Week 7- My Blog on my Classmate’s Blogs

Getting to read my classmate’s blogs was a very rewarding experience for me. I read a good amount of interesting analysis and opinions similar and different from my own. I was most intrigued by what my peers had to say on Trudell, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian, and the controversial issue of mascots.

I think the insight on John Trudell was incredible. The fact that most of us in class had never heard of Trudell before blows my mind. He is an extremely interesting guy who has lived a very inspirational life with highs and lows. I really like how he calls himself a civil rights activist. Also, the way he sends a message through is poetry is really beautiful. I agreed with my classmates that he is a great leader who doesn’t get the attention he deserves, so future generations should know who he is. I feel that if I would have known about him growing up it would have benefited me greatly.

Regarding Sherman Alexie’s novel I was surprised to look at the different feelings towards it. The responses made me think of this book in a completely different manner. I got so caught up in the optimistic story of Junior; I negated the fact that he is essentially confirming many stereotypes of Native Americans in our society today. Rather than embrace who he is, he points out the negative aspects of being Indian and assimilates to a white lifestyle. This unfortunately takes away a lot of the positive feelings I had about Sherman Alexie. Trudell should absolutely be disappointed.

Lastly, the recent mascot controversies have sparked an interest with me and I am curious to find out how these situations are handled. The hardest thing for me to comprehend is how can it be determined if the “line is crossed.” I would imagine that choosing the mascot to represent a school area or population would have good intentions. Yet, by using mascots to intimidate is that just adding fuel to the fire of already overblown stereotypes? The relationship between the represented tribe and the team must be on good terms. If not there isn’t much debate as to why the tribe may be against it.

Week 6- Debbie Reese Take 2

“Images of Indians in Children’s Books,” Reese’s other blog is intended to find pictures in children’s books and comics that portray ordinary stereotypes about Native Americans. They are primarily based around visual rhetoric of what an Indian is supposed to look like. This includes war paint, bow and arrows, large head dresses, totem poles, and even dogs. These passages explain the problems of creating inaccurate perceptions. The over exaggeration of these pieces of work essentially give off false perceptions and as a result the readers have a skewed mentality. I for one know that seeing Indian images portraying them as barbaric and primitive formed my opinions of Indians in a negative manner. As a result the way I looked at people of this race for a part of my childhood was severely wrong.

Week 6- Dr. Debbie Reese’s Blogs

Dr. Debbie Reese is a Native American professor at UIUC who focuses on “American Indians in Children’s Literature.” She responds to the notion of difficulties regarding children books that accurately portray Indians. While glancing over her blogs I came across Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons. Since I was studying this novel in one of my other classes I was interested to take a closer look at a critical perspective of indigenous people in this book. Beverly Satin’s response was extremely critical of the social events pertaining to Native Americans. Although she admits the novel is beautifully written and a compelling story she is thrown off by the cultural and historical flaws of “Indian” material. The protagonist, Sal, constantly refers to her “Indian blood,” and the quote “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins” is used and abused. Yet the story doesn’t provide any insight to anything Native American. The title itself implies that the story is based around Native American beliefs dealing with a closer relationship and better understanding of nature. Although the title can be assumed to correlate with Indians, the book provides little contextual evidence that it is indeed so. Even though the book is fiction, the characters are manipulated and misrepresented to further demonstrate racial prejudice.

Week 5- Casinos

In recent news, The Illinois Gaming Board decided to build a casino in Des Plaines, Illinois near my hometown. As a result I was curious to find out what role American Indians played in gambling enterprises and how much revenue is made. Indian Gaming enterprises include gambling businesses operated on Indian reservations or tribal land. Indian tribes have limited sovereignty over these businesses and are granted the ability to establish gambling enterprises outside of direct state regulation. After the federal government gave more control over economic development some began operating gaming places. Yet, only 90 of 557 nation’s tribes are involved in gaming. The positive factors of casinos for Indian Americans are population increase and an increase in available jobs. Also, tribes use their profits for the better of the reservation and its people. They are building schools/colleges and community centers, setting up education trust funds/scholarships, and investing in alcohol and drug treatment programs. Negative factors include a higher crime rate and increase in bankruptcies. As for the casino in Des Plaines, most of the revenue will go to the city for improvements in education and fixing up the city.

Week 5- The Birchbark House

There are many components to Louise Erdrich’s The Birchbark House, but most are related back to the aspects of ties to the land and environment. The family transitions from their winter cabin to their summer birchbark house while dealing with family, neighbors, wildlife and dreams. The major theme of respect for nature flourished over all concepts of the book. Identity and gender roles, assimilation and spirituality all intertwine with the land and environment yet the notion of “Earth is our Mother” is prevalent over all. The book emphasizes understanding change and adaptation going along with the land. The Omakayas family focuses on the correlation between the land with knowledge and power while ultimately gaining valuable resources from it.

