scholarly journals The Construction of a National Identification in the Novel of N. Scott Momaday House Made of Dawn

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (44) ◽  
pp. 72-93
Author(s):  
Huda Kadhim Alwan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Traumatic Experience

The United States government allowed Native Americans to abandon their reservations in the 1950s and 1960s. The historical, social, and cultural backgrounds shaped the forms and themes of works by American Indian writers who urged people to refuse their culture's sense of shame. Moreover, their behavior corresponded with the restoration of individuals to their rituals after disappointment, loss of sense of life, and mental illness performed from the influence of mainstream American society. Among these writers, N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko participate in similar interest in portraying characters caught between indigenous beliefs and white mainstream standards. The construction of national identity in the first modernist Native American Novel, House Made of Dawn (1968) by N. Scott Momaday is tackled in this research. This novel illustrates the healing tale of a young Native American man who, after his return from military service in World War II, suffers from spiritual and psychological illness. The protagonist is isolated from his parents due to his traumatic experience of a foreign war and his problematic genealogy that stems from the orphanage. He is isolated from the land that offers his identity and his culture. In order to gain a consistent sense of identity with the aid of oral traditions and ancient ceremonials of Navajo and pueblo cultures, he begins a ritualistic journey that ultimately leads him to reintegrate with his people and culture. This research illustrates how the construction of national identity is a critical theme for American Indians and contemporary Native American authors.

Native American Ethnicity: a View from the British Museum1

2000 ◽  
Vol 73 (182) ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
J. C. H. King
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native Identity ◽  
Native North America ◽  
American Ethnicity

Abstract Identity in Native North America is defined by legal, racial, linguistic and ethnic traits. This article looks at the nomenclature of both Indian, Eskimo and Native, and then places them in a historical context, in Canada and the United States. It is argued that ideas about Native Americans derive from medieval concepts, and that these ideas both constrain Native identity and ensure the survival of American Indians despite accelerating loss of language.

Repositioning Indianness: Native American Organizations in Portland, Oregon, 1959––1975

2002 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Indian Identity ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
And Shifts

This article examines the processes of community building among American Indians who migrated to Portland, Oregon, in the decades following World War II, contextualized within a larger movement of Indians to the cities of the United States and shifts in government relations with Indian people. It argues that, during the 1960s, working-and middle-class Indians living in Portland came together and formed groups that enabled them to cultivate "Indianness" or to "be Indian" in the city. As the decade wore on, Indian migration to Portland increased, the social problems of urban Indians became more visible, and a younger generation emerged to challenge the leadership of Portland's established Indian organizations. Influenced by both their college educations and a national Indian activist movement, these new leaders promoted a repositioning of Indianness, taking Indian identity as the starting point from which to solve urban Indian problems. By the mid-1970s, the younger generation of college-educated Indians gained a government mandate and ascended to the helm of Portland's Indian community. In winning support from local, state, and federal officials, these leaders reflected fundamental changes under way in the administration of U.S. Indian affairs not only in Portland, but also across the country.

American Indian Activism after 1945

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley Shreve
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Indian ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native People ◽  
Treaty Rights ◽  
1960S And 1970S

American Indian activism after 1945 was as much a part of the larger, global decolonization movement rooted in centuries of imperialism as it was a direct response to the ethos of civic nationalism and integration that had gained momentum in the United States following World War II. This ethos manifested itself in the disastrous federal policies of termination and relocation, which sought to end federal services to recognized Indian tribes and encourage Native people to leave reservations for cities. In response, tribal leaders from throughout Indian Country formed the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in 1944 to litigate and lobby for the collective well-being of Native peoples. The NCAI was the first intertribal organization to embrace the concepts of sovereignty, treaty rights, and cultural preservation—principles that continue to guide Native activists today. As American Indian activism grew increasingly militant in the late 1960s and 1970s, civil disobedience, demonstrations, and takeovers became the preferred tactics of “Red Power” organizations such as the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), the Indians of All Tribes, and the American Indian Movement (AIM). At the same time, others established more focused efforts that employed less confrontational methods. For example, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) served as a legal apparatus that represented Native nations, using the courts to protect treaty rights and expand sovereignty; the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) sought to secure greater returns on the mineral wealth found on tribal lands; and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) brought Native educators together to work for greater self-determination and culturally rooted curricula in Indian schools. While the more militant of these organizations and efforts have withered, those that have exploited established channels have grown and flourished. Such efforts will no doubt continue into the unforeseeable future so long as the state of Native nations remains uncertain.

