30 November 2008

INCOMING!!!

"Culture is not destiny, especially when that culture is frozen in time."

"This is the argument of 'Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry', a newly-released book by two academics that is making waves within the academic world."

"In the work, Frances Widdowson, a political scientist, and Albert Howard, a former government and aboriginal group consultant, suggest that indigenous peoples did not exist at the same level of social and cultural development as Europeans when they first encountered each other."

"Even more controversially, they suggest many pre-modern characteristics of indigenous societies still exist in First Nation communities today and prevent them from integrating into modern society and succeeding."

"This, they argue, is the problem confronting First Nations today: they need to catch up culturally."