“Short Account”- Humanity

“Short Account”- Humanity Name: Class: Institution: Date: Introduction Edward Said’s critical work Orientalism is a way of viewing, exaggerating and distorting differences of Arab peoples and cultures of the East, or orient, as compared to that of Europe and the United States. Orientalism sees the Eastern culture as exotic, backward and uncivilized. Said maintained that Orientalism creates and strengthens its own identity and superiority. It maintains that the European identity and culture is superior to that of the Orient, East. Bartolomé de las Casas was a sixteenth-century Spanish priest, historian, and advocate for Natives rights. He was saddened by the plights of the indigenous people in the Spanish colonies of Caribbean and this made him give up on his extensive land holding and slaves, traveled back to Spain where he spearheaded a drive to reform the laws which regulated the relations between the peoples. This paper examines Las Casas’ illustration of the other as obedient, faithful and submissive and also explain that Las Casas depicted the other in this particular manner because of the different forms of suffering the natives went through under the Spaniards.[Edward W. Said, 1979. Orientalism. 1st. Vintage] According to Las Casas “the other” to refer to the indigenous people of the new world, the island of Hispaniola. Las Casas portrays the natives as the simplest individuals in the world. The indigenous are submissive and unassertive. These people are without hostility, cunning and they are also totally obedient, faithful and loyal to their native lords and to the Spaniards who they provide services to. Furthermore, the native people are the most do not have the desire for vengeance and since they are also weak and frail, it is impossible for them to endure heavy labor and they die regardless of the nature of the sickness. Besides, explains the indigenous people as poor and without desire for the worldly goods and they are therefore not arrogant or greedy. The natives are docile, accommodating and they are open to doctrine and are ready for the holy Catholic faith.[Bartolome de Las Casas, 1999. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. 1st. Penguin Classics, 126-127.] [Bartolome de Las Casas, 1999. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. 1st. Penguin Classics, 45-46.] Las Casas constructs the Nativess in this manner to justify how different the indigenous people were different from the Spaniards. For example, the native people were welcoming, complaisant and agreeable while the Spaniards were hostile and treated all the other people inhumanly. For example, after settling in Hispaniola, the Europeans mistreated all the people living there. This was the first place to witness the arrival of the Europeans and importantly it was here where the people first observed the slaughtering of the native people. Las Casas explains that after their arrival, the Europeans began taking both women and children as their servants. Additionally, not contented with what they were offered with, the Europeans also started forcefully taking the limited food which the natives produced by their sweat. After realizing that the Europeans were not what the natives thought they were, People descended from heaven, the ...