From:	Robert Watkins robert.watkins@******.com
Subject:	Spirit of the land and it's people
Date:	Fri, 16 Jul 1999 10:16:02 +1000

Arcady writes:
> >Physical: there's not much difference between any of them. Cultural and
> >"spiritual" differences have nothing to do with race, Arcady.
>
> So then you're saying an Apache is more like an Aboriginee than a
> Frenchman
> is like an Englishman?

No, I'm saying that an Apache is not like an Aborigine (one 'e'), and a
Frenchman is not like an Englishman. There are degrees of relationship, at
best. When you take a far enough view point, they all appear identical, but
that is a very dangerous illusion.

In another post, you mentioned that the land has a sense of belonging. What
sort of scale are you talking about? North America as a whole, belonging to
the Native Americans? That's a bit extreme. The stream around the corner
belonging to the tribe recognised as living in the area when the Europeans
came along? What about the old tribe that lived there twenty years before
the Europeans came along, who got dislodged by the new tribe?

The concept of an "indigenous people" as a cultural whole is largely a
rallying point for political activists, and a sign of the laziness of
European anthropologists at the time.

> You've got two opposing points above. Which one are you standing on?

Hope that made it clearer.

--
.sig deleted to conserve electrons. robert.watkins@******.com