ANT 221 Final
When and why was it banned? What effect did this have on communities that practiced the Sun Dance?
(Banned in 1833 and renewed 1934). USA banned ceremonies and speaking in Native American language. Sun Dance went underground, demoralized communities, Undermined emotional security, disenfranchised medicine men and religious authority structure.
How did the deerskin trade, the slave trade, intermarriage with whites, and the changing nature of warfare change gender roles for Cherokee women? For Cherokee men?
*Before: -Women controlled the domestic economy -Women and clans controlled captives taken in warfare -Women were the heads of households, had sexual autonomy -Women and clans initiated revenge raids for "crying blood" *After: -Men controlled economy by trading deerskins for European goods -Men commercialized and controlled captured slaves -White men as heads of households changed domestic structure, removed sexual autonomy -Large, globalized conflicts made Cherokee men the face of warfare, women had no role
How might heavy alcohol use and behaviors associated with it re-inforce Indian Identity in opposition to white identity?
*Drinking serves a cultural purpose -time-out theory: allows a time-out from having to behave in an Indian way to vent aggression, anxiety, and frustration. -Career/lifestyle drinking: rejection of proper white notions of behavior and white time; act of resistance -laziness: mode of resistance to "white" work schedules --assert Indian identity against undesirable white identity -craziness
How do the berdache and the Blackfeet manly-hearted women demonstrate the availability of alternate or perhaps third-gender roles in Native America?
*Example: Blackfeet "manly-hearted women" -ideal Blackfeet women are seen as submissive and domestic -Manly-hearted women showed highly-appreciated male qualities >takes prominent religious roles >aggressive >Speaks out in public >Acquires property >talks dirty >passionate over *A third gender: the North American "berdache" or "Two-spirit" -Berdache has older, sometimes pejorative origins -Boy sex slave -Tends to gloss over cultural differences -"Two-Spirit" -Pan-Indian, recent origins (third annual inter-tribal native American, first nations, gay and lesbian American conference, held in Winnipeg in 1990. The term is a translation of the Ojibwe term niizh manidoogwa, tow spirits) -Emphasizes sexuality, in some cases spirituality -Integral, productive, and valued members of their communities -Sexuality not necessarily a defining quality: sometimes associated with homosexuality, sometimes not -Often adopted women's clothing -sometimes performed women's work, usually very well ~Valued as wives in some societies ~Zuni ihamanas were potters, weavers, plasterers ,hard workers, sometimes married men ~Crow botehs were skilled in women's crafts, respected, kind, "heart of a women" -Often spiritually powerful ~Warfare ~Healing
What is a basic difference between a monotheistic (Christian/Islam/Jewish) and a Native American approach to landscape.
*Indigenous landscapes -homes to deities and ancestors -in the great monotheistic religions: "God" can be anywhere -In indigenous religions: gods are tied to specific places -security comes from proximity to adobes of their ancestors, deities, and origin myths
What is the biggest language group in the southeast? What language group do the Cherokee belong to?
*Language groups -Cherokee -belong to Muskogee/Creeks
Why do Muskogean societies seem to have been concerned to control women's sexuality more than Cherokee society?
*Matrilineal doesn't mean more power and authority for women *Muskogean matrilineal society was interested in -controlling women's sexuality -using women to perpetuate relations of dominance and subordination
What does it mean that Native souls are often "partible?" How do Lakota Sioux understandings of soul provide an example? how does this notion of soul connect people to one another, to animals, to the environment?
*Navajo "partible" personhood -snakes are very powerful beings in Navajo cosmology -A person's body can easily get projected into the dangerous environment outside the body in lasting ways -The oil and sweat from hands and hair are heads become incorporated into rug, is exposed to strangers -chantway ceremonies can restore the disturbances in hozho -Association of individual essence with parts holds animals *Lakota conception of soul --4 souls Niya, Nagi, Nagila, Sicun -The native self is complex: shares a common soul substance with the rest of being
What are the differences in women's status roles between Muskogean and Cherokee societies, in terms of economic control, sexual freedom, punishments for sexual transgressions, political participation, and overall female character?
