tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/native-american-culture-32869/articlesNative American culture – The Conversation2023-11-21T13:22:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154182023-11-21T13:22:20Z2023-11-21T13:22:20Z‘Time warp’ takes students to Native American past to search for solutions for the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560486/original/file-20231120-22-litds7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C8%2C5699%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students become more emotionally engaged with history when it's presented in an interactive way, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hispanic-elementary-students-using-computer-in-royalty-free-image/503690720?phrase=classroom+students+slides&adppopup=true">SDI Productions via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The eyes of the fifth graders in Ms. Evans’ class widened as they saw a dazzling light on the classroom smartboard and the phrase, “Let’s do the Time Warp!”</p>
<p>Ms. Evans, who teaches at a large suburban school in central Ohio, told her students that they were about to take a trip to a Native American community as it existed in the 19th century.</p>
<p>“We are now traveling back in time to Florida in the 1800s to visit a village of the Seminole,” Ms. Evans told her class excitedly as she began to read aloud the story of Seminole leader <a href="https://www.tribalnationsmaps.com/store/p1512/Native_American_Heroes%3A_Osceola%2C_Tecumseh_%26_Cochise_-_-_Grades_%3A_3_-7_-_GIFT_SHOPS_ONLY_%285_books%29.html">Osceola</a>. </p>
<p>In the story, Osceola says, “The white man wants our groves of orange trees, our fine harbors, our full forests, and warm fertile lands. But they are ours. Here are our fish and birds and animals, the graves of our fathers, the grounds of our children.”</p>
<p>Immediately, a beautiful village appears on their Chromebooks. The students are welcomed by the Seminole before they engage with a series of interactive slides. They are introduced to the foods the Seminole eat, the clothes they wear and their daily experiences. They are invited to stay and live with the Seminole while they visit. However, on this first day of the history unit, students do not yet know that soon Osceola will face captivity by U.S. troops, who trick him into meeting for a truce. </p>
<p>The experience exemplifies the kinds of social studies lessons that our research group – <a href="http://digitalciviclearning.com/">Digital Civic Learning</a> – has been developing since 2020 to enable students to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231199967">use immersive storytelling</a> to better understand different perspectives on complex historical issues, as well as current social ones. We’ve been working with elementary school teachers from several school districts in Ohio.</p>
<h2>Overcoming a narrow view of history</h2>
<p>Whereas other curricula may emphasize <a href="https://woodrow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/WW-American-History-Report.pdf">memorization of facts and dates</a>, our approach emphasizes dialogue among students to make learning history more exciting. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">our view</a> as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ON0HRQoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">educational psychologists</a>, the need for such an approach is made clear by national data, which shows that American teenagers’ <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/">knowledge of U.S. history</a> has been <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ushistory/2022/">declining for the past decade</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the history curricula currently used in schools are rooted in <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?redir=http%3a%2f%2fwww.societyforhistoryeducation.org%2fpdfs%2fF19_Krueger.pdf">settler colonialism</a>, which focuses on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/settler_colonialism#:%7E:text=Settler%20colonialism%20can%20be%20defined,with%20a%20new%20settler%20population.">displacement of Indigenous populations</a> with new settlers, and often minimizes the perspectives of underrepresented populations. </p>
<p>Our approach integrates technology, immersive learning – such as an up-close look at the daily lives of the Seminole – and collaborative small-group discussions into daily social studies instruction.</p>
<p>The interactive experiences that students have with the Seminole were created using <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Presentation-Using-Google-Slides">Google Slides</a>. The slides consist of illustrations, story narrations, easy-to-read texts and interactive activities developed by our team. Beyond history, we also created units in geography, government and economics. Each unit was designed for upper elementary school students and delivered to students over two weeks. </p>
<h2>Discussing dilemmas</h2>
<p>Students actively participate in <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/bjep.12442">small-group discussions</a> on the third and ninth day of each unit.</p>
<p>In our Seminole example, students are asked to reflect on the <a href="https://dos.fl.gov/florida-facts/florida-history/seminole-history/the-seminole-wars/">Treaty of Payne’s Landing</a>, signed in 1832. The treaty required the Seminole to give up their land in Florida in exchange for new land in the West.</p>
<p>They discuss the dilemma that Osceola faced when deciding whether to accept the treaty in order to maintain peace, or to refuse to agree to the new treaty so that the Seminole could stay on their land.</p>
<p>Our approach to teaching history also emphasizes connections with current events, such as the <a href="https://daplpipelinefacts.com/">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>. The construction of the pipeline will help the economy by creating jobs and making the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. However, the pipeline will be built on land owned by Native Americans who are deeply concerned that the pipeline will lead to contamination of <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/plains-treaties/dapl">groundwater and soil</a>.</p>
<p>Students learn about a related situation in which the federal government has been debating whether to approve the construction of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pipeline-battle-brews-in-minnesota-between-indigenous-tribes-and-a-major-oil-company">another pipeline in Minnesota</a> that would go directly through Native American land. Working in groups, students come up with reasons for being either for or against the construction of the pipeline.</p>
<p>Based on our <a href="http://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/enriching-civic-learning-experiences-elementary/docview/2864853496/se-2?accountid=9783">analysis of student discussions and essays over the course of this unit</a>, we’ve found that through these immersive learning and interactive practices, students work more collaboratively and are more likely to consider multiple perspectives in civic debates.</p>
<p>Surveys also found that students who participated in the curriculum became <a href="https://aera22-aera.ipostersessions.com/Default.aspx?s=9E-F9-32-3D-E1-BC-2B-6B-84-59-77-28-08-61-DA-5D">more emotionally engaged with learning history</a> – in part by making emotional connections with story characters – as they developed a deeper understanding of how historical events affect people’s lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric M. Anderman receives funding from The Institute of Education Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tzu-Jung Lin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rather than have students memorize names and dates, this history curriculum invites students to grapple with real-life issues faced by people from the past.Eric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityTzu-Jung Lin, Professor of Educational Psychology, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992432023-02-10T22:12:35Z2023-02-10T22:12:35ZWhat to watch for when you are watching the Super Bowl: 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509546/original/file-20230210-14-t9c1mn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5380%2C3616&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Clash of the tight ends?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kansas-city-chiefs-linebacker-ben-niemann-tackles-news-photo/1235721523?phrase=kansas%20chiefs%20Philadelphia&adppopup=true">Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Super Bowl – an annual celebration of advertising, calorific bar food, Roman numerals and occasional on-field action – is upon us, again.</p>
<p>At 6:30 EST on Feb. 12, 2023, the <a href="https://www.nfl.com/news/super-bowl-lvii-picks-will-kansas-city-chiefs-or-philadelphia-eagles-win-lombard">Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will take the field</a> in Arizona before moments later trundling off for one of the many breaks that are a feature of football. </p>
<p>But there is an upside to all those breaks. It means you can read an article or two from The Conversation’s archive. To that end, below is a selection of stories tackling what is happening in the world of football, but not necessarily on the field.</p>
<h2>A game of wounded warriors</h2>
<p>A specific part of the anatomy of Kansas City star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been scrutinized in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl: his right ankle.</p>
<p>You see, despite Mahomes’ being more handy with his hands than with his feet, he still needs to be able to move around with some dexterity to be effective – and Mahomes’ mobility is a key aspect of his game. And on Jan. 21, 2023, the 27-year-old athlete awkwardly fell after a tackle and sprained his ankle.</p>
<p>But what exactly in an ankle sprain? The University of Pittsburgh’s <a href="https://mirm-pitt.net/staff/macalus-v-hogan-md-mba/">MaCalus V. Hogan</a>, a surgeon who specializes in sports-related ankle injuries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/patrick-mahomes-injury-an-ankle-surgeon-explains-what-a-high-ankle-sprain-is-and-how-it-might-affect-mahomes-in-the-super-bowl-199248">explained that they occur</a> when someone rolls an ankle joint, resulting in the stretching or tearing of ligaments that hold the ankle together.</p>
<p>The good news for Chiefs’ fans? Hogan reckons their quarterback will be OK come gametime: “While Mahomes may not be at 100%, given the moderate severity of the injury, his fitness and the high quality of care he is receiving, I expect that he will be ready to play an exciting game come kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday.”</p>
<p>Of much more concern are the life-threatening injuries of the sort that afflicted Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa earlier in the season. </p>
<p>Both collapsed to the turf after jarring tackles, Hamlin from heart problems, Tagovailoa from a concussion. As paramedics administered treatment on the field, <a href="https://theconversation.com/sports-broadcasters-have-a-duty-to-report-injuries-responsibly-in-the-case-of-nfls-damar-hamlin-they-passed-the-test-197192">broadcasters faced a dilemma</a>, as <a href="https://comm.osu.edu/people/kraft.42">Nicole Kraft of The Ohio State University</a> explained.</p>
<p>“When disaster strikes on a live sports broadcast, it’s easy to say something wrong, especially in an age where words can be distributed widely, dissected and criticized on social media,” wrote Kraft, noting that broadcasters also have a decision to make over whether or not to show replays of the injury.</p>
<p>In the case of Hamlin, ESPN and others behaved responsibly, Kraft concluded. Instead of filling the air with speculation, broadcasters instead appealed to the NFL to suspend the game.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/patrick-mahomes-injury-an-ankle-surgeon-explains-what-a-high-ankle-sprain-is-and-how-it-might-affect-mahomes-in-the-super-bowl-199248">Patrick Mahomes injury: An ankle surgeon explains what a high ankle sprain is and how it might affect Mahomes in the Super Bowl</a>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/sports-broadcasters-have-a-duty-to-report-injuries-responsibly-in-the-case-of-nfls-damar-hamlin-they-passed-the-test-197192">Sports broadcasters have a duty to report injuries responsibly – in the case of NFL's Damar Hamlin, they passed the test</a>
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<h2>The rise and pitfalls of sports gambling</h2>
<p>A subplot of this year’s Super Bowl advertising rush is the growing presence of betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel.</p>
<p>It’s only been five years since the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-legalized-sports-betting-has-transformed-the-fan-experience-194994">Supreme Court opened up legalized sports betting</a> across the states. Since then, “a whole industry has sprouted up that, for tens of millions of fans around the country, is now just part of the show,” wrote <a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/john-affleck">Penn State’s John Affleck</a>. He added: “Betting’s seamless integration into American sports – impossible to ignore even among fans who aren’t wagering – represents a remarkable shift for an activity that was banned in much of the country only a few years ago.”</p>
<p>The damage being done by the explosion of easy-to-bet apps and websites is only just being understood. <a href="https://socialwork.rutgers.edu/node/677">Lia Nower</a>, director of The Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, has been tasked by New Jersey to <a href="https://theconversation.com/data-from-new-jersey-is-a-warning-sign-for-young-sports-bettors-197865">evaluate the impact of sports gambling</a> by interviewing gamblers and analyzing every bet placed online in the state since 2018.</p>
<p>She reported that “those wagering on sports in New Jersey were more likely than others who gamble to have high rates of problem gambling and problems with drugs or alcohol, and to experience mental health problems like anxiety and depression. Most alarming, findings suggest that about 14% of sports bettors reported thoughts of suicide, and 10% said they had made a suicide attempt.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-legalized-sports-betting-has-transformed-the-fan-experience-194994">How legalized sports betting has transformed the fan experience</a>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/data-from-new-jersey-is-a-warning-sign-for-young-sports-bettors-197865">Data from New Jersey is a warning sign for young sports bettors</a>
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<h2>It really is time to drop the ‘chop’</h2>
<p>Kansas City fans inside the State Farm Stadium in Glendale during the Super Bowl might at various points during the game engage in what is known as the “tomahawk chop.” Outside the stadium, Native Americans intend to protest. What they want – along with an end to that offensive gesture – is a new name for the franchise.</p>
<p>Such re-branding is not, of course, unheard of. Washington’s NFL team dropped its racist moniker in 2020. And last year, the Cleveland Indians changed its name to the Guardians.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/peter-dreier">Peter Dreier of Occidental College</a> noted, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cleveland-indians-changed-their-team-name-whats-holding-back-the-atlanta-braves-181662">not all teams are on board</a> with jettisoning their problematic names. The Atlanta Braves are one team that refuses to move on, sticking with its name, along with its “tomahawk song” and accompanying crowd gesture.</p>
<p>“Today, many fans – not to mention many Native Americans – cringe at the music and the chop. To them, it reflects a stereotypical image of Native Americans as violent and uncivilized, similar to those that appeared on TV and in movies for many years,” wrotes Dreier.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cleveland-indians-changed-their-team-name-whats-holding-back-the-atlanta-braves-181662">The Cleveland Indians changed their team name – what's holding back the Atlanta Braves?</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, The Conversation takes a critical look at some of the biggest news stories from the past NFL season.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936032022-11-03T12:05:39Z2022-11-03T12:05:39ZIndigenous languages make inroads into public schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492822/original/file-20221101-26-bnizxp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C289%2C163&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">James Gensaw, a Yurok language high school teacher in far northern California, goes over some words with a student.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mneesha Gellman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whenever November would roll around, James Gensaw, a Yurok language high school teacher in far northern California, would get a request from a school administrator. They would always ask him to bring students from the Native American Club, which he advises, to demonstrate Yurok dancing on the high school quad at lunch time.</p>
<p>“On the one hand, it was nice that the school wanted to have us share our culture,” Gensaw told me during an interview. “On the other, it wasn’t always respectful. Some kids would make fun of the Native American dancers, mimicking war cries and calling out ‘chief.’”</p>
<p>“The media would be invited to come cover the dancing as part of their Thanksgiving coverage, and it felt like we were a spectacle,” he continued. “Other cultural groups and issues would sometimes be presented in school assemblies, in the gym, where teachers monitored student behavior. I thought, why didn’t we get to have that? We needed more respect for sharing our culture.” James Gensaw’s work in California’s public high schools as a Yurok language teacher and mentor to Native American students is part of a reckoning with equity and justice in schools.</p>
<h2>Yurok language in schools</h2>
<p>Tribal officials say Gensaw is one of 16 advanced-level Yurok language-keepers alive today. An enrolled Yurok tribal member, Gensaw is also part of the tribe’s <a href="https://www.yuroklanguage.com/">Yurok Language Program</a>, which is at the forefront of efforts to keep the Yurok language alive.</p>
<p>Today, the Yurok language is offered as an elective at four high schools in far northern California. The classes meet language instruction requirements for admission to University of California and California State University systems.</p>
<p>Yurok language classes are also offered in local Head Start preschool programs as well as in some K-8 schools when there is teacher availability, and at the College of the Redwoods, the regional community college. To date, eight high school seniors have been awarded California’s <a href="https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2019/may/14/eureka-high-students-receive-first-california-seal/">State Seal of Biliteracy in Yurok</a>, a prestigious accomplishment that signifies commitment to and competency in the language.</p>
<p>When I started researching the effects of Yurok language access on young people in 2016, there were approximately 12 advanced-level speakers, according to the Yurok Language Program. The 16 advanced-level speakers in 2022 represent a growing speaker base and they are something to celebrate. Despite colonization and attempts to <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/1033640135">eradicate the Yurok language</a> by interrupting the transfer of language from parents to their children, Yurok speakers are still here.</p>
<p>Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, boarding schools in the United States operated as spaces for what I refer to as “culturecide” — the killing of culture — in my latest book, “<a href="https://www.pennpress.org/9780812254044/indigenous-language-politics-in-the-schoolroom/">Indigenous Language Politics in the Schoolroom: Cultural Survival in Mexico and the United States</a>.” Students in both the United States and Mexico were often made to attend schools where they were beaten for speaking Indigenous languages. Now, new generations are being encouraged to sign up to study the same language many of their grandparents and great-grandparents were forced to forget.</p>
<h2>Language as resistance</h2>
<p>The Yurok Tribe made the decision years ago to <a href="https://www.yuroktribe.org/education">prioritize growing the number of Yurok speakers</a> and as part of that, to teach Yurok to anyone who wanted to learn. They have many <a href="https://www.yuroklanguage.com/virtual-learning-spaces">online resources</a> that are open for all. Victoria Carlson is the Yurok Language Program Manager and a language-keeper herself. She is teaching Yurok to her children as a first language, and she drives long distances to teach the language at schools throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties.</p>
<p>“When we speak Yurok, we are saying that we are still here,” Carson said in an interview with me, echoing a sentiment that many Yurok students relayed to me as well. “Speaking our language is a form of resisting all things that have been done to our people.”</p>
<p>The students in Mr. Gensaw’s classes are majority, but not exclusively, Native American. Through my research I learned that there are white students who sign up out of interest or because nothing else fit in their schedule. There are Asian American students who wish that Hmong or Mandarin was a language option, but they take Yurok since it is the most unique language choice available. And there are Latinx students who already are bilingual in English and Spanish and who want to challenge themselves linguistically.</p>
<p>In my book and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=R00JOgwAAAAJ&hl=en">related publications</a>, I document how access to Indigenous languages in school benefits different groups of students in a range of ways. Heritage-speakers — those who have family members who speak the language — get to shine in the classroom as people with authority over the content, something that <a href="https://www.aclunc.org/publications/failing-grade-status-native-american-education-humboldt-county">many Native American students struggle with</a> in other classes. White students have their eyes opened to <a href="https://ijcis.qut.edu.au/article/view/2322/1223">Native presence that is sorely missing</a> when they study the Gold Rush, Spanish missionaries in California, or other standard topics of K-12 education that are taught from a colonizing perspective. And students from non-heritage minority backgrounds <a href="https://www.pennpress.org/9780812254044/indigenous-language-politics-in-the-schoolroom/">report</a> an increased interest in their own identities. They often go to elders to learn some of their own family languages after being inspired that such knowledge is worth being proud of.</p>
<p>Bringing languages like Yurok into schools that are still, as historian Donald Yacovone points out, <a href="https://www.harvard.com/book/teaching_white_supremacy/">dominated by white supremacist content</a>, does not in and of itself undo the effects of colonization. Getting rid of curricula that teach the <a href="https://upstanderproject.org/learn/guides-and-resources/first-light/doctrine-of-discovery">Doctrine of Discovery</a> – the notion that colonizers “discovered” the Americas and had a legal right to it – is a long-term process. But placing Native American languages into public schools both affirms the validity of Indigenous cultural knowledge and also <a href="https://ijcis.qut.edu.au/article/view/2322/1223">asserts the contemporary existence of Native people</a> at the same time. It is a place to start.</p>
<h2>One step at a time</h2>
