LaDuke and Akwesasne article

After reading LaDuke’s article about Akwesasne and the contamination of PCBs from the GM plant and other industrial plants, I wasn’t surprised to learn about the Mohawk people’s dedication to preserving the land that they live upon. Throughout this semester in this course, we have talked repeatedly about the ties to the land that Native Indians have. That spiritual, cyclical relationship that Natives have can be a hard concept for Americans to grasp. This is evident in LaDuke’s article and her brief history of industrialization in this land. Back in 1903, when the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) first established a factory, I’m sure the people who were running that factory were not worried about the damage that they were causing to the land surrounding them. From my understanding of industrialization, it seems that making money and progressing forward was probably first and foremost the most important thing. It’s reminiscent of the whole “outta sight, outta mind” mantra. Environmental pollution is a tricky situation especially because in the past, people were not aware of the damage that was being done. By the time, it was made aware, it was almost certainly too late to undo the damage.

It was inspiring to read about Katsi Cook’s efforts. She certainly is a strong woman to battle with major corporations and to ask for help from the Environmental Protection Agency.
I enjoy how LaDuke ended her essay. In the last paragraph she states, “the welfare of the entire planet is at stake” (23). I think with the recent “Green Movement” that people are becoming more and more aware of the dire state of need that our planet is in. We, as a human race, need to come together and really start believing in that reciprocal relationship that every human has with the earth.


· LaDuke W. 1999. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA:South End Press.

Summary of The Sacred Hoop

In The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, Paula Gunn Allen covers a wide array of roles that American Indian women struggle with in today’s society. These roles include historical roles as chiefs, healers, dreamers, shamans and more modern roles as wives, mothers, daughters, lesbians. Allen explores the struggle that American Indian women face as they try to find their voice as an American Indian, as an American and as a woman in today’s world. She discusses the obstacles of physical survival and cultural survival that Native women face as a result of their historical role in a gynecentric society to their role today in a patriarchal society. Allen provides a history of tribal traditions such as myths and the importance of women’s roles in these stories. She addresses the change that occurred due to the presence of the white man and their patriarchal views. The status of American Indians has declined in recent years and this is another point that Allen attempts to explore to find out why this has happened and the implications that it holds. Native women struggle to find balance and duality in a modern world that no longer holds the woman as the central rock and focal point that so many tribal myths and stories are based upon. Allen’s book relates not only to the voice that American Indian women are trying to preserve but also to all women in general.

Mother Earth

Paula Gunn Allen’s The Sacred Hoop talks about how the creator of the earth and all things was a female. Thought Woman, Beloved Woman, Grandmother Spider; these are some of the names that different tribes call her. I am not a very religious person. I don’t know much about the stories in the Bible. I am under the assumption that most Christians believe that God is male. Yet, most people also are familiar with the term “Mother Earth”. I think that the fact that American Indian tribes tell creation stories with the creator being female makes sense. If we call our planet “Mother” it makes sense that the earth was created by a woman. Now, I am not going to get into my own personal beliefs about religions, creation, etc. but I like the notion that the stories focus on a female creator of Earth.

I really liked the part in Allen’s book where she talked about a particular story, a Cheyenne tale about Maheo, the All Spirit, creating things out of a void (57). The story says that Maheo needed the help from the birds and other creatures because four things had already been created: the water, the light, the sky-air and the peoples of the water. It is a nice idea to think that the earth was created in harmony with everyone as an active participant. It puts a responsibility on us, as a people, to take care of the earth in a more nurturing way. I think in general that people tend to care more deeply for something or someone if they have an investment in it. If people are held responsible for the creation of something then they are also held responsible for the destruction of that same thing. It goes along with the other themes of the book about duality and balance which I hope to blog about more this weekend.

History and Government

So, after starting to read Paula Gunn Allen's The Sacred Hoop earlier this week, I have come to the realization that I do not know a lot about the history of the United States or Government in general. In the beginning of the book, she addresses a "petticoat government" which I knew nothing about. I guess I have known or thought that I knew that women were treated as more of an equal in Native tribes than in European societies. I didn't know that women were held in such high regard. I didn't know that many tribes had female chiefs who essentially made decisions for the tribes. I didn't know anything about the Beloved Women title and all that it held. It was interesting to read the story about the Jesuits and the Montagnais. It made me chuckle when I read the part about how a male could not do something that he said he was going to do and use the reason that his wife did not want him to do it. It made me think of an old saying "a happy wife is a happy life".
I also wondered what life would have been like if the Indians had not adopted a patriachial society but instead kept a matriachial one. The big questions of "what if..." come into play. What if Le Jeune did not try to "civilize" the Montagnais but instead embraced their way of life? What if European women had more rights instead of fulfilling the roles under the authority of their husbands? What if the Montagnais had not assimilated as much as they did? These questions ultimately would have rewritten the history books. Instead of a male-dominated, white view of history we may have gotten a very different report of the events of history.
The first part of Allen's book was interesting but definitely gave me a sense that I may need more background to fully understand some of the things that she talks about. My lack of historical knowledge made me need to reread some things to try to understand them.

The Three Sisters

Corn, Bean and Squash - a.k.a. The Three Sisters

I was surprised to find out that corn and beans were not native to this country. Since my family has farmed the same ground for over 150 years, I guess I have always assumed that corn and beans were something that was natural in this country.

I liked learning about why the three plants were planted together and that they were intertwined with each other. Farmers will often rotate fields, plant beans one year and the next plant corn to help keep the soil balanced. From everything I’ve learned in this course so far about American Indians believing in a cycle of life and giving and receiving from the land, I wasn’t surprised to find out that the Native tribes thought that these three plants were magical. I think it is amazing that they were able to use the plants in such a way that each one served a purpose and helped the other two somehow. The corn grew tall for the beans to have something to climb and the beans helped with the nitrogen in the soil for the corn to grow better and the squash kept the weeds away because of their large leaves close to the ground. It makes me think of the garden that we have at my farm in the summer. We have a friend who is from Mexico that plants it and he uses these same techniques. He knows exactly what plant to put where and which ones will help the others grow better. It’s an impressive concept and I enjoyed learning more about it, not to mention the bonus of eating all the great food my professor brought to class to inspire us to learn more about the “Three Sisters”.

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/sistersone.html
http://americanfood.about.com/od/nativeamericanfoods/a/3sis.htm