*Women don't work on a farm in Muskogee *Women don't own produce in Muskogee *Both allow unmarried women sexual freedom *Married women have no sexual freedom in Muskogee -severe punishment for adultery *Muskogee women's character -dangerous, immature, emotional, irrational, irresponsible, immoral *Cherokee women's character -No different from men; maturity, reliability developed with age *Women's participation in Politics: Muskogee -women were excluded, all clan elders were male, women could not enter ceremonial areas or council. Cherokee -official authority in councils, warfare, fate of prisoners *Child Mortality Muskogee -female infanticide; preferential treatment of male children; greater life expectancy of men Cherokee -No evidence of female infanticide or difference in life expectancy
How does this typical "western" idea about the nature of personhood/soul differ from many Native conceptions of soul? What sorts of things may be granted personhood in Native societies?
*persons in "native" thought: -Lakota conception of soul: --Four souls -Niya: breath soul. Primary animating force of the body -Nagi: "Ghost soul" that can leave the body in lie and death -Nagila: "little ghost": part of the larger animating life force of the entire universe -Sicun: medicine power or medicine soul acquired through sacrifice. --The native self is complex: shares a common soul substance with the rest being *Native American selves and souls -Kwakiutl hamatsa dancer -Hopi kachina dancer -grandmothers and grandfathers in the Apache landscape -Pipe ceremony of elk people
in basic terms, what do typical understandings of personhood and soul involve in western cultures?
*persons in "western" thought: -personhood in species-specific: you have to be a human being to be a person -A person has just one soul, normally confined to the boundaries of a single body -western self is unitary and bounded
How did the Cherokee become involved in Africa-American slavery?
-1600's-early 1700's: Cherokee "slave-Catures" raided white settlements for slaves to sell -late 1700s and early 1800's: some Cherokees became plantation and slave owners -Upon removal in 1838: approximately 1000 slaves traveled west with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears
What does it mean to say that landscape is an ARCHIVE for the western Apache and other indigenous groups?
-Archive of memories, stories, achievements, mistakes -acts as a prompt for oral narratives -tribal history made visible -anchors identity
How were Mississippian societies politically organized?
-Bands -Tribes -Village-based societies (SW) -House Societies (NW) -Chiefdoms ~Hierachy of towns -head town - 2nd line centers -3rd line centers -Villages
What are some similarities between Muskogean and Cherokee societies in the southeast?
-Both southeast culture area -both riverine agriculture -both hunting and trade -both permanent villages -both Matrilineal -both matrilocal -Both fields and houses owned by women -Both same clan organization
How does Bing's (poison) account of "Cheyenne Loving" associate Cheyenne identity and Violence?
-Domestic Violence is normalized as part of Cheyenne identity
Where were Cherokee Indians historically located? Where are they located in modern times? why do they live in two different places?
-Kentucky, Tennessee, the western part of Virginia, the western part of North Carolina, northern parts of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina *Now located in Oklahoma with a small group in North Carolina.
What is a chiefdom? What are four main characteristics of Chiefdom?
-Large-multi-community populations -Authority is centralized -paramount chief is full-time and hereditary -chief redistributes tribute from smaller settlements
what does it mean to say that some Natives have internalized the stereotype of genetic susceptibility?
-Many Indian people have largely internationalized the idea that they are genetically more susceptible to abusing alcohol
How do Apache place-names that form crisp mental images and/ or recall historical episodes help apaches to live well and "keep badness away?" That is, how does the local landscape underpin moral behavior for the western Apaches? You should understand the examples from Shades of Shit and Men Stand Above Here and There.
-Produces a mental image of a particular location -evokes a whole historical narrative -it affirms the validity of traditional morals and ancestral wisdom -it displays great tact and courtesy -conveys kind feelings and support -it offers practical advise -transforms distressing thoughts into good ones -heals wounded spirits
Why were Navajos alarmed when snakes were seen in the tribal administration building in window rock? That is, what understanding of themselves did it threaten? Why do Navajo weavers have similar concerns? What measures do they take to ensure their safety?
