处女地假说与北美印第安人的命运

在白人殖民者到来前,北美印第安人已经在美洲大陆上生活了数万年,并对周围的环境产生了重要的影响。白人殖民者来到美洲后,一方面出于欧洲种族主义的文化偏见,一方面出于剥夺印第安人土地的现实利益需要,建构出处女地假说,并根据自身需要将北美大陆上的原住民简单形容为高贵的印第安人和嗜血的野蛮人两种非此即彼的刻板形象。处女地假说成为白人殖民者向西部边疆扩张、驱逐和剥削印第安人的理论工具。对于美洲白人来说,该假说意味着机会和希望,而对于北美印第安人来说,该假说则代表了种族主义偏见和殖民主义的罪恶。随着现代环境主义的兴起,处女地假说和印第安人的传统生态智慧受到热捧,印第安人也试图利用这一工具为其当前争取资源控制权的斗争服务,但收效不大。

Virgin Land Myths and the Fate of the North American Indians

The American Indians have lived in the wilderness of North America for tens of thousands years and had exerted important influences on the natural environment before Christopher Columbus and his men arrived there.On behalf of their Christian racial discrimination and for the purpose of depriving the aboriginals,the Euro-Americans made up the virgin land hypothesis,dividing the native Americans into two contradictive symbols:the noble savage and ignoble savage.This hypothesis quickly became the ideal tools for White Americans to expand in the Western frontier,to expel and deprive the American Indians.For the former group,virgin land means opportunity and the hope of fortune in the wilderness,while for the American Indians,it means racial discrimination and the evils of white colonialism.With the rising of modern environmentalism,virgin land hypothesis and traditional ecological wisdom of native Americans are widely appreciated by modern world.American Indians also try to borrow the hypothesis to serve their contemporary fight for the controlling of their natural resources.However,the effects are not as good as their expectation.