Acculturation and Narcissism: A Study of Culture Contact Among the Makah Native American, Part 1

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1: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/32477206/Makah%5C_acculturation-libre.pdf?1391633411=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DMakah%5C_acculturation%5C_Northwest%5C_Coast.pdf&Expires=1732843410&Signature=YxdgbxCe9Ty0sUV4DWmzrb6VRFsb0tGXdL42oA8MNJSwjJJwkCIzGPf7Ilp2FIA7wHUpFXDHPCYPV5e3xwkAW-7VTO5o8eh3lGJbzpWzHi69UVUk6JTJHgk5iYBKB7Vfx1fgUl24%5C~ya0GR71jw9X2VcFZdQwnmKU0zVd4lw45n2uAcaKIH9pEU3vWUf3%5C~TODAKXwXXS99WRGEUcaOdyTnSBuGjm0vMO1cPGgrMjMSAi3gK0nF00aQrGd6r3oECeiLMt3okGnPhXIMSx9LmRT6kMgnRIIjDOGxqASO-uSLQfewmj-Ommw4r2FbCnKjmndnyOPB7L3BGXcFITgOzTvKw%5C_%5C_&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

2: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/32477206/Makah_acculturation-libre.pdf?1391633411=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DMakah_acculturation_Northwest_Coast.pdf&Expires=1732843410&Signature=YxdgbxCe9Ty0sUV4DWmzrb6VRFsb0tGXdL42oA8MNJSwjJJwkCIzGPf7Ilp2FIA7wHUpFXDHPCYPV5e3xwkAW-7VTO5o8eh3lGJbzpWzHi69UVUk6JTJHgk5iYBKB7Vfx1fgUl24~ya0GR71jw9X2VcFZdQwnmKU0zVd4lw45n2uAcaKIH9pEU3vWUf3~TODAKXwXXS99WRGEUcaOdyTnSBuGjm0vMO1cPGgrMjMSAi3gK0nF00aQrGd6r3oECeiLMt3okGnPhXIMSx9LmRT6kMgnRIIjDOGxqASO-uSLQfewmj-Ommw4r2FbCnKjmndnyOPB7L3BGXcFITgOzTvKw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

3: https://narcissismresearch.miraheze.org/wiki/AIReactiveCodependencyRageDisclaimer

4: https://narcissismresearch.miraheze.org/wiki/AIReactiveCodependencyRageDisclaimer

1. The Makah are a Nootkan people who live on Cape Flattery in the isolated community of Neah Bay, Washington (see maps). This study suggests that the Makah adapted and coped well with Euroamerican economic goals; however, changes in domestic family organization, traditional ritualism, and language, engendered a loss of social and psychological cohesion in the Makah community.

1. Acculturative changes in Makah ideology, and in the community's sociopolitical dynamics had two effects: they reinforced the replacement of the Makah language by American English; and facilitated the expression of narcissistic behavior in a culturally uncontrolled, social environment.

1. A link is postulated between the psychosocial pressure of acculturation, and contemporary patterns of community mental health (e.g., alcoholism, domestic violence).

1. It is common, for  example, for Otomi men (State of Hidalgo, Mexico) to leave their desert homes in the Mesquital Valley of central Mexico and assume Mestizo identities, and social roles in nearby large towns or Mexico City. Their temporary assimilation is accomplished by changing into Mestizo clothes, and by not speaking Otomi. This temporary identity allows them the freedom to move between ethnic groups and speech communities with relative ease. Yet they can return to their Otomi homes and resume their traditional lives. Their successful ability to shift residences and ethnic groups hinges on their ability to shift their languages

1. In these urban centers, Bahasa Indonesia is the common language used in business and personal interactions outside of the home. The ease of a Bugis man in switching from his first native language, Buginese, to Indonesian permits his successful sociolinguistic entry into the urban, ethnically heterogeneous speech communities of Indonesia.

