Indian and Indian

One of the things we have discussed is the wrongness in the term "American Indian." The term is not accurate because as we all know this was not India as Columbus believed his whole life. But one of the things I stumbled upon while surfing the web that was fantastic is an incredible similarity between the Indigenous peoples of this country and Indian culture. I was looking into Indigenous art when I found Navaho sand paintings. I remembered something incredibly similar to this in Indian culture and decided to explore it. Sand Mandalas are the Indian counterpart to the Navaho sand paintings, and the intricacies and beauty of both are inspiring. 

Navaho Sand Paintings

                                                                      Sand Mandala

The similarity of the practices is astounding and I wonder how so far away they developed similar practices. The abstract qualities of the Navaho sand paintings are distinct from the symmetrical Sand Mandals of the Indian culture and clearly each culture's take on the art form has a life of its own. After looking into the matter further I discovered that Australian Aboriginal cultures also created sand paintings. Though I was unable to find a video I located a picture of a large sand painting. It is incredible that from North America, to India, to Australia, three incredibly different cultures all utilized the same medium to create art, and it speaks directly towards the interconnectedness of all things.

Aboriginal Sand Painting

Indigenous Education

So something I find striking is the idea that Indigenous peoples had about interconnectedness. The reason I am intrigued about this because of how Liberal Arts Education is beginning to reflect this. "Historical Context and Culture to Native American Literature"describes the idea of interconnectivity. "These include a sense of the interconnectedness and relationship between all things, between animals, land, peoples and their language, and a requirement to seek individual, communal, and environmental balance."(Porter 43). The ideas that Indigenous peoples observed hundreds of years ago are the same ideas stressed in university environments today.

Indigenous Peoples are still ahead of the curb when thinking about interconnectedness, an article on the development of economic growth in indigenous communities speaks towards the focus on generating revenues while considering the future and environmental impact. Annette Alvarez, in her article "Native American Tribes and Economic Development" discuss how decisions are carefully weighed. "We are taught to think about how a decision we make about our land will affect the next seven generations," he says. "It is all about sustainability—about making decisions that ensure that our land, air, and water can support all forms of life for generations to come. While each American Indian tribe is unique, all tribal people believe in balancing the economic impact of a decision with its physical, economic, social, and spiritual implications."(Alvarez). 

While reading this article it was amazing to me how similar the morals were to the ones stated in Porter's article. The idea of balance follows right after the idea of interconnectedness in both articles. "Balance is linked to the survival of community within specific landscapes." The same principles that existed in early Indigenous cultures shine through today, as Indigenous communities advanced in their ability to balance economic, environmental, and communal prosperity. The article is interesting because it looks at the prosperous communities in the Indigenous culture which we haven't really talked about, thought the article acknowledges the economic hardships that many reservations face. For those of you interested in the full article it is a great look into modern cultural practices of Indigenous peoples. http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2011/Mar/AlvarezNative

Indigenous Literature in theatre

So revisiting the performances from a few weeks back I decided to see if I could find some performances that had put in more time and resources. I was lucky enough to find a tale from our book. "Iktomi and the Wild Ducks."

So this video is part one of four so it is considerably longer than the tale in our book. Once you get passed the tacky costumes and difficult lightning it is actually quite an enjoyable performance. Watching a performance versus reading to yourself is far superior. Even after I attempted to read with more vigor I find that watching an interpretation of the tales is something that cannot be topped. The energy that goes into making a performance is incredible and it can be picked up on by the viewers. outside of our own performances, it would be interesting if as a class we could attend a performance put on by actual players (Hint Hint). The video is also a good source to get ideas for our own upcoming performances from. So if the video was not evidence enough of the fun and energy that these players put into this I am including the out-takes. If you enjoyed the first video don't forget to check out parts 2, 3, and 4 on youtube.

