American Indian Culture Experience

In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will

Every country and nation has they own special festivals and music, and Native American is no exception. First, the native music related many aspects such as ritual, life and work. They like to combine music with dance, and the Native American music always created rich percussion instruments. For example, the hand drum, log drum, water drum and rattle, etc. Powwow is an important festival and ritual for the Native American, and it is a symbol for the tradition culture of Native Indians. Powwow, is a social gathering by the Native American tribes, and they singing and dancing. Powwow is not only a method that the Native American expresses the enthusiasm of the life and peace, but also enhances the sense of identity and cohesion. Hence,

My essay will have an outlook of the history of the first Americans “Indians” and how they’ve adapted with their religion, subsistence strategy, social organization, and material culture. Over the years things have change in the history of Native Americans, prior to the reconstruction period, Native Americans knew who they were and what they lived for. Before the Europeans came and changed their living they one with nature and the land they’ve came to know. They believe that America was there’s and they lived free. In today’s history of Native Americans culture was founded in many ways, started in the mid 8200s B.C and before Christopher Columbus discovered America. Living in the Americas they were in touch with nature as well as their

Native American culture has faced a series of battles since the first settlers arrived. For many years, the natives were pushed further away from their food source and struggled to survive, due to famine and disease. Eventually, the government came to the aide of the natives offering sub-par substances to supply the nutritional needs and to force assimilation. In the article, , “Commod Bods and Frybread Power: Government Food Aid in American Indian Culture”, Vantrease discusses the journey of commodity foods and the diffusion into popular culture.

The Eastern Woodland Indians was an Indian tribe that was located around the stretch from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean. Usually the Woodland Indians had settled west from the Atlantic. The Eastern Woodland tribe also settled from Canada in the North all the way to The Gulf of Mexico in the South. The Indians of The Eastern Woodlands tribe had spoke several different languages and dialects. According to www.indians.org, “Additionally, there were many groups such as the Cayuga, Mohawk, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes”. Many different parts of the Eastern Woodlands economy encouraged them to become a civilization such as the habitat of the Eastern Woodlands, the shelter, the food, and the culture of the Eastern Woodlands Indians.

In her book American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa's central role as both an activist and writer surfaces, which uniquely combines autobiography and fiction and represents an attempt to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form, especially surrounding such fundamental matters as religion. In the tradition of sentimental, autobiographical fiction, this work addresses keen issues for American Indians' dilemmas with assimilation. In Parts IV and V of "School Days," for example, she vividly describes a little girl's nightmares of paleface devils and delineates her bitterness when her classmate died with an open Bible on her bed. In this groundbreaking scene, she inverts the allegation of Indian religion as superstition by labeling

The fascination with Native Americans has been a constant with outsiders since explorers first “discovered” the New World. The biggest surge in this fascination came in the mid-19th century when the Indian Wars were starting to come to an end and the belief that Native Americans were disappearing, walking into the sunset never to be seen again. This led to an increase in the collecting of anything Native American, from artifacts to stories to portraits. The inevitable outcome of this was that Native Americans, who were never considered very highly to begin with, where now moved into a category of scientific interest to be study. This scientific interest in Native Americans is what many museums and other institutions based their collections and exhibits on and is one of the issues that many Native Americans have with how both their people and their culture were, and to some extent still are, represented in these places.

Native American culture originated in some parts North America. These countries are known as the United States of America and some parts of Canada. In the United States, there are 6.6 million Native Americans, which form about 2.0 percent of the population (Bureau, 2016). Europe had realized there were about 50 million people already living the “new world” and these people were called Native Americans. Native Americans were originally called Indians, but later through history they formed a new name. These people were called this because of them being native to the “new world” and the American part came after the colonist named the United States. Throughout history, Native Americans believed that using raw material in nature was the best way to provide for their people. Their culture thought no part of an animal should go to waste. They would eat the meat, use the skin for clothing, and make jewelry from the bones. Over the years a lot of their culture and customs were lost due to conforming with society. Their languages were referred to as “Indigenous Languages” because of them being extremely complicated and diverse. Some important factors that help understand the foundation of Native American culture are their rituals/practices, death ceremonies, holidays, family, and stereotypes.

“We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.” (Red Jacket,1) A quote that greatly summarises the overall encounter of Native Americans and explorers over the course of hundreds of years where the result was in the end, all the same. Despite the Native Americans obtaining European goods, the Native American experience was bad because they helped explorers, but were seen as savages, had things stolen from them and many died as a result of their experiences from war or just a desire to kill Native Americans. These experiences matter because they were what helped the US become what it is today.

How does the history of the Native American in the U.S. compare with the values that stand at the foundation of the U.S. (freedom, liberty, equality)?

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

Native Americans have a complex relationship to American culture because they are the only indigenous people of the United States and modern Native Americans are still members of tribes and nations that have their own sovereignty and rights. Since the first ship landed on American soil, European took control of Native Americans’ visual sovereignty and how Native American could express their culture. The only way to best represent a culture is having someone from their own culture being able to express themselves. Historically, Native Americans have faced changelings in controlling their own visually sovereignty in film and other media with stereotypical portrayals that benefited the white middle-class Americans. As Native Americans began to fight back against these portrayals and gaining their own political sovereignty, films began to be produced by Native Americans, such as Imagining Indians and Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, for them to best represent their culture and way of life.

Cultural and linguistic characteristics of various populations Native American Population According to 2011 U.S. Census, Native Americans make up about 1.7% of the U.S. population. “Native Americans” is the general term used to describe American Indians of various different tribes such as the Cherokee, Navajo and Choctaw. They are a family oriented cultural group that usually live in an extended family inclusive of older adults (Roseberry-McKibbin, 2014). In many instances, mothers are the head of the household.

The importance of becoming culturally competent has never been more crucial especially in the helping profession. This exact thought loomed in my mind after visiting the American Indian Center. What stood out to me was the staff's explanation of their cross-cultural communication techniques that had been applicable in helping American Indians. I thought to myself if I had no prior cultural knowledge regarding American Indians, I would be inadequate. Another thought that also came to mind is that I always perceived culture as being a negative component which could potentially hinder resolutions clients from a different background. However, after this visit, I recognized the extent in which culture can positively strengthen a social worker's