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· Traditional Agriculture

American Indian cultures will include any Indigenous cultures that are from the North American continent and Hawaii.

You are encouraged to use all your books, online lectures, anything from Blackboard, past blogs, the mid-term exam, and any outside resources available to you. 

· Environmental Justice

· Access to Sacred Sites

· Climate Changes

· Traditional Agriculture

· Nutrition

· Traditional Diet

· Loss of Language

· Education

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American Indian Culture

Part I

The history of North America is deep rooted with many different indigenous societies spread across the large mass of the continent. We now call these indigenous nations Native Americans. When discussing Native American cultures of the continental of North America, there are typically ten different main Indian cultures. The Artic, who are stationed in present day Alaska, Canada and Greenland. The Subarctic, who viewed in present day southern Alaska and much of the inland of Canada. The Northeast culture, who lived in the Atlantic area of Canada and stretched to North Carolina to the inland valleys of the Mississippi river. The other cultures thought out the North America, were the Plains, the Plateau, The Northwest Coast, California, The Great Basin, Southeast and finally the American Indian culture I’ll be focusing in on the Southwest American Indian Culture’s.

The Cultures of the Southwest, covers large stretches of the western United States which is present day Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Utah, Texas and Colorado. There were many tribes throughout the Southwest due to the vast land. The Hopi, Apache, Yaqui, Zuni, Navajo and the Yuma.

I will be highlighting in specific the Hopi tribe. The Hopi were located in the Northwest section of Arizona. The present day reservation of the Hopi stretches to about 1.5 million acres. The Hopi tribe had an interesting worldview as what normally is called the Hopi way. The Hopi way purpose is a balance between people and nature through ceremonies. There were two major ceremonial cycles The Hopi practiced, Masked and the Unmasked. These ceremonial cycles were determined by the sun position and lunar calendar. The main overall purpose of the ceremonies was to bring rain for agriculture, farming and food. Rain was looked at as a symbol of life for the Hopi tribe. The Rain brought corn or known as maize, which was a vital crop used in their culture. Typically, each ceremony lasts nine days including a preliminary day before. As I have read more about the Hopi ceremony, I began to discover how unique the culture turns out to be.

At the root of the spiritualism of the ceremonials are the Kiva. The Kiva is an underground chamber which was a doorway to the Cave realm where its believe The Hopi Ancestors originally came from. The Ancestors are also known as Katsinas. The Katsinas are the Hopi tribe’s guardian spirits. This is similar to what some people refer to a guardian angel. As guardian spirits, the Katsinas serve as a middle man or intermediaries between the creator and person.

During the Masked cycle, the Katsinas are re-created into masked with during the ceremonies. The person who wears the mask, (Normally a male elder), inhabits the spirit during the ceremonies deliver several messages such as the blessings of life to teach the people and future generations. This is how the teachings and ways have lasted throughout the centuries of time. The most important festival is the Soyal, which is essential their winter solstice. This highlights The Hopi Tribe Worldview and the legends in their societies. The Hopi tribe is uniquely shaped through their culture by the different ceremonials which throughout the two cycles.

Part II

What makes the Hopi tribe worldview unique world has had some difficulties in the present day 2016. In my opinion, the largest impact the sacred traditional agriculture had was the formation of the American Indian Reservations. “An Indian Reservation is a piece of land that has been given over to Native Americans. They do not have full power over the land, but they do have limited governmental rule” (Indians.org 2016). Reservations were 1st enacted in the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This was a systematic policy to forcefully remove native Americans from European settlements. Many tribes would be on the trail of tears which was a horrible time in this country’s history. The lands native Americans would inhabit would later be known as reservations. The Indian Removal Act was then followed by the Indian Appropriations Act of 1851 and later 1871. This act authorized the legal creation of reservation lands. These forceful removal of lands resulted in many deaths as some native American did not oblige with the orders.

Regarding the Hopi, the tribe relied on their ancestral lands for the ceremony cycles since this tribe was heavily into the spirit world. One of the main issues with Indian reservations was land quality. The Hopi original land had been reduced to a small parcal compared to what the size their ancestors