Intent vs Ignorance

So to follow up my previous post and todays class discussion I wanted to touch on intent and ignorance and how each should be responded to. Though ignorance has a certain negative connotation, I feel ignorance can only be viewed in a negative light if the subject refuses to learn. Everyone is ignorant before they have the chance to learn so looking down on those who haven't had that chance is irresponsible. So now that I have made my plea for those who have not yet been educated on a given subject, becoming hostile with someone who says something out of ignorance is foolish. Before today I would not have the slightest clue that saying "Native American Literature" could carry such an offensive message. So after class I began to contemplate the circumstances of the classification and it seems obvious that the terms would offend indigenous people. Being given a name by people that attempted to eradicate your race, it is easy to see why so many are so passionate about not accepting the terms. It is also understandable that some are embracing the terms attempting to reclaim them. So that just leaves intent, and it seems obvious that when some one says something to harm someone that it is not right, so I will not touch too much on that. One interesting thing that i found is that this is not the first name that was supposed to encompass the Indigenous peoples of this country. "Savage" was not always a derogatory term, in fact it was the acceptable term up until the the early 1900's. So now it easy to see how terms evolve and how in a hundred years "Native American" will be the new "Savage." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_name_controversy) In a constantly evolving world it is easy to see how terms will evolve with people, but since this evolution is ongoing it is important to first be concerned with educating those who are ignorant of their offense before taking offense yourself.

What's in a name?

So after reading Literary, Historical, and Cultural Conjunctions, I have to say that some parts are a bit confusing. One of the most baffling statements in the piece is that they are not sure what to call the literature in question. "The typical labels– American Indian literature, Native American literature, native literature, Indigenous literature,Amerindian literature–all pose ethical and descriptive problems because they impose European concepts and language that are inaccurate and transform diversity into a vague generic essentialist category that can be used to marginalize or misrepresent a diversified people and a complex intercultural history." I begin to wonder at one point are we splitting hairs? The fact is if someone says "Native American Literature" you know what they are talking about, and language after all is just a tool we use to communicate effectively. The literature is diverse, but so are a lot of other things and sometimes it is just easier to have an umbrella term that can quickly cover all of the sub categories. Those who refer to the collective literatures as one of the aforementioned terms would most likely not be attempting to subjugate or belittle the diverse group, but merely relay information about the the type of literature. When we put constraints on people to dance around words that are hardly construed as having negative connotations despite the claims by Roemer, such as "Native"or "Indigenous," we begin to have a breakdown in communication all caused by the need to seem more politically correct then the person standing beside you. The fact that there is not a consensus in the Native American community itself just shows that people are putting too much into it. No one means to be offensive by saying "American Indian"or "Native American" so if the terms are not meant as derogatory why are they received with hostility? It seems that great effort has gone into attempting to find an agreeable name for the literature, which all could have been time spent enjoying it rather then arguing over the title.

Crow V Coyote

So todays performances were a lot of fun but something bothers me about one of the stories. It has nothing to do with the morals, or humor, or mechanics, it has to do with with crows. Crows are some of the smartest animals on the planet and one of my favorites. So in defense of crows I offer up this video, for those of you who will stave off internet ADD to watch all ten minutes. Aside from odd afinity towards crows the class came alive today and it got me to start thinking. Kept as an oral tradition it is hard for me to imagine that these story tellers weren't talented, and it makes me wonder how much I have been missing reading in a monotonous inside my head. The stories have morals and speak towards human nature but they were also meant to entertain, so when I read these stories as I would a manual to assemble furniture it does not do it justice. Though I do not always have the luxury of players performing the stories, I do control my inner voice while reading the piece and after todays class it will be much more lively.