<p>In my experience, as a researcher on education policy and democracy, I have found that <a href="https://affect.coe.hawaii.edu/lessons/instruction-that-responds-to-flourishes-with-the-cultural-linguistic-background-of-students-families/">putting more culturally diverse courses in school</a> is something that better prepares young people to learn how to interact in healthy ways with people who are different from themselves.</p>
<p>Gensaw, the Yurok language teacher, is at the forefront of this. One year when he was again asked if he could bring the students to dance around Thanksgiving time, he said yes, but not on the quad. He requested a school assembly space where student behavior could be monitored. The school said yes, and the students danced without being demeaned by their peers. These steps are just the beginning of what it takes to undo the effects of colonization.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mneesha Gellman received funding from the Sociological Initiative Foundation, the Phillips Fund of the American Philosophical Society, and Alma Ostrom and the American Political Science Association's Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs to partially support research on which this article is based. </span></em></p>Indigenous language instructors struggle to keep their languages from becoming lost.Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932632022-10-28T12:31:03Z2022-10-28T12:31:03ZSacheen Littlefeather and ethnic fraud – why the truth is crucial, even it it means losing an American Indian hero<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491938/original/file-20221026-19-k72etf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C12%2C4156%2C2792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sacheen Littlefeather speaks at the 45th Academy Awards.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sacheen-littlefeather-speaks-at-the-45th-academy-awards-on-news-photo/515108640?phrase=sacheen%20littlefeather&adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Sacheen Littlefeather died on Oct. 2, 2022, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/03/oscars-activist-sacheen-littlefeather-dead/">obituaries reflecting on the actress and activist’s life</a> held her up as a <a href="https://time.com/6221718/devery-jacobs-sacheen-littlefeather/">Native American trailblazer</a>.</p>
<p>But there is serious issue with this assessment: A suspicion among those who knew her – myself included – that her claims to American Indian heritage were not what they seemed has developed into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/24/sacheen-littlefeather-faked-native-american-ancestry-say-family">outright claims of falsehood</a>. A report in the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php?fbclid=IwAR3hwygk14GMDMPifAxZJMCJOjQIcCqqsxmLue1s8DoLlNjlKDvG9VXPjsM">San Francisco Chronicle</a> on Oct. 22 claims that Littlefeather was a “fraud.” </p>
<p>Written by author Jacqueline Keeler, whose running “<a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/01/alleged-pretendians-list-exposes-allegedly-fake-native-americans/">Alleged Pretendians</a>” list documents cases of Native American ethnic fraud, the article cites two of Littlefeather’s sisters who say that their sibling lied about her heritage. Contrary to Littlefeather’s half-century long claims, she has no White Mountain Apache or Yaqui heritage, according to the report.</p>
<p>The article has unleashed bitter online arguments, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/columns/sacheen-littlefeather-who-gets-to-call-themselves-native-1235412067/">counter-articles</a> and <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/activist-jacqueline-keeler-claims-sacheen-littlefeather-wasnt-native-but-a-pretendian">intense criticism of Keeler</a>. In part, the reaction stems from calling out Littlefeather’s alleged deception so soon after her death.</p>
<p>It also reflects the esteem many held Littlefeather in. Littlefeather <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/notes-on-hollywood/revisiting-sacheen-littlefeathers-shocking-appearance-at-the-1973-oscars">skyrocketed to fame in 1973</a> when, based on her supposed Native American heritage, she rejected an Oscar for Marlon Brando in protest over the film industry’s deplorable treatment of Native people. It cemented her position as “persona non grata” in Hollywood but <a href="https://time.com/6221718/devery-jacobs-sacheen-littlefeather/">made her a heroine</a> to a new generation of American Indian people.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qakw0xYAAAAJ&hl=en">a scholar who writes and teaches about American Indian cultural appropriation</a>, I believe that scrutinizing Littlefeather’s claim to Native identity is necessary. “<a href="https://theconversation.com/fraudulent-claims-of-indigeneity-indigenous-nations-are-the-identity-experts-171470">Pretendianism</a>” – the act of falsely claiming American Indian heritage – does real harm, and the case of Littlefeather may shed light on why people make such claims, and how they get away with it.</p>
<h2>A narrative, unquestioned</h2>
<p>I reviewed Keeler’s documentation before it was published, and in my opinion it is solid research. Keeler’s work also revealed numerous other apparent falsehoods by Littlefeather over the years, including her claims that she was at the <a href="https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/indianed/curriculum/ReadytoGo/1969%20Alcatraz%20%28HS%29.pdf">1969 to 1971 Alcatraz Island Occupation</a>. </p>
<p>The allegations of falsehood also resonate with <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/a-recent-tv-slur-revives-debate-about-sacheen-littlefeather-and-her-role-in-marlon-brandos-oscar-refusal">my own experience</a> of working with Littlefeather. In 2015, she asked me to ghostwrite a memoir with her on the back of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-significance-of-the-oscarssowhite-hashtag">#OscarsSoWhite movement</a>. I spent several days interviewing Littlefeather at her home in San Rafael, California, but was later informed that Littlefeather had decided to “go in a different direction.” During our conversations, Littlefeather offered no information about any family connections to the White Mountain Apache or Yaqui tribes.</p>
<p>I later warned the makers of a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/SACHEEN-Breaking-silence-Sacheen-Littlefeather/dp/B09J261TFQ">documentary film</a> about my concerns about Littlefeather’s claims to American Indian heritage but otherwise kept my suspicions largely to myself. The truth is, it never seemed acceptable to question Sacheen Littlefeather’s identity – not now or not when she was alive. For generations, activists, writers and filmmakers who worked with her reflexively believed her assertions.</p>
<p>But here is the thing: The issue of Littlefeather’s heritage has never been about questioning whatever <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/movies/sacheen-littlefeather-dead.html">good work she has done as an activist</a>. It wasn’t even about whether or not she had any Indigenous heritage at all. Given that her father’s family was from Mexico, there is a good chance that she had Indigenous ancestry from that country. </p>
<p>Rather, it raises questions about why she would invent a fictitious narrative, and why no one questioned it, at least publicly, during her lifetime.</p>
<h2>The harm of ‘pretendians’</h2>
<p>Littlefeather became a cultural icon in large part because she made a life playing to the Indian Princess stereotype, and she certainly looked the part. This was especially true during the Oscars incident, in which she adorned herself in full Native dress, for example, because it sent an unmistakable message about the image she was trying to portray. It should be noted that the outfit was not of traditional Apache or Yaqui design, nor was her hairstyle.</p>
<p>The stereotype Littlefeather embodied depended on non-Native people not knowing what they were looking at, or knowing what constitutes legitimate American Indian identity. There is a pattern that “pretendians” follow: They exploit people’s lack of knowledge about who American Indian people are by perpetuating ambiguity in a number of ways. Self-identification, <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/native-american-dna">or even DNA tests</a>, for instance, obscure the fact that American Indians have not only a cultural relationship to a specific tribe and the United States but a legal one. Pretendians rarely can name any people they are related to in a Native community or in their family tree.</p>
<p>They also just blatantly lie. Pretendianism is particularly prevalent in <a href="https://www.nativetimes.com/index.php/life/commentary/8323-around-the-campfire-fake-indians">entertainment, publishing</a> <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/native-first-nations-scholars-fake-indians-prevalent-in-higher-education-/6511681.html">and academia</a>. </p>
<p>Littlefeather lived with a diagnosis of <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/schizoaffective-disorder/about-schizoaffective-disorder/#:%7E:text=Schizoaffective%20disorder%20is%20a%20condition,affective'%20refers%20to%20mood%20symptoms.">schizoaffective disorder</a>, as she <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/10/sacheen-littlefeather-fact-or-fiction-academy-museum-owes-exhibit-1235153768/">publicly disclosed</a> shortly before she passed and as she had spoken in depth with me about. We can’t say what role, if any, her condition may have played in her apparently false appropriation of Native heritage. But according to the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoaffective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354504">Mayo Clinic</a>, one of the hallmarks of the disorder is delusional thinking characterized by “false fixed beliefs despite evidence to the contrary.” </p>
<p>It’s one thing when people indulge their fantasies about their supposed Indian heritage to make them sound more interesting at cocktail parties or to convince actual Native people that they are one of them. But it’s quite another when there are lucrative movie deals, publishing contracts, high-paying teaching jobs, big grants and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-na-cherokee-minority-contracts-20190626-story.html">business deals</a> at stake based on advancing an American Indian image.</p>
<p>After all, it is illegal to ask job candidates about their ethnicity in public realms like universities, which helps explain why American Indian ethnic fraud appears to be <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/native-first-nations-scholars-fake-indians-prevalent-in-higher-education-/6511681.html">so pervasive in academic institutions</a> in the hiring of tenure track faculty and postdocs in American Indian studies departments and related fields. There is no way to properly vet people’s claims legally. </p>
<p>Harm is caused when resources and even jobs go to fakes instead of the people they were intended for.</p>
<h2>The need for truth</h2>
<p>To my knowledge, Sacheen Littlefeather did not make a lot of money perpetuating an Indian identity. And it is only fair to note that Littlefeather is no longer around to offer a defense or provide documentation, should she have it, that would disprove the claims of ethnic fraud.</p>
<p>But if we are to accept the words of her sisters – and based on my own experience with her, including photocopies of five years of a handwritten journal she gave me in which there is no indication of familial ties to any Apache, Yaqui or other tribal community – I can only conclude that she benefited from this fraud by achieving something she desperately desired, fame, and that a lot of people were duped in the process.</p>
<p>Deception cripples peoples’ ability to discern truth. And what is that if not a form of harm? </p>
<p>We may never know the reasons for Sacheen Littlefeather’s fraud, if indeed it as that. What I do know is that I prefer the truth, even if it means I lose a hero.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dina Gilio Whitaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new report disputes the heritage claims of Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather. A scholar explains why scrutiny over alleged ethnic fraud is essential.Dina Gilio Whitaker, Lecturer on American Indian Studies, California State University San MarcosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1907332022-10-07T13:19:44Z2022-10-07T13:19:44ZEffort to recover Indigenous language also revitalizes culture, history and identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488623/original/file-20221006-24-3wzws4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C3872%2C2567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Myaamia Heritage Program students get a lesson from Daryl Baldwin, executive director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott Kissell, Miami University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When the federal government set up boarding schools in the 19th century to assimilate Native American children into American culture, one of the objectives was to get them to turn away from the use of their native languages. In recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the U.S., The Conversation turned to Daryl Baldwin, a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma who is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190610029.013.26">leader in Native American language and cultural revitalization</a> and a member of the National Council on the Humanities, for insight into a tribal community’s efforts working with a university to help bring languages back.</em></p>
<h2>How were Indigenous languages lost?</h2>
<p>Many actions throughout history put pressure on tribal communities to abandon the use of their languages. This included the forced assimilation that resulted from the <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-announces-federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative">Indian Civilization Act of 1819</a>. This act established <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/a-century-of-trauma-at-boarding-schools-for-native-american-children-in-the-united-states">Indian boarding schools</a> to teach subjects such as math and science while suppressing the use of Indigenous languages and cultures. </p>
<p>Boarding schools lasted until the mid-20th century, and their effect was <a href="https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/inline-files/bsi_investigative_report_may_2022_508.pdf">devastating for Indigenous communities and their languages</a>. Linguists have estimated that prior to European settlement, there were 300 Indigenous languages spoken in what is now the United States. Communities are struggling to <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com">pass these languages</a> on to a younger generation.</p>
<p>These affected communities include the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, of which I am a citizen. The Miami Tribe lost the last speakers of the Myaamia language during the mid-20th century in part due to these assimilation efforts. Additionally, the forced relocation of the Tribe from its homeland in the Ohio-Indiana region to Kansas, and eventually Oklahoma, during the 19th century caused the community to become fragmented due to some families remaining behind or being exempt from relocation. </p>
<p>These factors also increased the stress on the community to simply survive. Many tribal members and elders from this time have recounted how they didn’t pass the language on to their children for <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/poll-native-americans-discrimination/">fear of discrimination</a>.</p>
<h2>Why bring the languages back?</h2>
<p>Simply put, our languages help make us whole again. When we empower our cultural selves through speaking our languages, we begin to undo the damage caused by years of cultural and linguistic oppression. </p>
<p>For the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, language and cultural revitalization is a priority. We contribute significant <a href="https://www.givetomiamioh.org/s/916/22/landing-int.aspx?sid=916&gid=1&pgid=18910&cid=36270&ecid=36270&crid=0&calpgid=4816&calcid=9345">time and financial resources</a> into educational programs that help tribal citizens reconnect to their cultural heritage.</p>
<p>When we engage in revitalization activities, we are weaving strands of knowledge, cultural practices and other ways of being into our lives so we may draw on them as a source of community strength. Today, this encompasses <a href="https://aacimotaatiiyankwi.org/">all aspects of our lives</a>, including art, games and food, as well as song and dance. For many of us, our Myaamia language is central to this process.</p>
<p>Since 1972, Miami University has been an important partner in this process of language and cultural revitalization. The Myaamia Center – the tribe’s research arm – directly supports the <a href="https://miamioh.edu/miami-tribe-relations/programming-support/myaamia-heritage-award-program/index.html?_ga=2.3565305.874042785.1664204266-210504936.1653569714">Myaamia Heritage Program</a>. The program provides Miami Tribe students with tuition waivers and a unique opportunity to engage with their cultural heritage while earning a college degree. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488624/original/file-20221006-26-cwcssb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jenna Corral, a Myaamia Heritage Program participant who graduated from Miami University in 2021, admires her graduation stole featuring traditional ribbonwork and writing in the Myaamia language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott Kissell, Miami University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What practical uses do these languages serve?</h2>
<p>Language was an important aspect of my home when my four kids were young. Being able to say <em>teepaalilaani</em> – “I love you” – and to sing bedtime songs to my children – <em>kiilhswa neewaki kiilhswa neewita …</em> – “I see the moon, the moon sees me …” - in my native language was important to me. </p>
<p>Speaking my language connects me to our ancestral homelands of what are now parts of Ohio and Indiana. And doing so strengthens my relationship with my immediate family who also speak the language, and allows me to communicate in a way that is unique to my culture. My language may not be practical in holding a mainstream job or getting around in the world, but it is important to my identity as a Myaamia person. I feel grounded when I can speak my language with other members of my family and community.</p>
<p>The Myaamia Center’s Nipwaayoni Acquisition and Assessment Team has evaluated programs since 2012 and found that Myaamia students regularly comment on how important speaking their language is to their identity. </p>
<p>Jenna Corral, a Myaamia student who graduated in 2021, described her experience: “Learning our language has been one of the best ways to make me feel connected to my identity and tribal community. Being able to learn and speak the language that was developed by my ancestors was something I never thought I would do. I am forever grateful for all I have learned about my heritage and culture and the positive impact it has had on my life.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488625/original/file-20221006-18-wfbbx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Miami Nation’s tribal headquarters are in Miami, Oklahoma.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Doug Peconge, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do students benefit from learning these languages?</h2>
<p>Myaamia tribal youth who participate in language and cultural revitalization programs are more engaged in tribal activities, internal assessment research shows. Participation has continually risen over the past 20 years, in part due to increased tribal enrollment encouraged by language and cultural revitalization. Engagement is increasing because people want to be involved and participate in what is happening. We have gained approximately 1,000 citizens in the last five years, boosting our enrollment to 6,780 today. This is a significant development because we view youth engagement as important to future growth of the tribal nation.</p>
<p>Myaamia students have been enrolled at Miami University since 1991. Students who attended before the creation of the Myaamia Heritage Course, which allows students to explore their Myaamia heritage, had a graduation rate of 56%. Since the addition of the course in 2003, our six-year graduation rate has increased to 92% – more than double the <a href="https://pnpi.org/native-american-students/#:%7E:text=Completion%20rates%20for%20Native%20American,to%2063%25%20for%20all%20students.">national six-year graduation rate of 41% for Native Americans</a> – and 106 Myaamia students have earned degrees from Miami University. </p>
<p>We believe growth of tribal programs developed by the tribe’s Cultural Resources Office, the creation of the Myaamia Center and further development of the heritage program are at the core of what has driven this <a href="https://miamioh.edu/myaamia-center/_files/documents/assessment-briefs/assessment-brief-2-academic-attainment-revised-508.pdf">dramatic increase in our graduation rate</a>.</p>
<h2>How will these languages be preserved going forward?</h2>
<p>Just as the boarding school era was designed to remove language and culture, our tribal efforts can put back what was taken.</p>
<p>But these efforts require financial resources. Some people feel that the federal government holds a degree of financial responsibility in the revitalization of these languages. This is because <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.21-22/indigenous-affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-saving-them">significant federal funding</a> was used historically to eradicate these languages. The federal government spent <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.21-22/indigenous-affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-saving-them">US$2.81 billion</a> – adjusted for inflation – to support the nation’s Indian boarding schools, but only a fraction of that amount for Indigenous language revitalization today. </p>
<p>Partnerships between tribes and universities can be powerful in building a response to inequalities that have emerged through our recent history. Yes, language is an important part of what we do, but in the end it’s about knowledge, who holds that knowledge and how it’s expressed through our unique language and culture. Our partnership with Miami University is one such model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Wade Baldwin is the Executive Director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University. He receives funding from Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Miami University, Mellon Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He currently serves on the National Council on the Humanities and is a board member of the Endangered Languages Fund. </span></em></p>Indigenous people’s languages were largely lost as a result of forced assimilation efforts in the U.S. Here’s why one tribal leader says the languages should be brought back.Daryl Wade Baldwin, Executive Director, Myaamia Center, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588582021-05-27T17:53:19Z2021-05-27T17:53:19ZEnding food insecurity in Native communities means restoring land rights, handing back control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403177/original/file-20210527-14-8c975g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C31%2C3535%2C2539&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Handouts from food banks are no substitute for self-sufficiency.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/native-americans-of-the-navajo-nation-people-pick-up-news-photo/1214295994?adppopup=true">Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Indigenous people in the U.S., <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyr089">food is</a> considered <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-014-9548-9">a sacred gift</a>. Healthy and bountiful produce is received when we care for the land.</p>
