Colonialism, Dependency, and Cultural Loss

Bill Gade

Anthropology 104

Prof. K. Bowie

April 22, 2008

Colonial imperialism has proven to be a formidable opponent to native people around the world and through time. Typically, the colonists impose their own rules and customs on the natives with little concern for their traditions or well being. Emphasis is on advancing the mother country’s agenda by extracting resources and spreading what is assumed to be an inherently superior way of life to a supposedly backward and primitive people. Cross cultural analysis reveals the strikingly similar methods by which the agenda is carried out and the predictable outcomes that result from policies that are shortsighted, profit-driven, and ethnocentric. Weatherford explains, “. . . the same pattern develops. Rural villages are depleted of their work forces. Family and traditional cultural patterns disintegrate. And the people are no longer able to afford certain local products that suddenly become valued” (Conformity, p. 158). Indeed, we shall see consistent patterns emerge in case studies of five distinct cultural groups that are linked only by the fact that they were exploited by outsiders.

The Hmong are a prime example of a people that have long been persecuted by outside populations. Historically, this oppression came from the Chinese in the form of violence and forced assimilation to which the Hmong resisted by fighting or migrating. Despite never having their own nation, the Hmong have maintained a distinct identity for thousands of years. Yet the last half-century has posed grave new challenges. Since the Vietnam War, the Hmong have endured constant turmoil ranging from violence to poverty and role loss—almost none of which was self inflicted.

It began with the United States’ wish to keep the Southeast Asian country of Laos from falling to communism during the Cold War. The plan was to cut off a supply line known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail that went through Laos and transported goods from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. Barred from sending troops to the region by the 1961 Geneva Convention, the United States opted to instead fight a proxy war; 30,000 Hmong were enlisted for this purpose. Though they fought the Pathet Lao bravely, casualties mounted and their land was ravaged. Fadiman notes that “the most drastic change bred by the war was the loss of the single asset the Hmong prized most highly: their self-sufficiency” (Fadiman, p. 137). They became reliant on US sponsored food drops. Then they were abandoned by the US when the Pathet Lao took over near the end of the war. The Hmong fled en masse (enduring miserable conditions, violence, and land mines along the way) to neighboring Thailand where they lived in crowded refugee camps for several years.

Eventually forced to return to Laos (where they would certainly face persecution) or relocate to another country, a majority of the Hmong refugees migrated to America. Generally speaking, they did not embrace the American Dream; rather, they came “because they were trying to resist assimilation” (Fadiman, p. 183). Finding themselves in a culture they did not understand anymore than it understood them, the Hmong struggled to adapt to life in America. Since there was no need to read or write in Laos, most Hmong immigrants are illiterate in both Hmong and English and are thus confined to entry level jobs at best. They are highly dependent on the welfare system  naturally making them the subject of criticism from other Americans. However, labeling the Hmong as “freeloaders” is not only insensitive, but inaccurate. Studies have shown the Hmong to be depressed; most would prefer to live in Laos where they could fulfill their traditional roles as farmers. Unfortunately, the skills they acquired in Laos are not useful in America. Moreover, as a new generation of Hmong is educated in America, there is sure to be a loss of Hmong identity as the children adopt Americanized ideals and embrace American culture. For example, the status of the shaman, the traditional Hmong religious figure, is in doubt. Regardless of what the future holds, we would do well recognize that their plight is not a consequence of cultural inferiority, but “historical, political, and economic forces that have reduced them from proud, independent, mountain people” (Fadiman, p. 166) to involuntary immigrants.

While it could be argued that the Hmong were not necessarily “colonized” in a strict sense, their autonomy was certainly undermined by outside forces. The Eveny of Northern Russia, on the other hand, represent a case of a bona fide colonization and subsequent exploitation. Capable of thriving in the harshest conditions on earth for thousands of years, these “Reindeer People” have been reduced to a tragic state of existence by Soviet rule in well under a century.

