I am currently listening to a book on tape called, Sea of Glory, that details the US exploration of the South Pacific and Antarctica from 1838-1842. While the story is full of human conflict, fear, and peril, I have also noticed the clash of European Enlightenment ideals with native cultures on the islands.
The explorers thought of themselves as questing for knowledge. They were seeking to understand their world. Curiously, they also ran into a large number of natives who caused them to question the values of their own culture. Were the natives simply savages who needed to be tamed, or were the explorers the true savages who were ruined through society and needed to get back to the natural world in habited by the people on these islands. In fact, while some members of the expedition longed to stay on the islands, some did just that and were not heard from until years later!
What’s curious to me is that we see here the first chip into the European metanarrative. Until they arrived on the shores of these blissful islands, the explorers thought their world to be superior and their story to be adequate. Suddenly, they were in the midst of people with different stories and a different world. For years there would be a struggle to see who has the superior and/or true take on reality, but over time there has been a relaxing of the two sides and a new concept is introduced to Enlightenment philosophy: diversity.
Filed under: Culture
