Prompt:
What role do culture and ideas play in shaping human relationships with non-human nature in Cronon’s Changes in the Land? What does this tell us about economic life in colonial New England?
The British’s capitalism culture disrupted native Americans harmonious ecological relationship with non-human nature and changed it into an exploitive relationship.
The British came to the colonial New England and wanted to continue their lives as they had in Great Britain by commodifying land and privatizing property.
With armed governance, the British’s capitalistic culture was exclusive, preventing native Americans from accessing the places they are dependent upon for subsistence.
The aboriginals were no longer able to live as hunter-gatherers and agriculturists according to seasonal changes but forced to adapt their lifestyle into the never-ending competition of capital accumulation. The natural resources were therefore used improperly, causing a loss of biological diversity, soil nutrients, and sustainability of the land in the long run.