The Soviets followed the template for destroying a native culture with stunning efficiency. First, showing utter contempt for the Eveny’s nomadic lifestyle, they built permanent wooden villages, which ushered in an era of what Vitebsky refers to as “industrial nomadism.” Reindeer, now Soviet property, were slaughtered in a systematic manner that was sure to benefit the Soviets more than the Eveny. Indeed, the heavily regulated economy did not bode well for the Eveny; they were not only freer prior to Soviet control, but more prosperous as well. Secondly, the Soviets eliminated or significantly marginalized the shamans—a primary source of religious faith and moral support to the Eveny. Aside from simply killing them, the Soviets achieved this insidious end through propaganda that cast the shamans as “cynical, exploitative conjurers” or “psychologically deranged individuals” (Vitebsky, p. 231). Finally, the Soviets split up the family, leading to numerous adverse effects. A group of five or six men who worked as herders in the taiga formed a brigade. Women generally remained in the villages to teach, work as nurses, or care for the children. They eventually grew unappreciative of the men’s herding, devalued their incredible survival skills and dismissed them as unpolished or uncivilized. Eveny children attending boarding schools not only faced indoctrination of Soviet ideals and discrimination from teachers, but missed out on learning valuable lessons in the taiga. Most “had never set eyes on the activity that sustained their existence and defined their identity” (Vitebsky, p. 188). For their part, men suffered from the lack of social support that women offered in the taiga.

The Soviet disregard for Eveny social structure and their willingness to systematically undermine it had ruinous, though predictable, effects. Untrained in the ways of the taiga, women and children were immobilized and dependent on helicopters for transportation. A third of deaths in Northern Russia were due to accident, murder, and suicide. The widespread consumption of vodka (introduce by the Soviets) and the rampant alcoholism that followed exacerbated these causes; alcohol was deeply coveted and its value skyrocketed. Eveny began to turn on one another, often knowingly cheating their kin out of fair prices for alcohol. Uranium mining polluted the landscape for grazing. In addition, fallout from nuclear bomb testing was absorbed by lichen, which was ingested by reindeer, which in turn were eaten by the Eveny. Consequently, the rate of cancer among the Eveny was higher than the general population of Russia while their life expectancy was a startling eighteen years lower. Without a doubt, the Soviets robbed the Eveny of their identity and reduced their quality of life. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the late eighties, the Eveny were no longer capable of sustaining themselves. They are a dying people. Extinction is not inevitable, but recovery will not come easily.

The case of the Quechua Indians is another prototypical example of the catastrophic impact outside intervention can have on a previously successful group of natives. Here, market demands from Europe and America for cocaine have enticed certain colonists to implement an illegal coca trade. This trade has ransacked the economy of the Bolivian village Pocona where the Quechua Indians live.

Pocona is divided into two regions; the highlands, where potatoes are grown, and the lowlands (also called the Chapare), where coca is grown. With the illicit cocaine trade, we again observe the division of labor from which a multitude of other issues arise. Pocona men are sent to work in the Chapare; productivity in Pocona declines because of the reduced workforce; the diet of the villagers suffers (there is virtually no meat or dairy). Worse, trade with a remote village like Pocona is less effiecent and produces lower returns (potatoes cannot compete with cocaine) than trading with the Chapare. Nevertheless, the villagers still send goods to support their men in the Chapare. Since the cocaine trade was instituted, the standard of living in Pocona has dropped considerably—inflation in all of Bolivia has reached ridiculous proportions and the village no longer enjoys even temporary electricity—which sharply rebukes the widely held belief that drug trade benefits the native people. Money was not flowing into the village of Pocona, but instead the pockets of smugglers, drug dealers, and criminals.

The men working in the Chapare fare no better. Most do not actually harvest the coca plants. Rather, the coca is placed into a chemical smorgasbord which they then pound into a paste with their hands and feet. This odious labor eats away their skin and causes ulcers to form. They often smoke this paste to alleviate the pain, which “warps their minds as quickly as the acids eat their hands and feet” (Conformity, p. 159) These same workers are granted sexual partners which spreads STIs and further breaks down the family. Many become unemployed.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that the Quechua are frequently unable to acquire coca for their own use. In its pure, unadulterated form, coca is a “mild narcotic” that “reduces hunger, thirst, headaches, [and] stomach pains” (Conformity, p. 158). More importantly, it was a crucial source of calcium and other nutrients for a people whose diet otherwise lacks them. Again, de facto colonists usurp a group of natives, steal their resources for their own profit, disrupt the social structure, and leave them less able to survive independently.

