Native America and the Question of Genocide

Arguing the term genocide is too often used as a blanket pronouncement based on "a general sense of outrage and horror," Alvarez (Violence: The Enduring Problem) turns to Native American history to provide a more nuanced understanding of the term. Throughout the book, the author gives examples of the varieties of contact between Europeans and natives of the Americas, including those of the Aztec and Inca. In most cases, these do not meet his definition of the term genocide. The decimation of Native Americans from small pox brought unwittingly by Europeans was not intentional and therefore not genocide. But giving Indians contaminated blankets in the hope that disease would, in the words of Major General Jeffrey Amherst, "Extirpate this Execrable Race" is genocide. While Alvarez condemns the many massacres and resettlements, he does not see them as genocide, since it was not the intent of the government to destroy the natives as a race. However, the author makes an excellent case for the intentional and long-term cultural genocide of Native Americans in the kidnapping of children for the purpose of "acculturation." The governmental attempt to destroy Native language, religion, history and culture, even under a misguided belief that this was a positive, "civilizing" action is still cultural genocide. Alvarez gives a thought-provoking study that compels the reader to reexamine concepts that we too often address superficially. (Mar.)