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Re: WANTED: A good ethnography on culture in the U.S.
Thomas W. Rimkus (trimkus@COMP.UARK.EDU)
Sat, 27 Jan 1996 10:08:52 -0600
Ruby,
1) You made a statement that you had taught and written about the
egalitarianism of the Iroquois.
2) Kavanagh asked you what you meant by the statement in light of the
revelation that some members of the Hodenausaunee were excluded from power
simply by being born into a particular clan.
3) You ducked the question.
There have been many issues over the past few months where you have been
active on a topic for several days. One thing that stands out in
your postings is the emotional commitment you seem to have over
suppressed members of our society. This emotionalism, while trying at
times to those attempting to make progress on understanding some aspect
of an issue, has nevertheless been consistent and somewhat energizing to
the topic under discussion. While I have seldom been in agreement with
your logic or motives, I applaud your tenacity.
The issue now at hand is: Do the Iroqois leave us a legacy of
egalitrianism or not? You have claimed to have writtin and taught about
this subject. What did you write and teach? Is this just another
example of a shallow cartoon reality (based on what we want the "noble
savage" to be) used to make an equally shallow political point?
If these questions are too revealing for you to respond to, I (for one) will
take your silence as an answer. But please remember that we are all
distracted from time to time from the responsibility to assess an issue
adequately and that shallowness creeps in where energy wanes.
Tom Rimkus
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| Tom Rimkus | phone/fax : 501-559-2863 |
| Madison County | internet : trimkus@comp.uark.edu |
| Arkansas | smail : PO Box 875 |
| | Huntsville AR 72740 |
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