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Native american literature essay
Essay about native american literature
Native american literature essay
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The principles of natural selection are suitable a metaphor for how knowledge within a discipline is developed. Natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully proposed by Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution. It is important to keep in mind that natural selection is different from evolution as evolution is the result of natural selection. The use of this metaphor signifies that only knowledge that is favored survives to be taught to the next generation and that only the best knowledge survives. In general, knowledge can be defined as justified true belief (Ichikawa). The …show more content…
For instance, the depiction of Native American in United States history follows the principle of natural selection. In most cases, there are certainly inaccuracies in how Native Americans are portrayed in history textbooks used in schools, and how they have been regarded by society. The primary difference between the portrayal of Native American in textbooks and Native American history from the native perspective is the medium through which the history is interpreted. The portrayal of Native Americans written by historians in United States textbooks, especially for the youth, tend to be negative and dehumanizing. Historians communicate their understanding of Native American history through written narrative; whereas, Native Americans transmit their knowledge about their history through oral traditions (Wilson). The main conflict is that historians mistrust the oral tradition based on the belief that oral history needs to be validated by written sources. Historians constituates oral tradition narrated by Native Americans as unreliable sources and disregard the information; therefore, these personal and shared knowledge presented by Native Americans does not survive and are not passed on to the future generation, which follows the principles of natural selection. Historians perceive that Native American history has to do with perceptions of what constitutes important information, whereas, Native Americans believes that their history is significant for the reason that it establishes their sense of identity and belonging (Wilson). Historians merely provide the flawed information describing how Native Americans fought against white settlers. History textbooks in United States rarely take into consideration the numerous Nations not even written into history books because they were peaceful and had
In Charles Darwin’s life he had helped make a significant advancement in the way mankind viewed the world. With his observations, he played a part in shifting the model of evolution into his peers’ minds. Darwin’s theory on natural selection impacted the areas of science and religion because it questioned and challenged the Bible; and anything that challenged the Bible in Darwin’s era was sure to create contention with the church. Members of the Church took offense to Darwin’s Origins of Species because it unswervingly contradicted the teachings of the book of Genesis in the Bible. (Zhao, 2009) Natural selection changed the way people thought. Where the Bible teaches that “all organisms have been in an unchanging state since the great flood, and that everything twas molded in God’s will.” (Zhao, 2009) Darwin’s geological journey to the Galapagos Islands is where he was first able to get the observations he needed to prove how various species change over t...
The American society came to the conclusion hundred of years ago that it was in the best interest of America to misrepresent Native Americans, both in the past and present. The American continents were said to be inhabited with animal-like savages that had no cultural value. Schools have taught that it was the European's duty to civilize the new lands. One of the primary tools that have been used in the education of children is the picture book. Picture books have provided the American institution with a means of teaching our children that the Native Americans were bestial and animalistic, thus enabling us to ignore or justify the atrocities that Europeans and Americans have inflicted on the native societies.
In “Rituals and Traditions; It Takes a Tribe,” Berreby proposes that groups and beliefs are naturally created and they exist at the expense of another, thus creating “us” vs “them”; similar to the analogy of the salad bowl, with a society made up of this idea. In “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” Tompkins discusses the history of groups and how they depict the issues that are usually made by alternate points of views. Tomkins feels that history is vital, yet understudies of history ought to be mindful that the perspectives are skewed to their own particular judgments, which in a way is a reverse “melting pot”, because individuals are independent on their own regardless of group; “because history is bias, one must use their own judgment when studying historic occupancy”. Berreby argues people have a common need to generalize one another, and which variables may emphasis the procedure. Regardless of age, people tend to feel the need to acquire a group to maintain a personal comfort level of their own. When attending college, students will
Besides, I feel that the idea of Natural Selection is really similar to the teaching of Buddha. “This preservation of favorable variations and the rejection of injurious variation, I call Natural Selection” Darwin explained the definition of Natural Selection. It means that all creatures should keep the good things and destroy the bad things in order to survive in the world.
William Paley went on to use the analogy of a watch, he asked us to
The history of Native Americans is often overlooked or just simplified. Native Americans are sometimes referred to as “American Indians,” This term is defined
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection explains the general laws by which any given species transforms into other varieties and species. Darwin extends the application of his theory to the entire hierarchy of classification and states that all forms of life have descended from one incredibly remote ancestor. The process of natural selection entails the divergence of character of specific varieties and the subsequent classification of once-related living forms as distinct entities on one or many levels of classification. The process occurs as a species varies slightly over the course of numerous generations. Through inheritance, natural selection preserves each variation that proves advantageous to that species in its present circumstances of living, which include its interaction with closely related species in the “struggle for existence” (Darwin 62).
