Oral History and Marginalized Communities
In order to complete this unit and the
Oral History and Marginalized Communities
In order to complete this unit and the Oral History Project, you will want to understand the following concepts in detail and comprehend their relevance to Ethnic Studies:
Marginalized communities
Material Culture
Ethnocide
Oral History
Decipher their definition and understand the relationship they have to one another, as well as to other concepts introduced in the class. Making connections between concepts is paramount in creating a critical theoretical framework needed to liberate the mind from social constructs that maintain oppressive power relations.
Marginalized populations are groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. In short, they exist on the margins of society and social progress. These communities are often deprived by legal or illegal means of the enjoyment of rights and resources. Considering the English language has been used as a tool to marginalize oppressed groups, it may not be much of a surprise to learn that literacy and literature are also used to fight oppression.
Writing is one social practice that makes humans distinct from all other species. Writing was first developed by Mayans around 300 B.C.E. This time period is referred to by the Master Narrative as the “Preclassic Period” of Mayan civilization. During this period, Mayans wanted their history to withstand the test of time and wrote them on stones and similar materials that were weatherproof and not easily altered. If it were not for this practice of writing on stones, there would likely be little evidence to prove Mayan cities are older than Rome. Practices like this — cultural practices that mediate human action to alter nature into human artifacts which can survive the test of time — are referred to as Material Culture.
Material culture is physical objects (pottery, architecture, paintings, etc.) that point to past cultures and civilizations. It was not until the “Postclassical Period” when hundreds of thousands of pages were created annually (yearly). Paper was used for accounting and mathematical purposes, including keeping track of monetary debt and sales as well as the movement of the stars and planets. The library of Mayan writings in 1562 by the acting Bishop of Yucatán (#Cancun), Diego de Landa, was carried out by Spanish conquistadores (colonial soldiers) as it posed it threat to the writings of Europe. The four books survived in European hands. One was named after a social club in New York City (Grolier Codex), while the other three are owned by European nations with names of the cities where they are permanently on display (Madrid, Dresden, and Paris). Even though these four books that did survive the ethnocide of the past, the book titles are not of the original authors. The colonial names given to these Mayan books by their new owners is a social practice that produces a Material Culture that supports the reinforces the Master Narrative. The great book burning of 1562 is one example of a colonial pathology exercised against indigenous culture, identity, and history. It was not until this time period, first under Spanish colonization, that Mayans and other indigenous people became “illiterate.” Mayans knew how to read, write, and speak in their own tongue. A new language was forced on indigenous people using guns, germs, and god. Of course they would be illiterate just as much as any one of us would be trying to read a book in any one of the other over 7,000 languages spoken around the world. Until more recently, there wasn’t much effort to address “illiteracy” by indigenous people in European languages — caused by colonization. The image below is published by the University of Texas, Arlington [1]. The image shows a historical timeline of written communication. If you look at key dates in human history, according to the image, indigenous written communication is framed as if it didn’t exist, it was unimportant to people’s history, invisible, or ignored. The image reproduces the Master Narrative. The very idea of an “illiteracy” problem among indigenous children, as well as the genesis of “black illiteracy,” is a by-product of ethnocide or cultural genocide. The Yucatán book burning ordered by Diego de Landa is cultural cleansing. Forty-two years earlier, in 1520, Hernan Cortez and his men committed a massacre in the Temple of Tenochtitlan as a form of cultural genocide. It is recorded as a “holocaust” by the famous Mexican Anthropologist Miguel Leon-Portilla in 1963, after translating Aztec accounts of the first Spanish invasion. Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. There would be no need for “indigenization” — framing native experiences and identities at the center of “existence” — if it were not for ethnocide or genocide. Despite the military efforts for indigenous extermination, cultural practices and identities survived. Memory cannot be burned: While you can burn the Material Culture of a people’s history, the indigenous practice of oral history cannot be burned. Oral history is the way most, if not practically all of us, have received personal knowledge about the past. Unlike most published literature that reinforces the Master Narrative, oral history is used by oppressed people as a cultural practice to collect and transmit the knowledge of past accounts from lived experiences. U.S. states first passed laws in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s imprisoning anyone that would teach African-Americans — either slave or free — to read or write. Some states also fined, flogged, or whipped perpetrators. In other words, the “illiteracy” problem among marginalized communities was a state-sponsored practice that was welcomed by the dominant U.S. racial class for most of American History.
Even while oral history plays a significant role in preserving cultural history, logos (the written language) holds superiority in the European-derived nations. Considering the weight and value placed on “text” over “speech” in regards to archiving history, historians and scholars have taken up the task of documenting – in writing – the oral history of marginalized communities, tribes, and people.
Begin to think and think again
You have a mind; what’s it thinking?
Instructions: Follow the professor’s instructions during class to complete this assignment. When instructed, select one (1) course concept above and write 100+ words addressing the following:
Define what the concept means in your own words.
Think of a useful description or example of the concept.
Create your own reason that explains why this concept is significant to Ethnic Studies.
Guidance: Follow the professor’s instruction during class. If prompted, complete the three (3) requirements above. No other rules apply (citations, format, etc.). Base your response on what you already know, not the unit lecture. In other words, use your own knowledge to create knowledge about a concept: you can tie in your own personal experiences, stories, and examples. You can also use other concepts from this course to explain any aspect of your response.