Ethnography: Native Americans or American Indians - Term Paper Example

Ethnography: Native Americans or American Indians (Sioux Indians) Native Americans or American Indians are the indigenous people seen mainly in the Northern American region such as Alaska and Hawaii. In fact Native American community comprises of various ethnic groups. Native Americans like to refer them as American Indians or Red Indians and they believe that they are the original American people and all others are immigrants or expatriates. They were the residents of American continent well before the discovery of America by Columbus. Even though majority of the native Indian subcultural groups are peace loving, some particular ethnic groups in this community are aggressive in nature. For example, Sioux Indians or Dakota Indians in Native Indian community are interested in fighting with others to establish their supremacy. Dakota is often pronounced as Lakota while talking about Dakota Indians. “Of the 13 Sioux political subdivisions, seven pronounce the word "Lakota," four pronounce it "Dakota," one pronounces it "Nakota," and one is split between pronouncing it "Dakota" and "Nakota." But they all consider themselves part of the same overall culture”(Scott). The major revenue sources of Sioux Indians are hunting and fishing. Ancient Sioux community liked to live in caves and rock shelters. According to the 1990 census, South Dakota ranked eleventh among all states for the number of Indians represented in its population (50,575, which was 7.3 percent of the South Dakota population, up from 6.5 percent in 1980). Minnesota ranked twelfth with a reported total of 49,909 Indians, or 1.1 percent of its population (up from 0.9 percent in 1980). Montana ranked thirteenth with a reported total of 47,679 Indians, or 6.0 percent of its population (up from 4.7 percent in 1980). North Dakota ranked eighteenth with a reported total of 25,917 Indians, or 4.1 percent of its population (up from 3.1 percent in 1980). Nebraska ranked thirty-fifth with a reported total of 12,410 Indians, or 0.8 percent of its population (up from 0.6 percent in 1980) (Birchfield) This paper analyses the life styles of Native Americans in general and Sioux Indians in particular. The attitude of Sioux Indians towards outsiders is not so positive. They believe that they hold some specific privileges in this world since they are belonging to a sacred land. Land is considered as the mother for them. They do believe that their sacred lands are looted by others and it is their duty to protect these lands. “Members of the Great Sioux Nation could pocket a large sum set aside by the government for taking the resource-rich Black Hills away from the tribes in 1877. But leaders say the sacred land was never, and still isnt, for sale” (Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion). Even though the government is ready to pay huge money as compensation to the Black Hills take over, Sioux leaders are note ready to accept it. They believe that if they accept that money, they will lose the ownership on Black Hills permanently. In their opinion, outsiders taken their land forcefully and it should be returned to them at any cost. They are not ready to accept the claims of the government or other people. Enemies are often treated with brutalities by Sioux Indians. Some of the peculiar beliefs of Sioux are given below; “To kill an enemy is enough; he should be mutilated. To force an enemy tribe into submission was not sufficient; it must be driven from the territory (Hassrick, p.72). These Sioux principles clearly show that Sioux Indians keep an aggressive attitude towards enemies and others. They do not have any kind of repentance in killing enemies. As mentioned earlier, they do believe that they are a sacred community which holds specific powers and authorities in this world. In fact the feeling of belonging to a sacred community motivates Sioux Indians to stay away from others and also to reject all modern life styles. “The traditional Sioux is non-materialistic and believes the only physical thing they can truly own is their own body” (Sun Dance - Wiwanyag Wachipi). Arrowheads, beaded Items, pottery, rare coins, stone artifacts, rare books, contemporary artifacts, and feathered axes are some of the artifacts made by Sioux Indians. Sioux Indians are interested in making artifacts with utmost perfection. They never make any object just for fun. Each object was made for certain purpose and they will make sure that the purpose was served after making each object. Fred M. Hanz writes about the preparation of a buffalo robe by a Sioux woman. The most skillful, as well as tedious, process of all is the preparation of the buffalo robe. These skins are all so thick and unwieldy that they cannot be made pliable until reduced to about one-half in thickness. All of this hard work completed, a longer and more patient labor devolves upon the loving wife, which she bestows upon the robe to be used by her husband on all fine dress occasions, such as important tribal councils with other races and nations. Many a squaw has put in all of her spare time for a year or more on one robe of this kind (Neace). As in the case of other communities or cultures, women and men in Sioux Indian community engage in different works. In other words, the roles of men and women in social life have been well defined by the Sioux community. Small game hunting, cooking, wood collecting, hide-working, farming, sugar mapling, clearing around short term camps, and collecting wild vegetables, nuts and fruits were some of the duties of the Sioux women whereas Sioux men engage in hunting, clearing of large tracts of land and ceremony performances (Gibbon, p.98). In other words, Sioux men engage in works which require hard and adventurous labor whereas women engage in other works. However, it should be noted that Sioux women are more courageous than women in other communities. Sioux community is highly patriarchal and they are not ready to accept the changes in life. They are not much interested in accepting the contributions of science and technology in real life situations. In fact they are not ready to dilute their beliefs and attitudes to lead a more lavish or happy life. Sioux never allowed women to walk in front of the men. Sioux women should keep at least five feet distance from the men who are walking in front of them. Rice harvesting was the monopoly of Sioux men whereas all the other grains were harvested by