The Possible Bag

One of my favorite stories is "The Possible Bag." It contains humor, etiological elements, morality, and of course doing something one too many times that results in a catastrophe. Veeho, sets off to find a man who he has heard is never wanting of food but does not hunt. Veeho is already demonstrating a lack of work ethic and an interest in an easy way out which pretty much describes the motives of most of the tricksters. Once Veeho has found the man he is welcomed and invited to eat, at which Veeho gorges himself, further illustrating his incessant greed. Veeho then proceeds to wait until his host has fallen asleep and attempts to run off with his possible bag, which Veeho is enamored with.
Veeho failed at getting away, and his host was so gracious and trusting he believed Veeho's excuse for talking the bag. Veeho immediately started planning how to take the bag, and his overly trusting host confided in Veeho his only fear. Once again illustrating the lack of ethics and greedy nature of the trickster, Veeho takes advantage of his hosts trust and transforms himself into the hosts one fear, which happens to be a goose... Once securing the Bag from his host Veeho is told only to use it four times, which sounds way too familiar.
Veeho goes home and finds that the bag yields a buffalo every time he opens it. So Veho proceeds to feed his family with the buffalo that he gets from the bag and for the first four nights everything is great. But it is all short lived, and of course Veeho uses it more than four times which results in a stampede of buffalo coming from the bag and trampling his village.
The destroyed village prompts the villagers to look for the one responsible, which Veeho, being less than an upstanding guy denies avidly that he knows what happened. Unfortunately for Veeho, the people soon realize that the buffalo are a blessing and it is too late to for Veeho to take credit.
So the tales obvious etiological element is the reason that the world has buffalo. The moral implications of the story are that if Veho was honest he would have been credited for having given the world buffalo, but since this story exists he was anyways, which kind of defeats the moral... The tale also contains cunning on the part of the trickster, and of course the ability to transform into other things which seems to be a common ability of the trickster. I love this story because it is very much a trickster tale, their is cunning on the part of the trickster, a flaw which leads to not being credited, and an explanation of buffalo exist.

Real Injun

The title of the documentary says everything, a depiction of Native American people made by Native Americans. The most interesting part of the documentary for me wasn't the negative portrayals in film or the ignorance that many people have about the culture, it is not news to me that movies and television are not the best at portraying other cultures. What I found the most interesting were the failed attempts at understanding the culture by those who were trying to emulate it. Though the intentions were good, groups that idealized Native American culture in the sixties still managed to oversimplify the culture and impose their own ideals into their perception of the culture. It shows just how unique Native American culture is, and it becomes more and more clear as I read trickster tales and have to constantly catch and then reprimand myself for colonizing the texts.
The Night Chant was very eye opening for me. I found it to be repetitive at first and did not really appreciate it. It was later on in the week that thinking back to it I realized that I didn't appreciate it because I was trying to hard to relate to something else to try to make sense of it. My brain is based in relations and anytime I encounter something I try to make sense of it through past experiences. Now that I have come to terms with the fact that I am not going to be able to to clarify anything I find in the text with Western ideas, I am appreciating the stories for what they are.
The trickster tales themselves are very funny and I find that they are easy to get through. Even the tales that have many of the same mechanisms are interesting and I don't feel as if I am just getting through them for class. One of the things that I notice, and I'm sure we all did, is the number four. So saying that "It is significant to the culture" does not stave my curiosity. So being intrigued I looked into the significance and found an article that explained it. (http://www.examiner.com/native-american-spirituality-in-denver/totems-of-the-four-directions). So I cross referenced the article and found that one recurring view is the tie to the four directions.  Understanding the origin of the of the number helps appreciate the repetition, especially when it is beginning to become monotonous.
 I misread the syllabus and read the next section of the trickster tales and found especially interesting the section on love. The very funny and sometimes vulgar nature of the stories is very unfamiliar to those like me who are use to Western style folk tales, though they also contain modern ideas that are relatable. The old tales still contain humor that a modern audience can appreciate.
The tale "The Cheater Cheated" involves the cheating of a French man. I was unaware of the newness of some of the tales until I had read this. With that in mind the next tale "The Spider Cries Wolf" is incredibly similar to the Western idiom of the boy who cried wolf. I makes me wonder how many of the tales were influenced by Western civilization, as they were oral tales that have no definitive manuscript that pre dates Western influence. Not being able to know for certain how close the tales are to the originals, or even how much they changed after contact with Western civilization is upsetting.