FROM 'NOBLE' SAVAGE...:
This emblematic, stereotypical image of a 'native' from the mid 17th century conveys a sense of the 'noble savage' absent from Darwin's observations of the Fuegians, as consigned in the diary of his journey on the Beagle.
TO 'WRETCHED' SAVAGE:
By contrast, this picture of a Fuegian (possibly a Yaghan) from the voyage of FitzRoy's ship, HMS Beagle, shows a dehumanised type—a 'savage'— as construed by the mind of a European who, according to the dominant view of his contemporaries divided the populations of the world according to a crude dualism: on the one hand the 'civilized'; on the other the 'savages' or 'primitive', awaiting to be civilized to reintegrate humankind and the full dignity of human beings.
Captain Fitzroy's experiment to 'civilize' a group of Fuegians by kidnapping them and taking them to England where he forced VIctorian manners and values upon them, in all ingenuity, shows the limits of a religion of love (Christianity) and of a science of the origins which conflated 'evolution' with 'progress'.
Although a cultural distance remains in the above depiction of a group of Fuegians, a sense of their humanity and benevolence towards them prevails (visible in the way they have been posed and their garments re-arranged, conform to our taste for the 'exotic' and the 'picturesque'), unlike in the picture of the wretched creature presented in the previous picture, estranged from humankind like another Frankestein…
Ethnography's attempt at documenting cultural differences photographically resorts to a compositional device which highlights the distance between the observer and the observed, who is not yet the 'other' posited by philosophers Martin Buber and Ammanuel Lévinas in their ethics, but a 'primitive' awaiting the benefits of 'civilisation':
At a time when Darwinomania is running rife and as a profusion of declarations, publications and films compete to celebrate the achievements of the genius of Darwin, we run the risk of overlooking the consequences of his conflating Evolution with Progress when dealing with human societies, a conflation which is nothing less than a 'blind spot'…
As Darwin’s insights are euphorically celebrated, one may wonder why someone so open to challenging preconceptions about the origins of the species could get it so wrong (and conform to the crudest prejudices held by his contemporaries) when he came into contact with human societies which had evolved radically different ways of life, beliefs and values — in other words, a different Culture; totally different from that 'evolved' by the Europeans, but not less adapted to their environment and needs...
THE FUEGIANS: IN DARWIN'S EYES/WORDS:>
I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement. (…)
The party closely resembled the devils which come on stage in plays like 'Der Freischutz'.
Their very attitude was abject, and the expression of their countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled…'
The language of these people, according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be called articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds'
Compared with the openness and curiosity he demonstrated and the extensive notes he took on all subjects (mineral, vegetal and animal), Darwin noted very little about the Fuegians and the other human populations he encountered during his journey on the Beagle. Darwin's observations about their appearance, customs or behaviour tell us less about them than about the limits of his incapacity to view the 'Other' — 'miserable lord of this miserable land' — in terms other than those inculcated by his own 'culture'.
It is interesting to note that Fitzroy's kidnaping of the three Fuegians and his attempt at 'civilizing' them, prompted virulent criticism in Britain (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/mar/11/historybooks2)
The letters Darwin wrote after his return to England show that he relied on the information gathered by Captain Fitzroy (in the published account of his journey) and from the notes and observations of other travellers. Darwin subsequently asked travellers to make notes on the topics he had neglected.
This is all the more puzzling, since in a letter to ? Darwin remarks that it was a subject of particular interest to him; an interest that may have grown in response to the curiosity of his contemporaries (See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/mar/11/historybooks2).
The question I want to ask, here, is how someone so intent on researching the origins of life and capable of taking his distance from religious dogmas could get it so wrong in his evaluation of other members of his own species, and conform so readily to the crudest prejudices of his contemporaries in seeing the Fuegians as ' miserable, degraded savages'.
How could such a 'genius' as Darwin have failed to see the Fuegians in their full dignity of human being, as Las Casas had seen the Indians three centuries before?
In 'A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies' and in other writings,Bartolomé de Las Casas had treated the Indians of South and Central America as human beings worthy of our respects and denounced their oppression and massacre at the hands of fanatical Spaniards.
Las Casas devoted his life to the defense of the Indians in writings, petitions and in a famous dispute which has been preserved under the title of The Valladolid Controversy?
It is regretable that Darwin's oeuvre on human evolution failed to address and challenge the prejudice which led Europeans (Darwin included) to divide the populations of the world between 'primitive' and 'civilized'; reinforcing, via this crude dualism, a sense of superiority which paved the way for centuries of colonialism and systematic exploitation, oppression and spoliation of weaker societies — and lasted well into the twentieth century (and into the 21st, through the 'War against Terror') — an inglorious testimony in the history of our 'civilisation', which history manuals, politicians and religious leaders are reluctant to acknowledge and apologize for.
I launch this call for discussion, by unveiling this little Monument to Darwin's Blind Spot, which features a fictional encounter between young Darwin and the proverbial Ape; leaving you to imagine the ensuing exchange:
(Click image to enlarge)
Further readings
www.nativewiki.org/ Fuegians
Darwin on Line: especially his letters
Bought for a button
Katy Emck on the 'savage' stolen away to England to meet the Queen in Nick Hazlewood's Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/mar/11/historybooks2