Another common theme is the concept of reciprocity, or balance of giving back to the land. In doing so, the family takes into account only using the bare essentials to survive. The sustainability of lifestyle is also very apparent in this book. The ties to The Birchbark House are apparent regarding the kinship with the environment in particular recognizing it as siblings. The ideologies of learning from nature and animals stay true to the beliefs behind family togetherness. After using an animal as a source of food, the family buries the bones as a proper burial. Also tobacco ties are regarded as sacred and used as gifts. The symbolism of birds, in particular owls and foreboding, show the inner relationship between land/environment and society.

Week 4- Trudell

In response to the movie in class, its fair to assume that John Trudell is a well educated American Indian activist, who has taken the initiative to voice his beliefs of equality for his people. Also poet and performer, Trudell is a spiritualist who was willing to dedicate his life to the dangerous American Indian cause. He stressed the importance of native consciousness, or in other words the transition of living life in a coherent manner.

The common theme that he stays true to is questioning the government on enforcing treaties of the past. He states treaties are laws and for them to be broken regarding the American Indians is essentially disrespecting the U.S. Constitution and more importantly our ancestors. Throughout the many programs including AIM, and public speaking, John Trudell couldn't fathom how Manifest Destiny justified genocide against American Indians. The government didn't offer much compassion and never could admit they were wrong. I found it interesting that the majority of American citizens agreed with native peoples and not the government, ultimately becoming a threat.

The part I was most amazed and disgusted by is when John burned the American flag, and twelve hours later his home was burned down killing his whole family. In retrospect Trudell most likely wishes he could take his actions back but that being said he felt he had to take drastic action to prove a point. I would be oblivious to think the govt. didn't retaliate, and that sickens me.

Week 4- American Indian Language

Week 3- American Indian Language

For this weeks readings I wanted to take a closer look at the American Indian Language in reaction to the highly metaphorical aspect of them. First it’s pertinent to state that American Indian tribes had various forms of language and communication. I found the complexity and frequent use of metaphors to correspond words and things intriguing to try to make a comparison to usage today. The main idea to understand is how the words embody concepts and relationships between physical and spiritual forces. For example “When I dance, I am the corn,” expressing sense of identity with corn.

Metaphor in English today is considered a figure of speech yet the intellectual power is much more. In native languages metaphors express the intimate relationship with human and physical worlds. For example in the Aztec Empire, the word white derived from salt, red originated from the word for blood, and green from the general word for plants. Also, parts of the body were associated with other objects such as bark for skin, and a door with the mouth. These associations make sense within accepted intellectual constructs in a society. The story of Selu in a literary sense tells the story of a mother who was killed by her two boys and corn grows where her blood sank into the ground. As a metaphor it explains the connection between human and earth fertility, and cycles in life.

Week 3- Algonquin Indians

Starting to do research for my autobiography assignment I made a connection that I became intrigued with. Living a few towns away from Algonquin, Illinois I was curious to find out more about how the name originated. I was surprised to find that not much credit was given the American Indians for the naming of the city. It was mentioned that long before Europeans settled the Potawatomi American Indians inhibited the land. They became victims of European politics, and by 1894 the first settler Samuel Gillilan came from Virginia to take over the territory. Much changed but the name Algonquin stuck around. The Algonquin banded together with Iroquois and are very closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe culturally and linguistically. Some more information I found was that there are still around 8,000 Algonquin Indians in Canada today.

Week 3- Colonialism

In response to Davis Spurr's The Rhetoric of Empire regarding Western cultures, the idea of colonialism relating to gaze and surveillance is relevant. By watching others behavior and culture as an outsider, preconceived stereotypes and objectivity allow for a relationship struggle. Colonialism, or the exploitation by a stronger country over a weaker one was a very common tendency in Western civilization, and for this case Indian American life. The harsh reality was that many natives were killed based on the belief that they were inferior peoples from even a divine point of view. Yet for the most part the two societies coexisted for the time being. The mission was to take a progressive view and assimilate the natives for culture and arts to mainstream American civilization. This approach was difficult to follow with westward expansion at the forefront of society. Gaze and surveillance are apparent as a result of the colonizer's actions of how the natives were regarded. The Europeans had full advantage of the natives because of the way they were portrayed as dangerous and different. Yet, the observations of others can be skewed and biased based on what was unknown.