressed towards the captive’s serves a purpose. “On a societal level, then, warfare helped the Iroquois deal with death in their ranks. On a personal, emotional level it performed similar functions”. “Iroquois culture directed mourners’ emotions into ritualized channels” (Richter 9).
Another source, Catherine Albanese American Indians’ Nature Religion focuses on harmony in Native Culture. Natives felt that “the world was a holy place; and so harmony with nature beings and natural forms was the controlling ethic… Ritual functioned to restore a lost harmony, like a great balancing act bringing the people back to right relation with the world” (Albanese 10). Similar to Richter’s observations, Albanese is aligned with The Black Robe quite well. The art of adoption-torture is one of balance and harmony within the

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