assignment
jsx0202
chapter6bb.docxchapter 6 — Native Americans: from conquest to tribal survival in a postindustrial society
chapter begins with description of a Blessing Way ceremony for an unborn child. Similar to majority society baby showers, but with significant cultural differences.
NATIVE AMERICANS ARE NOT ‘PAST TENSE’
Size of the Group
- as per table 6.1 over 5,000,000 claim either whole are part Native American ancestry; not quite 3,000,000 for those claiming only Native American ancestry
- overall, number of individuals claiming Native American ancestry has increased in last few decades
— not necessarily due to more people being born
— now that the Census allows a person to pick more than one background, more people are choosing ‘Native American’ and ….
— also, today far less negative stigma associated with Native American, so more people are claiming it
Native American Cultures
- there is no, one ‘Native American’ culture
- many variations
shared patterns, cultural characteristics
- most groups depended on hunting / gathering, foraging subsistence technology prior to colonization
— some also had cultivated gardens
— also some evidence of cities
to survive on a hunting / gathering subsistence technology is to be dependent on what nature does / does not provide season to season; therefore some differences between Native American and Western perspectives (different world views)
- for a person to survive, the group needs to survive
— therefore needs high degree of cooperation, sharing to be successful
— end result: high degree of solidarity, cohesion
- whereas Western culture sees humans as higher, more important than nature; Native American philosophy sees humans as being equal with nature
— in Native American perspective, humans need to live in harmony with nature; no concept of ‘improving’ on nature or trying to put humans at top of a hierarchy
— Western society, seeing humans as the top of a hierarchy, see a need to dominate nature (animals, plants, etc.); leads to ideas of land ownership, land development (commercial farming)
- Native Americans do not have the same idea of private property, especially regarding owning land
— land is part of the sacred; one cannot ‘own’ that which is sacred
— when colonists encountered Native Americans each did not understand the other’s perspective regarding the land
— — colonists, with their European philosophy saw land as being owned
— — Native Americans do not have a concept of owning, buying, selling land
- whereas colonists brought with them from Europe an emphasis on the individual, Native Americans see the family / clan / larger group as being more important than the individual
- Native American cultures were, due to everyone needed and all need to work together valued all individuals
— stratification existed in pre-colonized Native American culture, but not the same as the stratification of Europe at the time
— in some societies women had a lot of power as compared to European women (in Iroquois’ society a council of older women named the leader (a man) and could get rid of him; this council of women also made decisions regarding waging of war)
- the concepts of not just land ownership, but also deeds and other legal issues were not familiar to Native Americans; they were more easily taken advantage of
Relations With the Federal Government After the 1890s
- ‘Indian Wars’ end by 1890, leaving Native Americans with few resources
— confined to reservations (too small for hunting / gathering subsistence technology; bison and other game eliminated; soil generally not good for farming)
— divided through western US; divided due to different languages, cultural differences (see figure 6.2)
— lack of political power – not considered citizens, not able to vote (Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted citizenship, but depending on state laws, not all able to vote until 1957)
— the US form of democracy – representative democracy was not something Native Americans were familiar with
- subsistence technology of Native Americans changed from hunting / gathering to dependence on a foreign government (US government)
- in general reservations (see figure 6.2) are in remote, rural areas; industrialization, modernization not available
- Native Americans lack the skills to compete in an industrial work force (know English, understand western work habits / routines)
- continuing prejudice / discrimination
reservation life
- as with African Americans on plantations, Native Americans’ relationship with US government began as paternalistic
— objective of Bureau of Indian Affairs – supervise Native Americans, keep power reduced, coercive acculturation (take the Indian out of the Indian)
Sovereignty – to what degree are a people capable of / able to make decisions in own best interests
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paternalism and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
- the BIA, not the tribes controlled the reservations
- controlled food supply, dispersal of food, pretty much all of daily life, the budget, the criminal justice system
- system gave rewards to ‘good’ Indians (were more like, worked with majority society)
coercive acculturation: the Dawes Act and Boarding Schools
- re: application of Blauner hypothesis, reservations dealt with coercive acculturation; culture attacked, ridiculed, efforts to wipe out language and religious practices
Dawes Act
- intention: give each Native American family its own piece of land (in Western tradition), so that families (not the clan or tribe) could survive if they applied Western practices
- on one hand, intention is benevolent; however, it did not take into consideration Native American cultures’ traditions
- even those cultures that had a tradition of gardens, their societal structure was very different
— in many Native American (and, indeed in many other indigenous groups such as in parts of Africa) women own the land, work the land, make decisions about the land
— the Dawes Act required the land to be owned, worked, by men
- another, non-benevolent intent was to destroy tribal social structures, especially the kinship / clan aspects
— then replace with Western ideas of individualism, profit motive
— when land is held by individual families, it is easier for Euro-American individuals to take the land
Boarding Schools
- children sent away from families, tribes, kinship structures
- forbidden to speak own language, practice traditional religion
- seldom saw families; sometimes sent to be farm hands, domestic workers with Euro-American families
— overall outcome – Native American children indoctrinated into servant class
religion – in varying degrees different tribes have maintained some of their original religious views / practices
the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA – 1934)
- in administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, under direction of John Collier (knew about, understood, wanted to help Native Americans)
- substantial changes
— Dawes Act rescinded (and other means of individualizing tribal lands)
— reduction in coercive acculturation
— increase in self-governance for Native Americans
— — role of BIA less paternalistic
- overall, these changes were never fully realized
— though self-governance was encouraged, it was still to be according to Western norms (secret ballots, majority rule, written constitutions)
— — above different from Native American traditions of: decisions made by a council; decisions made by consensus where individuals are encouraged to discuss (not secret ballet)
the Termination Policy
- many in majority society felt that the shift back to a tribal identity (rather than individual identity) was ‘un-American’, would not allow Native Americans to modernize
- also, rescinding the Dawes Act reduced the probability of majority citizens from taking over Native lands
- also various governments offered incentives to Native Americans moving to cities (job training, housing assistance)
- many tribes were ‘terminated’
— once no longer federally recognized the people in those tribes lost services, etc.