-Snakes are very powerful beings in Navajo cosmology -A persons body can easily get projected into the dangerous environment outside of the body in lasting ways
What are four main characteristics of pre-historic/historic Mississippian-period societies?
-They built huge earthworks, or "mounds" -Required controlling the labor of many people -Maize-based agriculture -far-flung trade networks -Shared religion ~warefare/ supernatural warriors ~Authority of chiefs ~Cosmology
How does the story "Oh my wine!" in the Poison Grows Next to its Cure reading dramatize Cheyenne appreciation for "crazy" behavior?
-Tragic situations become occasions for assertions of Cheyenne toughness and humor
How do Apache concepts of history differ from western concepts of history?
-Where is important not when -to tell history is to create possible ancestral worlds -should be applicable to daily lives
What were some characteristics of Cherokee women's roles in society? What rights and powers did Cherokee women have?
-Women worked in the fields, made pottery, baskets, clothes (smoked a lot) Cherokee Women Rights Economic: controlled subsistence economy -ownership of fields, produce, houses Political Influence: -Women sat in and could speak in councils Moral: decided what justice was -control over the fates of captives taking to avenge "crying blood" -Judged and punished immoral behavior in communities Sexual: -Unmarried women had sexual freedom; marital infidelity resolved by divorce Citizenship: -Only a mother could give someone clan membership
How might heavy drinking among Native people be constructed as an act of resistance to white society?
-career/lifestyle drinking: rejection of proper wgite notions of behavior and white time; act of resistance -laziness: mode of resistance to "white" work schedules -assert Indian identity against undesirable white identity
What is historical trauma? How is it used to explain alcohol use in ingenious societies?
-culture-wide traumatic stress disorder perpetuated across generations -dysfunctions like alcoholism are standard outcomes of colonial situations of suppression and political and military domination
Apache Concepts of Wisdom: drinking from places: mental smoothness
-deep knowledge of place names -revert to all of the place-names to deal with situations to solve something calmly -"Drink from places" to gain their insight, they are apart of you -places have moral force -landscape is not just a neutral background -Apaches hand their morality on the landscape- an OMNIPOTENT MORAL FORCE
What historical dimensions of alcohol use in Native American societies make it an especially problematic issue?
-emotionally a heavily-laden topic -charged because it has history of exploitation during colonialism -goes back to the fur trade -"drunken Indian" stereotype goes back to fur trade -no alcohol in pre-contact times
What is "craziness" for the Cheyenne? How does it relate to notions of the soul? How does it relate to heavy alcohol use? in this context, what specific cultural meanings does heavy drinking have for the Cheyenne?
-reckless disregard for one's bodily well-being -willingness to sacrifice one's body in prayer and war -related to "Cheyenne developmental ethnopsychology" -Cheyenne people have 4 kinds of soul: ~Ametane (having physical life,living) ~Omotome (something translated soul) ~Mahta? sooma (typically glossed as spirit) ~Mahtsehestah (heart, the center of the individual) --first two early age, later two older age.
How does Apache speech genre "speaking with Names" function in Apache and other indigenous groups?
-speaking with place names: an apache speech genre -speech genre: a way of speaking with formal syntactical and/or grammatical characteristics
How and when did the use of peyote spread? What factors were involved in its spread?
1. The highly mobile Comanche indians raided deep into the peyote homeland. 2. The federal government squeezed dozens of tribes into the same territory. 3. Native children were sent to boarding schools and forced to learn English
What are two examples of Cherokee adaption to European society?
1. they formed a new Cherokee government in the American style, 1827 2. They developed a writing system for the Cherokee language -The Cherokee syllabary -Represents entire syllables instead of sounds - The Cherokee Phoenix: The first Native newspaper -Helped give dispersed Cherokee communities political unity as a nation
What is Cosmology?
A culture's ideas about the universe as an ordered system and the place of humans in it. Typically homeland in center of home.
What was the Worcester v Georgia Supreme Court decision? How did it affect the relations of states and tribes, lasting until the present day?