Natural and sexual selection are not random processes. If there is no difference between the individuals within the species there would be no selection. Sexual selection is related to mating, it acts on individual’s ability to obtain or successfully copulate with a partner. The idea of sexual selection was introduced by Charles Darwin in 1871; he revealed that there are organisms with traits which are not explained by the concept natural selection, for example the tail of a male peacock. His found two main ways in which sexual selection works, these are intra-sexual competition and inter-sexual selection. Intra sexual competition happens within species, usually between males. They compete against each other to be chosen as a mate by a member of opposite sex. Inter-sexual selection is choosing a mate among the members of opposite sex, usually done by females.
Anyone with even a moderate background in science has heard of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. Since the publishing of his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, Darwin’s ideas have been debated by everyone from scientists to theologians to ordinary lay-people. Today, though there is still severe opposition, evolution is regarded as fact by most of the scientific community and Darwin’s book remains one of the most influential ever written.
Keith Henson a writer in evolutionary psychology once said that “Evolution acts slowly. Our psychological characteristics today are those that promoted reproductive success in the ancestral environment.” Evolution was first introduced by a naturalist by the name of Charles Darwin. Darwin had written an autobiography, at the age of 50, On the Origin of Species (1859) explaining how species evolve through time by natural selection; this theory became known as Darwinism. “Verlyn Klinkenborg, who writes editorials and vignettes on science and nature for the “New York Times”” (Muller 706) questions Darwin’s theory in one of his essays he wrote called Darwin at 200: The Ongoing Force of His Unconventional Idea. Both articles talk about the theory of Darwinism, but the authors’ use different writing techniques and were written in different time periods. Darwin himself writes to inform us on what the theory is, where as Klinkenborg goes on to explain why Darwinism is just a theory. Today, evolution is still a very controversial topic among many. It comes up in several topics that are discussed everyday such as in politics, religion and education.
Natural selection is simple yet complex process that allows species adapt to its environment. Natural selection guides evolution by “sifting out” favorable traits that increase survival for the species. Natural selection is driven by reproductive success. If a species can reproduce and its offspring survive than any traits in its genotype that assisted in its survival will be passed on from generation to generation and ensure that the species will live on. Around the time the Theory of Evolution was suggested, society was very religious and very pressed on the Theory of Creation, so the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection caused a lot of controversy. Darwin gave the world strong evidence that natural selection and evolution played a major role in the development of the species that we see today. Of course natural selection is not the only process driving evolution. In order for natural selection to happen, the species has to have genetic variation. Genetic variation happens because of mutations and recombination of genes. Other processes that contribute are gene flow and genetic
In the uncertainty that the modern world is, there is one law that stays petrified in stone no matter what happens: “Things change with age.” No matter if it is in history, science, or even Pokémon, things change as time passes by and this process is called evolution. The theory formulated by Charles Darwin is the belief that all organisms have come from the earliest creatures because of external factors (“NSTA.”). School boards everywhere have accepted the theory of evolution as fact, making it essential to be in the curriculums of science classrooms. However, over the years, controversy has arisen as the fact that evolution is still only a theory with flaws and setbacks, efficiently making other theories (i.e. intelligent design) a viable alternative in the classroom.
From attending lectures and reading assignments, I learned that there are many ways American Indian stories are told. American Indian stories are told through explorers, colonizers, pioneers, newspapers, magazines, politicians, anthropologists, archeologists, historians, biographies, travelers, fiction writers, and poets. As you can see, American Indian stories are told through many ways. The different ways in which these stories are told through, sometimes give off negative insights of how non-Indian individuals portray them. With all the varieties from wh...
Many scientists in the past, such as Aristotle and Plato, believed that there were no changes in populations; however, other scientists, such as Darwin and Wallace, arose and argued that species inherit heritable traits from common ancestors and environmental forces drives out certain heritable traits that makes the species better suited to survive or be more “fit” for that environment. Therefore, species do change over a period of time and they were able to support their theory by showing that evolution does occur. There were four basic mechanisms of evolution in their theory: mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection. Natural selection is the gradual process by which heritable traits that makes it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce increases, whereas there is a decline in those who do have those beneficial heritable traits (Natural Selection). For example, there is a decrease in rain which causes a drought in the finches’ environment. The seeds in the finches’ environment would not be soft enough for the smaller and weaker beak finches to break; therefore, they cannot compete with the larger and stronger beak finches for food. The larger and stronger beak finches has a heritable trait that helps them survive and reproduce better than others for that particular environment which makes them categorized under natural selection (Freeman, 2002).
Natural selection is based on the concept “survival of the fittest” where the most favourable individual best suited in the environment survive and pass on their genes for the next generation. Those individual who are less suited to the environment will die.