“Rifles, Blankets, and Beads” delivers an entertaining perspective on the Northern Athapaskan village of Tanacross. This book is an outstanding resource for anthropologists, students, and educators. In reviewing this book, the author brings a descriptive writing style when analyzing the Northern Athapaskan village of Tanacross culture and history with a focus on the potlatch giving us insight details how the potlatch celebrated among the Tanacross people. The author, William E. Simeone, is a great source for the Northern Athapaskan village of Tanacross because he lived there among the people. In addition to living there he also attended ceremonies in both Tanacross and surrounding villages, and participated in potlatches within the villages. …show more content…
This book is divided into eight chapters. The Opening of the book gives inside information about the author living among the Tanacross people. Then it progresses through the early history of the Tanacross people to the modern Tanacross people. It concludes with a summary of why potlatches are important to the village of Tanacross, and about the importance of everyone to sticking together. While there isn’t enough time to thoroughly review all topics, there is a detailed bibliography that provides sources to obtain more information if …show more content…
This book doesn’t cover all different kinds of village potlatches, and every potlatch may not be the same, but the overall aspects that the author covers about the Tanacross potlatches are similar to most. For instance, most colleges covering this class, use the textbook that I mentioned before titled “An Introduction to Native North America”. This textbook goes into detail about the Northwest coast societies potlatch, which I mentioned that their potlatches are mainly done to show off one’s wealth (Sutton 126). There are still some similarities between the Tanacross people and Northwest coast societies though. One similarity is both the Northwest coast societies and the Tanacross people held potlatches for many occasions. The Northwest coast societies held potlatches for a birth of a child, a funeral, or another reason seen fit (Sutton 126). While the Tanacross people held potlatches for similar occasions or something as simple as one lady did in “Rifles, Blankets, and Beads” for her son catching his first fish. Both potlatches also consist of having big feasts to feed your guest for days and giving away gifts. Potlatches are the one widely known Native tradition that is still celebrated to this day that’s why it’s important if taking a class or majoring in Native American Cultures to learn about potlatches as much as you can
Throughout Bruce Knauft’s book, The Gebusi, there are four distinct periods that showed the change that the people went through. In his work, Knauft describes each of these cultural changes in great detail. Knauft lived and studied with that Gebusi in the time periods of 1980-1982, 1998, 2008, and 2013. Knauft’s first visit in the early 80’s was marked by the Gebusi’s relative isolation and distinct and unique cultural attributes. The Gebusi people dressed in traditional clothing, often times very minimal.
Almost every community within the Minnesota reservations sponsors a powwow. A powwow is a ceremony that is filled with feasting, dancing, and singing. These powwow’s are proudly attended by most families within the Ojibwe communities along with many other visitors. The care and pride of a community are very evident and powerful at Ojibwe powwow’s. They bring to life the Ojibwe’s culture in the past and present with traditional dress, food, song/dance and special
King Philip’s war of 1675 -1676 is sometimes referred to as the First Indian War. A war that was between New England colonists, the Plymouth settlers, and the Wampanoag with their leader Metacom. King Phillip, of the Wampanoag, was known to his tribe as Metacom but to the New England colonists as Phillip. The war between Metacom and the colonists would change the relationship between Indians and the English settlers for decades.
War Altar People People are strongly affected by what they carry through life, because sometimes you don’t know how to go back to your old self. Some soldiers that had served in the war have a hard time adjust to life outside the war; for example when soldiers go to sleep they are afraid of getting bombed or killed and when they return home to their family some still have that feeling of getting attacked and would wake up in the middle of the night terrified. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien show characters change during the time of war and what they carried. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried his love for Martha and Mary Anne carried Vietnam, both of them were affected by the thing they carried and the people around
In the second and third chapters in Basso’s book, Wisdom Sits In Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache, he discusses and explores the fundamental Western Apache tradition of place-names and story telling. He focuses primarily on storytelling in the second chapter and place-names in the third. Basso tells of his experience working with Nick Thompson, an informer of Apache culture and friend of Basso for more than 25 years Thompson informs Basso that learning the place-name of the area is an extremely important first step in learning about Apache culture. As Basso really identifies in his third chapter, place-names are extremely important in Western Apache storytelling. Western Apache storytelling can be divided into four narrative categories: myth, historical tale, saga, and gossip.