<p>Yet, with <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">one in four Native Americans lacking reliable access</a> to healthy foods and Indigenous peoples <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">disproportionately affected by diet-related diseases</a>, something clearly isn’t working as it should.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholars.okstate.edu/en/persons/valarie-blue-bird-jernigan">expert on Indigenous health and food insecurity among Native populations</a>, I argue that the high rate of food insecurity and poor dietary health of Native Americans can be traced to the events that disrupted Indigenous people’s relationship with the land: <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/assimilation-integration-and-colonization">colonization and</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-day-comes-amid-a-reckoning-over-colonialism-and-calls-for-return-of-native-land-147734">the widespread theft of territory</a> by white settlers. Any attempt to improve access to sufficient, nutritious foods today needs to focus on <a href="https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty">Indigenous food sovereignty</a> and <a href="https://knowledge.unccd.int/publications/land-justice-re-imagining-land-food-and-commons">land justice</a> – giving control and land back to Native communities to enable them to grow culturally appropriate, healthy produce and become self-sufficient.</p>
<h2>A broken system</h2>
<p>“A healthy food system is an indicator of a healthy community; one cannot exist without the other,” noted the Native Hawaiian activist <a href="https://onipaa.org/pages/kamuela-enos">Kamuela Enos</a>.</p>
<p>This view is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000487605">increasingly being echoed</a> by public health experts. Diet is the <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">number one risk factor for preventable disease</a> in the U.S. and is driven by a food system that comprises <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2011.597705">food production, access, marketing and individual dietary intake</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 1980s, an <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980007001097">influx of fast food restaurants and convenience stores</a> and an exodus of supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods across the U.S. have led to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djh296">chronic disease</a> disparities in <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.06.007">low-income communities and racial minorities</a>. This is especially true <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">among the U.S.’s Native population</a>.</p>
<p>American Indian and Alaska Native adults are 50% more likely to be obese and 30% more likely to suffer from hypertension compared to white Americans. They are also 50% more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease, and three times more likely to have diabetes.</p>
<p>Native Americans also experience <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">high rates of food insecurity</a>, meaning they don’t have enough food to live an active, healthy life. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1300/J477v01n04_04">study of a Northern Plains reservation in Montana</a>, 43% of tribal households were found to be food-insecure. In Oklahoma, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303605">more than 60% of American Indians surveyed were food-insecure</a>. This compares with a <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">national food insecurity rate of 11%</a>.</p>
<h2>Structural, not short-term approaches</h2>
<p>Government and social service organizations have tried to address food insecurity by promoting <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-food-banks-help-americans-who-have-trouble-getting-enough-to-eat-148150">food banks</a> or encouraging use of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-snap-can-help-people-during-hard-economic-times-like-these-133664">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, or SNAP, benefits. </p>
<p>But the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.06.002">limited existing</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2015.1112755">research shows</a> Indigenous communities are less likely than non-Native groups to use those services. This is due to a number of reasons including lack of access to places that accept SNAP or discriminatory practices such as being refused service at stores.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, public health efforts focused on encouraging healthy lifestyles – through eating more fruits and vegetables, for example – fail to acknowledge the systemic barriers that Native Americans face when it comes to accessing healthy, sustainable and traditional foods.</p>
<p>Feeding people is important, no doubt. But I believe it will never result in long-term health improvements in Native communities without looking and addressing the underlying roots of the problem.</p>
<h2>Stolen land, forced removal</h2>
<p>Indigenous people in the United States <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2">share a common deep ancestry</a> and a contentious colonial history with the U.S. that resulted in <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/a-nation-rising">land removal and confiscation</a> on a massive scale.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/native-american/removing-native-americans-from-their-land/">forced removal of Native people</a> from their traditional homelands in the 19th century to often unfamiliar and barren reserves disrupted Indigenous food systems and diets.</p>
<p>For example, in my own Native population, Choctaw, a type of river cane, <em>Arundinaria tecta</em>, was used not only as a food source but also in medicine, for clothing, to build houses and to make baskets. In the places where my people <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/279.html#:%7E:text=The%20Removal%20Act%20that%20President,more%20than%20500%2Dmile%20journey.">were forced to move</a>, this species of river cane did not exist.</p>
<p>Moreover, Choctaw are an agricultural society, yet many portions of reservation lands where Choctaws were forcibly moved to were arid plains or flood zones – places that were not able to be farmed. As a result, many people starved to death.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<p>This disruption was the impetus for the nutritional crisis seen today in Native communities. Forced removal was accompanied by a new reliance on government-issued foods for Native communities. From the earliest treaties with the U.S. government, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.499.0055">Native Americans were promised food rations</a>. This reliance continues today through the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/fdpir/fdpir-fact-sheet">Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations</a>, through which the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides canned and packaged foods to around 270 tribes with limited access to SNAP. It constitutes the primary food source for 60% of rural and reservation-based American Indians, but the foods tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/69.4.747S">high in fat and sugar</a>. Fresh vegetables <a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/AI-AN-obesity/">are rarely offered</a>. </p>
<h2>Toward food sovereignty</h2>
<p>To end reliance on government-provided foods, many Native communities are seeking a different approach: a <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302447">return to traditional foods and practices</a> that are healthy and culturally centered. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child uses a spade to break up soil during a gardening exercise with the American Indian Center in Chicago." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Native American youth are being taught in urban gardens about the importance of their connection to the land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NativeAmericansUrbanGardens/1038b41f20d94b6fb629e62fef17bba8/photo?Query=NAtive%20American%20land&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=228&currentItemNo=30">AP Photo/Stacy Thacker</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indigenous food sovereignty – the right and responsibility of Indigenous people to produce healthy and culturally appropriate foods <a href="https://www.canadianscholars.ca/books/indigenous-food-systems">through traditional Indigenous food systems</a> – has emerged as an important strategy to support Indigenous communities.</p>
<p>It involves Native communities <a href="https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty">taking greater control over their land and health</a> and reducing dependence on packaged and fast foods and government-provided food.</p>
<p>For example, the Osage Nation in Oklahoma is supporting the development of sustainable agricultural practices <a href="https://www.ncai.org/ptg/Osage.Nation.Case.Study.pdf">that provide a sustainable source</a> to increase their access to fresh vegetables, fruits and meat to their community.</p>
<p>“For us, food sovereignty means self-sufficiency,” <a href="https://www.ncai.org/ptg/Osage.Nation.Case.Study.pdf">explained</a> Osage Nation’s Assistant Principal Chief Raymond Red Corn in an interview. “If we fed ourselves for thousands of years, I don’t know why we can’t feed ourselves now.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous people in the US have high rates of food insecurity and dietary-related health problems. Any attempts to address the problem must start with land justice, argues a scholar of Native health and food.Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, Professor of Rural Health, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1477342020-10-12T12:22:46Z2020-10-12T12:22:46ZIndigenous Peoples Day comes amid a reckoning over colonialism and calls for return of Native land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362696/original/file-20201009-15-ydyyb9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2015%2C1508&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Native American protesters at the Black Hills, now the site of Mount Rushmore.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/native-american-protesters-and-supporters-gather-at-the-news-photo/1224709994?adppopup=true">Micah Garen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In many parts of what is now the United States, communities have in recent years replaced Columbus Day with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/14/769083847/columbus-day-or-indigenous-peoples-day">Indigenous Peoples Day</a>.</p>
<p>Celebrating Indigenous cultures every October is important. But in this moment when the U.S. is reckoning with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/fault-lines/2020/9/23/moment-of-reckoning-racism-and-police-in-america/">legacies of racism </a>and <a href="https://theconversation.com/statues-topple-and-a-catholic-church-burns-as-california-reckons-with-its-spanish-colonial-past-142809">colonialism</a>, many Indigenous nations call for something more – the <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/509544-after-250-years-native-american-tribe-regains-ancestral">return of ancestral lands</a>.</p>
<p>Having spoken to Native Americans activists, leaders and community members in the course of my research into sacred sites protection movements, I understand that land is often the center of Indigenous life. It is not just where people live, but a site of complex relationships among humans, waters, plants, animals and spiritual beings. This is why the famous Standing Rock Sioux scholar and activist Vine Deloria Jr. <a href="https://fulcrum.bookstore.ipgbook.com/god-is-red-products-9781555914981.php">wrote</a> “American Indians hold their lands – places – as having the highest possible meaning, and all their statements are made with this reference point in mind.” </p>
<h2>Stolen lands</h2>
<p>In my research with California Bay Area <a href="https://kanyonkonsulting.com/contemporary-ohlone-history/">Ohlone tribes</a>, I have learned how land is central to identity and culture. Even in highly urbanized places like San Francisco and Oakland, Ohlone people have talked to me about how the land still holds meaning.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://thecollege.syr.edu/people/graduate-students/abel-gomez/">non-Indigenous Latino scholar</a>, I have also been challenged to continually reimagine those places – and the continent as a whole – as Indigenous land. Like many people in the U.S., my education growing up taught me to think about Indigenous peoples in the past tense – looking at their history and not their contemporary experiences. </p>
<p>This reimagining is necessary given important U.S. policies related to Indigenous lands. Laws such as the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/indian-removal-act#:%7E:text=The%20Indian%20Removal%20Act%20was,many%20resisted%20the%20relocation%20policy.">Indian Removal Act of 1830</a> worked to displace tribes from their homelands into “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma. This law intended to open lands for non-Native settlers. </p>
<p>Such is the context of the <a href="https://www.cherokeemuseum.org/archives/era/trail-of-tears">Trail of Tears</a>, the forced removal of the Cherokee and other tribal nations from their homelands to reservations in the 1830s.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362801/original/file-20201011-13-10lsr9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1911 poster advertising ‘Indian land’ for sale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poster_2013-08-14_08-45.jpg">WikiMedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similar policies are found in the <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=50">Allotment Act of 1887</a>, which sought to dissolve communally held reservation lands into individual allotments. After allotments were granted, the “excess land” was sold to white settlers. Tribes lost <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/1900-allotment-act/#:%7E:text=Congress%20passed%20the%20General%20Allotment,land%20into%20parcels%2C%20in%201887.&text=Before%20the%20General%20Allotment%20Act,two%2Dthirds%20of%20their%20land.">90 million acres as a result</a>. </p>
<p>Some policies sought to take away land through less explicit means. These include the establishment of <a href="https://americanindian.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/chapter3.html">Indian boarding schools</a> that worked to assimilate tribal youth. Native children were forcibly taken from their homes to assimilate them. Many suffered <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/traumatic-legacy-indian-boarding-schools/584293/">physical, sexual and psychological abuse</a>.</p>
<p>Other policies like the <a href="https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country">Indian Relocation Act of 1956</a> worked to assimilate Native peoples by encouraging them to move to major cities.</p>
<p>This last policy ended up backfiring significantly. Instead of assimilating, Native peoples in urban spaces eventually joined forces to create the <a href="https://libguides.mnhs.org/aim">American Indian Movement</a> in 1968. This intertribal political movement sought to protect tribal lands, stop police brutality and hold the U.S. government accountable to treaty agreements with tribal nations. </p>
<h2>Beyond acknowledgments</h2>
<p>In recent years many institutions in the U.S. have attempted to recognize the wrongs done to Indigenous peoples. For example, some organizations, universities and businesses have issued <a href="https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/">land acknowledgments</a> – brief statements that mention the Indigenous peoples of the land where the institution operates.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://thecollege.syr.edu/land-acknowledgement/">land acknowledgment at Syracuse University</a>, where I work, is typical of such statements:</p>
<p>“The Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences would like to acknowledge with respect the Onondaga Nation, firekeepers of the Haudenosaunee, the indigenous peoples on whose ancestral lands Syracuse University now stands.”</p>
<p>These statements work to bring awareness to Indigenous lands and peoples. They can also be a first step toward solidarity between Native and non-Native peoples. Leaders like Corrina Gould of the Bay Area’s <a href="https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/lisjan-history-and-territory/">Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone</a> encourage institutions to take this further. “Land acknowledgment must begin with a relationship with the people on whose land you are on,” she said at a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEfnzq-MXI&feature=youtu.be">workshop</a> in San Francisco. “And I think the next step I’m looking for is, how do we now live in reciprocity with one another on our homelands?” </p>
<p>Indigenous leaders also call for the return of land. The social media hashtag campaign #LandBack addresses this directly. Forbes writer Michela Moscufo <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelamoscufo/2020/09/29/for-these-indigenous-artists-land-back-is-both-a-political-message-and-a-fundraising-opportunity/#531e43a46c9c">traces the origins</a> of the campaign to Indigenous activists’ critique of the ways Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has handled pipelines through First Nations territories. Moscufo also notes that the phase “Land Back” has been used in the U.S. as well.</p>
<p>This has included <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/native-americans-blocked-road-to-mount-rushmore-before-trump-speech-2020-7">protests by Lakota peoples</a> and allies during a July 4, 2020 visit by then-President Trump to Mount Rushmore. The site is part of the Black Hills, a sacred place to the Lakota that was taken by U.S. forces after gold was discovered in 1874, a violation of the 1868 <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=42">Treaty of Fort Laramie</a>. </p>
<h2>Resistance at the U.S./Mexico border</h2>
<p>The phrase “Land Back” has also been invoked in resistance to the construction of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Tribal nations whose territories exist along this border such as the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-12/kumeyaay-band-seeks-federal-injunction-to-halt-construction-of-border-wall">Kumeyaay</a> in California, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/tohono-oodham-nation-arizona-tribe/582487001/">Tohono O'odham</a> in Arizona, and others are active in protesting against its construction. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDA7d3ujPFp","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2020, two Kumeyaay <a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2020-09-22/two-arrested-border-patrol-wall-camp-kumeyaay">activists were arrested</a> while protesting the wall construction. The San Diego Tribune reported that activists were part of “Camp Land Back,” which began in August to protest the wall. Kumeyaay leaders have voiced concerns that the construction of the wall will disrupt ancestral lands, especially sacred and burial sites. On the Instagram page @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/kumeyaaydefenseagainstthewall/">kumeyaaydefenseagainstthewall</a>, the campaign describes itself as a “Small indigenous initiative that is rooted in prayer to defend Kumeyaay lands and people.”</p>
<h2>Expanding Indigenous Peoples Day</h2>
<p>The Yellowhead Institute, a Canadian First Nations-led research center, <a href="https://redpaper.yellowheadinstitute.org">describes “land back”</a> as being about “reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction” and “breathing life into rights and responsibilities.” </p>
<p>As Indigenous peoples the world over continue to defend ancestral lands, Indigenous Peoples Day can have important meaning, more than just the renaming of a national holiday. It is an invitation to contend with the impacts of colonialism and the wrongful appropriation of Indigenous lands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abel R. Gomez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Renaming a national holiday to celebrate Native culture is one thing, but many Indigenous peoples are looking for greater recognition of the land grab that deprived them of ancestral homes.Abel R. Gomez, PhD Candidate, Religion Department, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1425462020-07-16T12:12:45Z2020-07-16T12:12:45ZOklahoma is – and always has been – Native land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347399/original/file-20200714-139702-1i37gdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C15%2C732%2C489&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delegates from 34 Native tribes at the Creek Council House in Indian Territory, now called Oklahoma, 1880.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Delegates_from_34_tribes_in_front_of_Creek_Council_House%2C_Indian_Territory%2C_1880_-_NARA_-_519141.jpg">National Archives</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some Oklahomans are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/supreme-court-says-nearly-half-of-oklahoma-is-an-indian-reservation-whats-next/2020/07/10/8c2aba02-c2e7-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html">expressing trepidation</a> about the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-9526_9okb.pdf">recent ruling</a> that much of the eastern part of the state belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. They wonder whether they must now pay taxes to or be governed by the Muscogee. </p>
<p>In alarmist language, <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1281269895519514625?s=20">Sen. Ted Cruz of neighboring Texas tweeted</a> that the Supreme Court “just gave away half of Oklahoma, literally. Manhattan is next.”</p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-upholds-american-indian-treaty-promises-orders-oklahoma-to-follow-federal-law-142459">landmark July 9 decision</a> applies only to criminal law. It gives federal and tribal courts jurisdiction over felonies committed by tribal citizens within the Creek reservation, not the state of Oklahoma. </p>
<p>Any shock that tribal nations <a href="http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/tribal-governance">have sovereignty</a> over their own land reflects a serious misunderstanding of American history. For Oklahoma – indeed, all of North America – has always been, for lack of a better term, Indian Country.</p>
<h2>‘Indian Country’</h2>
<p>As both an <a href="https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/raceethnicitymigration/people/profile.html?person=mckay_dwanna_lynn">educator</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9h85fD8AAAAJ&hl=en">scholar</a>, I work to correct the erasure of Indigenous histories through my research and teaching.</p>
<p>North America was not a vast, unpopulated wilderness when white colonizers arrived in 1620. Up to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Indian-Holocaust-Survival-Civilization/dp/080612220X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780806120744&linkCode=qs&qid=1594487258&s=books&sr=1-1">100 million people</a> of more than 1,000 sovereign Indigenous nations occupied the area that would become the United States. At the time, fewer than 80 million people lived in Europe.</p>
<p>America’s Indigenous nations were incredibly advanced, with extensive trade networks and economic centers, superior agricultural cultivation, well developed metalwork, pottery and weaving practices, as historian <a href="http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx">Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz</a> has comprehensively detailed. </p>
