The Ecological Indian in Pop Culture

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s04e07-cherokee-hair-tampons

To me, this cartoon sums up Krech's purpose perfectly. Western culture was willing to accept outlandish ideas about nature from "Native Americans", or people who resembled Native Americans, because of the stereotype we have developed. Krech simply wanted to instill question into the readers mind on whether or not all Native Americans are environmental gurus. I wonder if Krechs book had any influence on the making of this cartoon.

Tallbar review; Krech's arrogance (?) towards religious beliefs

Kimberlly Tallbar (see Tantillo's post) writes a fair review of Krech, and really gets at what Krech was trying to say (as opposed to what she wished he had said, which is what many reviews focus on). Interestingly, she speaks (p3) about how both Krech's book and the criticism thrown at it are almost entirely centered within Euro-American assumptions about natural resources. I find it sad and ironic that even when discussing how the book may have failed Native American interests, most reviews do so from within a White cultural context. Tallbar is really effective at providing the perspective that I certainly can't mimic. I especially like her perspective on the reincarnation ideas (p4) because I thought that Krech was guilty of treating these beliefs with a certain arrogance (though perhaps it just read that way). Do you agree?

Ideas on buffalo population decimation...

In an attempt to see what the public’s general response to The Ecological Indian was when Krech’s book first came out, as we were talking about today, I came across this article from 1999 which outlines some less familiar explanations for the sharp decline of buffalo on the plains. Instead of focusing on the white man’s decimation of buffalo populations, the article points out that this was probably just the icing on the cake; that the primary factors in their decline included not only what Krech brought up with Indians being involved in the buffalo trading market, but also climate change, competition for food resources, and disease. This is an interesting article to look at in terms of deflating the myth that the Europeans came in and singlehandedly destroyed the buffalo population.

The link:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501EFD6123DF935A25752C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=

WWID? (what would the Indian's do?)

here's a link I found for a review of Krech's Ecological Indian. From the perspective of an Indian.

http://www.iiirm.org/publications/Book%20Reviews/Reviews/Krech001.pdf