Potlatch is a traditional ceremony that validates identity and culture. Tlingit’s believe that all life has equal value and should be equally respected (Waterbury, 1987). The Pacific Northwest tribes were thought to be unstable and evil for giving away their possessions and between 1885 and 1951 potlatches in Canada were outlawed (BC, n.d.). The potlatch tradition, still present, allows time for respect, paying debts, and displaying one’s wealth and status. This tradition is most celebrated today for events such as adoptions, burials, marriage, the naming of a child, or the building and/or buying of a house (Waterbury, 1987).
It is believed that at the beginning of the 16th century the Spanish missionaries that went to America lured converts to their ceremonies by using piñatas. The friars cleverly transformed the traditional clay pot ceremonies into religious instruction sessions. They did this by covering the pot with colored paper, and giving it an impressive, perhaps evil appearance.
In The Things They Carried, one item that could be a symbol are weapons. Weapons had an appearance in each of the chapters but it was most important in the chapters “Stockings”, “The Man I Killed”, “Ambush” and “Style”. The meaning of a weapon can mean chaos and pain. In the chapter “Stockings”, Henry Dobbins has his girl friend’s underwear which gives him good luck in war. The chapter states, “In August, he tripped a Bouncing Betty, which failed to detonate.”
Besides these imbricating principles for belongingness – place of residence and agnatic kinship – a Nuer man is indebted towards his affines as well as age-mates. This manifests in multiple ways. Fighting is a common act in the Nuer society. Although they are raised to solve disputes by fighting, they avoid conflicts with his kinsmen. If one is dead during fighting, the dead man’s kinsmen is obliged to seek revenge on the killer.
A potlatch is a huge party held by wealthy and important people, such as the chief. The host would give away his or her possessions to every guest. Everyone got a different gift depending on how important they were to the tribe. According to "Potlatches and Totem Poles," it took years to prepare certain kinds of potlatches.
In the mid-nineteenth century, a girl named Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe (Oona) was born in pitch darkness in the middle of the day when the sun and moon crossed paths. The book Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker is the biography of Broker’s great-great-grandmother, Oona. It describes Oona’s life through what Broker has learned from her grandparents when they passed down the stories. In the book, one of the main themes is passing traditions on. I chose this theme because, in the book, passing traditions on is a major part of the characters’ culture.
Peace lies in tradition; a certain type of peace resides in the first scenes of Moon of the Crusted Snow. In this community one needs not a clock, for the breeze itself will whisper when it is time for supper. Over thousands of years, the Anishinaabe peoples know how to hear these words and listen. Evan knows to head home when “the chill in the air [tells] him that he should move quickly” (5). Still, on the way home he is able to observe the “deep orange glow coating the northern landscape as the sun [begins] to set, highlighting the deep evergreen of the pine and spruce trees that [tower] beyond the ridge” (5).
All of the tribes are important in their own ways, but for this paper, I will be focusing on these two tribes. “In their own language, the word Potawatomi means "Keepers of the Sacred Fire," but they call themselves "Neshnabek," which means "the True People" (Potawatomi History, 2017). The Forest County Potawatomi tribe is presently
In this week’s reading, “Raramuri Souls” by William L. Merill discusses the unique way the small indigenous population, Raramuri people, practice the Day of the Dead ritual. The Raramuri people normalize and accept death unlike the mainstream society. They view death as an inevitable stage of life. The Raramuri people endure high mortality rates of death, therefore, they perform various burial rituals. There burial rituals depend on the type of death the person underwent, the sex of the person, and the age of the person.
Wadley’s Behind Mud Walls: Seventy-Five Years in a North Indian Village is an insightful view into another culture. As an audience member who lives in a country where changes are created quickly and numerously, it was surprising (at first) how the villagers of Karimpur resisted change to their way of life. Though this reviewer is familiar with the concept of having landlords, she was surprised how Karimpur did not belong to the people but rather the landlords. It was also a surprise in how quickly children caught on to their social status.