<p>Unlike Europe, with its periodic epidemics, North America had little disease, Dunbar-Ortiz says. People used herbal medicines, dentistry, surgery and daily hygienic bathing to salubrious effect.</p>
<p>Historically, Indigenous nations <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-people-invented-the-so-called-american-dream-85351">emphasized equity</a>, consensus and community. Though individualism would come to define the United States, my <a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.37.4.g0rj7q5jp961q581">research</a> finds that Native Americans retain these values today, along with our guiding principles of respect, responsibility and reciprocity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347387/original/file-20200714-26-hqtwbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The US has violated every treaty it has made with Indian Tribes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/KDYvS">Public.Resource.Org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Broken promises and stolen lands</h2>
<p>European and American colonizers <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/peoples/text3/indianscolonists.pdf">did not hold these same values</a>. From 1492 to 1900, they pushed inexorably westward across the North American continent, <a href="http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx">burning Native villages, destroying crops</a>, <a href="https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=facsch">committing sexual assaults</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Indians-Tribal-Deborah-Miranda/dp/1597142018">enslaving people</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm">perpetrating massacres</a>. The government did not punish these atrocities against Indigenous Nations and their citizens. </p>
<p>Citing the so-called “<a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579815.001.0001/acprof-9780199579815">Doctrine of Discovery</a>” and <a href="https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1373&context=wvlr">Manifest Destiny</a>, U.S. policymakers argued that the federal government had a divine duty to fully develop the region. <a href="https://time.com/5851864/institutional-racism-america/">Racist in language and logic</a>, they contended that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218821450">“Indians” did not know how to work or to care for the land</a> because they were inferior to whites. </p>
<p>Oklahoma was born of this <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TXjNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=normalcy+of+legitimized+racism&source=bl&ots=CUXMMH5VZ4&sig=ACfU3U37fr_T2Ie4oh0qrhyW3BlnLqo_4Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz14Ljz8rqAhUhgK0KHeAGCggQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=normalcy%20of%20legitimized%20racism&f=false">institutionalized racism</a>. </p>
<p>Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole nations – known as the Five Tribes – were forced from their ancestral homelands in the southeast and relocated to “Indian Territory,” as Oklahoma was then designated. Half of the Muscogee and Cherokee populations died from brutal and inhumane treatment as they were forcibly marched 2,200 miles across nine states to their new homelands in what most Americans call the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/trte/index.htm">Trail of Tears</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347406/original/file-20200714-139820-1qc3zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1951 painting by artist Blackbear Bosin of people on the Trail of Tears.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/paintings-bosin-blackbear-trail-of-tears-news-photo/162085761?adppopup=true">Al Moldvay/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890e1-01.pdf">Indian Territory</a>, which occupied all Oklahoma minus the panhandle, was almost 44 million acres of fertile rolling prairies, rivers and groves of enormous trees. Several Indian nations already lived in the area, including the Apache, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, Osage and Wichita.</p>
<p>Legally, Indian Territory <a href="https://www.narf.org/nill/documents/icc_final_report.pdf">was to belong to the tribal nations forever</a>, and trespass by settlers was forbidden. But over the next two centuries, Congress would violate every one of the 375 treaties it made with Indian tribes as well as numerous statutory acts, <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/12-20-Broken-Promises.pdf">according the United States Commission on Civil Rights</a>. </p>
<p>By 1890, only about 25 million acres of Indian Territory remained. The Muscogee lost nearly half their lands in an <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=RE001">1866 Reconstruction-era treaty</a>. And in 1889, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Road-Disappearance-History-Civilization-American/dp/0806115327">almost 2 million acres in western Oklahoma</a> were redesignated as “Unassigned Lands” and opened to “white settlement.” By 1890, the U.S. Census showed that only 28% of people in Indian Territory were actually “Indian.”</p>
<p>With statehood in 1907, Oklahoma assumed jurisdiction over all its territory, ultimately <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-9526/132680/20200211152306523_Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Muscogee%20Creek%20Nation.pdf">denying that the Muscogee had ever had a reservation</a> there. That is the historic injustice corrected by the Supreme Court on July 9.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347409/original/file-20200714-139854-dnhikl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eastern Oklahoma was granted by Congress to Native tribes in the 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Okterritory.png">Kmusser/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Respect, responsibility and reciprocity</h2>
<p>Despite all the brutality and broken promises, the Five Tribes have contributed socially, culturally and economically to Oklahoma far beyond the shrinking bounds of their territories, in ways that benefit all residents.</p>
<p>The public school system created by the Choctaws shortly after their arrival became the model for Oklahoma schools that exists today. Last year, <a href="https://oklahoman.com/article/5653531/caught-in-the-middle-130-million-in-education-funding-embroiled-in-tribal-gaming-clash">Oklahoma tribes</a> contributed over US$130 million to Oklahoma public schools. </p>
<p>Oklahoma tribes also <a href="https://www.tribalselfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Alltribe-2019-Impact-Report.pdf">enrich</a> Oklahoma’s economy, employing over 96,000 people – most of them non-Native – and attracting tourists with their cultural events. In 2017, Oklahoma tribes produced almost $13 billion in goods and services and paid out $4.6 billion in wages and benefits. </p>
<p>The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, in particular, <a href="http://www.mcnimpact.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MCN_Impact_Report_June-26-2019.pdf">invests heavily</a> in the state, creating businesses, building roads and providing jobs, health care and social services in 11 Oklahoma counties. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347384/original/file-20200714-139969-qmeunn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2012 exhibition on Muscogee achievement at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/dusjD1">Tim Evanson/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Still our homelands</h2>
<p>Citizens of the Five Tribes have also contributed to broader American society. </p>
<p>Before the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_code_talkers">Choctaw Code Talkers</a> used their language as code for the United States in World War I. Lt. Col <a href="https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/creek-indian-wins-medal-of-honor">Ernest Childers</a>, a Muscogee, won the Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. U.S. Poet Laureate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/books/joy-harjo-poet-laureate-second-term.html#:%7E:text=Joy%20Harjo%20has%20been%20appointed,writers%20such%20as%20Tracy%20K.">Joy Harjo</a>, also a Muscogee, is the first Indigenous poet laureate. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/mary-g-ross.htm">Mary Ross</a>, a Cherokee, was the first known Indigenous woman engineer. And <a href="https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=HE024">John Herrington</a>, Chickasaw, was a NASA astronaut. These are but a few examples.</p>
<p>The strong collaborative leadership of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation was <a href="https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/tribes-state-officials-react-historic-scotus-ruling-mcgirt-v-oklahoma">apparent after the Supreme Court’s ruling</a> in Principal Chief David Hill’s official response. </p>
<p>“Today’s decision will allow the Nation to honor our ancestors by maintaining our established sovereignty and territorial boundaries,” Hill said, adding: “We will continue to work with federal and state law enforcement agencies to ensure that public safety will be maintained.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dwanna L. McKay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court’s July 9 ruling that half of Oklahoma belongs to the Muscogee Nation confirms what Indigenous people already knew: North America is ‘Indian Country.’Dwanna L. McKay, Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Studies, Colorado CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1342132020-04-24T12:23:13Z2020-04-24T12:23:13ZTomanowos, the meteorite that survived mega-floods and human folly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330127/original/file-20200423-47804-kl045j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1024%2C620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Surface detail of the Tomanowos meteorite, showing cavities produced by dissolution of iron. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Willamette_meteorite_surface_detail.jpg">Eden, Janine and Jim/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rock with arguably the most fascinating story on Earth has an ancient name: Tomanowos. It means “the visitor from heaven” in the extinct language of <a href="http://www.native-languages.org/clackamas.htm">Oregon’s Clackamas Indian tribe</a>.</p>
<p>The Clackamas revered the Tomanowos – also known as the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/the-universe/planets/planetary-impacts/the-willamette-meteorite">Willamette meteorite</a> – believing it came to unite heaven, earth and water for their people.</p>
<p>Rare extraterrestrial rocks like Tomanowos have a kind of fatal attraction for us humans. When European Americans found the pockmarked, 15-ton rock near the Willamette River more than a century ago, Tomanowos went through a violent uprooting, a series of lawsuits and a period under armed guard. It’s one of the strangest rock stories I’ve come across in my <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/daniggcc/outreach-divulgacion?authuser=0">years as a geoscientist</a>. But let me start the tale from its real beginning, billions of years ago. </p>
<h2>History of a rock</h2>
<p>Tomanowos is a 15-ton meteorite made, as most metal meteorites are, of iron with about 8% nickel mixed in. These iron and nickel atoms were formed at the core of large stars that ended their lives in <a href="https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/supernova/en/">supernovae explosions</a>.</p>
<p>Those massive explosions spattered outer space with the products of nuclear fusion – raw elements that then ended up in a <a href="https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/nebula/en/">nebula</a>, or cloud of dust and gas. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321731/original/file-20200319-22594-18tm0l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supernovae disperse the iron produced in heavy stars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-SNR0519690-ChandraXRayObservatory-20150122.jpg">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Eventually the elements were forced together by gravity, forming the earliest planet-like orbs, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-disc-of-dust-and-gas-found-around-a-newborn-planet-could-be-the-birthplace-of-moons-118260">protoplanets</a> of our solar system. </p>
<p>Some 4.5 billion years ago, Tomanowos was part of the core of one of these protoplanets, where heavier metals like iron and nickel accumulate. </p>
<p>Some time after that, this protoplanet must have collided with another planetary body, sending this meteorite and an unknowable number of other chunks back out into space. </p>
<h2>Riding the flood</h2>
<p>Subsequent impacts over billions of years eventually pushed Tomanowos’ orbit across that of the Earth. As a result of this cosmic billiards game, the Tomanowos meteorite <a href="https://soll.libguides.com/meteorite/story">entered Earth’s atmosphere around 17,000 years ago</a> and landed on an ice cap in Canada. </p>
<p>Over the following decades, flowing ice slowly transported Tomanowos southwards, towards a glacier in the Fork River of Montana in what is now the United States. This glacier had created a 2,000-foot-high ice dam across the river, impounding the enormous <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/inside-glacial-lake-missoula/">Lake Missoula</a> upstream. </p>
<p>The ice dam crumbled when Tomanowos was nearing it, releasing one of the largest floods ever documented: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/627452">the Missoula Floods</a>, which shaped the Scablands of Washington State with the power of several thousand Niagara Falls. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q8iRdG0tWk4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Geological evidence of the Missoula Flood includes prairie ripple marks and layered silt deposits.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trapped in ice and rafted down river by the flood, Tomanowos crossed modern-day Idaho, Washington and Oregon along the swollen Columbia River at speeds sometimes faster than 40 miles per hour, according to <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2010/02/geologists_find_a_way_to_simul.html">simulations by modern geologists</a>. While floating near what’s now the city of Portland, the meteorite’s ice case broke apart, and Tomanowos sank to the river bottom. </p>
<p>It is one of hundreds of other “erratic” rocks – rocks made of elements that do not match the local geology – that have been found along the Columbia River. All are souvenirs from the cataclysmic Missoula floods, but none is as rare as Tomanowos.</p>
<h2>A rock worth suing for</h2>
<p>As flood waters ebbed, Tomanowos was exposed to the elements. Over thousands of years, rain mixed with iron sulfide in the meteorite. This produced sulfuric acid that gradually dissolved the exposed side of the rock, creating the cratered surface it bears today.</p>
<p>Several thousand years after the Missoula floods, the Clackamas arrived to Oregon and discovered the meteorite. Did they know it came from the heavens, despite the lack of a crater? The name Tomanowos, or Visitor from the Sky, suggests that they may have suspected the rock’s extraterrestrial origins.</p>
<p>Millennia of peaceful rest in the Willamette valley ended in 1902 when an Oregon man named Ellis Hughes secretly moved the iron rock to his own land and claimed it as his property. </p>
<p>Hauling a 15-ton rock on a wooden cart for nearly a mile without being noticed wasn’t easy, even in the Wild West. Hughes and his son <a href="http://www.usgennet.org/usa/or/county/clackamas/MeteorTreasures.html">labored for three back-breaking months</a>. Once the meteorite was on his land, he began charging admission to view the “Willamette Meteorite.” </p>
<p>In fact, however, the legitimate owner of the iron rock turned out to be the Oregon Iron and Steel Company, which owned the land where Hughes had found the meteorite and <a href="https://cite.case.law/or/47/313/">sued for its return</a>. While the suit worked its way through the courts, the company hired a guard who sat atop Tomanowos 24 hours a day with a loaded gun. They won the case in 1905, and sold Tomanowos to the American Museum of Natural History in New York a year later. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330150/original/file-20200423-47794-fbig96.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children sitting in pits of the Willamette Meteorite at the American Museum of Natural History, 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-children-sitting-in-pits-of-the-willamette-news-photo/516533790?adppopup=true">Bettman Archive/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Floods</h2>
<p>Today Tomanowos can be seen in the museum’s <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/the-universe/planets/planetary-impacts/the-willamette-meteorite">Hall of the Universe</a> exhibition, which still refers to it as the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/the-universe/planets/planetary-impacts/the-willamette-meteorite">Willamette Meteorite</a>. In 2000 the museum signed an agreement with descendants of the Clackamas tribe, recognizing the meteorite’s <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/the-universe/willamette-meteorite-agreement">spiritual significance</a> to the Native people of Oregon. </p>
<p>The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde hold an <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/tomanowos-sacred-meteorite-is-returned-oregon-confederated-tribes-grand-ronde/">annual ceremonial visit</a> with the ancient rock that, as their ancestors so aptly observed, brought the sky and the water together here on Earth. In 2019 several fragments of the meteorite that had been held separately were <a href="https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2019/03/07/sacred-willamette-meteorite-tomanowos-pieces-returned-grand-ronde-tribes/3056468002/">returned to the tribe</a>.</p>
<p>But the museum’s written display tells only some of the rock’s long story. It omits the Missoula Floods, despite the significance of this event for modern earth science.</p>
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<span class="caption">Present display of the Tomanowos meteorite, American Museum of Natural History.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Garcia-Castellanos</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Decades after geologists J. Harlen Bretz and Joseph T. Pardee separately <a href="http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0912/features/legacy.shtml">posited the theory of the Missoula floods</a> in the early 20th century, their research was used to explain how Tomanowos reached Oregon, where it was found. Their work also triggered one of the most significant paradigm shifts in recent geoscience: the recognition that catastrophic flooding events significantly contribute to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/iceagefloods/d.htm">erosion and evolution of landscape</a> </p>
<p>Previously, scientists had followed Lyell’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/4/l_024_01.html">principle of uniformitarianism</a>, which held that Earth’s landscape was sculpted by regular, natural processes distributed evenly over long times. Normal floods fit into this theory, but the notion of swift, catastrophic events like the Missoula Floods were somewhat heretic. </p>
<p>The idea of huge Ice Age floods helped geologists a century ago prevail over pre-scientific, religious explanations for unusual finds – such as how marine fossils could be found at high elevation, and how a giant metal rock from outer space came to rest in Oregon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Garcia-Castellanos receives funding from CSIC (Spanish Public Research Council) and the European Commission. </span></em></p>Tomanowos, aka the Willamette Meteorite, may be the world’s most interesting rock. Its story includes catastrophic ice age floods, theft of Native American cultural heritage and plenty of human folly.Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Earth scientist, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra Jaume Almera (ICTJA - CSIC)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228952019-09-04T13:07:47Z2019-09-04T13:07:47ZJohnny Depp: row over Dior ad and Native American culture is more nuanced than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290885/original/file-20190904-175686-ceksqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C6%2C2141%2C1324&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Johnny Depp in a still from Dior's Sauvage advertisement (2019).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johnny-Depp.org</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The social media reaction to Johnny Depp’s controversial new video for Dior’s “Sauvage” perfume was intense. So intense, in fact, that Dior <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/dior-pulls-sauvage-campaign-from-instagram-after-facing-appropriation-backlash">took the ad down</a> from its Instagram feed within a few hours of posting it. Critics said the video, which featured the US actor walking amid the red rocks of Southwestern Utah while a Sioux warrior performs a “Fancy Dance” (a war dance), was “<a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/body/article/45829/1/johnny-depp-dior-sauvage-campaign-pulled-after-racism-backlash">deeply offensive and racist</a>”.</p>
<p>Many pointed out a connection between the perfume name and the French name of the fragrance line, which translates as “savage” in English. Two minutes viewing the advert below will explain the furore. </p>
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<p>The advert ticks off a whole list of triggers: </p>
<ol>
<li>Native Americans apparently portrayed stereotypically? Check.</li>
<li> A rich Hollywood movie star in the lead role, whose Native American ethnicity is debated and who therefore could be accused of cultural appropriation? Check.</li>
<li>A much younger Native American woman in the background as Depp’s potential love interest, with all the gendered power relations that suggests? Check.</li>
<li> A brand name suggestive of a racial slur with connotations that are long and ugly? Check.</li>
<li> An American minority who have experienced dispossession and systemic historic disadvantage juxtaposed with a luxury good that disproportionately few of them are in a position to afford? Check.</li>
</ol>
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<p>Viewed from this perspective, the advert is a dog-whistle call to the social media universe. It was designed to encourage people who either loved or hated it to engage – and, at the same time, push it out to their friends. So, on both sides of the argument, they become complicit in sharing it.</p>
<h2>Cultural conflict</h2>
<p>Depp’s co-star, playing a woman named in the ad simply as “the maiden”, is <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/johnny-depp-dior-campaign-tanaya-beatty-native-american-culture-criticism-1203319742/">Tanaya Beatty</a>, an <a href="http://danaxdaxw.com/about-us/">Da’naxda’xw</a> actress from Canada. She recently described Dior in an <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/johnny-depp-dior-campaign-tanaya-beatty-native-american-culture-criticism-1203319742">interview with Variety</a> as having been “misguided” in relation to the short film for Sauvage. </p>
<p>She said that she was hesitant to take on the role and felt conflicted during filming, “witnessing as a company blatantly disrespected indigenous culture”. She pledged to make a donation to an “inter-tribal non-profit” and encouraged Depp and Dior to do the same. </p>
<p>The advertisement, directed by the French music director Jean-Baptiste Mondino brings together a number of tribal traditions and signifiers.
