Journey Through Reservation Life Analysis
In exploring the movie Crash and the story “From Rez Life: An Indians Journey
Through Reservation Life,” by David Treuer, there are distinct parallels of the four models as emphasized in “Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective,” by George M.
Frederickson. Both contain examples of models although the degree of application of each model is quite different in each storyline. Each attempt to allow the viewer or reader to experience the emotions that come with being a part of the minority group and the struggles that come with being a part of a culture that is not considered to be the dominant culture.
Ethnic hierarchy as described by Frederickson is where a dominant group has claimed rights and privilege and have deemed other …show more content…
Treuer recounts many aspects of history in which the US Government has repeatedly attempted to cause the extinction of the American Indian culture and the Indians themselves. Examples of this attempted extinction are the Trail of Tears, in which Indians in the southeast were forced from their land and marched through the deadly winter to Oklahoma where they were forced to settle, and in 1878 when the US government built and funded Indian boarding schools. Indian children were taken from their homes and families by coercion to …show more content…
In these boarding schools, they were forced to give up their native languages, culture and religion. Assimilation has been a motto in the United States since the early colonial period, however in recent decades with the increasing number of bi-racial unions and the increase in immigration our society is turning more to cultural pluralism.
Cultural Pluralism celebrates differences among groups rather than seeking to obliterate or cause them to become extinct. (Frederickson Pg. 638) In both stories cultural pluralism exists on many levels. In Crash, which is set in the City of Los Angeles, which is a very cultural diverse city, the story lines alternate from various cultural groups and their interactions with one another. The conflicts that arise between the ethnic groups are ultimately settled with a realization that each group is not so dissimilar. The realization that we are all people trying to make a life for ourselves and our families. David Treuer in, “From Rez Life: An Indians Journey
Through Reservation Life” summated perfectly the idea of cultural pluralism in his statement
“That Native American cultures are imperiled is important to everyone, or should be. When
Through Reservation Life,” by David Treuer, there are distinct parallels of the four models as emphasized in “Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective,” by George M.
Frederickson. Both contain examples of models although the degree of application of each model is quite different in each storyline. Each attempt to allow the viewer or reader to experience the emotions that come with being a part of the minority group and the struggles that come with being a part of a culture that is not considered to be the dominant culture.
Ethnic hierarchy as described by Frederickson is where a dominant group has claimed rights and privilege and have deemed other …show more content…
Treuer recounts many aspects of history in which the US Government has repeatedly attempted to cause the extinction of the American Indian culture and the Indians themselves. Examples of this attempted extinction are the Trail of Tears, in which Indians in the southeast were forced from their land and marched through the deadly winter to Oklahoma where they were forced to settle, and in 1878 when the US government built and funded Indian boarding schools. Indian children were taken from their homes and families by coercion to …show more content…
In these boarding schools, they were forced to give up their native languages, culture and religion. Assimilation has been a motto in the United States since the early colonial period, however in recent decades with the increasing number of bi-racial unions and the increase in immigration our society is turning more to cultural pluralism.
Cultural Pluralism celebrates differences among groups rather than seeking to obliterate or cause them to become extinct. (Frederickson Pg. 638) In both stories cultural pluralism exists on many levels. In Crash, which is set in the City of Los Angeles, which is a very cultural diverse city, the story lines alternate from various cultural groups and their interactions with one another. The conflicts that arise between the ethnic groups are ultimately settled with a realization that each group is not so dissimilar. The realization that we are all people trying to make a life for ourselves and our families. David Treuer in, “From Rez Life: An Indians Journey
Through Reservation Life” summated perfectly the idea of cultural pluralism in his statement
“That Native American cultures are imperiled is important to everyone, or should be. When