Abstract
This paper discusses the Indian culture's mask dance. The paper explains that the nation of India has a long history associated with dance as a form of communication and expression. The paper contends that dances are more than just a fusion of choreographic movements; dance in India represents a way of telling tales of historical events, passion, romance, and even tales of treachery and woe.

From the Paper
"Dance in the culture has always represented some of the more inner reflections regarding the country's combination of historical turbulence mixed with the nation's religious and inner peace oriented factions such as Hinduism. "The Arts of India are the illustration of the religious life of the Hindus. Like their faith, the arts have been preserved for the past three thousand years, from change and decay, from foreign invasions, and from the fury of the nature. We owe its preservation to the future generations. For, it exemplifies how life can indeed revolve around the arts." (Kamat, 2004) In other words, dance in Indian culture is seen as more than just a fusion of detailed and non-meaningful movements; it is more a system for delivering aspects of the culture to the masses."

Tags:hindu, movement, communication

Abstract
This paper provides three essays that answers questions related to American-Indian culture as illustrated in three works: Sherman Alexie's "The Business of Fancydancing;" Jaime de Angulo's "Indian Tales;" and Tony Hillerman's "People of Darkness."

From the Paper
""Indian Tales", "People of Darkness" and the poems and stories in "The Business of Fancydancing" provide us with fiction focusing on American Indians and their way of life. In doing so, they open the world of the American Indian to us in a much more engaging way than scholarly and factual articles on Indian culture. Though such articles often provide factual information on American Indian culture in fiction like these three books, we are able to become more enmeshed in the American Indian way of thinking..."

Tags:Navajo, Coeur D'Alene, reservations, alcoholism, culture, magical realism, mysticism, nature, religion

Abstract
This paper describes the cultural life learned within the family unit of Indian families. The paper looks at the typical family structure, relationships and living arrangements within the family and the lines of authority. The paper also describes the different types of medicine practiced in the country, how it is administered and who is typically responsible for its administration.

From the Paper
"In India, the essential themes of cultural life are learned within the family unit, and in most of the country, the basic units of society are the patrilineal family unit and wider kinship groupings, with the most widely desired being the joint family, consisting of three or four patrilineally related generations living under one roof, working, eating, and worshiping in mutually beneficial social and economic activities (Indian pp). Patrilineal joint families include men related through male lineage, and their wives and children, and while most women are expected to live with their husband's relatives, they retain bonds with their birth families (Indian pp). Clusters of relatives live near each other in order to maintain strong bonds and respond to family obligations, such as economic and emotional support, and assistance in daily work and emergencies (Family Ideals pp). Moreover, specific annual rituals help define kin groups, such as the worship of the goddess to ensure the welfare of the lineage."

Tags:consecrated, fried, breads, unmarried, daughters, spectators, life, cycle, observances, births, marriages, religious, initiations

Abstract
This seven-page undergraduate paper presents a complete review of the Cheyenne Indian Culture with respect to the prehistoric times and that of the modern times. Details about the language, political and social organizations are also described.

From the Paper
"Raven, the spirited trickster, became bored with flying above the endless sea in the darkness of perpetual night. He looked skyward and saw glimmering specks of light amid the blackness. Curious, he flew higher to explore. And when he returned, he was carrying a large ball of fire which he had stolen from the sky. According to Haida Indian mythology, Raven had stolen the sun. Its light brought forth creatures from the sea.

Raven continued to fly, fascinated by the sights and sounds below. One day he saw a giant clamshell which made strange noises. After much coaxing, Raven convinced the shy creatures inside to leave the shell. These proved to be the first Haida human beings. They would not be the last.

This research examines the changes in culture experienced by..."

Abstract
This paper is a review of peer-reviewed literature to determine current incidence and subsequent risk factors for health-related problems among Native-Americans today. The author concludes that, because Native-Americans remain at a higher risk of HIV, alcoholism and suicide than their white counterparts with incidences even higher than for many other American minority groups, there is a growing consensus among healthcare experts and lawmakers at all levels that something must be done to correct this situation.

Table of Contents:
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview
Cultural Issues Affecting Native-American Healthcare
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Even those Native-Americans fortunate enough to have healthcare providers from their own tribes who are familiar with these cultural perspectives are faced with some issues that are unique to their heritage and culture. For example, in some cases, healthcare providers have been fired from their positions with the state for participating in religious rituals involving the use of peyote and have even been denied unemployment benefits as well. According to Kellhofer (2001), in one case that went to the Supreme Court (Employment Division vs. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 1990), dealt with the use of peyote."

