The Loss of Centeredness of the Native American and the Loss of Their Identity Through the Nineteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century

ABSTRACT

Loss of centeredness of culture affected many cultural groups. This paper will discuss the loss of centeredness of the Native American and the loss of their identity through the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

SOCIAL DIVERSITY

SOCIAL ISSUES

This document shall attempt to scrutinize and decrypt the subsequent quotation: "The confrontation of Western civilization with other peoples whose values were often dramatically opposed to the West's…suggests that by the dawn of the twentieth century, the tradition and sense of centeredness that had defined indigenous cultures for hundreds, even thousands, of years was either threatened or in the process of being destroyed. Worldwide, non-Western cultures suddenly found that they were defined as outposts of new colonial empires developed by Europeans, resulting in the weakening of traditional cultural practices, political leadership, and social systems that had been in place for centuries." (Sayre, 2012) Also explained will be what the "loss of centeredness" of culture would have meant for the Native Americans in the later 19th and earlier 20th century.

This passage is examining the ethnic individualities of the non-Western civilizations being endangered and put into destructions way by the Europeans when they commenced to colonize their nations. Social uniqueness is formed from various influences, for example a people's or society's language, religion, ethnicity, foods, traditions, etc. The Europeans entered into countries and wanted to set up their status classes, where they were the superior people and the natives were the inferiors. They attempted to do away with all the values, characteristics, history and culture of the natives of the lands they invaded. They established slave trade to improve the land by agriculture, industry and just the general and daily care of themselves. What a shock it was to the natives of other lands for westerners to not only invade their lands, but to enslave them, separate them from their families and loved ones, thrust them into unfamiliar lands and customs. This caused a total loss of centeredness for these natives and, as seen in the Native Americans, they never did regain their centeredness. This is because the colonist from Europe stripped them of everything they possessed; their land, their religion, and their customs.

This document will examine the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida and their loss of ethnic character through the 19th to the early 20th century. Beginning with describing the account of the Seminole Indians and what their manner of life was like before they had interaction with the Western civilization. Once the Seminole Indians culture is understood, discussion of the