A missionary was arrested for being in Cherokee land with no license. The Court reasoned that the Cherokee nation was "a distinct community" with "self-government" in which the laws of Georgia had no force. States have no authority over Indian affairs.
What adoptions and adaptations did the Navajo make when they came to the southwest? What other cultures influenced them?
Adopted weaving, corn from the Puebloans. Adopted livestock such as sheep from the Spanish. Influenced by Spanish, Mexican and American.
What was the basis of Cherokee subsistence? How did they trace descent?
Agriculture is the main economic pursuit. -Women did the farming -Men supplemented with hunting
How has the geography of Hopi land shaped Hopi agriculture, ceremony, economy?
Agriculture- Dry farming so no irrigation so required complex water management.grew. Corn, beans, squash, melon. Ceremony- Since rain was rare they had ancestral rain spirits of the dead. Economy- controversy over coal in their land.
How does information from archaeology mirror what Hopi oral tradition tells us about the Hopi past?
Black mesa is a perfect place for coal mining which would offer jobs and money but then would sacrifice the environment and traditional life.
What are the chantways? Who is the main ritual practitioner? Why are these people a hybrid of shamanic and priestly characteristics?
Chantways- a traditional navajo healing ceremonie. Hataali- the main Practitioner, he's a singer and an chanter. Purpose is for individual restoration and curing of hozho.
What does it mean that Congress has plenary power over tribes?
Congress has full power. There are loose restraints on what congress can do but no legal constraints.
How is this realm related to the traditional Navajo Home?
Every Navajo home is a microcosm of the universe.
How did traditional gender ideas of Cherokee continue to organize the Cherokee women and men adopted European agriculture and livestock raising?
Gender role: the cultural expectation of a man or a women in a particular society *question: - How did Cherokee Women maintain traditional gender roles in the face of change? -Federal Gov't said "iit would be good if you were farmers" *Answer:- -They continued to embrace farming and accepted government help with agriculture *Question: How did Cherokee men maintain traditional gender roles in the face of change? *Answer: -men rejected farming as women's work, and found other means to prestige: horses, slaves, businesses
What was the Cherokee V.S. Georgia Supreme court decision? How did it limit Indian sovereignty? What critical phrase came out of this decision?
Georgia took Cherokee lands without their permission, made cherokees subject to law, made it illegal for them to have a government so Cherokee took the state to supreme court. Supreme court says Cherokees do have a degree of sovereignty, but they can't be considered a "Foreign" nation. They're "Domestic Dependent Nations"limiter sovereignty. Independence lost.
What were the twin federal policies of termination and relocation meant to accomplish?
Goal: to get Indians off reservations and into urban areas and dissolve tribes and to terminate the federal relationship with tribes.
What are the purposes of a modern Sun Dance, and how do people participating achieve their goals?
Healing the sick, Seeking maturity, Substance abuse or Any kind of crisis. They benefit from the accumulated power of the dancers and the center pole. Community health and regeneration.
How did the twin actions of the Supreme Court's Ex Parte Crow Dog decision and the Congressional Major Crimes Act affect Indian sovereignty?
Indians have the right to decide what justice is. Indian courts have no right to try Indians on Indian crimes. "Major Crimes Act" made serious crimes under jurisdiction of Federal Government. (Lost their right to decide justice.
What components of Plains religious life does it join together?
It incorporates the sweat lodge, the fat and the vision. The Sweat lodge: is a dome are with steamy rocks used for purification. The Fast: Going a certain period of time without food or water. Used to gain personal power in hopes the spirits will pity you and give you what you seek. The Vision: The messenger brings a gift of personal power with instructions on how to use and maintain it.
What is a medicine bundle?
It is an assembly of medical objects that must occasionally opened and "fed" in the Sun Dance and used to show authority. "Feed" the bundle by singing ritual songs to recharge it.
What does it mean to say that Native American relationships to land and landscape are not generic?
It means their perceptions of landscapes are fundamentally different. They give particular spaces and places rich and specific meanings. Different landscapes have different meanings populated by spirits and ancestors.
