Learning Unit 2: History to Histories

        The term history refers to a single overarching history that encompasses all events that may occur within it.  When history changes to histories, the entire meaning of the word is changed.  Histories implies different cultures, religions, and time frames which leads to a whole new concept when looking at history.  "To understand the dialectics in everyday interaction, we need to think about the many histories that help form our identities" (Martin and Nakayama, 2013, pg. 128).  We can use these many histories to help understand our identities as well the communication that we use in everyday conversations.  It is clear to see that the many histories created over time are important to intercultural communication.

       Native Americans were the first "settlers" of the United States.  Native American lineage traces back to the nomads who first crossed the land bridge from Asia to the modern day continent of North America more than 12,000 years ago(Native American Cultures). Native Americans are arguably the oldest culture in American history and have large periods of time where conflict is the center of the culture.  The Native American culture also has key figure heads such as Jim Thorpe, Sitting Bull, and Sacajawea. 

Native American history is entrenched in war.  The large amount of Native American tribes lead to fights amongst themselves and the threat of foreigners lead to more blood shed for Native Americans in the past.  A major turning point for Native Americans was the Battle of Little Big Horn.  This battle was the last stand for the Native Americans in an attempt to preserve their way of life.  "The Battle of the Little Bighorn has come to symbolize the clash of two vastly dissimilar cultures: the buffalo/horse culture of the northern plains tribes, and the highly industrial/agricultural based culture of the U.S., which was advancing primarily from the east coast" (History and Culture).  The Native American forces were lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse while the United States military was lead by George Custer.  The results of the battle saw the entire United States force wiped out and the Native American culture was able to carry on for a little longer.

       The shift from history to histories allows us to better understand culture because were are more able to understand other cultures.  "According to communication scholar Walter Fisher (1984, 1985), storytelling is fundamental to the human experience"(Martin and Nakayama, 2013, pg.140). Martin and Nakayama reference Walter Fisher in order to show that story telling is a main part of being humans.  Humans can use story telling in order to better relate with one another.  For example, a daughter of a Holocaust survivor may share her family history with a black woman whose grandmother was taken to America as a slave, this example is meant to show that two people from different cultures can find a common ground to relate with one another.  The many different types of histories allows for this to happen more frequently rather than if everyone had one individual history.  With this example and the examples discussed earlier in this blog, it is clear to see that "histories" are an integral part in developing intercultural communication.

References

History & Culture. Retrieved September 24th, from http://www.nps.gov/libi/historyculture/index.htm 

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Native American Cultures. Retrieved September 24th, from http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-cultures