Black Ink and the New Red Power: Native American Newspapers and Tribal Sovereignty

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patty Loew ◽  
Kelly Mella
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Tribal Sovereignty ◽  
Red Power ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Tribal Governments

This research explores the relationship between Native American newspapers and tribal sovereignty. By means of a content analysis of more than a thousand environmental stories in four tribal newspapers in Wisconsin, interviews with Native American journalists, and discussions with Indian focus groups, the study examines the themes and values tribal journalists and their readers attach to sovereignty. The research suggests that Native newspapers are an important source of information about sovereignty for Native Americans. It also finds that cultural values and themes that reinforce sovereignty emerge from Native news reports about the environment. The United States Government has a unique legal relationship with Native American tribal governments as set forth in the Constitution of the United States, treaties, statutes, and court decisions. As executive departments and agencies undertake activities affecting Native American tribal rights or trust resources, such activities should be implemented in a knowledgeable, sensitive manner respectful of tribal sovereignty … to ensure that the Federal Government operates within a government-to-government relationship with federally recognized Native American tribes.

scholarly journals Native American youth and justice

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Laurence A. French ◽  
Dr.Sc. Haris Halilović ◽  
Dr.Sc. Goran Kovačević
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
General Information ◽  
Native American Youth ◽  
Navajo Nation ◽  
Federal Policies

Youth and delinquency issues have long been problematic among Native Americans groups both on- and off-reservation. This phenomenon is further complicated by the cultural diversity among American Indians and Alaska Natives scattered across the United States. In address these issues, the paper begins with a historical overview of Native American youth.This history presents the long tradition of federal policies that, how well intended, have resulted in discriminatory practices with the most damages attacks being those directed toward the destruction of viable cultural attributes – the same attributes that make Native Americans unique within United States society.Following the historical material, the authors contrast the pervasive Native American aboriginal ethos of harmony with that of Protestant Ethic that dominates the ethos of the larger United States society. In addition to providing general information on Native American crime and delinquency, the paper also provides a case study of Native American justice within the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe, in both size and population, in the United States. The paper concludes with a discussion of issues specific to Native American youth and efforts to address these problems.

Sacred and Profane Uses of the Cactus Lophophora Williamsii from the South Texas Peyote Gardens

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa T. Kimber ◽  
Darrel McDonald
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
South Texas ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
North American Indians ◽  
Native American Church ◽  
History Of

Peyote is one of the best-known plant sources for a psychedelic experience. This small cactus is also associated in the popular mind with North American Indians and Hippies. Although its ritual use is thought to be over 7,000 years old (Furst 1989, cited in Schaefer 1996: 141), its use by Indians of the Native American Church (NAC) is less than 100 years old. The peyote button is the essential ingredient in the ritual ceremony associated with NAC meetings and is referred to as “the medicine” by those who regard the button as a god-being and ingest it as a sacrament (Slotkin 1956: 29; Smith and Snake 1996: 80, 91, 105–6). Even more recently, non-Indians have formed churches (the Neo American Church) to follow the Peyote Way or Road (Trout 1999: 47). Secular uses of peyote are as medicine, especially for topical application to the skin on open wounds (Schultes 1940), for divination to discover something lost or when possible attacks of the enemy will occur; or for mind-altering experiences of a nonreligious nature, that is, for recreation. These nonritual (profane) uses have a long history, but peyote’s more significant sacred use in the United States, as measured by numbers of participants, has been in force for little more than 100 years. Various plants are called peyote in Mexico (Schultes 1938: 157), and their usage in the public and official literature of Texas and the United States has not been precise over the years (Morgan 1976: 12, La Barre 1975: 14–17). The major confusion over the common name among field anthropologists and government officials has been with the mescal bean, or Texas mountain laurel [Sophora secundiflora (Ort.) DC]. This hardy, small tree produces a hard, highly toxic, red seed, which has had a long history of ritual use by Amerinds (La Barre 1975: 15). The distribution of the mescal bean is on the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau, on the caliche cuestas in the Rio Grande Plains, and in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos. The native Americans of this region strung the beans into necklaces or bracelets, and a shaman might have passed down to another shaman some of these items as important paraphernalia.

Science and Politics of Race in Mexico and the United States, 1910-1950

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Shared Networks ◽  
Politics Of Race

In this history of the social and human sciences in Mexico and the United States, Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt reveals intricate connections among the development of science, the concept of race, and policies toward indigenous peoples. Focusing on the anthropologists, sociologists, biologists, physicians, and other experts who collaborated across borders from the Mexican Revolution through World War II, Rosemblatt traces how intellectuals on both sides of the Rio Grande forged shared networks in which they discussed indigenous peoples and other ethnic minorities. In doing so, Rosemblatt argues, they refashioned race as a scientific category and consolidated their influence within their respective national policy circles. Postrevolutionary Mexican experts aimed to transform their country into a modern secular state with a dynamic economy, and central to this endeavor was learning how to “manage” racial difference and social welfare. The same concern animated U.S. New Deal policies toward Native Americans. The scientists’ border-crossing conceptions of modernity, race, evolution, and pluralism were not simple one-way impositions or appropriations, and they had significant effects. In the United States, the resulting approaches to the management of Native American affairs later shaped policies toward immigrants and black Americans, while in Mexico, officials rejected policy prescriptions they associated with U.S. intellectual imperialism and racial segregation.

