Land Acknowledgements
Annoying
Ken Burns is an American documentary filmmaker, producer, historian, and writer. At least that’s Wikipedia would tell you. I think he’s a very popular TV personality who has produced several multi-part shows on PBS which chronicle and focus on a particular subject. You can find his body of work here. I like most of his stuff even though it can be plodding and have a particular political bent. I think my favorite was “Baseball”. That he is of a liberal mindset always comes through loud and clear. That is particularly true (at least through 2 episodes) of his latest, “The American Revolution”. I saw a review this morning from one of my favorite bloggers, CDR Salamander. I agree with all his points..
The part of the land acknowledgments up front reminded me how unnecessary, anti-intellectual and annoying those things can be. Here is the one Burns inserts in his documentary.
We spent a couple weeks up in Canada this Summer and land acknowledgements are pervasive up there. They seem to have invaded to the point that you can’t go to any sort of presentation and show without seeing them. The one on “The American Revolution” is pretty typical. The voice of some old and wise presumably Indian spouting platitudes about the land and what was their homeland. How they wisely took care of the land and were one with the environment. Of course the implication is that the white man came along and screwed everything up. Nevermind manifest destiny. Nevermind that if civilization hadn’t come to this land it would still be in the hands of nomadic savages brutally killing each other. There have been a lot of injustices committed against the Indian population in North America. That is a given. But I don’t see what perseverating on it accomplishes. I prefer this land acknowledgment from the movie “Bury My Heart At Wounded Kneee”.
Simply put, every civilization has conquered others. It’s a basic characteristic of the human race. Land acknowledgements might make some folks feel better, but it is really a useless exercise that ignores human history. John Dutton in “1923” explains it well.
I used to love Ken Burns’ documentaries. I even VCR’d the Civil War series so I could watch it over and over. He captured the times, the thoughts of both sides, and the battles in detail. Unfortunately, his latest work has become preachy with emphasis on his opinions rather than just sticking to documented facts. I love the topics, but I can’t watch his new work.