From: William J Poser (wjposer@ldc.upenn.edu)
Date: Tue May 29 2007 - 17:45:07 CDT
I agree with Ken Whistler's defense of the appropriateness
of showing the pre-contact distribution of the languages of the
Americas. For most scientific purposes, this is the most useful.
At the same time, I think that many of the indigenous peoples
concerned will appreciate maps showing their current location
as well because they don't like the idea that their cultures
are of significance only in the past. A common complaint here in
British Columbia is that too many anthropologists think that
native people only have a distinct and worthwhile culture insofar
as it is their pre-contact culture. They don't like being viewed
entirely in terms of the loss of what they used to have.
Bill
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