1. Furthermore, the Makah do not possess a "dual identity" as do the Otomi, Buginese, Makassarese, or Torajanese. The Makah, today, do not have access to their traditional culture or language; these disappeared during their acculturation as the number of Makah speakers decreased precipitously, as changing Makah sociocultural attitudes reinforced their social assimilation. Today, the Makah are in the process of recreating and redeveloping a sense of traditional, collective identity from the remains of their past

1. In summary, Third World ethnic groups, such as the Otomi and Torajanese, have maintained their languages and avoided the Makah predicament. Fourth World people, such as the Makah, may experience a cultural trap: they find themselves between an irretrievable, traditional culture, and white society where they will not be accepted (see Erikson 1939

1. Although whites were occupying gradually more territory in this region of the Northwest Coast (e.g., Vancouver Island, Puget Sound), no attempt was made to settle in Neah Bay until Washington's governor Isaac Stevens signed the Treaty of Neah Bay in 1855 (see table 2)

1. American English replaced Chinook Jargon as the trade language on Cape Flattery, and as English was pidginized and creolized, it replaced Makah as the native language in Neah Bay. It is necessary to stress that Chinook Jargon was not creolized by the Makah (i.e., it did not become a native language in Neah Bay); it was maintained as a trade pidgin, while American English had became a primary linguistic model for Makah children. The sociolinguistic history of American English, Chinook Jargon, and Makah will provide a barometer of the Makah's shifting social and psychological alliances (see Herman 1968: 492-511 for a discussion of language changes and preference for group association; also see Hymes 1961: 313-359).

1. In addition to these languages, the Cape Flattery people spoke Chinook Jargon (Grant 1945; Ho way 1942; Hymes and Hymes 1972; Jacobs 1932; Kaufman 1971; Silverstein 1970). This pre- and early-contact trade pidgin was composed mainly of Chinook and Nootkan vocabulary, and with the arrival of Euroamericans Chinook Jargon incorporated French, Spanish, and English lexical items (Taylor 1981: 175-195).

1. . Chiefs who were active participants in trading and intergroup sociopolitical affairs may have had speech fields (Hymes 1974: 50) that included Nootkan and Salishan languages, and Chinook Jargon (see Colson 1953: 53).

1. In the Early Contact Period, speech networks and speech fields of Cape Flattery local group members were broad; in the Middle Contact Period, American English began to replace Chinook Jargon as the lingua franca in trading relationships. Cape Flattery local groups were a complex speech community (Hymes 1974: 51; also see Gumperz 1962) that began simplifying its diversity when speech networks reduced in scope during the latter decades of the 1800s

1. This reduction in linguistic complexity may have been the accompaniment of the Makah's shift in attitudinal and value orientation from their traditional socioeconomic patterns to the socioeconomic and linguistic patterns of incoming whites. As this occurred, contacts among the Makah and regional groups probably began losing economic significance; the languages which were necessary for conducting these transactions gradually faded from the speech networks of those individuals who were active in Neah Bay economics.

1. In the latter case, it was assumed that patterns ascribed to Vancouver Island Nootkan societies were fundamental characteristics of Nootkan culture and society, and were valid patterns for the Makah. A compilation of these data provided patterns in Makah culture, such as economic, political, and social structure and organization, that were necessary to understand the cultural reactions of the Makah to acculturation.

1. (1) Economic Activity: traditional Makah economy was based primarily on sea mammal hunting (e.g., whaling, sealing) and fishing (e.g., salmon, halibut; see Huelsbeck 1983) and was continued, albeit changed by white influence, throughout the acculturation period.

1. (2) Class Structure: Makah society was constituted of three social classes - chief, commoners, and slaves. Chiefs were the focal point of subsistence, economic, political, ceremonial, and social activity of the household group and local group. Households were composed of individuals related through ambilateral descent and shifting residence patterns. Thus, while the central elements of social structure, such as hierarchy of chief statuses, inheritance patterns, village and house location, and subsistence area ownership were permanent, group membership was not fixed. Household chiefs were ranked.

1. The head chief served as the focal point for household members; he was the manager-controller of subsistence and ceremonial property possessed by the lineage; and he was the ritualink to the group's mythic history.

