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There might be several ways to analyze Isenberg’s work, but right away I thought of recent class discussions. Who are the actors? Was the destruction of the bison inevitable? Through determining the actors, we can determine if the relationships among the actors led to an unavoidable event. I propose four actors in this scenario: the bison, horses, the environment, and humans (those whom Isenberg calls “Euroamericans” and “Indians”). On a side note, I have an issue with using these terms. I think Isenberg needs to use either “Europeans” or “Americans”. However, he might have found it difficult to differentiate between the two during the period he talks about. I think “natives” is much more appropriate term to be used than “Indians”; therefore, I will use “natives” throughout my post.
I think the destruction of the bison was inevitable. Europeans brought the horse. As Chelsea said in her post last week, “It is within human nature to value tradition.” Horses and other important necessities for life in the Old World were beneficial to Europeans and their existence in the New World. Old World morals were not the only traditions to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, the bison was at the bottom of the chain (even below the native).The bison had terrible relationships not only with humans but also with horses and the environment. Since many natives depended on the bison for survival, an invention or improvement of their hunting system seemed beneficial to them.
Europeans brought the horse and passed the use of the horse down to natives. With the introduction of the horse arose competition between the horse and the bison. These two competed for water and food. In way, the competition between the horse and the bison is much like the competition between natives and Europeans (I even find myself being conflicted on which term to use). All of these relationships were then exacerbated by the environment. I challenge many of you to think about this last section of my post.