Factors which contribute(d) to Native American Persistence, Resistance and Adaption to American Mainstream Culture

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: A-, University of Tubingen (Amerikanistik), course: PS III Landeskunde – American Native Cultural Studies, language: English, abstract: FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTE(D) TO NATIVE AMERICAN PERSISTENCE, RESISTANCE AND ADAPTATION TO AMERICAN MAINSTREAM CULTURE Ever since the first Europeans arrived in the “New World” Native Americans have been the victims of ethnocide and genocide. Liberal assimilationists, such as Richard Henry Pratt, wanted to assimilate the Native Americans into American mainstream culture, whereas more radical Europeans wanted to not only destroy the Native American culture but to also eliminate the Native American peoples altogether. Luckily, the latter aim has never been fulfilled due to Native American resistance, which enabled them to persist up to the present day. However, in certain areas of life Native Americans have, to a certain degree, adapted to mainstream society. The relationship of resistance and adaptation is one of great complexity, and it is almost impossible to clearly define where resistance ends and adaptation begins. In some cases adaptation itself can be a form of resistance. As a consequence of this strained relationship, the question suggests itself why such a heterogeneous group as the Native Americans has been able to persist as one nation and at the same time preserve various tribal identities. Resistance, “the act of striving to fend off or offset the actions, effects