Compare and Contrast “1491” and The Future of the Past

History is the record of the rise and fall of civilizations. Throughout history migrating tribes have enter new regions in search of territory in which to conquer either causing the destruction or enslavement of the inhabitants. In similar fashion the Europeans conquered the Western Hemisphere along with the rest of the world. As has been said the winners write the history books and for several hundred years the conquerors have dominated the book market looking at the Indians prior to Columbus as “savages” who needed to be civilized. Recently paradigm shift has begun among archeologist and anthropologists questioning the currently accepted model about the population and development of the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of Columbus.

After the arrival of the first Europeans the spread of disease began to destroy the Indian populations of the Western Hemisphere. As the Mann notes, “The Spaniards arrived and the Indians died – in huge numbers.” Smallpox arrived in 1525; caused by a single Spaniard caused the death of half the Inca Empire. This plague was followed in succession by typhoid, bubonic plague, influenza and many more diseases, of which the native peoples had developed no immunity against.

Both the article and the book discuss how man effects his environment. Mann quotes Charles Kay of Utah State that humankind is the “keystone species” everywhere. In Stille this keystone species is played out in Madagascar. Humans have destroyed 80% of the rain forest along with many animal species. Humans are attempting to develop national parks to protect the forest and the remaining species.

In Madagascar man has done similar things to what the Indians may have done; burning out areas for farming or to manage the forests. Unlike the Indians, who seemed to have managed the land with great care and a deliberate plan of action the people of Madagascar have been more inclined toward a scorched earth policy. An example maybe how the Indians created a neo-tropical landscape on part of Amazon River before the Spanish arrival is reminiscent of attempts that are being made to clean up the Ganges River in India by creating a pond system that will filter the human waste from Varanasi. Showing that humans continue to develop the “wilderness” for their own purposes rather than allowing nature to control humans.

Both Mann and Stille focus upon the disagreements that exist within the scientific community about how we view the past and how best to manage the past. In the Western Hemisphere the view of the past is changing from a savage place with unoccupied territory to a place where the people had built a prosperous civilization that was destroyed by disease. Some see it as a clash of Neolithic civilizations that had both started 10,000 years earlier. Similarly in China the past in looked upon as a means to achieve financial gains. In Sicily, tomb raiders steal treasure and sell on the black market. The Western view is the past needs to be revered not be used for personal or national gain. But in order to preserve the past nations, such as Egypt, are depended upon those who would view the past in non-scientific ways. Egypt is depended upon tourism which is driven by those who follow people like Edgar Cayce.

Even as technological advancements have changed our view of the past so have new ideas that challenge the accepted paradigm. In “1491” Mann attempts to present a view that the accepted paradigm is continually being challenged whereas Stille tends to look down upon those who deviate from the accepted model, as with the Chinese view that the past should serve the present. As history shows what was once viewed as “heresy” in one generation becomes the accepted model in the next.

If I can make a book recommendation The Future of the Past by Alexander Stille. Stille is a wonderful writer who deserves to be read by people.

The Vatican Library Mystery

In 1997 the Swiss Guard came in and shut down the businesses that existed near the Vatican library including a coffee shop and library store. What followed was the removal of Father Boyle, the prefect of the Vatican Library. Boyle was an Irish priest who rose to the Prefect position in 1984 and had an ambitious goal of modernizing the Vatican Library. Built by Sixtus V in the 1580’s the Library has a long tradition of collecting books throughout the world and contains ancient manuscripts like no where else. In order to achieve his goal Boyle contracted with an American Iannessa who was responsible to license Vatican Library merchandise with the hopes of raising money to upgrade the Library.

The trouble started when raising money for the project Boyle and Iannessa contracted with Carver, a son of a car dealer, without seeking advice from the Vatican legal counsel. In his naiveté Boyle “loaned” money to Iannessa to purchase a new home thus began legal action that in the end cost the Vatican $8.8 million plus legal fees. Along the way Iannessa was able to sign license agreements with several companies raising money so Boyle gave her a contract extension. In attempting to kill the golden goose (licensing) the Vatican has refused to honor the contract thus causing more legal disputes. Many feel that the Vatican will simply settle the contract dispute so they can proceed with IBM and digitization.

