A Multidimensional Theory of Colonialism: The Native North American Experience
Keywords:
colonialism, Native North Americans, political competition, economic incorporation, cultural exchangeAbstract
This article examines traditional theories of colonialism that emphasize material domination from the perspective of colonizers. It argues for a multidimensional approach that centers the experiences and agency of Native North Americans, highlighting their survival over five centuries. The study incorporates political competition, economic incorporation, cultural exchange, and biological resistance as key features of the colonial context in North America. It demonstrates how European rivalries led to alliances with Native nations, providing them with temporary leverage. The article also discusses the expansion of capitalism and its impact on Native communities. By integrating these dimensions, it offers a more nuanced understanding of colonization and social change, challenging conventional views that overlook the agency and resilience of colonized peoples.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
References
Alexander, Jeffrey C. Theoretical Logic in Sociology. 4 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Biolsi, Tom.Organizing the Lakota: The Political Economy of the New Deal on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992.
-----.Social Order and Political Change. Stanford: University of Stanford Press, 1992.
Dobyns, Henry.Their Number Became Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee, 1983.
Duffy, John.Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, 1953.
Durkheim, Emile.The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: Allen and Unwin, 1915.
Foucault, Michel.Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972- 1977. Trans. Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham and Kate Soper. New York: Pantheon, 1980.
Frank, Andre Gunder.Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1967.
Grinde, Donald A. and Bruce Johansen.Exemplar of Freedom. Los Angeles: UCLA American Indian Studies Center, 1991.
Habermas, Jurgen.The Philosophical Discourses of Modernity: Twelve Lectures. Trans. Frederick G. Lawrence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.
Hall, Thomas.Social Change in the Southwest, 1350-1880. Abilene: University of Kansas Press, 1989.
Herring, Joseph.Kenekuk: The Kickapoo Prophet. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1988.
Jorgensen, Joseph G.The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
Parsons, Talcott.The Structure of Social Action 2 Vols. New York: Free Press, 1949. -----. The Social System. New York: Free Press, 1951.
-----.The Evolution of Societies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Perry, Richard.Apache Reservation: Indigenous Peoples and the American State. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
Pomerscheim, Frank.Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Tribal Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
Rawlinson, George.Ancient History. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1993.
Skocpol, Theda.States and Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Smelser, Neil.Social Change in the Industrial Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.
Spicer, Edward.Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1553-1960. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962.
Stewart, Omer C.Peyote Religion: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Thornton, Russell.American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Wallace, Anthony F. C.The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New York: Vintage Books, 1972.
Wallerstein, Immanuel.The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of European World Economic in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press, 1974.
Weatherford, J. McIver.Indian Givers. New York: Crown Publishers, 1988.