--- reality – from poor reservations with support to poor urban areas without tribal / family support
relocation and urbanization
- in 1940s (WW II) some Native Americans began moving to urban areas to work in defense factories
- though incentives were given for Native Americans moving into urban areas, over time the blue collar (low income, low education) jobs were also reduced
self-determination
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975)
- increased aid to Native American schools, students; tribes gain more control over reservations
Protest and Resistance
early efforts
- some protest since about 1910s
- modern phase of Native American protest can be traced to WW II
— many Native Americans experience life away from the reservation due to moving to cities for jobs and or joining the military
— 1944: National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
— — pan tribal (members consisted of individuals from different tribes)
- concerns with termination further fueled protests in 50s / 60s
Red Power
- similar to Black Power movement of African Americans
- more assertive than NCAI (National Congress of American Indians)
- AIM – American Indian Movement (founded 1968) – pan Native American Movement
--- largely unification within younger people in urban areas
- 1969 AIM occupied Alcatraz Island for almost 4 years
— many tribes come together
--- also media recognition
— based on a law that stated, any unused federal land was to revert to Native American control
— since Alcatraz Island was no longer used as a prison, it should revert to Native American control
Contemporary Native American – White Relations
natural resources
when Euro-Americans initially ‘gave’ reserved areas to Native Americans they chose to give lands that were not important to that subsistence technology
- that is, during agricultural subsistence technology land to support crops and livestock was needed
- however, as we became industrialized, some of this non-agriculture land has been found to be of use (coal, natural gas, oil, uranium and other minerals)
— therefore effort to take back these lands (one of the earlier examples was the discovery of gold in the Black Hills area (had originally been given to Native Americans as it is not good for either crops or livestock)
other concerns
-radiation and health (both at time of extracting from the earth and if Native American lands are used to dispose of hazardous materials)
- coal, other petroleum products
- land rights (ex: pipelines through / close to Native American territory – in US and Canada)
attracting industry to the reservation
- attempts at bringing manufacturing to reservations has had mixed results
— though jobs are brought in, the jobs available to reservation residents are low income, little probability of advancement
— management jobs are filled by people the companies bring in from outside
- jobs on the reservations are generally with agencies of US government (limited numbers) or associated with tourism (these jobs tend to be seasonal and low pay)
broken treaties
- some tribes are going back to 1800s treaties and asking for compensation for past wrongs
gaming and other development possibilities
- though gaming has been very helpful to some reservations, not all are able to set up gaming
— in particular, in our area, some tribes that had been terminated in mid 1900s are no longer considered reservations, thus can’t have gaming
overall: poverty is an ongoing issue for most Native Americans
contemporary issues
- though there have been improvements, prejudice and discrimination are ongoing issues
- since Native Americans are a colonized, conquered group the majority has created negative stereotypes since early contact
- between labor and land, the majority wanted land from Native Americans
— Native Americans were not willing to give up land and fought back
— thus the first stereotype of Native Americans as bloodthirsty, ferocious, cruel savages
- a contrasting stereotype is ‘The Noble Red Man’
— a simple culture that is totally harmonious with nature
— has been used since the ‘New Age’ movement
reality: both are stereotypes and therefore not true
referring to Native Americans as ‘past tense’
- one on hand implies Native Americans no longer exist
- or, that Native Americans do not have current problems
stereotypes in sports – using Native American images as sports mascots
- though some may say these mascots are meant to honor Native Americans, in reality these mascots are stereotypical characterizations with little relevance to reality
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culture and language – to pass on a culture the language of that culture must remain intact and alive
- in figure 6.7 we see that many Native American groups have lost their languages
religion – the years of forcing Native Americans into Boarding Schools began the process of trying to eliminate their various religious views
- these boarding schools were run by different Christian groups; Christianity was imposed
— despite these attempts, some Native American groups have retained aspects of their religions (some more than others)
— in many cases, Native Americans have created a hybrid religious perspective that combines their original religious views with Christianity
as compared to African Americans, Native Americans were more likely to retain culture
— African Americans were colonized onto plantations where they were coerced into US culture (though from a second class position)
— Native Americans were put on rural reservations, originally were not allowed full interaction with majority society; were able to continue with cultural attributes
— — 2 problems with continuation of culture: loss of languages; loss of ways of eating
in figure 6.8 we see that Native Americans are concentrated in the west
in figure 6.9 we see that though Native Americans groups vary somewhat in educational attainment, overall Native Americans have low educational attainment
political power: since they are a very small group that is also spread over large areas, they do not hold any significant political power
jobs and income
- jobs on reservations, when they do exist are very low status, income
- some of this would be related to low educational attainment
- figure 6.10 shows median household income for whites / Native Americans
figure 6.1 is a comparison of household income distribution between whites and Native Americans
- Native Americans are more likely to be at the bottom than the top
overall, high poverty for Native Americans
