Western Perceptions of the American Indian Essay -- Indians Native Ame

Western Perceptions of the Ameri plenty IndianIn this reflective essay, I discuss how the Europeans perceived the American Indians and the factors that cause these perceptions. I have paid particular attention to the first-hand accounts of the encounters with the natives, written by Western explorers, missionaries, and visitors to the New World. It is particularly interesting to note how these accounts were distorted and exploited by different groups, each trying to mold the situation in their own way. We shall start with a reflection on cannibalism, and the myriad myths it engendered, since it can be argued that nothing about the Indians alienated the Europeans as much as this bizarre practice. Cannibalism, formally known as anthropophagy, was an anathema to Europeans armed with Christian precepts about morality and kindness to ones fellow man. It was point of these acts that served to perpetuate many of the negative portrayals of the Indians that spread throughout the old conti nent. spell the Europeans were certainly disgusted by cannibalism, nevertheless, it still served to intrigue them. Indeed, many explorers, upon arriving at the Americas, sought to witness it for themselves. We can deduce from these tales that there is something inherently foreign about the concept of eating kind flesh that has captivated the human imagination for millennia. The noted anthropologist William Arens is known to have said that Cannibalism is so respectable to think about that the human appetite is not easily satisfied. or so theorists have suggested that myths of cannibalism were exploited to demonize those whom the Westerners sought to colonize. (Some radical historians even bid that tales of cannibalism may have been mere fabri... ...--------------------------------- 1 Kimberle S. Lopez, Latin American Novels of the Conquest (London University of moment Press, 2002) 30.2 Geoffrey Symcox, ed. Italian Reports on America 1493-1522 Letters, Dispatches, and Papal Bu lls. (Belgium Brepols Publishers, 2001) 43.3 Bartholome de las Casas, Brief Account of the desolation of the Indies. (1542) 4 Michel de Montaigne, Of Cannibals, In Selected Essays of Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame. (New York Walter J. Black, 1943) 85-6.5 Lynn Glaser, America on Paper The First Hundred years (Philadelphia Associated Antiquaries, 1989) 161. 6 Bart L. Lewis, The Miraculous Lie Lope de Aguirre and the Search for El Dorado in the Latin American Historical Novel (New York Lexington Books, 2003) 8.7 Lewis 12.