scholarly journals Sharing Wisdom, Sharing Hope: Strategies Used by Native American Cancer Survivors to Restore Quality of Life

2020 ◽  
pp. 161-166
Author(s):  
Tiana D. Bastian ◽  
Linda Burhansstipanov
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Cancer Survivors ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interviews

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the experiences of Native American cancer survivors in navigating life after cancer and what resources and strategies survivors found useful for coping and achieving optimal quality of life (QoL) after diagnosis (the terms “Native Americans” and “Natives” are used interchangeably in this article to describe American Indians and Alaska Natives). The research questions were What advice and words of wisdom do Native cancer survivors prioritize in messages to other Native cancer survivors? and What do those messages reveal about how Native cancer survivors interpret, experience, and restore QoL after diagnosis? METHODS This study used a qualitative phenomenologic descriptive study design. Researchers used thematic analysis to identify themes related to peer advice and QoL from transcripts of semi-structured interviews with 52 geographically and clinically diverse Native cancer survivors in the United States. RESULTS Survivors’ lived experiences directly informed their advice to other survivors, which was characterized by four themes: listen to your body, advocate for yourself, embrace your culture and spirituality, and share your story. A deeper look into the origins of those messages revealed challenges survivors face balancing their responsibility to care for themselves while simultaneously embracing cultural values of selflessness. CONCLUSION Providers and researchers should work with Native cancer survivors to identify and leverage existing community strengths in ways that support all aspects of a survivors’ QoL rather than limiting support to a single QoL domain (eg, physical, spiritual, mental/emotional, or social issues). Interventions should ensure that supports and services align with survivors’ cultural values and attend to competing responsibilities to optimize QoL.

scholarly journals Pequot Warriors Combating Paper Genocide: How the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Uses Education to Resist Cultural Erasure

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Lan-Húóng Nguyễn ◽  
Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Field School ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
The Right ◽  
Eastern Pequot

This paper analyzes the southeastern Connecticut Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation’s battle with cultural erasure and resistance through education. Indigenous education programs are gradual yet the most effective method of resisting Western cultural erasure from the United States government, because they peacefully invite both Natives and non-Natives to learn about Native American history outside of European colonizer textbooks. The Tribe battles the erasure that can result from external parties’ ability to grant state or federal titles recognizing tribal authority (known as recognition titles) to determine who receives the powerful stamp of Indigeneity and the right to self- govern. My case study focuses on the Eastern Pequots Archaeology Field School project in collaboration with University of Massachusetts, Boston. I evaluate how the Eastern Pequots use a collaborative archaeology education program with their Tribal members and non-Native individuals to resist erasure by decolonizing Western pedagogy. The Field School has gathered over 99,000 artifacts over 15 seasons that dismantle common misconceptions of how Native Americans lived during the beginning of the United States’ history and redefine modern beliefs about how Natives survived European colonization. The Field School contributes to expanding brief descriptions of Native history into a more complicated and dynamic story that elaborates on Native struggle, survival and resistance.

To Change the World: The use of American Indian Education in the Philippines

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Paulet
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Indian Education ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The People ◽  
States Experience

In a Brule Sioux legend, Iktome, the trickster, warns the various Plains tribes of the coming of the white man: “You are the Ikche-Wichasha—the plain, wild, untamed people,” he tells the Lakota, “but this man will misname you and call you by all kinds of false names. He will try to tame you, try to remake you after himself.” Iktome, in essence, describes the conflict that occurred when American Indians encountered Euro-Americans, who judged the Indians in relation to themselves and found the Indians lacking. Having already misnamed the people “Indians,” Euro-Americans proceeded to label them, among other things, “savages.” By the latter half of the nineteenth-century, such terms carried scientific meaning and seemed to propose to Americans that Native Americans, having “failed to measure up” to the standards of white society, were doomed to extinction unless they changed their ways, unless they were “remade.” And that was, indeed, the aim of American endeavors at Native American education, to remake or, in the words of Carlisle president Richard H. Pratt, “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” These educational efforts at restructuring Native American lifestyles were more than the culmination of the battle over definitional control; they were precedents for future American imperial expansion as the United States discovered, at the turn of the century, that “Indians” also lived overseas and that, just like those at home, they needed to be properly educated in the American way of life. The United States' experience with American Indians thus provided both justification for overseas expansion, particularly into the Philippine Islands, and an educational precedent that would enable Americans to claim that their expansion was different from European imperialism based on the American use of education to transform the cultures of their subjects and prepare them for self-government rather than continued colonial control.

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