I started to get frustrated
throughout the “images of Native Americans” assignment due to the vagueness and
hard to find tribal descriptions in the captions. Although, after going through
almost all the painting and pictures I was finally able to make sense of some
of the pieces I was looking at. They divide the website into 6 different
sections, starting with the Introduction, Portrayals of Native Americans, Nine
Millionth Volume, Timeline, Exhibition checklist, and Credits and Colophon
One particular piece that sums up
the beginning of the end to the Native Americans was the June 26, 1579 ceremony
of Sir Francis Drake being crowned with an Indian headdress, "The chief who
had arrived from further afield with a guard of about 100 men," presents
Drake with the crown. The English explorer assumed that the Indians were
surrendering all rights and titles to land and property, in effect becoming
subjects to Drake and the English crown”(2006). This shows the miscommunication
and misleading perception that was being passed on to the rest of the world. It
was definitely the beginning of the end at that point. When it was all said and
done, I was happy that I looked through all those illustrations. It gave a
different perception to the readings and videos; more of a reality.
Images of Native Americans. (2006).
Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/nativeamericans/index2.html
I understand the frustration as I for one am not good at "interpreting" art or paintings. I always seem to get it wrong! I was drawn toward the Early Ethnography section, that covered scientific, documentary and anthropological research, with the majority being actual early photographs as opposed to someone's personal depictions/drawings. Easier for me to understand!
ReplyDeleteI too found that site difficult to navigate. I'm with Deborah in that I appreciate the early photographs over paintings. Part of this is because photographs really don't lie, but a painting is an extension of the artist's beliefs. I can definitely see Stephen why you chose to talk about Drake being presented with a headdress. I think that event really spoke a lot about the European-Native relationship.
ReplyDeleteI can relate in feeling a little frustrate and confused with the interpretation assignment. Especially with so much to read and so many different areas to go in, it was hard to focus on one.
ReplyDeleteLindsey, I can relate to your frustration on the website, it also took me a little while before I could understand what exactly I was looking at and looking for.