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Cultural diversity essay sample and examples
Example essay cultural diversity
Cultural diversity essay sample and examples
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The movie Avatar, is a scientific movie that is based on the indigenous people of Pandora. James Cameron provided a way for viewers to engage into the world of these 10-foot tall humanoid fictitious culture. To fully grasp the events that take place in the movie, society must understand what an industrial take over looks like. Even though the film is provided with false events, it still reigns true to the real-life events that have taken place for centuries. The mining of natural resources has played a part in the history of America, and hostile takeovers of indigenous people lands. To understand the culture of the Na’vi, and what aspects and practices might seem attractive, we must understand which real people in our world the Na’vi might …show more content…
The similarities in the film show similarities to the Native Americans in real life, such as the way they dressed, their weapons, and body paint. Meanwhile, the Na’vi taught us what it meant to have social acceptance amongst their tribe, and the Native Americans did the same with the European settlers. Spirituality is an important factor to the Na’vi, and they believed that prayer Avatar What Can It Really Teach Us …show more content…
(Legends of America). Similar, the Native Americans were also referred to as “savages” and other vile names, just like every culture. The Na’vi had a hard time trusting outsider, and the same went for the Native Americans. For example, humans did not care about the sacred land of Pandora, to them it was just another place that needed to be commercialized. The European settlers also had the same idea in mind, and the only way to claim the land was to destroy sacred landmarks and start a war. War seemed like the only way to settle the disputes among the Na’vi, and like the tribes in America, the Na’vi reached out to other clans for support. However, the Native Americans were not so successful in fighting the European settlers, and over time their culture began to fade into the background. “The arrival of the white people was the major cause of the decline on the native Americans. (Silva). Infrastructure, social structure, and superstructure, is what seems to be the importance, and because of these structures it has caused mass causalities. Ethnocentrism is everywhere, and in the U.S., it is a major part of our
Throughout time, many people feel as if they have lost their connection to their cultural from outside influences and numerous disruptions. Disruptions to one’s cultural can be seen in the Picture book The Rabbits by john Marsden and Shaun tan which is an an allegory of the invasion of Australia. Another example is the film avatar by James Cameron. The creators of these works are expressing the effect of man on nature and disruption it brings upon the cultural of the indigenous people who are the traditional owners of the land.
Each European country treated the Native Americans distinctively and likewise the diverse Native Americans tribes reacted differently. The vast majority of the tribes didn’t wish to overtake the Europeans, but to rather just maintain their status quo. Moreover, Axtell mentions that during the inaugural stages of the encounter, the relationship between the two parties was rather peaceful since the Europeans were outnumbered by the natives. Axtell depicts that unlike the Europeans, the Native Americans treated the strangers equally or superior to themselves. The Indians would welcome the Europeans into their towns and shower them with gifts and blessings. The relationship between the two factions was going serene until the cultural differences became a burden on both
suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards
American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,” non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for “the advancement of the human race” (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this “conquest of Indian communities” was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people were slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life.
The American science fiction film ‘Avatar’, directed by James Cameron is about Jake Sully, a paralysed former marine who becomes an avatar to take his place on a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There, he meets the Na’vi people and gets attached to living in harmony with nature, where he must save their land when being attacked by humans. The story line of Avatar follows closely with ‘The Hero’s Journey’ which focuses on how the main character is experiencing a change from his ordinary world, turning into an avatar to explore a new world. Primarily, Avatar captures a call to adventure to begin the hero’s journey. The film also explores a new approach with crossing the first threshold of the hero’s joinery which is conveyed through a range of cinematic techniques. Furthermore, Sully experiences a major ordeal followed by a reward shown in a variety of dramatic shots.
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
Overall, There were so many differences between Native Americans cultures And the Europeans. Some of the examples are, the ideas of the lands owner, religion, and the gender. Their differences are more than the similarities. The impact of their cultures it still remains in today’s society. The cultural differences and the religions differences led to a bloody was that remains for 500 hundreds
After analyzing cultural relativism over the semester, I have come to the conclusion that cultural relativism under anthropological analysis defines every single culture with some aspect of worth as viewed by an individual within that society. Franz Boas, termed the “Father of American Anthropology”, first introduced the concept of cultural relativism. He wanted people to understand the way certain cultures conditioned people to interact with the world around them, which created a necessity to understand the culture being studied. In my words, cultural relativism is the concept that cultures should be viewed from the people among that culture. When studied by anthropologists, cultural relativism is employed to give all cultures an equal
Native-Americans make up one of the smallest portions of our population, but are still victims of mass incarceration and police brutality Many Native-American reservations have high unemployment rates. Poverty in these areas is also common. Reserved, sacred land for Native-Americans is also disappearing as more and more land is being taken away by United States government. The government also disobeys treaty rights by exploiting their land for natural resources to gain profit. Low graduation rates are common in Native school districts. Suicide is much more prevalent among Native-American youth when compared to the rest of the nation. They also generally receive poor healthcare. Violence and abuse of children and women is more common in Native-American communities as well.
Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.
The history of the relationship between Indigenous Peoples of the North America and European settlers represents a doubtlessly tragic succession of events, which resulted in a drastic decline in Indigenous population leading to the complete annihilation of some Native groups, and bringing others to the brink of extinction. This disastrous development left the Indigenous community devastated, shaking their society to its very pillars. From the 1492 Incident and up to the 19th century the European invasion to the North America heavily impacted the social development of the Indigenous civilization: apart from contributing to their physical extermination by waging incessant war on the Indian tribes, Anglo-Americans irreversibly changed the Native lifestyle discrediting their entire set of moral guidelines. Using the most disreputable inventions of the European diplomacy, the colonizers and later the United States’ government not only turned separate Indigenous tribes against each other but have also sown discord among the members of the same tribe. One of the most vivid examples of the Anglo-American detrimental influence on the Native groups is the history of the Cherokee Nation and the U.S. Indian Removal Policy. The Cherokee removal from Georgia (along with many other Indian nations) was definitely an on-going conflict that did not start at any moment in time, but developed in layers of history between the Native Americans, settlers of various cultures, and the early U.S. government. This rich and intricate history does not allow for easy and quick judgments as to who was responsible for the near demise of the Cherokee Nation. In 1838, eight thousand Cherokees perished on a forced march out of Georgia, which came to be called the T...
Many people believe that Native Americans are a disadvantaged group of individuals in many ways. Culturally, in that many of the cultures of the various tribes across the Americas were taken from them by Europeans and their descendants. Socially, in that they are unlike other minorities in the United States because of their extra-constitutional status; and even medically, stemming from the general belief that Natives are at a higher risk for disease than other ethnicities due to tobacco and alcohol use, especially when used together (Falk, Hiller-Sturmhöfel, & Yi, 2006).
Native Americans in particular were abused by white people in the States. From the 16th century and on, European nations rushed into the “New World,” claiming terrain that Native Americans had lived on for hundreds of years. Treaties were repeatedly made with the United States government and Native American ethnic groups. These treaties generally brutally kicked the “Indians” out of their land and pushed them farther and farther west. The Indian Removal act of 1830 encompassed more than five tribes and pressing all of them out of the southern United States. While some Natives fought back, many were forced to comply in order to save themselves from the Americans’ wrath. Eventually the white people themselves went so far west that there was no longer anywhere to put the Native Americans. In order to deal with this conundrum, the American army forced most tribes to abide on reservations in hopes that they would gradually become civilized and assimilate to the American culture. These reservations were often iniquitous and atrocious places. It was almost unfeasible for the Indians to hunt the w...
Throughout history, industrialism by the west (i.e. England, France, and Spain) has led to many conflicts between them and the indigenous, native, people whom lived there. One indigenous group of people affected by western imperialism is the Native Americans in North America. The Europeans that settled onto the “New World” were confronted by Native Americans, and were faced with violent conflicts. These conflicts led to a belief that all Native Americans are savages as well as heathens (Democracy, 2012). This led to the Europeans to start to kill Native Americans, or kick them off of their land and place them onto reservations. Reservations were usually small and unusable land. But, other times, the chief was forced to sign treaties with the Europeans. These treaties usually stated that the Europeans had a right to be on the land, and if they were allowed to have some land as well as do colonize there, no conflict would occur. Yet, after the treaties were signed, the Europeans and Native Americans still had violent conflicts (Democracy, 2012). Today, there are very little Native Americans left in North America. Some of them are very poor, but some of them are rich due to the casinos they own within the reservations upon which they live. The treatment of these people original was harsh as well as cruel, and there is evidence of that today due to the low population of Native Americans within North America.
The Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied all of the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who speaked hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper. seashells and soapstone.To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Indians wearing feathered headdresses killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, automatically their material world was changed. The American Indians were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing and also by their language. The first Indian-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures awaiting for the first opportunity to be christianized. The Indians were called the “Noble Savages” by the settlers because they were cooperative people but sometimes, after having a few conflicts with them, they seem to behaved like animals. We should apprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the natives, they were only used to interact with people from their own race and surroundings and all of this was like a new discovery for them as well as for the white immigrants. The relations between the English and the Virginian Indians was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Indians to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Indians, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Indians when they first settler in Jamestown and Plymouth. In this areas, the Indians showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood.The Indians changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more and more on hunting and planting in the Natives’ grounds.