Boyle died in 2000 but some of his goals were achieved including an air conditioned reading room and the project to computerize the Vatican Library’s book collection is complete.

The Return of the Vanished Library

In the old crumbling city of Alexandria, along the Mediterranean, a library is being constructed. Similar to cities in China, Alexandria has decided that its past is may well be the key to the future with the Egyptian government’s attempt to rebuild the Ancient Library of Alexandria. Originally founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. the city was the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean for many centuries only coming to decay as the centuries wore on. The Great Library was built by Ptolemy Soter, a general of Alexander, and his descendants to help legitimize their reign and contained the wisdom of the ancient world. Throughout the centuries the city experienced decay with only a brief renaissance caused by European investment, this ended abruptly with the Nasser Socialist revolution with the confiscation of foreign business. The quote, “The city is like the decaying stage set of a play that closed half a century ago, its actors long dead, their place taken by man and women engaged in a drama with a different plot and characters” best characterizes the present Alexandria.

Today Alexandria is an old crumbling city with similarities to the Pyramids at Giza where politics have taken the place of scholarship for control of the Library. With scholars being ignored concerning the purchasing of books e.g. 30,000 old books were placed for sale at $1 each because the Zahran, head of the Library project, only wanted new books. Originally a dream of both UNESCO and Egypt the Library has become a behemoth without the staying power due to corrupt government bureaucrats. In an ironic twist as the library is being built the Egyptian government his banning books that it deemed against its best interest or anti-Muslim.

In the end the Library is a dream of a few to restore the past glories of Egypt in an environment that places politics over cultural heritage.

Are We Losing our Memory?

How do you preserve the past before the records of the past deteriorates into nothingness? In the bowels of the National Archives’ new building exists the Department of Special Media Preservation. The head of the department is a Charles Mayn, a computer engineer who leads a team in transferring information from obsolete technology to more stable modern formats with the goal of attempting to preserve the past in what has become a futile battle. At issue is the stability of modern information storage. With the technological advancement of storage devices the information contained has become less stable, ancient clay tablets that were used to write information are on display in museums where as today’s digital storage devices need to be replaced within 20 years.

Hampering this preservation is the fact that government agencies use different formatted computer systems for database storage causing a logistical nightmare for the Archives, including the National Military Command Center NIPS database that is no longer supported by IBM, which contains herbicide records related to Agent Orange. The present Archives systems were not made to handle the amount of data presently being produced, e.g. 6 million electronic files a year from the White House alone. All the additional data coming through could lead the Archives system to crash; a system designed to handle 10,000 messages a year without the ability to upgrade to the needed minimum of 1 million.

Another issue that plagues the department is that everyone wants the data preserved but no one is willing to pay to do it. Though decisions will need to be made about what data should be saved and what should be allowed to deteriorate in oblivion. In the end the decision of what to preserve may depend upon popularity such as with Homer.

Living with a Dead Language

What is the future of a language that is no longer used? Since Vatican II the usage of Latin has declined from a common language used throughout the Catholic Church to a dying language on the deaths door. Enter Reginald Foster, a Carmelite monk from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Foster has been the Latin Language Department of the First Section of the Vatican Sectariat of State since 1969. Foster is a man with more passion toward Latin than for his religion, though his religion appears to be Latin, a passion he developed while attending St. Francis Minor Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was thirteen. A man who can best be described as a loud arrogant know it all who prefers wearing a blue jumpsuit from JC Penny’s above his religious garb.

Foster was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and for as long as he can remember he wanted to be a priest, when he was six he would pretend he was a priest. When he was twelve he spent a time being overly religious, counting all sins, etc; a stage many people experience in life. When he was fifteen he had decided he wanted to be a teacher of Latin and join a religious community ending up as a Carmelite monk. Foster has lived for 40 years in a monastery, isolated from the real world, on Rome’s Janiculum Hill.

