Indians Flashcards
Wahpekute
Wahpe “leaves”
Kute “shooters”
Hunt trees south of Mde Wakan
1st to split
Wahpetonwan
Came among leafy trees
Next to move from original group and move south
More Village oriented than Wahpekute
Sisitonwan
Villages strewn with fish/fish eaters
Moved further west to MN River
Ihanktonwan and Ihanktonwana
Placed to end of camp circle
Moved into eastern South Dakota
aka Western Dakotas
Titonwan
From Tihte “plains and prairies”
Subdivided seven bands (Lakota)
Traveled furthest west from homeland in central MN to prairies in the Dakotas
Dakota first contact with Europeans (when & where?)
1600’s
French explorers and traders entered Dakota land in Duluth MN
Fur Trade
Lasted 200 years
Dakota traded wth French, British, and Americans
Euro Americans got furs and Indians got manufactured goods (glass & metal)
Cultural change
Dakota culture changes after 200 years of trade
Wildlife decreased and Indians became more dependent on manufactured goods and farmed food
Treaties
Why does the US government want Indian land?
Late 1850’s Dakotas gave up original homeland except narrow strip along MN River
(Lost 98%)
1862 US-Dakota War
Wildlife gone, crops failed, treaty money late
>Dakotas are starving
Attacked MN settlers & US military in MN to remove whites and take back their land
result: Dakotas lost war
Exile After War
Dakotas fled MN and went to Canada or far west
Some went to South Dakota
Dozens imprisoned in Iowa
Hanging in Mankato
Ordered by Lincoln
Mankato “blue earth”
If participated in war were hung
Occurred December 26th (day after Christmas)
Dakotas today
4 communities in MN (7 square miles total)
Granite falls, Morton, Shakopee, and Prairie Island
American Indian view of nature
Foundational belief:
Humans are NOT essentially different
Humans have no special place
Perfect environmentalists/ecological saints
Indians use all of natural world
Euro-American science view of nature
Foundation belief:
Humans are essentially different in science
Inert (doesn’t move) and non conscious
Instinct determines animals actions
Animals: lower, summer form of consciousness
Euro-American mechanical view
Humans are DIFFERENT than the rest of non human world
We are not mechanisms; things
Euro American Religious view of nature
Humans image of God
Non-humans: created for humans
NO VALUE (for itself)
Wilderness is demonic
Euro-American moral view of nature
Only humans have moral standing
Non humans are property
Humans are not property
Animals are property, we can buy/sell/kill them
Mdewakantowan
Sacred lake
“Village or composite”
Original Dakota
Environmental Ethics
Plants and animals are part of the same ecosystem and are dependent on each other
Sioux
Anishinaabe
French called them Ojibwa then later known as Chippewa
Iroquois
Pushed Sioux (anishinaabes) west
Called them nadowe-large dangerous snake
Nadowaig
Smaller dangerous snake
Group encountered further west
Dakotas
“Allies/friends”
Originally from Mde Wakan
Sacred lake “Mille lacs” central mn
Euro American moral view of nature
Only humans have moral standing
Non humans are property
Humans are not property
Panpsychism/ Nagi Oyasin
All spirit/ personality
Everything in nature had spirit and consciousness
Includes animals and ALL natural objects (rocks, water, wind)
EVERYTHING MATTERS
Analogy
You cannot experience others consciousness
Similarities between you and non humans behavior, anatomy, physiology
Visions
Dreams provide special access to reality
You are not unconscious when you are sleeping
Isn’t it a different form of consciousness?
Direct experience of reality “spirit world”
Lucid dreaming
Control over dreams to make things happen
Faith
Trust
You trust what is told to you on scripture is true
Mitakuye Oyasin
All my relatives
We all have the same origin, not just human beings but everything is the same
“WE are all relatives”
Humans have no priority
You are just as important as your sister, etc
Kinship terms
Grandmother, sister, etc
Moral significance: behaviors and feelings toward that person
Affective
Emotions and attitudes are emotionally loaded
Oyate/Community
Social relationships
“Society is equivalent to community” (Oyate)
Community includes natural world
Moral rules and principles regulate interactions
Morality organizes society so we live together in groups
Communitarianism
Focus community as the fundamental group
1st well being is the MOST important
2nd individual well being is secondary lower standard of living to help others
Iyopeya /Reciprocity
Trade
Mutual/beneficial exchange
When you receive a benefit, you give a benefit back
Regards to EE when you take from the natural world you give something back
Obvious duty for Indians means to be civilized DECENT human being
Righteous hunter
Worthy, gratitude
Morally good: prayer, respect
No mutilation or scattering bones
Hunter needs food
No trophy hunting
Must approach hunting in morally appropriate way
Not random if hunter fails, failure is a moral failure, hunter or family has not demonstrated respect against nature.
Hunter isn’t worthy, animal GIVES themselves to hunter
Makoce na Wicasa
Land and identity (person)
Who are you? =where you are?
What defines your identity as a person?
“Sense of place” vitally important
Particular locations mean a lot to you
Identity crisis
Land is important to who you are
Who are you if you are no longer a part of that landscape anymore?
Wakan Tanka
Great sacred/ holy/ divine/ mystery
Nagi
Spirit; soul
