The end of the trail: usurped culture and appropriated poetics.

Akash, Munir

Starting with Columbus, the inhabitants of the "new world" were exposed to various modes of devastation by European conquerors. In particular, the Puritans came with a preconceived idea about America drawn from that of ancient Israel: the idea of occupying the land of others and exchanging one people with another. For the last four centuries, conquerors--in what is now the US--ethnically cleansed more than five hundred nations, communities, and tribes. They were aware that such destruction and genocide were not enough and that it was necessary to also break the victims by undoing their culture and spiritual legacy. This article throws light on how the culture of the natives was usurped and how their discourse was appropriated.