Foster teaches Latin to anyone willing to learn using Latin from throughout the centuries, so students could be reading Cicero, Augustine, etc while learning as compared with the technique most textbooks use by making Latin seem as much like English as possible. With no textbook Foster writes study lessons (ludi) for every class on a typewriter with only capital letters.

At the end of each year Foster takes his study lessons and burns them forcing himself to rewrite each year and losing for history a wonderful study aid created by a lover of Latin. Though today there are websites with him material. In many ways the future of Latin no longer exists in the confines of the Catholic Church but in teaching students the use of Latin to help better learn the English language.

War of Words: Oral Poetry, Writing and Tape Recorders in Somalia

As with the newfound power and the present battle over control of the internet in the United States Stille uses tape recorders in Somalia to discuss how technology can be used to change the world. The man Stille uses to discuss this is a famous Somali poet named Hadrawi who currently resides in northern Somalia. Hadrawi is used as a backdrop to show the history of modern Somalia under the corrupt regime of Siad Barre and how tape recorders were used to spread the poetry of anti-government poets throughout the land.

Throughout Somali history the poet has been a revered individual because of the oral tradition and the lack of a written language. This power was used effectively during the regime of Barre who attempted to use Latin to base his new written language. As an example of the power of the poet Hadrawi and fellow poet Gaariye launched a poetic duel called the De-ley poems that questioned corrupt government practices, In “Debatiel,” Hadrawi wrote: “Where does all this money come from?” In the end sixty poets joined in producing 120 poems. The result was that the poetry helped weaken the state eventually helping to cause the overthrown of the Barre regime in 1991. “The poetry was more important to us than guns and cannons,” once again showing the power of words in creating lasting change.

Northern Somalia is a clan based society the new state of Somaliland was formed in northern Somalia. The central government is small outfit with easy access by all civilians; hence the jamming fax machine of the nation’s president. The new republic has moved into a market based economy that appears to be benefiting the people. Elected officials need a least 20% of the vote from each region (clan) of Somaliland, taken from Nigerian law that was found on the internet.

Hadrawi is not all together happy with the results of technology despite the fact the he himself has written a book and allowing his wedding to be videotaped he talks in romantic, Luddite terminology. The future for Somaliland like United States is new technology that allows the power to exist with individuals over the powerful elite which includes something as simple as a tape recorder.

Saving Species in Madagascar

Madagascar is an ecological masterpiece that has been brewing for 160 million years. Sitting between the continents of Asia and Africa the people’s heritage is a combination of both. Madagascar has become a symbol of the struggle that exists between the best way to save endangered species and the struggle of local people who depend upon the land to survive. The center of this story is the Ranomafana National Park with the main character being a American Patricia Wright. The park was created, with USAID money, to protect the various species of lemur that live in the area. The conflict arises due to the fact that after many years of being controlled by a socialist dictator Madagascar is one of the poorest in the world. The locals view the parks as an empty promises the have benefited the rich while leaving the poor even worse off including the spread of disease that is killing as much as 10% of the population of some villages..

Stille uses the crayfish to show the catch-22 nature of the Madagascar experiment. The forest has been closed to logging and other economic uses so the locals need to find income from another source. The locals began harvesting the crayfish which the ecotourists enjoy eating. The result has been the endangerment of crayfish. As a local villager Nobert Butovao says, “For us, the park means death.”

The thought that came to mind as I was reading was Kipling’s poem,” The White Man’s Burden.” It is the self appointed “burden” of Americans to know what is best for these people even if it kills them.

