Gv JAMAKE HIGHWATER The Intellectual Savage Jamake Hi He has written Aaanercan culture In 1978 he won the Newbery loner Aue on his book Bech: An American Indian Odysey and in 1980 herve Peace Pook Avrd fr The Sun, He Dic, a nove abou the on Az wo The book fom whic his essay is taken is The Prnnal Me Vision and Re- ality in Indian America (1981) ry ¢ Native American of Bckfot and Cro hea artis, as well as no amy reviews a is about Nav Weiss distance berween peoples nor space but cure When I was 4 child I began the arduous teks of exploring the infinite distance between peoples and build with a Eran: ntl ofNative Americans asitrtestoshe Gedicen of other {Sttestions had to underake this takin oder to sve se be bridges that might provide n This Perilous exploration of reality began for 1 in te Rockies of Montana when I was about five year ony One day I discov. aay Suonderfil creature Ie looked like bin, bur ws sts todo things that {pany other birds cannot do. For instance, in addicion fying in the enormous sky, itswam and dove in the the water’ silver surface. Tt w n southern Alberta and lakes and, sometimes, ijut loated majestically og ld also waddle rather gracelesly in the rall Beene rete along the shores. Tha bird wa called mechs which, in the mackfet language, means “pink-colored fecn™ Mekong ne seemed an ideal ame Jor the versatile fy-swim bird, since i relly did hans bright pink fee. When I was about ten years old y life changed abruptly and drastically. 1 Feet adept Plans because tay parents were damian as eventually daa adopted by a non-tndian foster father when wae parent was killed Ear to moe oe gate ound myself wenched ou of he werd ee . familiar to me and plunged without g Twa told o forge my origins and try to become somebnt a5 One day a teacher of English cold me Md dda mater that the word described the bed sot for me or that th Rar tst People had called it mélskats for thouardh ore The bird, Iwas told, was called duck, ‘DUCI dance into an entirely alien existence496 Chapter8 + IN AND OUT OF THE MELTING POT ‘Well I was extremely disappointed with the English language ‘The word veduok didnt make any sens, for indeed méksikats does look like the word wee Tedoesrit even sound like the word “uek.” And what ‘made the situa- veut) the more troublesome was the realization that the English verb “to {Juck” was derived from the actions of che bird and not vice YT. So why do people call méksikatsi duck? ei lewon was the first of many from which I slowly learned, to my amazement, that the people of white America dort se the sme things that Indians see. why my education in the ways of non-Indian people progressed, I finally came to baderstand what duck means to thent—but could nee forget that pable of surviving equally in two worlds by tenaciously retaining the ritual ap- Paratus of primal people at the same time that we were attaining the intellectual pnd communications paraphernalia of the dominant societies QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What does Highwater mean when he says he had to undertake his explo ration to “save his life” (paragraph 2)? +, What meaning does Highwater find in the word métsikats that he does not find in duck? 3, Highwater begins his esa with a discussion of language. Why do you think language is so important to him? 44 What reasons and examples does Highwater give to back up his claim people's view of realty i determined by thei “cultural package” (para fraph 14)? Are his arguments sound? Can you think of other insite eee cultural preconceptions might influence a persons view ofthe world? 5, Highwater argues that “the real humanity of people is understood! vefhural differences rather than cultural similarities” (paragraph 13), gnother commonly held view is that despite cultural differences, diferent races and nationalities are actually more alike than. that we all shaze the same basi needs, desires, and human qualities