The “Empire of the Summer Moon” by Gwynne is a story of a child named Cynthia Ann Parker, who at the age of nine was captured by the Comanche tribe, and later was recaptured by white settlers. Although, one would expect Cynthia Ann to be happy to be reunited with family, the opposite occurred. Cynthia Ann was recaptured at the age of thirty three with her daughter Prairie Flower and her new Comanche name-Nautdah. The sociological imagination can relate to the wider society for both the Comanche’s and the white settlers. Cynthia Ann experienced culture shock, a change in norms and values, as well as many other things. The Comanche tribe relates to a nonmaterial culture. They are nonmaterial because they are resistant to change. The American settlers are the wider society to this tribe, the Indians do not want to be captured or killed. The Indians have a different view of society than Americans, therefore they choose to stay confined to their own society. Both the Americans and Comanches believe in war against each other. This culture war is controversial elements, …show more content…
Cynthia Ann was able to adapt to the Comanche life, learn the language, get married and have three children. When she was recaptured by the white settlers, Cynthia Ann did not speak English, and tried to escape numerous times with her daughter. Cynthia Ann had adapted to the life of the Comanches, and had left her life behind her after her father was killed. “Cynthia- ironically, probably had a better life,” but the white settlers thought they were rescuing her from a terrible culture because the white settlers live as though they are superior (Gwynne, 182). This is called ethnocentrism. She maintained the norms of her society by “cutting into her breasts and bleeding into the fire to mourn the loss of her children and husband” (Gwynne,
Theda Perdue`s Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, is a book that greatly depicts what life had been like for many Native Americans as they were under European Conquering. This book was published in 1998, Perdue was influenced by a Cherokee Stomp Dance in northeastern Oklahoma. She had admired the Cherokee society construction of gender which she used as the subject of this book. Though the title Cherokee Women infers that the book focuses on the lives of only Cherokee women, Perdue actually shines light upon the way women 's roles affected the Native cultures and Cherokee-American relations. In the book, there is a focus on the way that gender roles affected the way different tribes were run in the 1700 and 1800`s.
He will invariably have a thin sexy wife with stringy hair, an IQ of 191, and a vocabulary in which even the prepositions have eleven syllables” (79). In this text, Deloria argues how anthropologists purposely contrast themselves from Indians on reservations with how they dress to show their overwhelming wealth and intelligence over Indians while also crudely mocking how anthropologists pretend to be hierarchical snobs. High school students would be intrigued with the sass Deloria uses in his writing. Another appropriate type of reading would be Native Americans’ personal narratives of their own experiences on colonization, American politics, cultural appropriation, and more. Dawnland Voices edited by Siobhan Senier, for instance, would be a spectacular reading for this proposed class since it includes intimate indigenous short stories, poems, and writings from the New England region.
Intrusive Acts on Early North America The Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes were typically considered as enemies throughout most of the 17th and 18th centuries. Thrown into continuous, brutal warfare by their varying European allies, the two tribes shared something in common: the lives of their own tribes were continuously jeopardized by the settlement of the “new coming” Europeans. With all of the commotion caused by conflicting European powers, the Native Americans became endangered by warfare, were forced to adapt to European ways, and left to be dependent on their allies for supplies that kept their tribes alive. The intrusive and unfair ways of the settling colonists led to the downfall of the Natives that had lived on North American soil
What what is presented is an understanding of factional power in which local factions such as the Comanche, Apache, Utes, Hispanic New Mexicans, and the Navajo themselves on the same footing as the United States in their ability to shape the the political landscape. A quote by one Navajo, Sarcilla Largo, demonstrates how the Navajo regarded the American newcomers and their efforts to stop violence between the Navajo and New Mexicans, considering these efforts both unjustified and without authority, stating, “We have more right to complain of you for interfering in our war, than you have to quarrel with us for continuing a war we had begun long before you got here.” The Navajo also allotted the threat against them more evenly among participating factions than is presented in historical American perceptions of the Long Walk. While the American leadership understood their war against the Navajo as being largely led by themselves, the Navajo perceived a threat caused by a plurality of enemies, many of which had been traditional rivals of the tribe, who were as much a threat to Navajo existence as the American
Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a text that describes the experiences of Mary Rowlandson during her captivity by the Native Americans in the King Phillips war. The details about the capture which took place in 1676 are recorded in her diary accounts which were written a few years after she was released. The captivity lasted about eleven weeks and is accounted in the diaries. Rowlandson specifically believes that her experiences were related to the Bible and that the capture was a trial from God which she had to endure in order to survive and remain a true Christian woman who is suitable for the then puritan society (Harris 12).
