An analysis of two novels, "House Made of Dawn" by N. Scott Momaday and "Indian Killer" by Sherman Alexe, both of which bring to light the plight of the Red Indians.
Abstract This paper shows how the works of both Alexe's and Momaday commonly highlight Red Indians, representing them as a generation of people neglected, looked down, oppressed and severely under represented in nearly all spheres of an average American life. It examines how the authors, through their characters, portray the lack of understanding present in the American society for the Red Indians and the anger prevalent amongst the Red Indians. Both novels have awakened the literary world on the existence of a culture that had always been there for possibly thousands of years, but only through an occasional perspective from an anthropologist and or a historian.
From the Paper "The depiction of other characters, such as Francisco and Reverend Tosamah too is suggestive of the evident and prevailing diversity on and about the Indian people and their culture. The first is both a staunch believer of the Catholic faith, and a medicine man for the tribal, and the second is the modern age preacher living in Los Angeles preaching the Native Indians on the Word of God and Christianity. Yet, the most important character is Abel is given the assignment of eliminating the growing difference between the Indian reservations where he and his ancestors grew up, and the city, which has trapped him, but all in vain. (Pinkmonkey, 2002)"
Abstract This book report examines the themes of the book "Crota" by Owl Goingback. It discusses the basic Native American traditions found in the book and the contrast between good and evil. The paper also touches on the theme of mind control in the novel.
From the Paper "Vision Quest, a common form of spiritual evolution amongst the Native Americans was also very interesting. It consisted of meditative experiences and illusions that would best not be disregarded. There was an overwhelming need to silence the mind so it could truly listen to what the surroundings had to say directly or indirectly. There are many cues that nature provides to the receptive audience. The other aspect which was fascinating was one of mind control. This facet of the book convinced me that we have to go beyond our five senses. After all science has revealed that we do not use more than 10% of our minds. Many of the important breakthroughs in "Crota" were linked through tapping into ones full being through meditative practice."
From the Paper "The battle of the Little Bighorn has been retold so many times that any retelling would seem to suffer from preconceptions and comparisons. This has not been the case with The Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Mari Sandoz, the author of The Battle of the Little Bighorn was only known to me as the screen credit for Cheyenne Autumn; the story of three hundred starving Cheyenne men, women and children, forcibly resettled in the barren wastelands of Oklahoma, who set out in the Autumn of 1878 on a desperate 1500 mile trek back to their Yellowstone homeland. In this book she has managed to capture the essence of the major personalities and conflicts endemic to the times. She has ..."
From the Paper "In the book Land of the Spotted Eagle, Luther Standing Bear offers an analysis of his people, the Lakota Sioux, their relations with the government of the whites, and a strong sense of what it means to be part of a population whose land has been systematically stolen, whose culture and rituals have been denigrated, and whose future is in doubt.
Luther Standing Bear was raised in the traditional Sioux manner. He was away from the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in South Dakota for sixteen years before returning in 1931, and soon after, he wrote this book. His absence gave him the point of view of both a tribal member and an outsider at one and the same time, for he could see where changes had been made and could compare the way his people lived on the reservation with the way people lived elsewhere. His outside experience coupled..."
From the Paper "The plight of the Native American in today's society is compelling to consider; it is a struggle that is universally recognized, and yet is also universally misunderstood. As is true with all ethnic groups, there exists within the Native American community a multiplicity of traditions, ethics, and cultures: the "Native American" clan is the sum of many radically differing parts. In Andrew Garrod and Colleen Larimore's collection, First Person, First Peoples, a host of Native American graduates of Dartmouth College contribute autobiographies detailing their personal experiences in a predominantly white, upscale institution such as the Ivy League. In offering the reader a portfolio of writers with which to become acquainted, Garrod and Larimore take an important step in clarifying some of the many distinctions that shape the Native..."
From the Paper "In the first half of the nineteenth century, the American Anglo-Saxon ideology of Manifest Destiny laid the foundation for the government's right to territorial and economic expansion. The American republic was deemed a white Anglo-Saxon republic. Hence, white races would be readily absorbed into the nation, but nonwhite races would not be welcome. Using these arguments as a base, the government was able to justify the annexation of areas that were heavily populated with "inferior" races and the country shaped policies that reflected its belief that Indians were inferior and expendable (Horsman 226)."
From the Paper "When the Legends Die (Borland, 1963) describes the struggle of Tom Black Bull, a Ute Indian born shortly before 1910, to find his place in the world. Because his father is a fugitive, Tom's childhood is spent in the mountains of Colorado with only his parents, living as Indians had lived for generations, hunting and gathering, in harmony with the land and with animals. During his boyhood, Tom's father and then his mother die, but Tom continues to live in the mountains with a bear cub he calls his brother.
When Tom is eleven, Blue Elk, paid by the Indian agent, brings Tom to the reservation school where he and his bear cub are held captive. When Tom escapes, he discovers that Blue Elk has stolen his belongings and burned his lodge. With no home remaining, Tom returns to the reservation school where he dresses like a white and does..."
An archeological analysis of the cross-cultural influences of peoples crossing between Siberia and Alaska over land or sea. Discusses evidence, theories and examples.
2,025 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 10 sources, 1997, $ 71.95
From the Paper "The earliest human beings to enter the American continent crossed the Bering land bridge between Siberia and Alaska at various times between 11,000 and 40,000 years ago. They were stone-age hunters who followed herds of large animals across the bridge and, eventually, down into North and South America. Because, after 11,000 BP (years before the present), the level of the Bering Sea rose and cut off this means of access, the American continents have sometimes been called "a laboratory for modern man" (Farb 3). The people who moved into these new territories brought their culture with them. But, their material culture was extremely limited, as with most migratory stone-age peoples, and any material objects made of organic materials have long since vanished, leaving primarily a few bone tools and the technological tradition of spear points as their only legacy."
