Bob is clear on this Ron, He knew he was not qualified anthropologically to talk about Indian culture - he wanted to be, wanted that to be the explicit subject of his second book for a long time.
His relationship with Verne Dusenberry (and Laverne Madigan) - Verne "had the knack of interacting with the Indians on their level" he didn't - was his only real foot in that door. Verne had then and subsequently wider direct experience of Indian cultures than the Lame Deer reservation visits. (No interaction, no real experience.) I think what you identify here though, your main point, is the "generalization based on a (necessarily) limited perception". I think generalization is OK provided you know why and how you're doing it. Like rolling some common general "traits" into the whole set of Amerindian cultures is OK, provided you don't then mistake them for one monolithic culture - multiple cultures with some common aspects - some meta-properties. Generalization is really about abstraction - elevating levels and slipping conceptually - rather than "lumping together" if it's done in an enlightened manner. I think Bob understood what he was doing. Ian On 7/25/08, Ron Kulp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > All, > > > > To lump all the nations of American Indian into one conception is a > fallacy. > > Every nation and tribe within it has varying language and social morals > and customs. > > > > As I know of, Robert Pirsig only spent ONE evening at a sacred ritual > usually reserved for > > social members only. Pirsigs assumptions are loosely based about a > culture he new little about > > in a personal experience kind of way. > > > > I would not accredit him as any kind of an authority on native culture. > But his insights about > > this fact are on the money, which is the point of Lila. > > > > He' doesn't know diddly about women either but he wrote about Lila, > which illustrated his point > > that we really do not know anything about anyone but ourselves. What we > THINK we know > > is predicated on preconception. > > > > So unless you are native and live on the res, and are immersed in the > culture then there is'nt ahell of a lot > > for you to say accurately ..is there? > > > > > > > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
