Blog 1: Cultural Death - Apotheosis of Captain Cook

Colonialism proves successful in creating a hierarchal discourse between different cultures. The overpowering of one’s cultural values by another follows the eradication of the culture that is being subordinated, a phenomenon referred to as ‘cultural death’. The book Apotheosis of Captain Cook highlights the dominant race (dominant only by its ability to exercise violence for power and control) which refuses to understand the people it is intruding and creates their own understanding of them. Therefore, deprecating their culture into whatever they understand from the surface and not taking into account what truly exists. Thus, the element of power often makes it less appealing to understand different races, it is easier to follow the interpretation that allows intruders (in this case Europeans or Cook) to be superior.

The only descriptions available on the natives and their perception towards the Europeans are Cook’s own accounts. This emphasizes the extent to which cultural death takes place, a whole race has been wiped out and is unable to tell its own story. Furthermore, mistreatment of a race causes its inability to survive, once the race is deemed inferior. Obeyesekere also builds on the deprivation of the natives in order to prove how cultural eradication is carried out. Cook’s treatment of the locals, shows his limited regard for them, ultimately leading to their deprivation. Their chiefs are made subordinate to Cook as he punishes and humiliates them in front of their own people, on their own land. These are examples of epistemic violence and civilizational dominance that eradicate important values of people overtime.

The notion of the “European God” also seems questionable, as it not only suggests that the natives idolize what is common to the white man, but also ridicules their entire belief system. Once the belief system is proven to be inferior, its demise is soon to follow. This also gives rise to culture depreciation as the European belief system now consumes the pre-existing ordeals. The very fact that the native culture was driven by signs indicates that they were rational. However, learning their signs was out of the question for the Europeans, hence, they took their sacred traditions as symbols that simply glorified themselves and nothing else. Their rationality was dismissed, in order to dehumanize them. Once the natives were established as the “other” it became easier to ignore their way of life. The less sophisticated and backward “other” according to the Europeans were forced into following the system of the outsiders.

Cooks voyages were said to be more concerned with scientific exploration. However, how can science help explore the traditions and values of those science itself doesn’t understand? Especially science that is highly influenced by European understandings of what is important. Obeyesekere claimed that myth models can be buried in cultural, social and political factors, but all these factors are limited to the Europeans, making them derive myths from their pre-existing notions of the natives rather than taking into account their rationality and independent thought. Hence, assuming themselves as the only race practicing logos they were able to dismiss the cultural values of the natives. Many Europeans were conquering native land through the Freudian perception of all natives as children. However, just because the natives behaved and communicated differently, it didn’t imply they were cognitively under-developed or not logically sound. Additionally, with this perception Europeans were able to impose their own ideals wherever they expanded.