[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Checking the archives, noticed something.

Written by Anonymous at 10 Jun 2002 05:21:50:

As an answer to: Re: Checking the archives, noticed something. written by Rood at 08 Jun 2002 05:42:10:

>Thank you for the insight into your culture, and I'm happy to know your term for the Sun Dance, Wawanyag Wicapi. I wouldn't dream of attempting to copy the forms of a culture not my own. It would indeed be "walking in circles".

The Deloria family has written several books on the whole issue, the latest being Philip Deloria with Playing Indian. Two books by Vine Deloria Jr have touched on the issue: God is Red and Red Earth, White Lies.

>I must say, however, that I have more in common with the principles and ideals of your culture than with that of the Judeo-Christian world, the forms of which I rejected when very young. It was for me a journey to nowhere.

Christianity's universality is probably its biggest flaw. For thousands of years, no one tried to forcibly convert someone to their religion. As soon as Christianity took control of Rome, however...

>My "culture" is uniquely my own.

Good points. One of the weird things is that New Age types claim religious freedom. To Indians, this couldn't be more ironic; our religious freedom is strictly regulated, and laws supporting it were gutted in the 80s.

>As far as the use and abuse of images are concerned, one of the finest that exists in my mind is from the Lewis and Clark expedition. As it approached the Mandan Villages north of the present day Mandan, North Dakota in 1804, the expedition encountered a group of mounted Sioux, "naked" as the explorers noted.

"Naked" is a weird description. The Sioux wore fewer clothes than other plains Indians. Us Oglalas, the men at least, would only wear a breechclout, leggings, and moccasins. The women wore dresses. Men decorated with dyes, and women used beads. (Another reason for any white men out there to not play Indian: It's easier to pull the shirtless look without any chest hair.)

Indian views toward nudity varied from nation to nation. Among some Amazonians, only the glans is considered obscene. Navajos and Pueblos generally had more conservative views, wearing full dress.

>Having spent twenty Novembers very near where this encounter took place, I have only the most profound respect for the strength of character exemplified by this exercise in native American life on the prairie.

It was a hard life, like for any other civilization in such a land. The most interesting thing I heard in the post that this is a spin-off of was Charles' reference to a desert, when we live in the mountains. The southern plains (Oklahoma and Nebraska) are a desert NOW, but only after the Dust Bowl.

>I would suggest not describing the ceremony. Local television news has recently reported on white men attempting forms of the ceremony north of Phoenix, here in Arizona.

Let me guess: In Sedona? There are lots of those types in Sedona. I actually went to a protest of a prostitution ring in Sedona recently. The ring in question was run by this white man posing alternately as Cherokee and Mayan.


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