The Ganges’ Next Life

How best to clean up the Ganges River in such a manner that will not create a conflict with the people’s Hindu beliefs is the essence of this chapter. Stille is exploring the conflict that exists between religion and science using a Hindu setting. Presently the river is dangerously high in fecal coli form caused by the dumping of human waste directly into the river by Varansi and other major cities along the river. The Hindu views the Ganges as a goddess “Maa Ganga.” Located on the river is the holy city of Varansi, the “chief center of Hindu learning and culture”. The story centers on a man by the name of Mishra who is both a holy man of one of the principal temples of Varansi and a professor of hydraulic engineering at Baharas Hindu University.

Because the river is viewed in such a holy way people journey to the river to dip themselves and drink from it to cleanses their sins. This is causing major health concerns due the dumping of human waste. Recently the Indian government has made attempts using European technology to clean up the sewage. The problem was that the technology used only makes the water livable for fish not humans. Add to the sewage is the human pollution caused by the dumping of dead bodies and cattle the river creating a potential crisis. A new proposal is being made to use a pond system to clean the waste water from Varansi. The Indian government is considering the idea but of concern is how to explain it the people using “Ganga is our mother. Come and see what is being thrown on the body of our mother – sewage and filth” as compared to “Ganga is polluted”.

Looting History

The looting of ancient cities has become big business for the poor in the area of ancient city of Mortgantina. Located on the island of Sicily, Mortgantina was the last Greek hold out on the island against the Roman armies in the 3^rd century B.C. The city lay buried for 1900 years until Princeton University began excavations in 1955. The contrast that exists is shown by a chance meeting in 1968 between Mascara, a tombaroli (tomb raider) who was raiding a site and Malcolm Bell, an American archeologist. Mascara has been arrested many times attempting to loot antiquities. What has been created is a black market in ancient artifacts that involves museums throughout the Western world including even the mafia. Stille goes into great detail about Cammarata who was arrested for smuggling trafficking of antiquities including to private collectors inside the United States. able.

In 1972 the United States ratified the UNESCO treaty making the smuggling of antiquities illegal. Museums, i.e. Getty and Metropolitan, have spent millions of dollars to purchase these artifacts. And in only the last few years have these museums become interested in helping to deal with this illegal smuggling trade.

Should these museums be required to return these artifacts being if not for the smuggling of these items they may never have been discovered. Some believe that the restrictive Italian laws are part of the problem. The laws have created fear among Italian collectors about purchasing illegal artifacts thus the items are sold overseas. Another question arises because the city of Mortgantina was a Greek city not Italian. Should the artifacts be considered Greek or Italian?

The Culture of the Copy and the Disappearance of China’s Past

The chapter is about Western man’s attempt to preserve the historical Chinese culture. It is a look at a trip that he took to China with an Italian named Cordaro. Historically the Chinese have a cyclical view of time. This view allows the Chinese to continually copy and rebuild the old with the new. The Chinese even have a word for this type of copying called Fu Zhipin. The view is in contrast to the traditional Western view that time is linear. During the Cultural Revolution Mao made an attempt to destroy the past with the destruction of several thousand monuments. This view of the past has forced many western museums to cancel exhibits of Chinese artifacts because the Chinese will send copies instead of originals. The preservation of the past has taken a backseat to the rapid modernization effort that China has been going through. In the city of Xi’an a school of art preservation was created to train Chinese students. The key word from the students was to make money. An exception was at Luoyang were it has been realized that the old cultural heritage of the region could be used to attract tourism dollars.

One are that the chapter touched upon was how the Chinese have traditionally placed more importance of the whole (i.e. The Great Wall) versus the Western view of placing the importance on the individual (i.e. Michelangelo’s David). This view is seen in the rewriting of ancient Chinese works throughout history. This view influences how the Chinese view a wholistic medicine compared to the Western symptom oriented view. The road ahead has tremendous opportunity for the future of Chinese archeology which is still considered in it infancy.

