Indian Country by Peter Matthiessen
"Indian Country" by Peter Matthiessen explores the complex relationship between Native American communities and the encroaching forces of American capitalism. The book reflects on themes of vanishing wilderness and the degradation of the land, portraying American Indians as guardians of a way of life that emphasizes harmony with nature. Through his travels across various reservations, including those of the Hopi, Navajo, and Sioux, Matthiessen highlights the struggles these communities face against powerful energy industries and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which he critiques for failing to protect their interests.
The narrative reveals a division among Native Americans themselves, with some seeking to preserve traditional ways while others aim for integration with mainstream culture. Critics of the work note Matthiessen's tendency to idealize Indigenous peoples, presenting them as symbols of purity while overlooking the rich diversity and complexity within different tribes. The book has been pointedly critiqued for its lack of anthropological context and for not addressing significant internal challenges faced by contemporary Native American societies, particularly issues related to identity and mixed-race members. Overall, "Indian Country" serves as a poignant commentary on environmental and cultural degradation, inviting readers to reflect on the implications of colonialism and capitalism on Indigenous lands and traditions.
Indian Country by Peter Matthiessen
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1984
Type of work: Nonfiction
The Work
The themes of vanishing wilderness, of a world in which humans are only an insignificant part, and of the rape of the land are all a part of Matthiessen’s Indian Country. In that sense, the book reflects concerns he has expressed earlier in his writing career. This time, Matthiessen tackles a subject closer to home: the loss of Native American lands and traditions. Matthiessen sees the American Indians as the last representatives of a life tied to the land and in harmony with nature.
Juxtaposed with that is American capitalism: big business taking over more and more of the land and destroying more and more of the environment in its greed for materials and profit. Most victimized by this voracious appetite, Matthiessen feels, are the Native American tribes, whose best interests have not been represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Indian Country begins in inland Florida, with Americans Indians in conflict with the American energy industry. Matthiessen then visits reservations in Florida, Tennessee, New York, California, North and South Dakota, and the Southwest. Included among the tribes that he visits are the Hopi, Navajo, Cherokee, Mohawk, Muskeegee, Sioux, Apache, and Comanche. With the help of an Indian “guide,” Craig Carpenter, who describes himself as a detribalized Mohawk in search of genuine Native American culture, Matthiessen finds people whose culture is dying, whose young people are leaving, and whose land is desolate and difficult. The people seem to be split into two groups: the traditionals, who want to preserve the old ways, and the tribals, who wish to achieve some blending with the white culture. Not only do the Native Americans appear to be at odds with the whites, whom Matthiessen portrays as selfish opportunists, they also seem to be divided among themselves. For Matthiessen, the BIA, which should work to protect Indian interests, is only another means by which these indigenous cultures and their lands are rapidly being destroyed.
Once again, Matthiessen is a moralist whose main objective is to alert readers to the damage done to the environment at the hands of greedy capitalist technocrats. Wherever he looks on Native American land, Matthiessen sees evidence of the encroachment of destructive technologies: Energy conglomerates steal or buy oil and mineral rights and leave behind a landscape littered with strip-mine debris, poisonous uranium tailings, and oil rigs. Matthiessen views the American Indians as the representatives of the way in which life should be lived: in harmony with nature.
Some critics observe that, unlike his earlier books, in Indian Country Matthiessen shows a tendency to idealize his subject, presenting the Native Americans as the symbol for all that is noble and pure, ignoring the fact that these peoples are not simple savages but are members of a variety of complex and confusing cultures in which the environment as much as the people themselves seem to be threatened. Matthiessen does not make an attempt to draw distinctions between the more than three hundred separate tribes, ignoring the very different social, religious, economic, political, and environmental circumstances that differentiate these peoples. The book has also been criticized both because he has chosen to exclude anthropological and historical sources from his work and because he does not discuss key internal issues that American Indian tribes now face, such as the role of tribal members living off the reservation or the concerns of tribal members of mixed race.
Sources for Further Study
The Atlantic. CCLIII, June, 1984, p. 124.
Book Sellers. XLIV, August, 1984, p. 197.
Book World. XIV, May 20, 1984, p. 10.
Christian Century. CI, August 29, 1984, p. 809.
Kirkus Reviews. LII, January 15, 1984, p. 86.
Library Journal. CIX, March 1, 1984, p. 477.
Natural History. XCIII, April, 1984, p. 82.
The New Republic. CXC, June 4, 1984, p. 36.
The New York Review of Books. XXXI, September 27, 1984, p. 44.
The New York Times Book Review. LXXXIX, July 29, 1984, p. 9.
The New Yorker. LX, June 4, 1984, p. 134.
Progressive. XLVIII, September, 1984, p. 43.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXV, February 10, 1984, p. 184.
Quill & Quire. L, August, 1984, p. 37.
Sierra. LXIX, December, 1984, p. 86.