What does it mean to say "the law is the corn" among the Hopi? Why is agriculture a moral undertaking for Hopi people? What does it mean to be hopi?
Its an expression of the moral code that governs peoples lives. (Growing corn = Being Hopi) Agriculture is a spiritual undertaking. Hard work embodies spiritual essence of the Hopi. Growing corn is hard because of their land so its saying it is hard to be hopi but good to be Hopi.
What are the kachinas? What is their place in Hopi ceremonial life?
Kachina- Ancestral rain spirit of the dead. They're the bringers of rain. incorporeal spirits that arrive as clouds 2. Dancers that impersonate spirits using masks to bring them into the pueblos 3. "Dolls" - Instructional tools for children - more than 300 Kachinas!
How does a landscape, in anthropological thinking, differ from what we think of as the "natural environment?"
Landscapes have multiple layers of meaning: Agency, intentionality; Life, Soul; Populated by spirits and ancestors. Native people map their ideas about the universe and themselves onto their surroundings and "domesticate" the landscape.
Where do the Navajo live? How did they come to be in the Southwest?
Largest reservation in the USA (25,000 Sq. Miles) (Mainly near Arizona and New Mexico). They migrated to the Southwest.
Who are the Puebloans? Why are they called this? What cultural traits are characteristic of all Puebloan peoples?
Lived in compact villages with stone and abode architecture. Had Dry farming but grew corn, beans, squash and melons. Pueblo means town. The Spanish were their first European contact (1540's).
Among the Apache, what does it mean to "stalk someone with stories?
Make sure you understand what you did wrong.
What is the difference between a matrilineal society and a matriarchal society?
Matrilineal: -"Mother line" -Decent, clan, property passed through mothers line. Matriarchal -"Mothers rule" -Government and political power are largely in the hands of women
What does it mean to say that Native American relationships to land and landscape are not generic?
Means they are not the same everywhere. Native Americans invest particular spaces and places with rich and specific meaning.
What is "medicine?" How can it be acquired? How can it be transferred? How does the story "The Elk's Bugle" illustrate one way medicine can be transferred?
Medicine is an expression of power transferred into tangible object. Acquired through fasting. In return for fasting you get a vision which can be transferred ritually Elk Bugle illustrates.
How have they mapped their social structure onto the landscape and made it seem like part of the natural order of things?
Mountains > Mesas> Shrines. The Principle reference points in the Tewa world: 1. 4 sacred mountains- spiritually privileged points 2. Flat topped Mesas- Caves w/ different spirits (dark) 3. Shrines- Artificial 4. Plaza- dances performed 4 times 5. At Center- center of centers (These are all places of communication)
What was the most important feature of the Indian Reorganization Act? When was it passed? What unintended consequence has it had for social and political dynamics on Indian Reservations?
Passed in 1934. Said tribes could create their own government. DOWNSIDES: The Bureau of Indian Affairs had approval over all their constitutions, traditional forms not acknowledged, "mixed bloods" took government positions.
How did federal policy toward Native peoples espouse different philosophies beginning in the 1880's?
Pendulum swing between assimilation (Dawes Act, Termination Act) and self-determination. (Indian Reorganization Act)
What is peyote? What is the Huichol peyote hunt? What evidence demonstrates the antiquity of the use of peyote by Native peoples?
Peyote is a cactus which cause hallucinogens when ingested. The Huichol are famous peyote using farmers of West Mexico. Rock art showed evidence of ancient use of peyote.
What does apaches mean when they say that to say place-names is to quote ancestral speech?
Place names are passed down.
Differences between Puebloan and Navajo Ceremonies.
Puebloan has priests who're sedentary agriculturists (Hopi society). Navajo have Shamans who're hunters and gatherers (Plain indians)
What are the basic parameters of Navajo life in terms of subsistence, settlement pattern, traditional dwellings, and kinship?
Subsistence is a mix of sheep herding and agriculture(maize, beans, squash, fruit orchard) They're matrilineal, hold permanent housing called Hogan. Turned into nomadic to follow sheep. Sheep was primary status marker.
