Microlecture 1 Part A

    I thought this first microlecture was very interesting. Overall, Native American history is a significant gap in my historical knowledge. We had one unit about California tribes, and then we briefly discussed them throughout the course of my US history course. Still, I really didn't learn much about indigenous culture or spend an extensive period of time focused on Native Americans.

    I think this lack of knowledge was revealed when the Microlecture discussed the "John Smith Problem," or that European settlers really didn't know what they were seeing. This is best exemplified through the story of Pocahontas, which the European completely misinterpreted. This was rather surprising for me, because I had grown up watching the Disney movie and it was low-key traumatizing to hear that this movie I grew up watching didn't really happen. I think this problem still happens today, as a lot of the causes of this issue seemed very familiar in our modern context. Americans still have these preconceived notions about Native people, stereotypes that Tommy Orange seems to address in his novel There There. I do think this problem is getting better, as the celebration of Indigenous People Day allowed Native Americans to express their own stories and cultures.

    Another part of the microlecture that was intriguing to me was the existence of one or two possible large Native cities. I think most of us had this idea that indigenous people lived in teepees or wood cabins, so I was surprised to hear that sprawling, sophisticated cities like Cahokia existed. Overall, I think this microlecture and There There are seriously challenging my earlier notions of Native American culture.