It shows Depp playing a guitar riff, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDhmS3fI7-g">made famous by Shawnee guitarist Link Wray</a>, against the backdrop of the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm">Arches National Monument in Utah</a>, the ancestral lands of the Apache, Navajo and Ute. Meanwhile, dancer Canku Thomas One Star of the Rose Bud Sioux tribe of South Dakota dances the Fancy Dance.</p>
<h2>Getting people talking</h2>
<p>At a time when the world is facing unprecedented ecological, political and economic problems linked to unchecked growth, the argument over the Sauvage advert presents an intriguing example of how capitalism works in the social media age. It speaks to a new sort of politics at play, where the public is strongly encouraged to be politically active in relation to their consumer choices. </p>
<p>This is activism within a public sphere, involving no direct participation in democratic institutions. The advertisement fuels the urge to take an online stand. By doing so, commentators may also be providing advertisers with further information about their profile as consumers.</p>
<p>Dior may have pulled the ad, but even this has added to its notoriety. Meanwhile, many took to Twitter to defend Depp and the perfumier.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1167486197410795521"}"></div></p>
<h2>Respecting heritage</h2>
<p>Dior has provided plenty of information to allow the debate to continue. Those inclined to view it positively would be pleased to learn that the advert had been made in collaboration with the respected, non-profit known as <a href="http://aio.org/">Americans for Indian Opportunity</a> “in order to respect indigenous cultures, values and heritage”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1163102822705041408"}"></div></p>
<p>AIO, which is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was founded by the respected Comanche leader and activist, <a href="http://aio.org/ladonna-harris-comanche-biographical-profile/">LaDonna Harris</a> and is now run by her daughter, Laura. LaDonna Harris is a different sort of Indian activist than most of the world is familiar with. A savvy, poised cultural broker who was the first Native American woman to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23533678?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">run for vice-president of the US</a>, her political and social skills and her proximity to power as the wife of Democratic senator <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=h000237">Fred R Harris</a> allowed her to achieve exceptional things for Native Americans and for the environment. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290876/original/file-20190904-175678-ws1oqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Johnny Depp with LaDonna Harris at the Comanche Fair in Oklahoma, 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cathy Horacek via Pinterest</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Working with Nixon aide <a href="https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial/oralhistory/bobbie-kilberg/">“Bobbie” Kilberg</a> and with White House staffer <a href="https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/guides/findingaid/pattersonfiles.asp">Brad Patterson</a> – special assistant for Native American Programs under Nixon and his successor Gerald Ford – her efforts and those of her husband helped the Taos Pueblo Indians achieve <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26404208">restoration of the sacred Taos Blue Lake</a>, high in New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo mountains. </p>
<p>Aside from helping to achieve the first return of Indian land from the Federal government, Harris served on a host of federal committees from 1967 and testified at a series of pivotal congressional hearings. She also facilitated the <a href="https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/johnny-depp-adopted-into-comanche-nation-ZQ5vEKhXZkuIeBeobW3gfA/">adoption of Johnny Depp into the Comanche Nation</a> in 2013, shortly before he played Tonto in the 2013 film of The Lone Ranger (for which he was widely <a href="http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/03/johnny-depp-as-tonto-is-the-lone-ranger-racist/">criticised at the time</a>).</p>
<p>Overall, the story behind this Twitter furore is complex. It brings to the fore the diversity of today’s Native America and the larger issue of how difficult it is to fully understand and productively comment upon the advertising we see.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joy Porter is a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow. She has consulted with AIO and LaDonna Harris.</span></em></p>The Hollywood actor’s controversial role in a perfume ad has drawn criticism for ‘cultural appropriation’. But it’s not as simple as that.Joy Porter, Professor of Indigenous History, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1192512019-07-01T12:53:48Z2019-07-01T12:53:48ZWes Studi: Oscar marks a cultural and political resurgence for Native Americans<p>Change comes stepping slow, but it does come. Cherokee actor Wes Studi will make Oscar history in October 2019 by receiving an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48511186">Academy of Motion Pictures honorary award</a>, alongside directors David Lynch and Lina Wertmüller and actress and feminist advocate, Geena Davis.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0836071/">Studi starred in</a> Hostiles (2017), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Dances With Wolves (1990) and featured in Heat (1995), Mystery Men (1999) and Avatar (2009). He previously made Oscar history of another kind by giving a <a href="https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2018/03/05/vietnam-vet-wes-studi-introduces-oscars-tribute-military.html">tribute to military movies and the US armed forces</a> at the 90th Oscars in 2017.</p>
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<p>A Vietnam veteran, Studi spoke in <a href="https://didatinehiulanigida.weebly.com/tsalagi-language.html">Tsalagi</a> – his people’s language, also often referred to as Cherokee – and provocatively challenged his liberal audience in English by declaring: “I’m proud to have served there for 12 months with Alpha company of the 29th Infantry,” and asking: “Anyone else?”</p>
<p>Studi’s award comes in the wake of a lacklustre 2018 Academy Awards ceremony, where the agenda for diversity seemed to have stalled and only six out of 33 winners were female – despite the drumbeat for change from groups such as #OscarsSoWhite, #MeToo, and #TimesUp. His award is for “portraying strong Native American characters with poignancy and authenticity”. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-oscars-inclusivity-riders-are-a-start-but-change-needs-to-come-from-the-ground-up-92946">The Oscars: inclusivity riders are a start but change needs to come from the ground up</a>
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<p>Studi is known for playing grimly stoic, implacable killers – something more representative of the roles on offer to Native American actors rather than of the actor himself, who is known for being funny <a href="https://www.amazon.com/More-adventures-Billy-Wesley-Studie/dp/B00073352K/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1561984215&refinements=p_27%3AWesley+Studie&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Wesley+Studie">and a multilingual, erudite translator and writer</a>. </p>
<h2>‘It’s been a long time coming’</h2>
<p>Rather than marking a shift within Hollywood, away from stereotype and towards realistic portrayal of the diversity of Native American life, then, Studi’s award speaks more to the importance of hard work and dedication. Although his career did not take off until his 30s, Studi, at 71, has more than 100 film and TV credits and has always been realistic about what drives an industry that generally reflects rather than drives change in society. “At times, you’re welcome,” as he explained in <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=578575379">a recent NPR interview</a>, “depending on what’s being cast”. </p>
<p>That said, Studi’s accolade is meaningful as a marker of distance travelled in terms of intercultural relations. Studi was politically active after Vietnam. He participated in the <a href="http://americanindianmovement1969-1973.weebly.com/trail-of-broken-treaties.html">Trail of Broken Treaties</a> protest march in 1972 that occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and in the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/occupy-wounded-knee-a-71-day-siege-and-a-forgotten-civil-rights-movement/263998/">Wounded Knee protest</a> at Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, which demanded the US government reopen treaty negotiations and address corruption and intimidation there. </p>
<p>After a heavily-armed stand off, it culminated in a series of deaths, a prelude to the murder two years later of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge, a crime for which the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Leonard Peltier, remains in prison despite repeated appeals and requests for presidential clemency. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282041/original/file-20190701-105195-16si9gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Wounded Knee protest in 1973.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Still from PBS documentary.</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Studi’s award comes some 46 years after Marlon Brando notoriously refused to accept his Best Actor Oscar at the 45th Academy Awards for his performance in The Godfather, and instead sent a part Yaqui-White Mountain Apache actress called Sacheen Littlefeather to give a speech dressed in buckskin. Brando and Littlefeather used the Oscars to protest about what was happening at Wounded Knee, against broken treaties and against the anti-Indian racism that is still prevalent today. </p>
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<p>For both people, the protest was far from trivial. Brando had been an activist within the American Indian Movement since the 1960s. Littlefeather, who had adopted her name and learned about the Indian side of her heritage during her involvement in the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by Native protesters, was shot at with Brando after the ceremony at his home and subsequently threatened and blacklisted as an actor. </p>
<p>She continued as an activist and producer, however, and remains a respected elder within her community in California today. </p>
<p>Prior to the Brando protest, the academy had nominated Chief Dan George in 1970 for his performance in Little Big Man. Then, in 1982, Canadian Buffy St Marie won a Best Music, Original Song Oscar for Up Where We Belong in the film An Officer and a Gentleman. Then there was a long interlude until filmmaker Joanelle Romero was shortlisted in 2000 for the documentary: American Holocaust: When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be An Indian. </p>
<h2>Making progress</h2>
<p>Studi’s recognition in no way redresses this imbalance in terms of academy recognition of Native American creative ability – but it can be linked to larger processes of change for American Indians. As a <a href="https://hpaied.org/about/people">recent Harvard study</a> showed, reservations have been growing at three times the rate of the US economy as a whole and the number of Native American students enrolled for degrees has doubled in the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the shocking statistics for the health of Native Americans are on a downward trajectory and their leaders are using a new language of responsibility, accountability, entrepreneurship and potential.</p>
<p>Unprecedented numbers of Native Americans <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/04/625425037/record-number-of-native-americans-running-for-office-in-midterms">ran for public office in 2018</a> and notched up wins in an array of federal, state and local races. A record number were female. Added to this, Native Americans are significantly younger than the average American and their numbers are rising fast – more than <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/c2010br-10.pdf">5m identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native</a> and around <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/native-americans-stories-california">78% are living off reservation</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this, Studi has few illusions and a keen awareness that indigenous resurgence is a long game: “I’m a Cherokee first and an American later,” <a href="https://ew.com/article/1993/12/24/true-wes/">he told Entertainment Weekly</a> in 1993. “While I may forgive, I will never forget – and I will pass that feeling on to my own kids.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joy Porter receives funding fromThe Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>This overdue honour is a welcome sign of the growing power of Native Americans.Joy Porter, Professor of Indigenous History, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184962019-06-27T12:47:33Z2019-06-27T12:47:33ZI’ve started acknowledging the people who lived on this land first – and you should too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281217/original/file-20190625-81766-1s08zql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's unlikely your ancestors were the first to set foot here.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92501360/">Fred Harvey, Kansas City/ Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Toronto, before singing “O Canada,” students and teachers in public schools <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Community/Indigenous-Education/Resources/Land-Acknowledgement">begin their day</a> by acknowledging that they are on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Haundenosaunee Confederacy and Wendat.</p>
<p>Although the Toronto School District Board mandated the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tdsb-indigenous-land-1.3773050">brief statement</a> in 2016, the practice of land acknowledgment, which recognizes “<a href="http://www.lspirg.org/knowtheland/">the unique and enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories</a>,” has spread on its own across Canada. Today, a declaration is read before most public meetings, celebrations and events. Even hockey games. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281238/original/file-20190625-81754-1280upn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One presentation in Australia includes a slide acknowledging the traditional owners of the region’s land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vivian Evans/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Versions of land acknowledgments are <a href="https://usdac.us/nativeland">widely practiced</a> in countries that are working to untangle the historical knots of colonialism. In Australia, those leading public occasions often recognize whose traditional lands they are on; others invite an Aboriginal elder to conduct a more formal “Welcome to Country.” In New Zealand, it is common for public speakers to acknowledge they are situated within Aotearoa, the homeland of the Māori. </p>
<p>But no matter where one is located or how it is performed, as essayist Stephen Marche <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/canadas-impossible-acknowledgment">has written</a>, “The acknowledgment forces individuals and institutions to ask a basic, nightmarish question: Whose land are we on?”</p>
<p>As land acknowledgment has <a href="https://president.colostate.edu/speeches-and-writing/land-acknowledgment-at-csu-december-11-2018/">gained traction</a> in the U.S., I have recently started doing it. I’m an anthropologist who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=FFy5tMUAAAAJ">has researched</a> the dispossession of Native Americans and their enduring connections to ancestral places. I’ve come to see the possibilities of land acknowledgment to <a href="https://native-land.ca/">confront the past</a> while laying the groundwork for building a shared future. Land acknowledgment offers a needed reckoning.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281211/original/file-20190625-81762-16ntvos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even as Apache Indians were pushed from their lands, their connection to those places endured – and endures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003652703/">Edward S. Curtis/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Losing land, enduring connections</h2>
<p>Just before the sun rose over Arizona on April 30, 1871, gunfire woke an encampment of Apache Indians belonging to the Aravaipa and Pinal bands. The Apaches had surrendered to the U.S. Army at Camp Grant and were supposedly under its protection. But a few raids in the area, likely committed by unrelated Chiricahua Apache bands, inflamed leaders in nearby Tucson who assembled a group of vigilantes. They attacked the encampment with guns and clubs. Within hours, some <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/massacre-at-camp-grant">100 Apache lay dead</a> – mostly women, children and the elderly.</p>
<p>All of North America belonged to indigenous peoples before immigrants from Europe arrived. According to one study of the lower 48 states, the U.S. government and its citizens took around <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/06/17/interactive_map_loss_of_indian_land.html">1.5 billion acres from Native Americans</a> between 1776 and 1887. Government officials and settlers seized the land in many ways – through war and violence, purchase and trade, bribery and trickery, treaties and sharing, debt and bondage. Once removed from their homelands, most tribes were concentrated on reservations, the leftovers of colonial greed. </p>
<p>Even after being forcibly confined to reservations, Native Americans continued to lose more land. For example, the <a href="https://www.oupress.com/books/14187239/the-dawes-act-and-the-allotment-of-indian-lan">Dawes Act of 1887</a> allowed the U.S. president to break up reservations by dispersing communal lands and allotting parcels to specific tribal members. The “surplus” land was then sold to non-Indians. Through this law alone, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6sV1wgEACAAJ&dq=one+hundred+million+acres+Kickingbird&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAleWcrNPiAhVJmK0KHXlcA6QQ6AEIKjAA">100 million more acres were lost</a>.</p>
<p>After the Camp Grant Massacre, the Aravaipa and Pinal fled to the wilderness. Eventually, most regrouped about 60 miles north, where the U.S. government was forming the San Carlos Reservation. That reservation offered little refuge, as the government kept shaving down its size. In the next several years, some Aravaipa and Pinal tried to return to their traditional lands to the south. For example, the Apache leader Eskiminzin established a legal homestead not far from the massacre site. In 1887, he was chased out by Anglos who threatened to murder him and his family. </p>
<p>Over the decades, Apaches from the reservation traveled to their southern territory for hunting, gathering plants and performing ceremonies. But eventually, more non-Apaches arrived and erected fences and gates, cutting off Apaches from their traditional lands.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281204/original/file-20190625-81754-fr83q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anglo ranchers in Arizona fenced off land that had been Apache.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14590697808/">John Henry Cady and Basil Dillon Woon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And yet, Apache connections to their broader homeland has endured. When colleagues and I conducted an <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/history-is-in-the-land">anthropological study</a> of southern Arizona, we found many Apaches maintain deep bonds to their ancestral homelands through stories, place names, ancestral sites and plant-gathering areas. </p>
<p>I have also seen this in my work with the Hopi Tribe. While most outsiders could easily believe the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona contains their cultural world, Hopis look out and see <a href="https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/footprints-of-hopi-history">Hopitutskwa</a>, their vast homeland. They have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/599069">fought the use of reclaimed sewage water</a> on their sacred San Francisco Peaks 100 miles away. They worked to get another revered point, Mt. Taylor, in New Mexico, <a href="http://nmindepth.com/2014/02/07/states-high-court-aids-mt-taylor-preservation-efforts/">listed as a traditional cultural property</a>. They want to see their ancestors’ <a href="https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/hopi-tribes-bears-ears-letter">homes protected</a> within Bears Ears National Monument, in Utah.</p>
<p>Native American reservations rarely encompass a tribe’s entire cultural landscape. Rather, their traditional lands, more often than not, are where people like you and I make our homes. </p>
<h2>The possibilities of land acknowledgment</h2>
<p>As I started doing land acknowledgments before public talks, I worried whether I was succumbing to liberal guilt, imagining that a version of political correctness could atone for centuries of history that cannot be undone. </p>
<p>I’m not alone. Despite, or perhaps because of its increasing popularity, <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/indigenous-land-acknowledgements-effectively-discontinued-under-ucp">some have criticized</a> the growing practice of land acknowledgment. Even advocates of indigenous peoples <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4896904/on-land-acknowledgments/">have warned</a> that “the scripts can be disingenuous token gestures, a symbolic way for settlers to appease First Nations without taking meaningful action.” </p>
<p>But, in recent months I have come to believe land acknowledgment is the start of action – a concrete step to bring forgotten histories into present consciousness. Land acknowledgment is a recognition of a truth, a kind of verbal memorial that we erect in honor of indigenous peoples. Like a memorial, land acknowledgment pays respect to indigenous peoples by recognizing where they came from and affirming who they are today. And like a memorial, land acknowledgment is an education – enlisting speakers and audiences to learn about a region’s indigenous history. </p>
<p>Reconciliation with indigenous peoples will require work: improving education, creating economic opportunities, protecting sacred places and much more. Confronting the past in all its beauties and horrors does not replace these efforts, but helps animate them. </p>
<p>We can begin by simply saying, “We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the traditional land of the ______ People.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chip Colwell received funding for anthropological research in southern Arizona from the National Endowment for the Humanities. </span></em></p>An anthropologist who’s researched the dispossession of Native Americans and their enduring connections to ancestral places sees the value in asking ‘whose land are you on?’Chip Colwell, Lecturer on Anthropology, University of Colorado DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1039842018-10-05T13:15:18Z2018-10-05T13:15:18ZHow the loss of Native American languages affects our understanding of the natural world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239388/original/file-20181004-52666-1yv18hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dance is a unique way of passing on cultural stories to a younger generation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronrhawkins/38543373946/in/photolist-21HWSf7-yyYki-ckfSmo-7tGw6T-oHu52-8kctPA-69S4z-qrc9Y8-ogJQtT-41bGow-p9fqyR-7HLjN-naCTRD-9rgb1h-69RuV-4mJnBa-29YXu-29yJLiX-pKTeM2-a3gXCC-pKyNTv-4ScuL6-bgkUC-aS83iv-3bsphV-65SZ5p-6BnKa-3aDzwD-9QFZ8B-nAnaDQ-4wqCRi-7Ue99Q-qPfKyw-qEEMmv-eKBC3S-8LQLpW-91Kvgx-6iFwV2-p6Ax4k-9FpKRg-fRWNY-9R5Swf-aS84fM-aS82BP-8dqkps-ckfRSU-VC1WbS-9xSBBX-5dh1aH-aua9nf">Aaron Hawkins/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alaska has a “linguistic emergency,” <a href="https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/Attachment.aspx?id=114253">according to the Alaskan Gov. Bill Walker.</a> A report warned earlier this year that all of the state’s 20 Native American languages <a href="https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/4/pub/ANLPAC2018%20Report%20to%20the%20Governor%20and%20Legislature.pdf">might cease to exist</a> by the end of this century, if the state did not act. </p>
<p>American policies, particularly in the six decades between the 1870s and 1930s, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/when-languages-die-9780195372069?q=k.%20david%20harrison&lang=en&cc=us">suppressed Native American languages</a> and culture. It was only after years of activism by indigenous leaders that the <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg1152.pdf">Native American Languages Act</a> was passed in 1990, which allowed for the preservation and protection of indigenous languages. Nonetheless, many Native American languages have been on the <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/native-language-schools-are-taking-back-education-20180419">verge of extinction</a> for the past many years. </p>
<p>Languages carry deep cultural knowledge and insights. So, what does the loss of these languages mean in terms of our understanding of the world.</p>
<h2>Environmental knowledge</h2>
<p>Embedded in indigenous languages, in particular, is knowledge about ecosystems, conservation methods, plant life, animal behavior and many other aspects of the natural world. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239368/original/file-20181004-52691-1jhf0wi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The shell necklace of Queen Liliʻuokalani.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dweickhoff/5213176132/in/photostream/">David Eickhoff/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/July-2017/A-Snail-Tale/">Hawaiian traditions and belief systems,</a> for example, the tree snails were connected to “the realm of the gods.” Hawaiian royalty revered them, which protected them from overharvesting. </p>
<p>The Bishop Museum in Honolulu holds a shell necklace, or lei, of Queen Lili‘uokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. It is made from tree snail shells, which signifies the high rank of female royalty. Wearing a shell was believed to provide “mana,” or spiritual power and a way to understand ancestral knowledge. </p>
<p>Many of these snails are now extinct and those remaining are threatened with extinction. Scientists are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1413695">working with Hawaiian language experts</a> to learn about the belief systems that once helped protect them and their habitats. </p>
<h2>A tool for doctors</h2>
<p>Words in indigenous languages can have cultural meanings, that can be lost during translation. Understanding the subtle differences can often shift one’s perspective about how indigenous people thought about the natural world. </p>
