Well, anyway, I guess because it is approaching Thanksgiving it was somewhat appropriate that we visited the National Museum of the American Indian this week. I was actually pretty excited to go to the museum this week. I had heard from several people that it was a pretty cool museum and I had been interested in going to it for a while. When we first arrived, I found the design of the museum to be very interesting. It almost looked like something that belonged in a desert somewhere in the west and not in the middle of DC. The inside of the museum was pretty unique as well. I really enjoyed the section that displayed the artwork of Brian Jungen. I found it very interesting to see stereotypical Native American things made out of modern day things. Now that I have written that out, it seems slightly offensive. I know that there are plenty of Native Americans who are active members of society today, but for some reason, whenever someone says something about American Indians I automatically think of Pocahontas and Crazy Horse. I guess a lot of people have this conception as well because I noticed that much of the museum focused on modern day American Indians. I guess for Thanksgiving this year I should think about these modern day people and not just the people who lived years and years ago.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Reflection
Wow! I can't believe how quickly Thanksgiving has come. I feel like I just got here a couple of weeks ago. It is very strange for me to be thinking about going home because I have not been home since I got here. I feel like when I go back home nothing is going to have changed. I feel like time should have stopped, but clearly this is not going to the case. It is going to be so strange to see that things have kept moving at home even though I am not there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know what you mean, Belle - I too get an image of Pocahontas in my head when I think about it. It's bad but still. One thing I didn't realize was that there are tribes with a more mexican influence than any thing else. I guess looking at the term "Native American" I shouldn't be so quick to assume that automatically means North America.... the term Indian too...doesn't conjure the same image either.
ReplyDeleteFor a while now, I've been obsessed with how so many different cultures blend together and have similar aspects to other cultures in that region. This fascination was, admittedly, inspired by Ewan McGregor's trip around the world on a motorbike. Everytime he left a country and entered a new one, there were certain themes that were similar to its neighbours. How cool is that? Highly recommend the documentary...it's called the Long Way Round, and there's a second one called Long Way Down where he travels from North Africa to South Africa.
Anyway, slight tangent,we get these ideas in our heads and it's hard to get them out. And I am the thing with stereotypes is that people want to distinguish themselves [as a culture] but yet complain when they technically sort of outsiders.. it's hard...
Happy Turkey Day!