How to study the Whites

How to study the Whites (Second Nations) of North America:

Native lens – only Native American writers and scholars can be trusted to be objective, know the facts, and have a good understanding of the Whites. White universities and professors are the blind leading the blind. White film, news and television cannot be trusted either since they are sunk in self-serving stereotypes, myths and lies.

ethnocentrism – dismiss the history that Whites tell as myth, their religion as superstition, their medicine as half quackery, their lifestyle as a huge waste of resources. Opportunists, of course, will try to paint their religion as “ancient wisdom” or something “spiritual”, but they are just out to make money. They are not accredited scholars.

deficiency model – the Whites are different because something is wrong with them. For example, they take, take, take. They cannot control their children. They are disrespectful. They are cruel to Natives for no apparent reason.

ethnographic gaze – send trained anthropologists to live among the Whites and write up their findings.

documentaries – human zoos are out, but you can still film documentaries of their everyday lives so people can see how they live. A good documentary about the Whites will show things like:

• a house, both inside and out;
• the mother engaged in food preparation;
• the father at work or (for more drama) confronting a neighbour;
• smiling children;
• the grandmother (hopefully wrinkled with missing teeth) rambling incoherently (with subtitles) about the lost past (you may need to insert a two-sentence summary of White history);
• the photogenic teenage daughter getting ready for a dress-up event (like a dance or a religious ceremony);
• the event itself (so we can see the White culture in action in all its glory);

race and culture – mix the two up, like this post is doing.

museums – have archaeologists and anthropologists gather artefacts made by White people and put them in museums for further study. Broken pots are the best, the older the better. Good too are traditional costumes, like those worn by brides, priests or circus clowns. So are hunting weapons, spent shell casings, lost golf balls, human remains, and stolen artwork. All shown by region, and maybe ethnic group, but without historical context.

static past – study the Pilgrim Fathers more than the present-day Whites.

nation of immigrants – the US is best understood as a nation of immigrants, of people who came to the US from all over the world to make a better life for their families. The immigrants in turn are best understood through:

• multiculturalism – study their cultures: food, dress, customs, etc. No need to understand their boring history or politics.
• cameos – study their men and women who are important in Native history.
• contributions – like penicillin and pizza.

White History Month – study White history one month a year, mainly through cameos and contributions, maybe throw in a documentary or museum trip. The same goes for Black, Asian and Latino history. The other five months of the school year are needed for studying Native history.

– Abagond, 2017.

See also:

• Welcome to Native American Heritage Month 2017
• White lens
  • and National Geographic
  • Vine Deloria, Jr on the whiteness of American history – cameos and contributions
  • Native Americans in Western thought – deficiency model and ethnocentrism
• human zoos
•  documentaries
  • MTV: White People
  • A Hidden America: Children of the Plains
• museums
  • National Museum of the American Indian
  • NMAAHC
•  history
  • How to write about White history – if it were written like Black history
  • Linda Tuhiwai Smith on history
  • Orientalism
• Do Whites have a culture?

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