<p>For example, as an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eKf2f2QAAAAJ&hl=en">indigenous scholar</a> of the environment, I led a team some years ago of language experts, elders and scholars from Montana and Alberta, Canada, to create a list of Blackfeet words, called a <a href="http://hsapp.hs.umt.edu/employee-database/index.php/pubtools/serveFile/files/1489/Blackfeet_Terms_of_Material_Culture_--_SH.pdf">lexicon</a>, of museum objects. The elders I worked with noted that the English word “herb,” which was used to describe most plant specimens within museums, did not have the same meaning in Blackfeet. </p>
<p>In English, the word “herb” can have numerous meanings, including a seasoning for food. The closest English word to herb in Blackfeet is “aapíínima’tsis.” The elders explained this word means “a tool that doctors use.” </p>
<p>The hope is that the lexicon and audio files recorded in the Blackfeet language that our research helped create, might assist future scholars access the embedded meanings in languages.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BPlRBzMaXTc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Blackfeet word for face paint.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Saving vanishing languages</h2>
<p>Many Native American communities in the United States are now working to save these cultural insights and revitalize their languages.</p>
<p>In Wisconsin, an Ojibwe language school called <a href="https://theways.org/story/waadookodaading">“Waadookodaading,”</a> translated literally as “a place where people help each other,” immerses its students in the environmental knowledge embedded in the language. </p>
<p>The Ojibwe believe that theirs is a language of action. And the best way for children to learn is by doing and observing the natural world. Each spring, for example, the students go into the woods to gather maple sap from trees, which is processed into maple syrup and sugar. These students learn about indigenous knowledge of plants, their habitats and uses. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2SPbzwUnmoo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Students from Waadookodaading School making maple syrup.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Language loss can be considered as extreme as the extinction of a plant or an animal. Once a language is gone, the traditional knowledge it carries also gets erased from society.</p>
<p>Efforts are now underway worldwide to remind people of this reality. The United Nations has designated 2019 as the “<a href="https://en.iyil2019.org/">International Year of Indigenous Languages</a>” in order to raise awareness of indigenous languages as holders of “complex systems of knowledge” and encourage nation states to work toward their revitalization. </p>
<p>The loss of indigenous languages is not Alaska’s concern alone. It affects all of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103984/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Native languages are dying, and their loss has deep and profound implications for our world.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/978242018-06-22T12:40:04Z2018-06-22T12:40:04ZThe radical story of the Native American liberation movement, 50 years on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224398/original/file-20180622-26555-vrt3jf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The flag of the Native American Alcatraz protest in 1969, designed by Lulie Nall, a Penobscot Indian.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>In the thick of 1968’s seismic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/observer/gallery/2008/jan/17/1">social upheavals</a>, Native Americans also reached for their rights, and activists renewed their <a href="https://civilrights.findlaw.com/civil-rights-overview/civil-rights-and-american-indians-history-and-law.html">campaign for recognition and status</a> as fully sovereign nations. </p>
<p>The late Martin Luther King’s <a href="https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/history/">Poor People’s Campaign</a> featured several caravans that collected Indian activists before converging on Washington DC. In May and June 1968, Native American delegates lobbied US officials and <a href="https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/today-native-history-natives-participate-poor-peoples-campaign-protest-bia/">castigated</a> federal Indian policy in the press, <a href="http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6805_ppc_demands.pdf">explaining</a> that American Indians did not want civil rights – they wanted their own collective rights of sovereignty: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We make it unequivocally and crystal clear that Indian people have the right to separate and equal communities within the American system – our own communities that are institutionally and politically separate, socially equal and secure within the American system.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224237/original/file-20180621-137741-1wxa6c6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Native American activists join Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign on a march in Washington DC in 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Renewing the struggle</h2>
<p>These demands were just the opening salvo in a renewed struggle for Native rights. In the capital, activists of the <a href="http://www.niyc-alb.com/index.php?page=history">National Indian Youth Council</a> criticised the US Department of the Interior for denying Native nations the running of their own education. In 1969, a group calling themselves Indians of All Tribes <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/520.html">occupied Alcatraz</a> – the former prison island in San Francisco bay – demanding that it be granted to them as a place for an Indian university and a cultural centre.</p>
<p>In August 1968, young Native activists founded the <a href="http://www.aim-ic.org/history-aim/">American Indian Movement</a> (AIM) to combat police “overreach” and discrimination in big cities, where Indians had moved under federal relocation programmes since the 1950s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224401/original/file-20180622-26573-1v5bm7x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first board of the American Indian Movement in 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roger Woo/AIM Interpretative Center</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 1970s, the emergent Native rights movement built alliances with traditional communities and shifted the struggle to injustice in reservation border towns and the <a href="https://www.bia.gov/about-us">Bureau of Indian Affairs</a> – the government agency that had controlled Indian life for 150 years. In this phase, sovereignty meant legal protection against racism, more resources, and a greater role in local policy and decision making.</p>
<p>In 1974, the newly formed <a href="https://equalityarchive.com/issues/women-of-all-red-nations/">Women of all Red Nations</a> put on the movement’s agenda the fight against <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-little-known-history-of-the-forced-sterilization-of-native-american-women/">involuntary sterilisation</a> and resistance to the <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865">forced enrolment</a> of Native children in white-run boarding schools.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224227/original/file-20180621-137750-1o709jx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Floyd Red Crow Westerman was forcibly sent to a boarding school in South Dakota and spent most of his childhood away from his tribe.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ambitious vision</h2>
<p>American Indian activists were truly radical in their aims for community control and a Native land base. In November 1972 their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/24/archives/behind-the-trail-of-broken-treaties-by-vine-deloria-jr-95-pp-new.html">Trail of Broken Treaties protest</a> in Washington DC issued a <a href="https://www.framingredpower.org/archive/other/frp.tbt.19721027.xml">20-Point Position Paper</a> that called for the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.</p>
<p>Marchers also demanded the restoration of a 110m-acre Native land base by the US federal government by 1976. When they <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/occupy-wounded-knee-a-71-day-siege-and-a-forgotten-civil-rights-movement/263998/">occupied the village of Wounded Knee</a> on the Pine Ridge Lakota Sioux Reservation in February 1973, the AIM and their local allies demanded that the government reinstate the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/sioux-treaty">1868 Fort Laramie Treaty</a>, which had granted to the Sioux Nation much of the territories of the current states of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota and Nebraska.</p>
<p>The strategies of the sovereignty movement matched their goals in radicalism. The desperation of Native activists drove them to armed confrontations, and their brinkmanship was met with <a href="http://www.whale.to/b/cointelpro_7.html">waves of government repression</a>. These years saw firefights, loss of life on both sides, court trials, prison, paranoia and terror, leaving many with painful memories. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Opbxnuw0Dw0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>Reaching for freedom</h2>
<p>But soon even more radical ideas of sovereignty emerged from the new Native rights movement: the AIM wanted nothing less than full independence from the United States. At its founding conference on the <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Standing+Rock+Reservation,+ND,+USA/@45.9449108,-103.3962428,7z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x52d61fc527e8caa3:0xd6e7c8547faff348!8m2!3d45.7502748!4d-101.2004153">Standing Rock Sioux Reservation</a> in 1974, the <a href="https://www.iitc.org/about-iitc/">International Indian Treaty Council</a> issued its <a href="https://www.iitc.org/about-iitc/the-declaration-of-continuing-independence-june-1974/">Declaration of Continuing Independence</a> for “Indian Country”. Veteran activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz recalled that in the following years: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>internal discussions among activists revolved around the question of self-determination, generally called “sovereignty”. Clearly, the already existing model of independent nations emerging from colonialism did not neatly fit the situations of Indian peoples in the Americas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Smaller countries had already gained United Nations membership – and the territory of the Navajo was larger than most of them. The activists’ ideal future would see the US dotted with vast territories of restored Native autonomy, ranging from conventional reservations to fully independent American Indian countries, likely combining into a larger entity of Native America.</p>
<p>Aiming for decolonisation into full independence, the International Indian Treaty Council began lobbying the UN for membership for Native American nations. The odds were strongly against them. When activists asked the UN for reparation for Wounded Knee, the then secretary general, former Austrian president <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/europe/14iht-waldheim.3.6141106.html">Kurt Waldheim</a> explained that the world body could not “interfere in matters of domestic jurisdiction of member states and cannot deal with those who contend they are nations within nations”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224404/original/file-20180622-26567-1aec6we.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Native American protester faces police at Standing Rock Reservation in 2016. The campaign against the $3.8bn Dakota access pipeline continues.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protecting the legacies</h2>
<p>The UN’s committee on decolonisation remained closed to the radical Native American sovereignty movement. Instead, American Indian activists used <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wounded-Knee-Checkpoint-Charlie-Sovereignty/dp/1438461224/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1529573220&sr=1-1&keywords=from+wounded+knee+to+checkpoint+charlie">international solidarity</a> and then US president Jimmy Carter’s <a href="https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/carter">new foreign policy doctrine</a> to gain membership as an advocate for indigenous human rights. In 1977 the International Indian Treaty Council entered the UN’s Economic and Social Council. Since then, alongside other organisations, they have monitored, evaluated and commented on government treatment of Indigenous peoples around the world.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224408/original/file-20180622-26576-13k12q4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=967&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activist group Women of All Red Nations was set up in 1974 to look at issues affecting Native American women, such as forced sterilisation.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While American Indians did not achieve the radical goals of their long, hard-fought 1968 campaigns, their work at home and abroad successfully pressured the US government to legislate Native American sovereignty rights and address tribal control over areas such as education, health, business, policing, religion and land.</p>
<p>But these rights are only as strong as their enforcement and the respect they are accorded by those in power. Not only did Donald Trump <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/24/trump-ignores-standing-rock-sioux-question-after-dakota-access-order.html">authorise</a> the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) through Standing Rock Reservation, now he plans to erode Native sovereignty rights in <a href="https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/news/trump-administratigno-supports-changing-indian-health-programs-wpv4wSpwLEiW2OQ6hhAaBg/">health care</a>. In their <a href="https://intercontinentalcry.org/first-nations-report-highlights-declines-in-large-foundation-giving-to-native-americans/">ongoing struggle</a>, Native Americans will need to call on the positive legacy and spirit of their radical counterparts of 1968.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gyorgy Toth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The struggle for sovereignty over their own lands has been a long hard fight for America’s Indigenous peoples.Gyorgy Toth, Lecturer, Post-1945 US History and Transatlantic Relations, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/736812017-04-02T19:23:09Z2017-04-02T19:23:09ZGuide to the classics: Neil Gaiman’s American Gods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161110/original/image-20170316-10911-1d0qtvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yggdrasil, the tree that supports the world in Norse myth, can be found in America in Neil Gaiman's mash-up of world religion.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Starz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fans of Neil Gaiman are having a bountiful year. In February there was the release of his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30809689-norse-mythology">retelling of the Norse myths</a>. In March, Dark Horse released the <a href="https://comicsverse.com/american-gods-1-review/">comic book adaptation</a> of his influential 2001 novel <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30165203-american-gods">American Gods</a>. And this month, American Gods comes to the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1898069/">small screen</a>, released through Starz.</p>
<p>If you like your literary gods multiple and varied, from cultures galore, in a controlled riot of power, fear, wit, and wisdom, then American Gods is for you. </p>
<p>Its premise is one of the book’s many appeals: the United States contains all sorts of ancient gods from abroad, surviving in the myths and stories and imaginations of the immigrants who brought them there. It’s a novel that investigates the American condition through its beliefs, and its contradictions, and offers the idea that gods walk among us (if we only know where to look for them).</p>
<h2>‘All the tradition we can get’</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161106/original/image-20170316-10911-3aihs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>In American Gods, a man named Shadow is released from prison when his wife dies in a car accident. As he travels home, he falls in with Mr Wednesday, a mysterious grifter, who offers him a job as a bodyguard. When he accepts the offer, they seal the deal by drinking mead, the honey-wine that is the drink of Norse gods and warriors. “We need all the tradition we can get,” says Wednesday, referring to the seriousness of their deal, but also to the key concept of the novel.</p>
<p>It emerges that Wednesday is really the Norse god, Odin, drawn to the US by Viking voyagers. “Tradition,” in the form of old gods like Odin, is under threat, he tells Shadow. People don’t believe in old gods any more; they’re too busy worshipping new gods, or concepts, like cities and towns, roads and rails, high finance, media, and digital technology. As an “old” god, Wednesday is preparing to do battle with the new ones. A god who is not believed in suffers a particularly final form of death.</p>
<p>With Shadow in tow, Wednesday traverses the US, calling the old gods to action, convincing them to gather and fight enemies like Mr Town and Media.</p>
<p>They call on Czernobog, the Bulgarian god of darkness, who lives in Chicago with the Zorya star sisters of Morning, Evening and Night. And Easter, the German goddess of fertility and rebirth, in whose footsteps flowers bloom, who is living in San Francisco. Mr Jacquel, the Egyptian god Anubis, runs a funeral parlour with his partner Ibis (the god Thoth), in Cairo, Illinois. Mr Nancy, Anansi the African spider-trickster god, and Mad Sweeney, an original Irish leprechaun, appear from time to time, as do many others.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161107/original/image-20170316-10892-13lhj47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wednesday (Ian McShane) and Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) in the 2017 adaption of American Gods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Starz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From Haitian Voodoo figures to Hungarian Kobbolds this America is inhabited by a panoply of old gods. It’s symbolic of the elaborate tapestry of heritage that makes up a nation that prides itself on its newness, but is uneasily aware of its traditions. As Shadow crosses America, he reflects on these ironies, as well as the local quirks he observes, slotting them into an increasing sense of the nation’s variety and commonalities.</p>
<p>Interspersed throughout American Gods are extracts from a history, ostensibly written by Mr Ibis (the Old Egyptian God, Thoth). These extracts tell how other gods and mythical beings make their way to the US, in the beliefs and stories of different culture. There’s Essie Tregowan, a Cornish con-artist who is transported to America, and who brings with her the piskies of her youth, or Salim, a taxi-driver from Oman who becomes a jinn. Postmodern novels often use approaches like this to broaden the range of reference; these inset stories provide a neat way of exploring different gods and myths as they connect to Gaiman’s America. </p>
<p>While American Gods is a serious reflection on the nature of American culture, its most appealing aspect is the concept that the gods live among Americans, hiding in plain sight. </p>
<p>This is the key to American Gods’ continued popularity, I think: it offers the fantasy, the hope, (or the fear) that our reality is merely one plane of existence, that just out of sight, or in plain sight if we choose to look, is something bigger, something mythical, something more powerful.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161101/original/image-20170316-20774-1qde74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shadow Moon crosses America, gathering its tapestry of heritage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Starz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And if you know how to find them, you have the opportunity to collect them, as Wednesday and Shadow do, to gather them together for a final battle, much as one might in an epic game of Dungeons and Dragons, or a supernatural round of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pokemon-go-became-an-instant-phenomenon-62412">Pokemon Go</a>.</p>
<h2>I do believe in fairies</h2>
<p>Gaiman is not alone in exploring the power of belief and fantasy to keep the gods alive. It’s a theme that never quite goes away: witness JM Barrie’s comment in <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26654/26654-h/26654-h.htm">Peter and Wendy</a> (1908):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Michael Ende’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27712.The_Neverending_Story">The Neverending Story</a> (1979), eroding belief in fiction is killing an imaginary kingdom called Fantasia, until an ideal child reader can bring it back to life. In contrast are Terry Pratchett’s piling of myth upon myth in the hugely popular <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-beginners-guide-to-terry-pratchetts-discworld-55220">Discworld series</a>, or Rick Riordan’s recasting of the Perseus myth in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28187.The_Lightning_Thief">Percy Jackson series</a>. All play in different ways with ideas about mythology, the role of belief, and the endurance of ancient ideas about power and creation.</p>
<p>In American Gods, Gaiman contrasts belief in the old gods with the flattening, meaningless forms of new media and digital technologies. But a lot has changed since June 2001 – not least the continuing evolution of the internet – which has turned into the ideal tool for reinvigorating and investigating them. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161104/original/image-20170316-20784-514etr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new god, Technical Boy, played by Bruce Langley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Starz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From <a href="http://aom.heavengames.com/">online gaming communities</a>, to <a href="http://mythology.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page">exhaustive wikis</a>, to the project I’m currently involved in, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OurMythicalChildhood/?hc_location=ufi">Our Mythical Childhood</a>, which gathers and analyses the retellings of classical myth and culture in children’s texts around the world, people interested in mythlore are finding ways to think about myth using technology. </p>
<p>We like observing the gods, exploring their powers, telling their stories in different ways, collecting them, arranging them, playing with them. We seem to like all the tradition we can get, even on the most cutting edge of technological advancement.</p>
<h2>‘Right angles to reality’</h2>
<p>American Gods is a response to the perceived flat soullessness of a tech-heavy, media-heavy, corporatised, citified, sophisticated world. Divorced from the old gods, which symbolise the meaningful association with life and the land, Wednesday wonders what hope is there for society. </p>
<p>And yet, it emerges that Mr Wednesday is as much of a soulless con-artist as any of the new gods he despises, manipulating the battle for his own power. It takes an act of real, primal sacrifice on Shadow’s part to let him to see through the con, and understand that, when it comes down to it, as a human, all you have is yourself:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know, I think I would rather be a man than a god. We don’t need anyone to believe in us. We just keep going anyhow. It’s what we do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Though the advertisements for the upcoming television series exhort viewers to “Believe,” the response might well be: “Believe in what?”</p>
<p>In the novel, it is the land that eclipses gods and men, as Whiskey Jack, the Native American trickster spirit, tells Shadow after the battle is over:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Listen, gods die when they are forgotten. People too. But the land’s still here. The good places, and the bad. The land isn’t going anywhere.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Believe in the land, then. Gaiman’s novel finds its power in the land, in the people’s relation to the land, in the quirky, carnivalesque, homespun totems and places of power he nominates as places to overlay his web of mythicalism. This is the ultimate appeal of American Gods: the idea that all you have to do is find the places of power. </p>
<p>In this novel they are out-of-the-way carnivalesque sites carved into rock-faces, such as Tennessee’s <a href="http://www.seerockcity.com/">Rock City</a> and Illinois’ <a href="http://www.travelwisconsin.com/entertainment-and-attractions/house-on-the-rock-attraction-203820">House on the Rock</a> (both real-life American tourist attractions).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161109/original/image-20170316-10911-pp561i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gaiman turns the surreal – and highly popular – House on the Rock attraction into an all-American place of power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">House on the Rock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To access the mythical plane, go to places like these, and turn at “right angles to reality” (easier said than done, but at least Gaiman gives us the clue). That’s the ultimate point of novels like this, which invest reality with mythology, magic or fantasy: the promise of finding out the true story lying beneath the surface, the secret to the universe. </p>
<p>This book, beyond collecting, analysing, and arranging American gods, is an examination of power – what is real power, and what is not. “Mythologies,” <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24331386-the-view-from-the-cheap-seats">Gaiman said</a>, round about the time he must have been mulling over American Gods, “have always fascinated me. Why we have them. Why we need them. Whether they need us.”</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see what the TV adaptation does with American Gods, whether it takes on this questioning. But the questioning may also have changed. The novel was published in June 2001, and the Western world turned sharply at right angles to itself not long after. </p>
<p>One new element of the adaptation, preview writers have noticed already, is the addition of <a href="http://comicbook.com/2016/12/22/american-gods-first-look-at-corbin-bernsen-as-vulcan/">Vulcan</a>, the Roman God of metallurgy and weaponry. It’s a highly appropriate comment on an America now more than ever in the grip of gun-ownership, and intriguingly it adds a figure from the classical Roman pantheon, missing from the original. Adaptations always move the conversation on a little. Perhaps the gods, too, move with the times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Hale has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 681202.