Similar manipulation is found in the story of the Guarani Indians, who also inhabit South American forests. Like many Indian communities, the Guarani value egalitarian ideals. Cooperation and generosity are emphasized and expected. But that can change when circumstances are less favorable. And circumstances become less favorable when one’s home is destroyed and resources depleted. This is what the Guarani encounter.

The Guarani practice “slash and burn” farming, wherein trees are cut down, burned, and crops are planted on the fertile ash that remains. Such a technique sounds destructive and wasteful. However, when examined in the context of a broader strategy, it can be both effective and environmentally sensible. The keys are “crop rotation” and the Guarani’s intimate knowledge of the land. After the soil is depleted from a few years of harvest, the Guarani simply plant elsewhere. New trees will grow in the depleted soil and deposit nutrients; the land will prove viable for farming again in ten to fifteen years. During that time, the Guarani not only plant elsewhere, but supplement their diet with fish, game, and other resources from the forest. They employ a method of subsistence that Weatherford refers to as “sustainable production.”

However, their way of life is endangered due to colonists cutting down trees. Deforestation, particularly without an awareness of “ecozones” that the Guarani possess, depletes the natural resources the Guarani rely on. The strategy outsiders employ, motivated primarily by short-term profit, is unsustainable over the long term. As we have seen with other cultures, one problem can quickly spawn several others that collectively wreak havoc on the autonomy of a people. With the loss of the forest came the loss of game, fish, and other resources. Without these resources, the Guarani became dependent solely on farming. To compensate for the loss of resources, they had to farm more, which required that larger regions be devoted to planting. The soil could not be given sufficient time to recover from the “slash and burn” method; nutrients were in short supply and the quality of the produce suffered. Economic loss, combined with the introduction of both disease and liquor by settlers, fostered social and cultural loss: “As individuals and families left the Guarani villages in search of work on surrounding farms and ranches, tamoi leaders lost influence. It became impossible to gather disparate relatives and friends for religious ritual” (Conformity, p. 139). Indeed, the breakdown of the moral fiber of a community is a very common element of colonization and cultural loss.

The final group we examine exemplifies tragic cultural loss. The Na of China are a waning culture that have a truly unique kinship structure (or lack thereof) that challenges conventional thought. They are a people who defy both “descent theory” and “alliance” theory. That is, they are a people who do not practice marriage, a social contract once thought to be universal. The eradication of this fascinating culture would be terribly depressing.

Yet not all share this opinion. The Chinese government has tried to put an end to the Na way of life with varying degrees of zest since 1656. They held that it was an immoral or backward social construct. The communist party, which assumed power in the 1950s, was particularly adamant about stamping out the Na. At first, they tried to entice the Na to comply with promises of land to those who started conventional families. The Na resisted, admirably valuing their traditional customs over monetary reward. In 1974, far more stringent and punitive measures were taken against the Na. The educational system was increasingly used to teach Na students the immorality of their traditions as well. Over time, the Na are beginning to die out as a result of this cultural intolerance. In this example, the authority player is not even trying to reap economic benefit from its “colony.” Geertz puts it eloquently: “In China, as elsewhere, it is not licentiousness that powers most fear. Nor even immorality. It is difference.” (Conformity, p. 209)

After weaving a coherent thread through five otherwise unrelated cultures, it becomes clear just how damaging a force colonialism can be. Self sufficient cultures who have lived in peace and harmony for centuries or longer are quickly overrun, exploited, and rendered dependent on the colonizers. Unfair stereotypes about the inherent inferiority or primitive nature of the native people are then created and transmitted through the uninformed masses. Naïve assumptions, such as believing a particular group of people are responsible for their marginalized state in the parent society, are accepted. The truth is that the groups discussed here and those like them are not primitive, backward, or even undeveloped, but merely different. Undisturbed they have been successful in their niches and developed rich cultures that made the world more interesting. It was only when others sought to manipulate them, take their resources, occupy their land, destroy their spirituality or breakdown their social institutions that they became dependent. It is important that we consider this as we seek to redress past injustices and prevent new ones. It is not morally acceptable to subjugate another group of people simply because they happen to be different. That kind of thinking will only lead to further hurt.