Decades before the 'Trail of Tears' in the Age of Jackson - even prior to the American Revolution - the relationship between Native Americans and the men and women of largely European descent who would call themselves 'Americans' was one of compromise and conflict. From 1607 to 1750, conflict was by no means paramount in the relationship between the white man and the North American Indian. Trade, scientific and cultural exchanges and a significant number of intermarriages cemented harmonious relationships from Virginia to Florida..
By the mid-eighteenth century, however, the rapid influx of land-hungry European settlers, of whom neither the French nor the British could constrain on the frontier, resulted in rampant abuses against the indigenous peoples. In response, several Indian leaders emerged to challenge these unchecked encroachments. Neolin, a member of the Delaware tribe in close proximity to the Ohio River, rallied his people in most unusual terms for a Native American.
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Rather than speaking words within the confines of Indian spirituality, Neolin exhorted his people - in Western terms - to separate themselves economically, socially and politically from the European interlopers to reclaim their lost liberty. In regard to assessing blame, Neolin was quite clear. While the Europeans had demonstrated indifference and cupidity, members of the tribes had allowed them to disrupt their way of life. Where they once had governed the land and relations among themselves with the blessing of heaven, the Indians, now living lives steeped in foreign material goods and alcohol, had turned away from the gift of the creator.
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In using a theological paradigm inclusive of heaven, hell, sin and redemption, Neolin, somewhat unknowingly, was expressing the culmination of historically fused modes of Christianity and Native American religion. His rejection of Western values, as he viewed them from bitter experience, was paradoxically made on an ideological paradigm of semi-Western construction.
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Neolin provides an excellent example of how culture, language and ideology can meld in complex and meaningful ways between divergent peoples. As such, his life and syncretic thought can be considered a frame for current studies of globalization.
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(Picture: Neolin)
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J Roquen