Native Americans

Analyze and interpret the following quotation: “The confrontation of Western civilization with other peoples whose values were often dramatically opposed to the West’s…suggests that by the dawn of the twentieth century, the tradition and sense of centeredness that had defined indigenous cultures for hundreds, even thousands, of years was either threatened or in the process of being destroyed. Worldwide, non-Western cultures suddenly found that they were defined as outposts of new colonial empires developed by Europeans, resulting in the weakening of traditional cultural practices, political leadership, and social systems that had been in place for centuries.” (Sayre, 2013, pp. 410-411).

In the later nineteenth and early twentieth century, what would this “loss of centeredness” of culture have meant for a given cultural group? Select from among the non-Western cultural groups noted in the text (Native American, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, or African) and research the impact of Western or European cultures on that group.

What was the selected non-Western culture like prior to the late nineteenth century? How did it change as a result of European expansion? How is this change representative of what Sayre calls a “loss of centeredness?” Be sure to use specific examples and details.