Cultural Anthropology and Native Americans

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Cultural Anthropology and Native Americans

• Your Guest
• Chip Perkins, M.A.

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Anthropology is the Study of Humans.
What Variety Exists Among Us?
What Do Humans Do? Why?
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3 Ideas Are Central to Anthropology

• CultureHow People Live Their Lives, How they
  Understand Themselves and the World.
• PowerThe Ability to Choose and Change A
  Situation. All Human Relations Involve Power.
• HistoryHow did Humans Get To Where They Are?
  How does the Past Impact Us?

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The Links between Culture, Power and History can
Help Us Understand Native Americans Past and
Present better.
Makah - Whaling daphne.palomar.edu
Inuit - Blanket Toss www.virginia.edu/anthro/
inuit/highjump.html
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History of Native Americans is about Power

• European Immigrants had Superior Material
  Resources
• Europeans displaced or destroyed Native American
  Groups in the New World

Trail of Tears Painting http//www.nativeamericans
.com/TrailofT.gif
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Territorial Growth up to 1810
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U.S. Territory expands greatly quickly. Growth
at 1850.
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Removals to Oklahoma Began 1830s
www.trailsoftears.org/map.htm
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http//www.worldstatesmen.org/IndianTerr.gif
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Ancestral lands of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota
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Contemporary Reservations of Lakota, Nakota and
Dakota
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Contemporary Land (in Black) mapped upon
Ancestral Land for Comparison
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If Contemporary Reservations were Conglomerated
(mapped upon ancestral land).
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Native American Reservations in Contiguous
U.S.--1999
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Displacing People can drastically affect their
Lives Or Culture!

• Pine Ridge Reservation (Lakota) 1890

Today
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Many Native Americans Reservations have always
been economically depressed making it difficult
to earn a worthwhile living.
Vs.
Carbondale, IL (SIU)
Standing Rock Reservation - Lakota
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In the 1990s, the Makah Tribe of Neah Bay,
Washington worked to get rights to hunt Gray
whales again for these reasons.
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Whaling is a Cultural-Historical Tradition for
the Makah.

• Culture History Tradition
• And The Makah Had Hunted Gray Whales for Most of
  Their Existence.

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Culture is about IdentityWho you ARE and Whats
important to you.

• Who You Are is What you DO!

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Culture is about IdentityWho you ARE and Whats
important to you.

• Who You Are is What you DO!
• You Are What You EAT!

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Whaling Has Important Religious-Community Aspects

• Whales are important Religious Creatures (like
  these totems)
• And Whaling Has important Ritualistic Elements
• Whaling Is Linked to the Spirit of the People
  Fosters Community

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The Makah can Gain Economic Benefits from Whaling
Food, Subsistence, Other Products
Jobs and Economic Independence
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Arguments Against Whaling

• Due to Over-Whaling in the Past many Populations
  are in Danger of Extinction
• The U.S. signed an International Treaty with the
  International Whaling Commission in 1946 not to
  engage in Whaling.

Norwegian Whalers-Poachers
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Arguments Against Whaling

• Some People believe it is Immoral or Unethical to
  Kill Conscious Mammalswhich Cetaceans (Whales
  and Dolphins) seem to be.

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Do Makah have a Legal Right to Hunt Whales?

• Makah signed a 1855 U.S. Treaty that Gives them
  Sovereign (or Constitutional) Rights to Whaling
  for Subsistence
• However, the 1946 U.S. Treaty with the
  International Whaling Commission banned
  Whalingthis agreement also has Constitutional
  Authority.

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Ultimately the U.S. government allowed the Makah
to hunt whales
In 1999, U.S. government allowed them rights to 3
years of hunting with no more than 5 whales taken
each year.
http//dneiwert.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/Makah
20Hunt-789742.jpg
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Culture, Power and History
Go Lucky 7!

• History of Displacement helps explain the poverty
  of many Native American reservations.
• History of legal agreements between Tribes and
  U.S. Government helps explain their legal access
  to goods-services illegal or restricted to the
  rest of U.S. citizens. That is, they have power
  we dont.

Like Gambling (But also Hunting, Fishing, and
Less Taxes)