The late 19th century, a period including Reconstruction, the Industrial Era, and “manifest destiny,” was marked by the freeing of slaves, imperialism, immense economic growth, and the rise of big businesses. (pg. 579, pg. 619, pg. 625, pg. 630)
Native Americans are the indigenous people of the United States, they have an extensive rich history, and stories of sorrow and bravery. Within the lower 48 states are the Great Plains American tribes, these tribes live in a region where there are few trees with valleys and rolling hills. This is where the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma as well as many other tribes resides in. With quite a dearth tribe, their highest population being 3,522 present day, but although they weren’t large they are known for their abounding cultural tradition and past. The Ponca tribe of Oklahoma had a mixed culture of the Middle Mississippi and Plains people.
The Comanche were never really a Indian or Tribal Nation, but they had great success in their early years working as groups or bands. But because a lack of a true unity for them in the beginning, despite their success, it became one of their greatest weaknesses. During the Spaniards occupation in the West and Southwest of America in the early eightieth century, the horse was introduced to America and to the American Indians. Groups or Band of Shoshoni Indians broke away and moved into the plains of the United States, Colorado, Kansas, Texas giving them greater access to wild mustangs and other large herds of animals like the buffalo1.
Once European men stepped foot onto what is now known as North America, the lives of the Native Americans were forever changed. The Indians suffered centuries of torment and ridicule from the settlers in America. Despite the reservations made for the Natives, there are still cultural issues occurring within America. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tragic lives of Native Americans in modern society are depicted in a collection of short stories taking place in the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Throughout the collection, a prominent and reoccurring melancholic theme of racism against Native Americans and their struggle to cope with such behavior from their counterpart in this modern day and age is shown.
The Transcontinental Railroad played a significant role in the settlement of the American West. As of May 10th, 1869, this railroad became the area’s newest and fastest mode of transportation. Its first obligation was to bring settlers in at very low cost, and, sometimes, even free of charge. The types of people that began to migrate West were those who were searching for a better life. One which contains less poverty and more opportunities.
Native Americans’ social structure was very different from the way Anglo-American’s believed was the correct way for men and women to live. This created a major conflict as the Anglo’s begin to press on the Natives’ land. Anglo-American’s believed that the best thing for the Natives’ was to be assimilated and transformed into their way of life. The Anglo’s intervened into the Natives’ life with a Civilization Program, removal and reservations, and boarding schools. The ramifications had lasting negative effects on the Natives’ gender roles.
The period of missionization was known to the Spaniards as a time to mold the Indigenous people into the spitting image of what they wanted; cultivating the Indigenous people into civilized, Christian practicing beings. However, through the eyes of the Indigenous people this period was considered to be the end of the world – an end to the world they came to know so well. Settler colonialism introduced a cruel and brutal world upon the Indigenous people, especially for Indigenous women who were targeted by the priests to fulfill their needs of lust, during the period of missionization. In the book, Bad Indians, author Deborah Miranda finds a captivating way of presenting the brave story of Vicenta Gutierrez, who fell victim to the priest on the mission and spoke up about her traumatic event, through the literary genre of a letter. Using the letter as her literary device, Miranda vividly illustrates the sexual violence brought upon Indian women and how the priests used rape to establish power on the missions had a dehumanizing effect on these women.
Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.
Resisting society’s dominant standards can be done in many ways. For instance, Jeannette Armstrong’s poem, “Indian Woman” demonstrates what Kim Anderson explains as an act of resistance. Armstrong presents this by recognizing the discrimination of First Nations women by challenging it as well as accepting her Native identity instead of conforming to Western beliefs. By doing so, the poem allows her to reclaim her voice and speak the truth for her and other First Nations women.
“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson”: The Influence of Intercultural Contact on Puritan Beliefs “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson gives a first person perspective into the circumstances of captivity and cultural interaction and an insight to Rowlandson 's attitude towards the Indians, both before and after she was held captive. Rowlandson displays a change in her perception of "civilized" and "savage", in spite of the fact that her overall world view does not alter. It should be covered below that in the following Essay, since the author and the narrator are the same person, will not be individually distinguished. For one thing, Mary Rowlandson provides all the conventions typical of a Puritan perspective.