Tags:rural inferior, medical services, lawmakers funding

Abstract
This paper examines both what the Sioux cultures were like before European contact as well as what that culture has evolved into. The paper focuses on the music of this people set within a broader artistic and cultural and even political context. The paper is broken down into four chapters: An introduction into the Sioux people, their musical instruments, the songs of the people, and finally a larger cultural context. The final section of this paper examines the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance as the two most important single types of musical performance.

From the Paper
"Traditional Sioux of the last century - or the centuries before - would have found the entire idea of putting on their best clothes and going to a concert hall to listen - as relatively passive observers - to a musical performance extremely odd. For them, as for other native peoples of the Americas (and arguably other native peoples throughout the world before the onset of industrialization) music was something that was integrated into the fabric of ritual and everyday life."

Tags:native, culture, tradition, politics, colony, dance

Abstract
This paper explores and details North American Indian life and culture as portrayed in Donald Hughes' book "North American Indian Ecology." This paper discusses the land issues facing the North American Indian tribes including overgrazing, erosion and assessments of appropriate land usage. The writer of this paper finds Hughes' book to be straightforward and concise in clarifying the characteristics of Indian life such as hunting, food growing and rituals.

From the Paper
"Tribes are having to mediate the disparate demands of their members and the industrial mindset of the BIA to balance forest use for economic need and preservation for cultural need. Tribes face many of the same problems as non-Native communities held hostage by the timber industry. Replanting has not always kept pace with harvesting on public or trust lands. The push to harvest old-growth timber is constrained by federal mandates to protect endangered species habitats, putting people out of work. Few local communities gain the "value-added" benefits of processing their own timber especially jobs and new businesses and when they do the environmental impact of mill sites has to be factored into any cost-benefit analysis."

Tags:ecology, land, environment, law, native, american, indian, oil, culture

Abstract
The paper examines "Indian School" by Michael Cooper where he chronicles the history of the schools organized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The paper looks at how Cooper profiles some of its students and their hardships in the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. The paper discusses how the Native-Americans were forced to ignore their Indian culture and conform to the white man's ways. The author concludes that he will use this as an example of why it is important to incorporate all cultures in education.

From the Paper
"In 1879, relations between the United States government and the Native Americans were very poor. The Native Americans were being forced into reservations by the expanding European-American population. Also just three years earlier, Lt. Colonel Custer and 250 soldiers were killed at the Little Bighorn River. When Captain Richard Henry Pratt came to the Rosebud Reservation asking for Sioux children, the Native Americans were very apprehensive. Captain Pratt spoke with forty warriors and chiefs and he convinced them that their ignorance of the white man's ways were actually hurting their civilization. He said the United States government would provide boarding and education for their children at no cost. After talking it over the Chiefs decided that it would be best if the children did get an education so that they would be better able to help their people negotiate with the white man. That winter hundreds of frightened Sioux children were taken by train from their homes near North Dakota to Pennsylvania, one thousand miles away."

Tags:Native-American, white, culture, heritage, traditions, English, education

Abstract
This paper uncovers the plight of the Native Americans at the hands of both the Spaniards of Mexico and the Anglo Americans. Douglas Monroy the author of "Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California" seeks to demonstrate through exploration what he defines as labor relations policies in two distinctly different eras as portrayed in the book. This paper details why Monroy's portrayal of the Mexican invasion and its all-subsuming impact on indigenous Indian culture is often insightful albeit contradictory. This paper also discusses the author's insistence that the American domination was far worse than that imposed by the Spaniards.
Topics covered in this report include:
Introduction
Barbarian Strangers at the Gates
Conclusion

From the Paper
"However, both share the primary reason for success: the imposition of systems upon the natives so alien and intrinsically unacceptable that they seemed literally to overwhelm their defeated victims. In the case of the Spaniards, this involved a complex interweaving of religion, family interrelations, sociocultural customs, historical/chronological self-image and economic concepts that diverged sharply from what the Indians could understand or assimilate. Later, the 19th century Americans also imposed a variety of new systems, but with a dramatic difference."

Tags:history, literature, mexico, u.s., culture, america, labor, immigrant, native, american