</span></em></p>American Gods imagines a US where ancient gods exist at “right angles to reality”, asking why we have mythologies and why we need them.Elizabeth Hale, Senior Lecturer in English and Writing (children's literature), University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/728392017-02-15T02:03:12Z2017-02-15T02:03:12ZHow will native tribes fight the Dakota Access Pipeline in court?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156847/original/image-20170214-19605-1axc8mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After the Army Corps of Engineers approved an easement for the North Dakota Pipeline, two tribes requested – unsuccessfully – to halt construction while their lawsuit over the project is resolved.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Feb. 8 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reversed course and issued an <a href="http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/1077134/corps-grants-easement-to-dakota-access-llc/">easement</a> allowing the installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe in North Dakota. That decision followed a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/24/presidential-memorandum-regarding-construction-dakota-access-pipeline">presidential memorandum</a> indicating that construction and operation of the pipeline would be in the “national interest,” and set the stage for a final showdown over the pipeline’s fate.</p>
<p>In response, two Indian tribes, the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux, filed new motions to halt the pipeline’s construction and operation. After an initial hearing on those motions, the federal judge on the case <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/13/federal-judge-rejects-request-to-block-dakota-access-pipeline/">allowed</a> construction to proceed but will be considering the tribes’ claims before oil will pass through the pipeline under Lake Oahe. That means, unlike the voices of thousands who joined the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in protest against the pipeline, the next chapter of this fight will be argued by a few lawyers in the pin drop silence of a federal courtroom. </p>
<p>Although the details of those arguments will be complex, as a legal scholar focused on Native American law I see the case addressing an essential question at the heart of our legal system: namely, how does federal law and judicial process protect the fundamental values and structure of the Constitution?</p>
<p>The central issues in the case are now whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of the pipeline and easement illegally interferes with the tribes’ religious beliefs and whether the corps adequately considered the tribes’ water and other treaty rights before issuing that approval.</p>
<h2>Religious Freedom Restoration Act</h2>
<p>According to the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, oil running through the pipeline would represent the fulfillment of a generations-old prophesy, passed down through the oral traditions of tribal members, that warned of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/opinion/sunday/how-to-stop-a-black-snake.html">Black Snake</a> coming to defile the sacred waters necessary to maintain the tribes’ ceremonies. Beyond the environmental concerns often at the center of the pipeline protests, the tribe’s motion for an injunction squarely defines final authorization of the pipeline by the corps as an existential threat: destruction of the tribes’ religion and way of life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156848/original/image-20170214-19589-dlqk30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the key legal questions in the North Dakota Access Pipeline case whether federal interests can supersede religious freedoms of native groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vpickering/31980278153/in/photolist-QHZhw6-RY9MuZ-QwpjXU-RC6a3x-RNThGc-QwpjVE-RoxkjA-RJBqEE-RLUWTt-RocwU9-RJBnNY-RuN8tw-QHZfCr-RZiHJt-QgR9Yy-Q9ptjz-RUnERh-Q9ptKe-RcstVR-RjEEnY-RxPbkn-QYVcps-RuN9j9-QgR9Cd-QgR9Pq-RZiHXK-RuN8ZG-RUgZFU-M163Kf-RJi37u-QgAdrA-RJi2K7-RoxjVE-QHZeGZ-QHZgA8-RoenEJ-Nd9kMH-RoemQC-QYEwL3-AMe3u9-RR2Yg5-RUgZLy-QFkegN-RR2YCh-NreMJc-RXQpsi-P7SVr8-QFke9U-Rocx5j-Q6CbBE">vpickering/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees the exercise of religion free from governmental interference. But the Supreme Court, in <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/485/439.html">Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protection Association</a>, in 1988 upheld the Forest Service’s approval of a road across an area on federal land sacred to local tribes even while recognizing the road could have devastating effects on their religion. </p>
<p>Then in 1993, Congress enacted the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/chapter-21B">Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)</a>, which requires that the government demonstrate a compelling interest and use the least restrictive means to achieve that interest if its actions will substantially burden religious practice. </p>
<p>In other words, even if approving the Dakota Access Pipeline served a compelling governmental interest, RFRA may require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to show that the pipeline easement under Lake Oahe would have the least impact on tribal religion. That approach would be consistent with the Supreme Court’s broad application of RFRA in a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">2014 case</a> not involving tribal interests or federal lands and may pose a significant challenge to the corps, which <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/previously-proposed-route-dakota-access-pipeline-rejected/story?id=43274356">considered but rejected</a> a different route that did not pose the same threat to the tribes. </p>
<p>Both the corps and company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline <a href="https://daplpipelinefacts.com/safety/">argue</a> that the risk of spill from the pipeline is minimal and that the tribes failed to raise these religious concerns in a timely manner. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contends that, consistent with the Lyng case, governmental action on federal land should not be restricted because of religious concerns raised by local tribes. </p>
<p>Thus, resolution of the case will turn upon whether the court recognizes the legitimacy of the tribal religious concerns and broadly applies RFRA or, instead, chooses to prioritize federal authority over federal land to the detriment of those concerns. The parties will argue whether the religious freedom issues support an injunction on Feb. 27.</p>
<h2>Arbitrary or capricious decisions?</h2>
<p>In addition to their religious concerns, the Sioux tribes challenge the corps’ decisions based on the rights they reserved in treaties made with the federal government in <a href="http://ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iii-waves-development-1861-1920/lesson-4-alliances-and-conflicts/topic-2-sitting-bulls-people/section-3-treaties-fort-laramie-1851-1868">1851 and 1868</a>. </p>
<p>The Constitution <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlevi">recognizes</a> treaties as the “supreme law of the land” and, according to a 2016 analysis done by the solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior, both the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux <a href="https://solicitor.doi.gov/opinions/M-37038.pdf">retain</a> treaty-reserved water, hunting and fishing rights in Lake Oahe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156849/original/image-20170214-19595-avkofw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pipeline company has argued that the risks to the water supply are minimal and that the tribes didn’t raise religious concerns earlier in the approval process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/32009578684/in/photolist-QLzsxE-RRSTeD-RaZpCm-QiBASc-pktBZK-RMgXJK-PKBfWf-QD1oXF-RY9MuZ-RoxkjA-RPnyC5-RX1GAn-RJBqEE-QD1t5t-Rm4Hf7-RK31Lg-RSWwkz-RJBnNY-Rm4Hef-RHDMrk-RSWuPP-RG2LtB-RYSpJw-c6WkaU-RjYRDC-QEBznx-RY9DTY-QHJCRe-RHDMoK-RjQdCS-QEBzqZ-NreMJc-QEBzoV-RUzJZH-Ri5Cjo-J9ooe5-RoxjVE-Rb6CKb-PrRbr9-NrgFck-RTzXwJ-PwaBXD-M2KHMh-RG2L4i-RSWtNa-RG2KS6-RG2KMM-PDtJ5p-LJg7iu-QD1poa">diversey/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before <a href="https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/dapl_exhibit-2.pdf">reversing</a> course in February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refused to issue the easement last year in order to further <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/179095/army_will_not_grant_easement_for_dakota_access_pipeline_crossing">understand</a> and <a href="https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/dapl-eis-2017-00937.pdf">analyze</a> those treaty rights. </p>
<p>Importantly, federal <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/706">law</a> generally allows courts to set aside arbitrary or capricious agency decisions. In a Feb. 14 <a href="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/Memo-ISO-SRSTs-Mtn-for-PSJ.pdf">filing</a>, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe asks the court to review the corps’ about-face under that standard and argues that the federal trust responsibility, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/30/1/case.html">recognized</a> by the Supreme Court since the early 1800s, demands more than just a cursory review of tribal treaty rights.</p>
<p>The parties will be briefing the treaty rights issues into March, but the judge is keeping a close eye on Dakota Access’ progress in the meantime.</p>
<p>The ultimate fate of the pipeline will turn on how the courts recognize the rights asserted by the Sioux tribes, rights rooted in the Constitution’s values and structure – precisely the type of rights our rule of law and federal courts are meant to protect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72839/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monte Mills does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than an easement: A scholar of Native American law lays out the legal arguments in the Dakota Access Pipeline and why they matter to all of us.Monte Mills, Assistant Professor of Law & Co-Director, Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/682112016-11-22T03:14:47Z2016-11-22T03:14:47ZRemembering the US soldiers who refused orders to murder Native Americans at Sand Creek<p>Every Thanksgiving weekend for the past 18 years, Arapaho and Cheyenne youth lead a 180-mile relay from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site to Denver.</p>
<p>The annual <a href="http://www.westword.com/news/the-sand-creek-massacre-healing-run-honors-the-past-but-is-heading-for-the-future-5122743">Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run</a> opens at the site of the Sand Creek Massacre near Eads, Colorado, with a sunrise ceremony honoring some 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people who lost their lives in the infamous massacre. This brutal assault was carried out by Colonel John Chivington on Nov. 29, 1864.</p>
<p>While the Sand Creek massacre has been the subject of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Massacre-Sand-Creek-Methodists-Involved/dp/1501819763">numerous books</a>, much less attention has been given to <a href="http://www.jhwriter.com/?page_id=4">two heroes</a> of this horrific event: U.S. soldiers Captain <a href="http://www.silassoule.com/book.php">Silas Soule</a> and Lt. Joseph Cramer. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146879/original/image-20161121-24547-14wk2bt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1191&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ledger art of Captain Silas S. Soule by George Levi (2014).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of George Levi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These were men who rejected the violence and genocide inherent in the “conquest of the West.” They did so by personally refusing to take part in the murder of peaceful people, while ordering the men under their command to stand down. Their example breaks the conventional frontier narrative that has come to define the clash between Colonial settlers and Native peoples as one of civilization versus savagery. </p>
<p>This is a theme I’ve previously addressed as a scholar in the fields of <a href="https://ais.arizona.edu/">American Indian studies</a> and Colonial history, both in my book on the Indian captivity narrative genre, “<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/buried-in-shades-of-night-billy-j-stratton/1115100069#productInfoTabs">Buried in Shades of Night</a>,” and more recently in writings on <a href="http://common-place.org/book/stories-of-native-presence-and-survivance-in-commemoration-of-the-151st-anniversary-of-the-sand-creek-massacre/">Sand Creek</a>.</p>
<h2>The letters of Soule and Cramer</h2>
<p>Soule’s noble act of compassion at Sand Creek is humbly conveyed in a <a href="http://www.kclonewolf.com/History/SandCreek/sc-documents/sc-soule-letters.html">letter to his mother</a> included in the Denver Public Library Western History Collections: “I was present at a Massacre of three hundred Indians mostly women and children… It was a horrable scene and I would not let my Company fire.” </p>
<p>Refusing to participate, Soule and the men of Company D of the First Colorado, along with Cramer of Company K, bore witness to the incomprehensible. Chivington’s attack soon descended into a frenzy of killing and mutilation, with soldiers taking scalps and other grisly trophies from the bodies of the dead. Soule was a devoted abolitionist and one dedicated to the rights of all people. He stayed true to his convictions in the face of insults and even a threat of hanging from Chivington the night before at Fort Lyon. </p>
<p>In the following weeks, Soule and Cramer wrote letters to Major Edward “Ned” Wyncoop, the previous commander at Fort Lyon who had dealt fairly with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Both harshly condemned the massacre and the soldiers who carried it out. Soule’s letter details a meeting among officers on the eve of the attack in which he fervently condemned Chivington’s plans <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/the-life-of-silas-soule.htm">asserting</a> “that any man who would take part in the murders, knowing the circumstances as we did, was a low lived cowardly son of a bitch.” </p>
<p>Describing the attack to Wynkoop, Soule wrote, “I refused to fire and swore that none but a coward would.” His letter goes on to describe the soldiers as “a perfect mob.”</p>
<p>This account is verified by <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf">Cramer’s letter</a>. Detailing his own objections to Chivington, whom he describes as coming “like a thief in the dark,” Cramer had stated that he “thought it murder to jump them friendly Indians.” To this charge, Chivington had replied, “Damn any man or men who are in sympathy with them.” </p>
<p>In Soule’s account, he writes, “I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized.”</p>
<p>While few Americans – especially those living outside of Colorado – may know their names, Soule and Cramer are honored and revered by the descendants of the people they tried to save. <a href="http://video.rmpbs.org/video/2365379662/">According to David F. Halaas</a>, former Colorado state historian and current historical consultant to the Northern Cheyenne, without their courage in disobeying Chivington’s orders and keeping their men from the massacre, “the descendants probably wouldn’t be around today,” and there would be no one to tell the stories.</p>
<p>The horrific descriptions of Soule and Cramer prompted several <a href="http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v016/v016p444.html">official inquiries</a> into the atrocity. Both men also testified before an Army commission in Colorado as witnesses. While the officers and soldiers responsible escaped punishment, their testimony brought widespread condemnation upon Chivington, who defended the massacre for the rest of his life. </p>
<p>These investigations also ended the political career of the Colorado territorial governor, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/news/august-proclamation-and-the-third-colorado-cavalry.htm">John Evans</a>, who had issued two proclamations calling for violence against Native people of the plains, and for organizing the 3rd Colorado Cavalry Regiment in which Chivington was placed in command.</p>
<h2>Sites of reverence and healing</h2>
<p>The Cheyenne and Arapaho will return to Denver this year to honor their ancestors and remember Soule’s and Cramer’s conscience and humanity. This will be done through an offering of prayers and blessings, along with the performance of honor songs. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146885/original/image-20161122-24573-143tbb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soule’s grave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Billy J. Stratton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the third and final day of the healing run, they will gather for a sunrise ceremony at Soule’s flower-adorned grave at Denver’s Riverside Cemetery. The participants will then continue on to 15th and Lawrence Street in downtown Denver. There, a plaque is mounted on the side of an office building at the place where Soule was murdered on April 23, 1865. His death, for which no one was ever brought to justice, occurred only two months after he testified against Chivington before the Army commission.</p>
<p>Over the last few decades, Soule’s grave and place of death have been transformed into sacred sites of remembrance within a violent and traumatic frontier past.</p>
<p>The catastrophe of the Sand Creek Massacre is recognized by historians as among the most infamous events in the annals of the American West. Even now, it is the only massacre of Native people recognized as such by the U.S. government, with the land itself preserved as a <a href="https://www.nps.gov/sand/index.htm">national historic site</a> for learning and reflection. </p>
<p>In Cheyenne and Arapaho stories, this event remains an ever-present trauma and persists as part of their cultural memory. In addition, it encapsulates the stark moment of betrayal against their ancestors and the theft of their lands.</p>
<p>The story of Soule’s and Cramer’s actions and their courage to say “no” to the killing of peaceful people at Sand Creek is an important chapter of U.S. history. I maintain that it is people like Soule and Cramer who truly deserve to be remembered through monuments and memorials, and can be a source for a <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/11/29/our_thanksgiving_responsibility_native_americans_honest_history_and_the_simple_power_of_remembrance/">different kind of historical understanding</a>: one based not on abstract notions of justice and right, but upon the courage and integrity it takes to breathe life into those virtues. </p>
<p>On the 153nd anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, as we honor the memory of those who died at Sand Creek, may we also be inspired by the heroic actions of these two American soldiers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Billy J. Stratton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of American Indian studies shares the lesser-known, true story of two men who stood up and spoke out against the murder of American Indians, and how they are celebrated as heroes today.Billy J. Stratton, Professor of American Literature and Culture; Native American Studies, University of DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/678152016-11-21T01:21:30Z2016-11-21T01:21:30ZHow the archaeological review behind the Dakota Access Pipeline went wrong<p>This summer, Tim Mentz Sr. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EAWpI5L_Bc">took to YouTube</a> to tell the world about the destruction of his cultural heritage. A former tribal historic preservation officer of the Standing Rock Sioux, Mentz wore a baseball cap, rimless glasses and two thin braids of graying hair. He was upset and spoke rapidly about the area behind him, an expanse of the Great Plains cut by a new 150-foot-wide road.</p>