the women. In short, all the house jobs were done by Sioux women whereas hunting and protection of the family were the responsibilities of Sioux men. No woman can become the chief of any of the Sioux clan or group. Only the males were authorized to become the clan leader in Sioux community. In short, male superiority can be visible in every aspect of Sioux social life. As in the case of other communities, Sioux Indians also have many religious ceremonies. All the men, women and children of Sioux community gather for the religious ceremonies such as sun dances which occur occasionally to make their God happier. Among the reasons people choose to participate in the Sun Dance ritual is to thank the Creator / Great Mystery / Wakan Tanka for the blessings received, fulfilling a vow made in a crisis for help, asking for protection of loved ones in harms way, asking for physical healing of a sick family member or friend, and asking for the protection of the whole tribe or nation (Sun Dance - Wiwanyag Wachipi). Self-torturing is another way of thanking God or self-purification by the Sioux people. “Piercing of the skin on the chest or back as a personal sacrifice the individual makes for the good of all of the people of the tribe. A Purification ritual (Sweat Lodge ceremony) always precedes this ceremony for the Sioux people” (Sun Dance - Wiwanyag Wachipi). Buffalo hide tents were earlier used by Sioux people for their shelter. These tents were often referred s tipis. The construction of tipis was made in such a way that these tents could be dismantled within an hour if needed to shift the locations. Sioux people like to shift their residential locations periodically and therefore they constructed easily dismantling type houses using buffalo hide outs. Dogs pulling travois were earlier used by them to shift their goods from one place to other. “The bulk of Native American societies were formed around kinship groups and these kinship groups remained the core of almost all Native American societies even after they had developed into centralized political societies” (Native American Political Structure, p.1). As in the case of many other ethnic groups in native Indian community, power is not concentrated to a particular individual in Sioux community. In other words, it is difficult to point out a particular person as the most respected leader in Sioux community. So many individual kinship groups are prevailing in Sioux community and each kinship group has its own leader. Each kinship group is functioning in its own way even though these groups are so particular in strictly observing the fundamental norms of Sioux community. According to Scott (n.d.0, “There are 13 Sioux political subdivisions, combined into seven major tribes (the Mdewakanton, Sisseton, Teton, Wahpekute, Wahpeton, Yankton, and Yanktonai Sioux tribes.) However, today, these divisions have more cultural significance than political” (Scott). Native spirituality is all about HONOR, LOVE, and RESPECT. Not only they love, honor, and respect their Creator and their Mother Earth, but also every living thing. It is about being in touch with themselves and everything around them. It is about knowing and understanding that they are part of everything, and everything is a part of them. They are all One. They also believe that their Elders hold the answers. Their Elders keep their culture alive. They have much to learn from their Elders, and they deserve and receive utmost respect (Native American Belief). All the above mentioned traditional Native American belief structure are applicable to Sioux community also. However, Sioux people have many other traditions and customs which are not seen among other Native American cultural groups. As mentioned earlier, Sioux people are more aggressive in nature even though most of the Native Indians are peace loving. Moreover, Sioux people are not much interested in accepting modern life styles whereas majority of the Native Indians do not have problems in accepting higher life standards. Superstitions are more common among Sioux community. It should be noted that self torturing like rituals are not much popular in majority of the other Native Indian groups. Sioux people believe in the divine power of some of its leaders in healing diseases. As mentioned earlier, Sioux do believe that they are a sacred community which holds some privileges. Because of such beliefs, they always try to dominate other cultural groups. Thus, conflicts and clashes occur between Sioux community and other ethnic groups quiet often. Ceremonial dances are common among all Native Indians groups and Sioux group is also not an exception. However, sun dances and self torturing like rituals are not so common among other Native Indian tribal groups. Even though Sioux people knows English language very much as in the case of other Native Indian groups, they like to speak their own language which is often referred as Lakota/Dakota language. To conclude, Sioux is a Native American subculture which has its own traditions, norms and rituals. Residing mostly in the northern parts of America, this ethnic group has the belief that they are the true owners of America and all the others are intruders. They do believe that they are specific community in God’s kingdom and therefore they have the authority over all others. They are aggressive nature and show no mercy towards enemies. Even though they know English language, they like to speak their own native language. Sun dances are one of the most famous rituals observed among Sioux people. Self torturing is another mechanism used by Sioux people for self purification. Sioux community functions in groups and each group may have a leader to look after the group needs. Women were considered as second class citizens in Sioux community. Works Cited Birchfield, D.L. “Sioux”. Web. 21 March 2012. Gibbon, Guy. “The Sioux: The Dakota and Lakota Nations”. 2008. John Wiley & Sons, 15-Apr- 2008 Hassrick, Royal B. “The Sioux”. 1988. University of Oklahoma Press, 1988 “Native American Belief”. Web. 21 March 2012. “Native American Political Structure”. Web. 21 March 2012. Neace, Owen. “Not Yet Finished”. Artifacts: A Journal of Undergraduate Writing at the University of Missouri. Web. 21 March 2012. Scott, Ridley. ‘Sioux Tribe”. Web. 21 March 2012. “Sioux Indians”. Web. 21 March 2012. “Sun Dance - Wiwanyag Wachipi”. Web. 21 March 2012. “Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion”. 2011. Web. 21 March 2012. Read More