1. (3) Rivalry, competition and warfare occurred between local groups. Prior to the Treaty of Neah Bay (1855), the Makah Indians did not exist as a unified sociopolitical entity. Four winter villages on Cape Flattery and one on Cape Alava were the principal residences of the people who became the Makah Indians after the signing of the Treaty. Although local groups were autonomous politically and ranked their chiefs internally, interlocal group chiefs were ranked after the unification of local groups

1. The potlatch, for example was a communal activity among relatives; the principals were the hosts (i.e., chiefs of highest rank) and the potlatch giver. Commonly, children were the honored parties at potlatches, and through the event they received their inheritance, succession to high status titles, rights, prerogatives, and privileges. The potlatch was an enculturative mechanism, and the dynamic aspect of Makah society when wealth was displayed publicly for the purpose of increasing prestige

1. Jacobs (1964) notes the lack of satisfactory literature concerning mental illness and personality in the early decades of Euroamerican contact among Northwest Coast peoples. There are no specific data concerning Makah personality traits for any period in their history. Today, attempts to reconstruct aboriginal culture and personality patterns and mental illnesses, through the use of protective tests, should not provide reliable data because of extreme changes brought by acculturation in many Northwest Coast Indian populations (Jacobs 1964: 49; cf. Spindler and Spindler 1961; also see Barnouw 1950).

1. masculine feelings of inadequacy, which the individual perhaps seeks to overcome through aggressive, assertive behavior. At the same time, there is anxiety about the expression of aggression, and there are strong efforts toward self-control, tending to a compulsive form of adjustment, with some paranoid features.

1. Frustration in Kwakiutl culture probably involves cravings for dependency. This may be significant of the anxiety in regard to being eaten up, and of the outburst of cannibalistic impulses in the possessed youth.

5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqTMNdJem00

6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqTMNdJem00

1. Tension, aggression, oral dependency, masculine inadequacy, strong self-control, paranoia are suggested as characteristic traits of Northwest Coast personality (see Dundes 1979; Jacobs 1964; Synder 1975; Whalens 1975

1. The potlatch celebrated the narcissism of Makah (Nootkan) personality. Controlled aggression was the hallmark of the potlatch. Competition, rivalry, and generosity in gift distribution meshed in the potlatch; this institution placed an individual, and the group he represented, upon a pedestal during a rite of intensification for local group members (see Jacobs [1964: 50] for a discussion of the Blue Jay myth and its relationship to competitiveness.

1. The Makah accepted readily the intrusion and domination of the whites. If there were Makah attempts to resist violently white control, they were unrecorded. This passivity may have been consequent upon Makah anxiety and reluctance to express aggression, as Swan (1820: 61) notes in this brief passage: ". . . [the Makah] are as wild and treacherous as ever; and, but for the fear of punishment and love of gain, would exterminate every settler that attempted to make his residence among them."

1. The Makah conformed to white demands. For example, they assimilated easily to dress as whites, accept white economic attitudes and pursuits, and send their children to American English-speaking, day and boarding schools. Colson (1953: 17-18) notes the Makah's ingenuity at adapting native events to their new community situation; for example, they celebrated potlatches in the guise of birthdays. The Makah adapted well and rapidly to economic and political demands made by the whites

1. As white men took greater control over Makah affairs, it was likely that white men began to occupy cognitive and affective positions in the political conceptions, and symbolic life of the Makah. The whites offered new arenas for competition, rivalry, and prestige acquisition both among the Makah, and between the whites and the Makah (cf. Colson 1953: 201). This was probably the situation for Makah men who were especially individualistic in their dealings with the white economy, and took advantage of the new situation to increase their prestige (see Linton 1940: 37 for an example of a similar situation among the Puget Sound Puyallup)

1. The psychological identification that may have existed initially between the Makah and whites critically rested upon the concordance in Makah culture and personality traits, and white demands. The competition and rivalry of economic activity was familiar to the Cape Flattery people; they had been active in the trading network that existed between the mouth of the Columbia River, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and areas to the east along the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Swan 1869: 30)

1. Activities of a ceremonial or ritual nature were discouraged or prohibited. Any occasion which drew crowds of people for some purpose other than that immediately obvious to and approved by the observer from another society seem to have fallen under suspicion. Potlatches, gambling games, the performance of Indian dances were usually forbidden. The ceremonies of the secret religious and curing societies were first expurgated of features regarded as particularly obnoxious and then banned

1. Whites restructed and reorganized Makah society: they introduced concepts of property, labor, and jurisprudence; they disregarded the traditional Makah political hierarchy (see Drukker 1951, 1965); they ignored class and status differences, even of slaves.

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