Examines purpose, provisions, effectiveness, service delivery, fundings, benefits, eligibility requirements & theories of Seattle Indian Alcohol Program; health care for Australian Aborigines.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 14 sources, 1997, $ 55.95
From the Paper "REDUCING THE FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME RATE AMONG NATIVE-AMERICAN POPULATIONS: AN ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC LAW 100-713
Introduction
The infant mortality rate for Native-Americans is elevated in comparison to that for European-Americans (Williams & Collins, 1995, p. 355). One of the contributing factors is alcohol abuse among pregnant Native-American women. Young Native-Americans are characterized by higher levels of alcohol consumption than any other racial or ethnic population group in the United States.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) affects a much higher proportion of Native-American babies (six-times more than the general population) because of higher rates of maternal alcoholism.."
Analyzes 1890 massacre of Lakota Sioux by U.S. Army troops in South Dakota. Legal, historical, cultural, racial, military, spiritual & ethical aspects; leadership, motivations, conflicting accounts, Ghost Dance and cover-up.
1,057 words (approx. 4.2 pages), 15 sources, 1997, $ 135.95
From the Paper " On a winter day at the end of December of 1890, U.S. Army troops confronted a band of Lakota Sioux near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Abruptly, shooting broke out. By the time it ended, some 30 soldiers and as many as 300 Lakota were dead, a majority of the latter women and children.
Such was the battle--or massacre--of Wounded Knee, the last significant episode of the nineteenth-century Indian Wars, and the last ghost of an effort by American Indians to assert their independence in a traditional context. For some years thereafter, several thousand Army troops--then a substantial fraction of the U.S. Army--remained stationed near Indian reservations to suppress any potential uprisings. Even in the opening years of the twentieth century, when the Army was called upon to garrison the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish.."
From the Paper "This paper is an examination of the Trail of Tears, an 800-mile journey that effectively destroyed the Cherokee Nation. The enforced resettlement occurred because white settlers coveted Cherokee lands and believed they had a superior claim. The nearly 4,000 deaths that resulted, perhaps as much as one-fourth of the entire population, stand as a remarkable, shameful illustration of inhumane treatment on a breathtaking scale. The Trail of Tears was a death march, a devastating chapter in the spectacularly successful campaign by European settlers to clear the New World not only of underbrush and other impediments to farming but also of the original inhabitants. Because they were members of an alien race, the Cherokee could not fit into the Europeans' plans, even when the Indians tried. They were doomed for annihilation simply because they were different and in the.."
Examines history of desert Indians' culture, impact of Spanish religious & political imperialism & late 20th century efforts to revitalize Indian life.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 13 sources, 1997, $ 79.95
From the Paper "This examination of the Spanish treatment of the Arizona and Southwest Indian tribes will first consider those peoples and their relationships with each other. By first looking at the possible origin of the Southwestern U.S. Indian tribes, one can see who the Spaniards encountered in the late 1700s and thus know what effect the Spaniards would have on them. Additionally, one might understand what those tribes are doing about that effect today.
Both Fr. Kino, the Catholic priest delegated by Spain to oversee the exploration of the Southwest, and Capt. Manje, the military officer overseeing the soldiers assigned to this operation, had their own reasons for writing the documents they left, so one can also see what they thought they were doing and compare that to what they actually did, see what legacy they.."
Examines impact of language & oral & written culture on religious practices. Analyzes texts, theology, linguistics, authority, belief systems and myth.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 13 sources, 1999, $ 79.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine ways in which the difference between oral and written culture affects the ritual life, with reference to the religious traditions of Christianity and Buddhism, as well as the religion of the Lakota/Teton Native American tradition. The plan of the research will be to set forth the cultural context in which the anthropology of religion predicated of a linguistic tradition marked by written and unwritten modes of communication may be discerned, and then to discuss how the linguistic shape that a culture assumes may have an impact on the ritual practices of Buddhist, Christian, and Native American cultures.
That there is a connection between the shape of cultural development and the language of a given culture has long been acknowledged by the scholarly community. As Wells puts it: .."
Examines positive & negative experiences of colonists taken captive, focusing on early 18th Century kidnapping of 7 year-old girl who chose to stay with Mohawks.
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 4 sources, 1999, $ 63.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine issues surrounding the story of captivity of seven-year-old Eunice Williams by Indians in early eighteenth-century Deerfield, Massachusetts, as well as her subsequent decision, first made as an adolescent and repeatedly confirmed as an adult, to remain with the Mohawk Indians at Kahnawake instead of rejoining her biological family. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context in which Eunice's captivity became an issue and then to explore possible reasons that she chose to remain at Kahnawake, with reference to Demos's The Unredeemed Captive and to Axtell's analysis of the not uncommon phenomenon of colonial-era Europeans who made choices similar to that of Eunice Williams.
A raid made by Indians on the Puritan settlement of Deerf.."
From the Paper "THE TWO WORLDS OF THE WASHO
Introduction
The Two Worlds of the Washo, an Indian Tribe of California and Nevada by Downs (1966) presents a single tribal culture as a whole. Traditional patterns of subsistence techniques, rituals and religion, kinship, and social organization are portrayed. Changes brought about through interaction with the white man are also related. This book analysis focuses on the relationship between cultural social organization, and subsistence, economic, political, and belief systems for the Washo.
Social Organization & Group Systems
The Washo cultural social organization consisting of kinship patterns, marriage patterns, and /or forms of organization are described. Society functions in a manner such that its members.."
