Jack D. Forbes

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Jack D. Forbes (born January 7, 1934 in California - † February 23, 2011 ) was an indigenous American writer, scientist, professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis and political activist. Its fame is based primarily on the book "Columbus and other cannibals. The Indian view of things ” , which is a first-rate document of the indigenous criticism of civilization .

biography

Forbes was born in Long Beach, California in 1934 to a family of Powhatan Renape and Lenape Indians. In high school he began his commitment to Indian rights with articles for the school newspaper. He completed his history studies in 1959 with a doctorate. His doctoral thesis and, as it were, his first book was entitled The Apache, Navaho and Spaniard . In the early 1960s, Forbes became one of the first pioneers and organizers of the American Indian movement . In the course of his life he held chairs at various universities in California and Europe (including Warwick , Oxford and Essex in Great Britain, Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands)

Throughout his life, Forbes campaigned for the establishment of Indian cultures in the sciences and for better study opportunities for young Indians. In 1966 he gave the decisive impetus for the "Tribal College Movement", an initiative to found tribal universities on Indian land. In 1970 he was one of the founders of the (temporarily dissolved) DQ University (Deganawidah Quetzalcoatl University) in California. This college offers Indians a two-year course that teaches academic knowledge using alternative methods rooted in traditional cultures, religions and values. In 1975 Robert Redford was able to win him over to work on the documentary "Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain", which deals with the struggle of the Western Shoshone Indians in Nevada for the recovery of their land titles collected by the US Indian authorities . In a controversial documentary from the early 1990s that a.o. a. dealt with the history of the university and alleged machinations of the US government to prevent the school, Jack D. Forbes represents the Indian view of things in an extensive interview. (The film was only partially broadcast because it was banned by law.)

The Wétiko philosophy

Forbes' worldview goes harshly against Western civilization . According to his relentless analysis, the history of Europeans is inextricably linked with a fascination for evil , which he called "Mátchi syndrome" ( Cree dialect for diabolical depravity ). This leads to a lack of empathy and, as a logical consequence, to egoism, greed and violence. The imperialism have spread this trait world, one that by the largest epidemic could speak of humanity, the "Wétiko- psychosis " (spelling also: Wi'tiko). Forbes also chose a word from a Cree dialect here. (Originally the Wétiko disease referred to a psychotic greed for human flesh among the Canadian Indians, which was mainly caused by long starvation in winter.) The Cree word stands for such a sick person or for an evil spirit, the other creatures terrorized with diabolical acts up to cannibalism. The association with cannibalism - that is, the "consumption of conspecifics" - relates the Indian professor to the legalized excesses of the capitalist market economy , which goes hand in hand with the ruthless exploitation and domination of man and nature in all conceivable forms.

Forbes puts the global social problems such as poverty and homelessness, hunger and suffering as well as the destruction of the environment in the context of the western form of society that calls itself “ civilized ” and “ cultivated ”, “ free ” and “ social ”. In fact, however , the capitalist would ruthlessly consume the property, health and life of others in order to live well without having to do much for it himself - although as a rule not directly, but via a chain of effects in the system . This is anything but civilized and rather comparable to a degenerate form of cannibalism. In Forbes' view, the negative aspects of the modern world have taken on enormous proportions globally and have shown a tendency to further intensify. From this he concludes that the system or the people as responsible acting subjects are ill.

Forbes cites the unimaginable mass murders of millions of indigenous people in Africa, North and South America, the Holocaust , the Inquisition and others as evidence for his theses . v. a. historical events of "visibly pathological inhumanity" on. With countless quotes he proves the racism and arrogance of Europeans with which they would put themselves above everyone else. So he calls u. a. on the pedagogues Paulo Freire ("Pedagogy of the Oppressed", 1970), Frantz Fanon ("The Damned of this Earth", 1961), Claude Lévi-Strauss (" Sad Tropics ", 1955) or B. Traven . For the Indian worldview, he cites well-known personalities such as Black Elk or Lame Deer.

Forbes describes the unaffected indigenous cultures as respectful of the entire world, borne by the insight that the individual can only survive as a member of a networked community of people and a healthy environment. Since the Wétiko epidemic is contagious, many traditional peoples have already been infected. The Europeans achieved this on the one hand by making their own lifestyle palatable and promising material advantages that would then increasingly be tied to ever new obligations, and on the other hand with the help of the church, which legalized the Christian values of greed, power and Abuse the pursuit of profit.

Forbes does not describe a solution to the dilemma in his work, but only hopes for a "healing through insight".

The "Wétiko epidemic" is viewed by some supporters of the anti-civilization movement as a "manifesto".

Publications

  • "Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wétiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism" , Seven Stories Press (2008), ISBN 1-58322-781-4 (German translation: "Columbus and other cannibals. The Indian view of things" and "The Wétiko epidemic. An Indian philosophy of aggression and violence" - 1981)
  • "The American Discovery of Europe" , University of Illinois Press (2007), ISBN 0-252-03152-0
  • "Only Approved Indians: Stories," University of Oklahoma Press (1995), ISBN 0-8061-2699-X
  • "Apache, Navaho and Spaniard," University of Oklahoma Press (1994), ISBN 0-8061-2686-8
  • "Africans and Native Americans" (1993), ISBN 0-252-06321-X

Awards

  • Before Columbus Foundation: "American Book Award" for his life's work (1997)
  • Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers: "Writer of the Year" (1999)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Entries on the Davis University homepage from September 25, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nas.ucdavis.edu
  2. ^ Dieter Haller (text), Bernd Rodekohr (illustrations): Dtv-Atlas Ethnologie . 2nd Edition. dtv, Munich 2010, p. 107
  3. ↑ "In memoriam Jack D. Forbes (1934–2011)" article in the Action Group Indians and Human Rights # Publications | COYOTE No. 91 / autumn 2011
personal data
SURNAME Forbes, Jack D.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, scientist, and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH California
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 2011