Where and when has the Sun Dance been practiced? What kind of structure is involved in the Sun Dance?
Sun Dance takes place near or in large villages in the plains area. Happens once a year in late spring. Its a dance structure with a central pole. Pole represents connections to divine spirits.
What was the Cherokee Phoenix? What role did it play for dispersed Cherokee communities?
The Cherokee Phoenix was the first native newspaper and it helped give dispersed communities political unity as a nation
What is the Long Walk? When and why did it take place? How did it affect the Navajos as a people?
The Long Walk: Navajo forced removal to Bosque Redondo, NM in 1864. Caused by colonial conflict under Mexican and American rule. Affected Navajos by cementing Navajo identity as a nation. BEFORE: Political bands led by chiefs. AFTER: Bound previously independent bands together through common historical trauma.
What are the two major culture groups of the southwest that we studied in class?
The Puebloans and the Hopi. Most studied culture remains vibrant.
How do cosmological ideas define the boundaries of the Navajo realm?
The quadripartite shape of the Navajo world was created by first man and first woman as replicas of underworld mountains. Define the boundaries of the Navajo realm. The first realm was the first Hogan.
How do cosmological ideas define the boundaries of the Navajo realm? How is this realm related to the traditional Navajo home?
The realms were created by the man and the woman and the and is a replica of the underworld mountains. The realm is related to the home because it is a microcosm for the universe and it reflects the realm.
What was the basic unit of Cherokee political organization in historic times? What did Cherokee settlements look like around the time of contact? What is a townhouse?
They are town-dwellers: unit of political organization is the town -townhouse: center of public life and sacred eternal fire -Council house: -white council: elder men/ peacemakers -Red Council: younger men/warriors
What ancient characteristics of Puebloan life are found at places like Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde?
They had close-knit communities, Independence and water management. petroglyphs on the walls and masonry at Pueblo Bonito.
How do the Tewa order their local landscape in a cultural way?
They order their landscape in nested circles, the outermost with the highest status.
What are the basic parameters of a modern peyote meeting? Why do people participate in peyote meetings? What benefits do people believe that they derive?
They start at "dark thirty" and end at dawn. Purpose of meetings are for healing, prayer,insight into problems and life, benefits all participants, peyote is an animate force, a teacher. They keep a compassionate responsible life.
Where do the Hopi live? What are the basic parameters of Hopi life in terms of subsistence, dwelling type, kinship, and political organization?
They're Matrilineal and Matrilocal. Kinship- (woman and matriclans own the fields and the men work their wives fields). The VILLAGE is the basic unit of political organization • The village chief is chosen from the most powerful matriclan (Bear Clan among the Hopi) • Government is theocratic: chiefs and clans control ceremonies & esoteric knowledge. Used to live in "pit houses" (below ground) then evolved to the Kiva (above ground)
What are witches like in Hopi society? What do they do? How can they be seen in everyday life? What social function does belief in witchcraft serve for the Hopi? Why do some Hopi traditionalists believe that the Hopi Tribal Council are witches?
Traditionalist V.S. Tribal Council. The traditionalist believe the U.S. government was using the people to "finish them off" so they thought they were witches. Witches talk badly about themselves to disguise how powerful they really are. They can be seen everyday through crows. They believe witches turn into crows. Belief in witches enforces moral behavior because you want to be nice to the witches.
What is sovereignty? What are some modern day examples of the ways in which tribal sovereignty comes into question?
Tribal sovereignty is the tribes right to govern themselves. However there have been incidents where sovereignty is in question. Example 1. Payday lenders- These people give loans at a 400% interest rate which is against the law, but many are run by Native Americans, so they aren't subject to state laws. Example 2- Passport issues with a Native American lacrosse team, the team wanted to use their own passports but couldn't and therefore missed the tournament.
What was the Ghost Dance? Why was it practiced? What event was involved in its demise?
a religious movement that prophesied a "World Renewal," • Required dancing and chanting for the rising of dead relatives and return of the buffalo.