<p>Two days before, <a href="http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/09/19/grave-matters-pipeline-controversy/">Mentz had testified</a> to the D.C. District Court to report the area that lay in the path of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) corridor holds 82 cultural features and 27 graves. By the next day, DAPL construction workers <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/6/did_the_dakota_access_pipeline_company">graded the area</a>. Behind where Mentz stood in the video was a place known as the Strong Heart Society Staff, where a sacred rattle or staff was placed within stone rings. Here members of the elite warrior society would come to make pledges. Mentz explained the site is tangible evidence that Strong Heart members followed a “spiritual path.”</p>
<p>As an anthropologist who has worked with Native Americans for more than a decade to document their sacred places in the paths of new power plants, power lines, water pipelines and more, <a href="http://www.sapiens.org/culture/native-american-activism-standing-rock/">the battle in North Dakota</a> is all too familiar. </p>
<p>I have seen how the legal process behind environmental and archaeological reviews for energy projects, such DAPL, work – and often don’t work. The tragedy in North Dakota for cultural heritage – and the <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/6/full_exclusive_report_dakota_access_pipeline">violence against protesters</a> that has resulted – comes in part from a failure of the U.S. legal system. Consultation with tribes too often breaks down because federal agencies are unwilling to consider how Native Americans view their own heritage.</p>
<p>“Archaeologists – they don’t see these,” Mentz said in the video of features, including graves, within the Strong Heart Society site. “The [archaeological] firm that came through here walked over these. They do not have a connection that we have to our spiritual walk of life.”</p>
<h2>Irreplaceable heritage</h2>
<p>If completed, the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/understanding-controversy-behind-dakota-access-pipeline-180960450/?no-ist">Dakota Access Pipeline</a> would run from North Dakota to Illinois for nearly 1,200 miles, carrying up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day. DAPL would meander across the landscape, through farms, around cities, buried underground and across more than 200 waterways. The passage of the pipeline over and under waterways requires permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This federal authorization in turns requires compliance with the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/nhpa1966.htm">National Historic Preservation Act</a> (NHPA).</p>
<p>Passed into law in 1966, the NHPA arrived in the churning wake of WWII, when America’s waiting future was threatening its irreplaceable past. The expansion of American infrastructure – highways, dams, electrical grids – was swiftly destroying ancient archaeological sites, cemeteries and historic buildings. With the NHPA, Congress declared that preservation of America’s shared heritage is in the public interest.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146618/original/image-20161118-19352-t6uxvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The stand-off between Native Americans in North Dakota and an oil pipeline project developer and police forces has inspired protests across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paulann Egelhoff/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>When considering a new undertaking, a number of effects on historic properties must be considered: direct (like physical destruction), indirect (like spoiling a viewshed), short-term, long-term, or cumulative (like how one pipeline may not harm a site, but perhaps a dozen of them will). The NHPA does not guarantee preservation. But it requires that decision-makers balance America’s interest in development with the need to honor its history.</p>
<p>For many years, Native Americans would have had little input on a project such as DAPL. But in 1992, Congress amended the NHPA to formally include <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/nrb38/">traditional cultural properties</a>. These are places that, because of their association with Native American cultural practices or beliefs of a living community, “are rooted in that community’s history” and “are important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community.” </p>
<p>The amendments directed federal agencies, in carrying out their responsibilities under the NHPA, to consult with Indian tribes that attach religious and cultural significance to these sacred places. </p>
<h2>Beyond consultation</h2>
<p>In North Dakota, federal and state review and compliance measures for DAPL were combined. Archaeologists walked the pipeline’s 357 miles in North Dakota, locating 149 sites potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Engineers rerouted DAPL to <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/09/09/pipeline-will-proceed-despite-tribal-protests.htm">avoid all but nine sites</a>.</p>
<p>Archaeologists serve an important role in documenting historic properties. But they tend to view the world through the lens of science and history. They search out buried villages, pottery shards, bones, broken stone tools. Yet in my experience, they rarely have the expertise and knowledge to identify traditional cultural properties, which are grounded in identity, culture, spirituality and the land’s living memory. </p>
<p>Traditional cultural properties in the U.S. can often be archaeological sites, artifacts that ancestors once touched and places that mark ancestral homes. But just as often they can be a mountain where spirits dwell or a spring where water is gathered for ceremonies. They can be a traditional area for collecting plants or animals that sustain and heal communities. They can be origin places where ancestors emerged onto the earth or named places recalled in ancient tongues. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146604/original/image-20161118-19365-c51pfe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Zuni elders Octavius Seowtewa and John Bowannie, and archaeologist Sarah Herr, look at a shrine archaeologists misidentified.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chip Colwell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is why documenting traditional cultural properties requires not the work of archaeologists but Native Americans as well. On one project I conducted with the Hopi tribe to detail cultural resources along a 470-mile power line, we needed weeks of research to identify more than 200 plant species that the tribe uses in its traditional religious and healing practices. </p>
<p>On another project I conducted with the Zuni tribe, I watched as elders explained to the archaeologists excavating a site in the path of a new Arizona highway that they had placed a survey flag in a semicircle of rocks – which was likely a shrine used to bless and protect the ancient village. When it comes to traditional practices, Native Americans see what archaeologists overlook. </p>
<h2>Tribal surveys</h2>
<p>For DAPL, a tribal survey was not undertaken. In North Dakota the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tried to engage in consultation dozens of times, but the Standing Rock Sioux largely refused because the federal agency only wanted to consult on a narrow corridor at water crossings instead of the entire pipeline. </p>
<p>Once, though, consultation did occur at Lake Oahe on March 8, 2016. Current designs call for the pipeline to <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/army-corps-delays-dakota-access-pipeline-calls-review/">go under</a> this now controversial waterway, which the Sioux want protected. There Standing Rock representatives showed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff important cultural resources – a cemetery, ancient village and sacred stone. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers <a href="http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/order-denying-PI.pdf">officials admitted</a> they were unaware of some of these sites.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146608/original/image-20161118-19365-363zje.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Hopi elder Harold Polingyumptewa digs up a sööyöpi root, used for healing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chip Colwell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>On Sept. 21 and then again on Oct. 20, according to an email I received from the North Dakota State Historic Preservation Office, delegations that included law enforcement, Standing Rock Sioux officials and tribal and state archaeologists went to the areas that Mentz suggested contained 82 sites and 27 burials. </p>
<p>They found on closer inspection – tribal archaeologists hadn’t been allowed on private land – that none of the features were disturbed by the 150-foot corridor, with the exception of four rocks that might have been displaced. Two bones were recovered, but analysis showed them to be from a horse, cow, or bison. It would seem that the main sites Mentz agonized over had escaped physical destruction. However, tribal input would be needed to determine if the sites, so close to the corridor, could still suffer from indirect and cumulative impacts. </p>
<h2>Not too late</h2>
<p>Because consultation broke down and so little of the pipeline has received tribal survey, we must wonder how much has been missed. Even worse, we’ll likely never know. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/previously-proposed-route-dakota-access-pipeline-rejected/story?id=43274356">Nearly 90 percent</a> of the pipeline has already been completed.</p>
<p>This is an unfortunate but common occurrence. Last month I went out with traditional leaders of the Zuni tribe in New Mexico to identify traditional cultural properties under the NHPA in the path of a massive network of water pipelines. When we arrived, we found dozens of construction workers busily laying the new pipe. An archaeological survey was already completed; the construction had begun with the consent of the federal agency. We were too late. </p>
<p>Given that <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/14/502069069/army-wants-further-study-of-dakota-access-pipeline-route">the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now saying</a> it needs more information before making a decision about DAPL, let’s hope in North Dakota there’s still time to finally listen to the tribe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chip Colwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What sacred sites have been damaged by The North Dakota Access Pipeline? We can’t really know for certain – and our legal system is partly to blame.Chip Colwell, Lecturer on Anthropology, University of Colorado DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/680322016-11-03T00:13:10Z2016-11-03T00:13:10ZWhy understanding Native American religion is important for resolving the Dakota Access Pipeline crisis<p>In recent weeks, protests against the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline across North Dakota have escalated. Native American elders, families and children have set up tipis and tents on a campsite near the pipeline’s path in the hope of stopping the pipeline’s construction.</p>
<p><a href="https://votedavearchambault.wordpress.com/about/">Dave Archambault Jr.,</a> the leader of the <a href="http://standingrock.org/">Standing Rock Sioux Tribe</a> that is leading the efforts to stop the pipeline, summed up what is at the heart of the issue. In a <a href="http://indianlaw.org/undrip/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Tribe-Takes-NODAPL-to-the-United-Nations">brief two-minute statement</a> before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, he said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Oil companies are causing deliberate destruction of our sacred places.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a Native American scholar of environmental history and religious studies, I am often asked what Native American leaders mean when they say that certain landscapes are “sacred places” or “sacred sites.” </p>
<p>What makes a mountain, hill or prairie a “sacred” place?</p>
<h2>Meaning of sacred spaces</h2>
<p>I learned from my grandparents about the sacred areas within <a href="http://blackfeetnation.com/">Blackfeet tribal territory</a> in Montana and Alberta, which is not far from Lakota tribal territory in the Dakotas. </p>
<p>My grandparents said that sacred areas are places set aside from human presence. They identified two overarching types of sacred place: those set aside for the divine, such as a dwelling place, and those set aside for human remembrance, such as a burial or battle site.</p>
<p>In my <a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Invisible-Reality,677467.aspx">forthcoming book “Invisible Reality,”</a> I contemplate those stories that my grandparents shared about Blackfeet religious concepts and the interconnectedness of the supernatural and natural realms. </p>
<p>My grandparents’ stories revealed that the Blackfeet believe in a universe where supernatural beings exist within the same time and space as humans and our natural world. The deities could simultaneously exist in both as visible and invisible reality. That is, they could live unseen, but known, within a physical place visible to humans.</p>
<p>One such place for the Blackfeet is Nínaiistáko or Chief Mountain in Glacier National Park. This mountain is the home of Ksiistsikomm or Thunder, a primordial deity. My grandparents spoke of how this mountain is a liminal space, a place between two realms. </p>
<p>Blackfeet tribal citizens can go near this sacred place to perceive the divine, but they cannot go onto the mountain because it is the home of a deity. Elders of the Blackfeet tribe believe that human activity, or changing the physical landscape in these places, disrupts the lives of deities. They view this as sacrilegious and a desecration. </p>
<h2>A living text</h2>
<p>Sacred places, however, are not always set aside from humanity’s use. Some sacred places are meant for constant human interaction.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2013/08/in-memoriam-keith-h-basso-19402013.html">Anthropologist Keith Basso</a> argued in his seminal work <a href="http://www.unmpress.com/books.php?ID=770">“Wisdom Sits in Places”</a> that one purpose of sacred places was to perfect the human mind. The Western Apache elders with whom Basso worked told him that when someone repeated the names and stories of their sacred places, they were understood as “repeating the speech of our ancestors.”</p>
<p>For these Apache elders, places were not just names and stories – their landscape itself was a living sacred text. As these elders traveled from place to place speaking the names and stories of their sacred text, they told Basso that their minds became more “resilient,” more “smooth” and able to withstand adversity. </p>
<h2>The sacredness of the pipeline site</h2>
<p>At different national and international venues, Lakota leader Dave Archambault Jr. has stated that the Lakota view the area near the potential construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline as both a “sacred place” and a “burial site,” or as both a place set aside from human presence and a place of human reverence.</p>
<p>Lakota scholar Vine Deloria Jr. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_We_Used_to_Live_in.html?id=S6F7MKRoFS4C">described the “sacred stones”</a> in North Dakota in his book “The World We Used to Live In” as having the ability of “forewarning of events to come.”</p>
<p>Deloria described how Lakota religious leaders went to these stones in the early morning to read their messages. Deloria shared the experiences of an Episcopal minister from 1919.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A rock of this kind was formerly on Medicine Hill near Cannon Ball Sub-station…. Old Indians came to me… and said that the lightning would strike someone in camp that day, for a picture (wowapi) on this holy rock indicated such an event…. And the lightning did strike a tent in camp and nearly killed a woman…. I have known several similar things, equally foretelling events to come, I can not account for it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_We_Used_to_Live_in.html?id=S6F7MKRoFS4C">Deloria explained</a> that it was “birds, directed by the spirit of the place, [that] do the actual sketching of the pictures.” The Lakota named this area Ínyanwakagapi for the large stones that served as oracles for their people. The Americans renamed it Cannonball.</p>
<h2>Not just Dakota</h2>
<p>Historians, anthropologists and religious thinkers <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Where_the_Lightning_Strikes.html?id=UpIMJdc29qoC">continue to learn and write</a> about Native American religious ideas of place. In so doing, they seek to analyze complex religious concepts of transformation and transcendence that these places evoke.</p>
<p>However, despite their contributions to the academic interpretation of religion, these understandings do not often translate into protection of Native American places for their religious significance. As <a href="https://www.aclu.org/bio/stephen-pevar">legal scholar Stephen Pevar</a> <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rights-of-indians-and-tribes-9780199795352?cc=us&lang=en&">tells us,</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“there is no federal statue that expressly protects Indian sacred sites…. in fact, the federal government knowingly desecrates sites.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the past year we have seen protests over the potential <a href="https://www.hawaii.edu/offices/bor/regular/testimony/201504161130/4-14-2015_Toledo_TMT.pdf">desecration of sacred places</a> at Mauna Kea in Hawaii (over the construction of another telescope on a sacred volcano), <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/30/oak-flat-deal-violates-apache-rights-mining-best-practices">Oak Flats in Arizona</a> (over a potential copper mine on sacred land) and now at <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37834334">Standing Rock in North Dakota</a>. </p>
<h2>Lack of understanding of sacredness</h2>
<p><a href="http://hds.harvard.edu/people/william-graham">William Graham, a former dean</a> of the Harvard Divinity School, <a href="http://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/articles/summerautumn2012/why-study-religion-twenty-first-century">wrote that</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Religion… will long continue to be a critical factor in individual, social, and political life around the world, and we need to understand it.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The intimate connection between landscape and religion is at the center of Native American societies. It is the reason that thousands of Native Americans from across the United States and Indigenous peoples from around the world have traveled to the windswept prairies of North Dakota.</p>
<p>But, despite our 200-plus years of contact, the United States has yet to begin to understand the uniqueness of Native American religions and ties to the land. And until this happens, there will continue to be conflicts over religious ideas of land and landscape, and what makes a place sacred.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68032/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier receives funding from University of Montana. She is affiliated with Saokio Heritage. </span></em></p>A scholar explains what makes landscapes sacred in Native American religion and why there needs to be a better understanding of the ties to the land.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's Studies, Environmental Studies and Native American Religion, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.