The Sphinx – Virtual and Real

How should the modern view the past? The chapter talked about a conflict that exists concerning the view of the Great Pyramid and Sphinx. The scientific community looks at the evidence using technique like carbon dating and concludes that the structures were built during the Old Kingdom. A second group based on the teachings of Edgar Cayce and similar types believe that the structures were built by descendants of Atlantis thousand of years earlier. What the chapter brings out is the conflict that exists between the modern and the past. There are groups of people who view the past as superior to the present, modern world. These people look to the ancients as the source for life’s problems. The Cayce group would be those people who believe the pyramids hold secrets to the universe. The scientific community is represented by men like Lehner who base the arguments on the evidence found at the sites.

The problem for the scientific is that in order to continue the restoration and preservation projects they are depended upon those who visit the monuments, who provide needed revenue, many of whom are there because they are adherers to Cayce or Graham Hancock types. Also, the merchants that surround the Sphinx are depended upon those same people for their livelihood.

Living with a Dead Language

What is the future of a language that is no longer used? Since Vatican II the usage of Latin has declined from a common language used throughout the Catholic Church to a dying language on the deaths door. Enter Reginald Foster, a Carmelite monk from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Foster has been the Latin Language Department of the First Section of the Vatican Sectariat of State since 1969. Foster is a man with more passion toward Latin than for his religion, though his religion appears to be Latin, a passion he developed while attending St. Francis Minor Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was thirteen. A man who can best be described as a loud arrogant know it all who prefers wearing a blue jumpsuit from JC Penny’s above his religious garb.

Foster was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and for as long as he can remember he wanted to be a priest, when he was six he would pretend he was a priest. When he was twelve he spent a time being overly religious, counting all sins, etc; a stage many people experience in life. When he was fifteen he had decided he wanted to be a teacher of Latin and join a religious community ending up as a Carmelite monk. Foster has lived for 40 years in a monastery, isolated from the real world, on Rome’s Janiculum Hill.

Foster teaches Latin to anyone willing to learn using Latin from throughout the centuries, so students could be reading Cicero, Augustine, etc while learning as compared with the technique most textbooks use by making Latin seem as much like English as possible. With no textbook Foster writes study lessons (ludi) for every class on a typewriter with only capital letters.

At the end of each year Foster takes his study lessons and burns them forcing himself to rewrite each year and losing for history a wonderful study aid created by a lover of Latin. Though today there are websites with him material. In many ways the future of Latin no longer exists in the confines of the Catholic Church but in teaching students the use of Latin to help better learn the English language.

The Man Who Remembers

What is the future of cultures that use oral traditions to pass down myth from one generation to the next when the influence of another culture is introduced? The essay centers on an Italian anthropologist by the name of Giancarlo Scoditti and his travels to the island of Kitawa in order to study the culture of the native people. Give the name Toruruwai, “the man who remembers” by a local sorcerer Scoditti is being sought after today by the natives to help revise some of the old customs that are being forgotten. Stille bases this essay upon discussion he had with Scodotti without ever visiting the island to verify the information he received.

Scoditti’s first visit to Kitawa was in 1973 when he was able to find passage with an Australian official abroad an old motorboat who left him on the island promising to return in one month but never came back. An experience he describes near the beginning of his island adventure was the spiral dance which led to a “nights of love” by the unmarried men and women. A contrast exists between the colorful description of Scoditti versus earlier “grayness” writings of Malinowski.

After the experience with the dance Scoditti began a period of depression in which time he was bitten by thousands of bugs, suffered protein deficiency and experienced illness. He was treated by the local sorcerer who packed his legs with paste to cure the bug bites and met Towitara, a master canoe craftsman. He was aloud to watch the creation of a ceremonial canoe including who a canoe is cut down and transported to the beach without touching the ground; reminiscent of Kula Ring, the myth of the flying canoe. Towitara would come to his dwelling at night and teach him the ways of the Kitawa and after much convincing the witches and sorcerers also began meeting him at night.

The Kitawan culture has been in decline. In the past the changes were gradual but today, like so many throughout history, the change is taking place in a more rapid fashion causing concern that the Kitawa culture will be lost. The man who remembers has become the recorder of a dying culture.