Guns Germs and Steel and American History

¶ … Cultural Change:

Guns, Germs and Steel vs. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology

As indicated by the title of Jared Diamond's book and the films based on his text Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond takes a relatively fatalistic view of how the environment impacts human culture. From Diamond's perspective, history is shaped through the influences of biological phenomena and changes in technology. For example, the fact that the native inhabitants of Central America had no immunological resistance to the diseases like smallpox carried by the conquistadors, the history of the world was changed. Europeans had some immunological resistance because they lived in close proximity to their livestock while the Incas did not. They also had superior technology: "political competition within Europe fueled a medieval arms race. Pizarro's conquistadors were armed with the latest and greatest in weapons technology -- guns, and swords. The Inca, by comparison, had never worked iron or discovered the uses of gunpowder" (Diamond).

In contrast, Holly Peters-Golden's textbook Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology emphasizes the adaptability of culture to deal with change. In Diamond's example, cultural adaptability was impossible and the Incas were decimated when the conquistador's presence changed the environment in which they were located. Although Diamond does not absolve the Spaniards of all blame, on the other hand he does not view colonialism in moral terms like some authors. The genocide of the Incans was biological and to some degree unintentional in his presentation (although the conquistadors clearly were looking to enrich themselves on their expedition and conquer the natives, the genocide which occurred was mainly due to disease).

In contrast, the textbook suggests that culture can be flexible when necessary to sustain a people. A useful point of comparison is the African reaction to the AIDS crisis, another example of how disease has shaped and changed the cultural history of a people. However, in the case of the textbook, the focus is on how indigenous people themselves filter a modern disease through their traditional worldview. The Zande interpret HIV / AIDS as witchcraft, given that it is impossible to tell if someone is bewitched or is infected simply by looking at them. Some traditional practices have proven to be barriers in containing HIV / AIDS transmission, including a reluctance to suspend sexual intercourse although the Zande do largely understand that it can be transmitted through infected fluids like semen and blood. There is also a reluctance to use condoms.

Beliefs versus biology in this analysis are shaping the trajectory of history: although the same disease is afflicting both America and Africa, different belief systems determine how the epidemic is dealt with by people. Women's rights, inter-tribal conflicts, corrupt governments, and resistance to education can all make fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa much harder than in the West, along with impeded access to Western medicines. In Golden's portrayal, beliefs about illness are what matter; in Diamond's example, the Incan belief in their cultural superiority meant very little given their inability to overcome the superior European weaponry combined with the biology of smallpox and other illnesses.