Modernization Theory: Native Americans (SumBlog11)

This week in class we discussed the concept of modernization.  Modernization is a process of assimilation that is global, absolute, homogenizing, irreversible, and desirable to the Western world (thus it is Western in origin).  When we were discussing this concept, I felt like some of the best and most drastic examples of this could be found in the history of the US.

Native American Boarding Schools

The above video demonstrates a perfect example of the modernization theory.  European’s arrived in a country that was already inhabited, and almost immediately began imposing their will upon the Native Americans by choosing a path of manifest destiny.  The only problem was that natives stood in their way, but in the name of “progress” they chose to strip the land from them.  To add injury to insult, they then opened Indian boarding schools and forced Native’s to assimilate to their Western culture, language, and religion.  These efforts were justified with the logic that they were “killing the Indian to save the man,” suggesting that the Native way of life was inferior.

By their own account, European Americans were trying to convert Native Americans to Christianity so that they could be saved religiously.  They also claimed that they were educating them in Western culture so that they could be successful in the new America.  However, throughout the process Natives were forced to give up on their own cultures and norms for fear of being brutally punished by the administrators of the boarding schools. 

I feel like this is an extreme example of modernization, but it demonstrates that the modernization theory has been demonstrated in the past.  The government specifically chose to totally and irreversibly change young Native Americans in the name of progress and more desirable Western attributes.  I feel that this is a shame because it oppressed both the people and the culture that was here long before we were.  I feel that America would be a far different place, that I personally would like to have seen, had the two cultures found a way to obtain cultural hybridization rather than homogenization.