The development of underdevelopment at Akwesasne: cultural and economic subversion

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The,  Jan, 1994  by Jacqueline Goodman-Draper

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

I

Introduction

MUCH OF THE EARLY SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERATURE on Indian communities focused on their inevitable assimilation into white society. Anthropologists often forecast the demise of indigenous cultures as they "diffused" into the "melting pot" of American society (Ralph Linton, 1940). While this theoretical perspective has clearly not been realized, it has also been criticized for its lack of attention to the material causes of American Indian under-development. It does not attempt to explain relations of subordination and domination between Indians and non-Indians, nor does it address their struggles for political and resource control (Jorgenson, 1978; Deloria, 1969; Jacobson, 1984; Talbot, 1981).

Such a critique resulted in another perspective which focuses on the relationship between American Indians and white society as one characterized by colonial relations. This model borrows from Paul Baran's analysis of colonial relations, (Baran, 1957), which examines the unequal relationship between developed and less developed nations, in which the dominant sustain their asymmetry by exploiting the resources of less developed nations. Andre Gunder Frank furthered Baran's analysis by creating the terms "metropolis" and "satellite" to define the powerful nations of Western Europe in relation to their economically dependent, less developed counterparts in Latin America. He argues that Latin America is a "satellite" of capitalist interests in "metropolitan" North America and Western Europe and that this relationship led to the "development of underdevelopment" in Latin America (Frank 1967). Immanuel Wallerstein continued in this vein in his discussion of the links between Africa and Europe. He argues that both are locked into one social system, a capitalist world economy, in which labor and markets are globally connected. "Core" countries with more capital, are able to persist as such by exploiting the labor, resources and markets of the poorer"peripheral" countries (Wallerstein, 1976).

Jorgenson (1978) applies this "satellite-metropolis," "core-periphery" perspective to Native, non-Native political economic history. This paper attempts to use such a model in an analysis of the Mohawks of Akwesasne, a reserve located on and around the United States-Canadian border southwest of Montreal. That is, it seeks to ascertain in what way the "metropolis," the concentrated economic and political power of non-Native society, has led to the underdevelopment of the "satellite," the Akwesasne reserve.

Underdevelopment here, specifically refers to the subversion of Indian values and subsistence, and the creation of Native dependence on non-Native society. The underdevelopment at Akwesasne is illustrated by contemporary socio-economic data on poverty, unemployment and levels of education where Natives lag far behind non-Natives. In Franklin County, the non-Native county in which the reserve is situated on the US side, Akwesasne has twice the unemployment rate: 18.7% compared to 9.2% in Franklin County. Half as many individuals hold bachelor's degrees on the reserve compared to Franklin County: 6.7% at Akwesasne over the age of 25, and 11.7% in Franklin County. Twenty six and a half percent live below the poverty line at Akwesasne, compared to 17.1% in Franklin County (1990 US Census Data-Indian and North American Training Coalition). To put these data in perspective, Franklin County itself was labeled by Governor Mario Cuomo in the 1980s as a county in "abject poverty." Despite such indicators of "underdevelopment" at Akwesasne, these data most likely underestimate the full extent of the problems on the reserve, since as is well known, many Akwesasne residents do not answer census questions. In an effort to explain these inequities, this paper attempts to unravel the historical underpinnings of European and American induced "underdevelopment," and briefly link them with 20th century inequities facing Mohawks today. That is to say, underdevelopment is a historical process. It began with Iroquois involvement in the 17th century European fur trade, and involved native adherence to Christianity and continued loss of Indian resources to the metropolis. This process is viewed here as continual; one which has proceeded well into the 20th century. Mohawks continued to lose their resources to both state and federal governments as well as to industry; forcing them into ever increasing political and economic dependence on the "metropolis".(1)

II

Early Collectivism and Egalitarianism Undermined: The Rise of the Fur Trade and Christianity

BEFORE CONTACT WITH WHITES, Mohawk Indians were an agricultural people--growing corn, beans and squash--which they supplemented with hunting and fishing. In fact, there was an abundance of such foods in the 17th century Mohawk Valley,(2) according to the journals of the Dutch Reverend Johannes Megapolensis in the 17th century. Upon meeting the Mohawks for the first time, he described their lands as a seeming paradise, overflowing with vegetation, fruits, game, fowl and fishes: