The Patriarchalization Of Native American Summary

In Lakota Woman, a biographical account of Mary Crow Dog, there is established a reoccurring theme centered around Native American women and their outlasting strength as they play their roles of wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters. Especially so in trying times, which Crow Dog illustrates, that have spanned for centuries and are as inescapable as they have ever been. Remarkable are her feats of bravery fueled by strength she’s derived from other influential women in her life and her love for her people and their traditions. Without a doubt, Native American women had and always will play a large role in keeping the ardor behind their fight for equality and justice lit. Whether it be physically, such as it was in Wounded Knee, spiritually, in their participation in keeping up rituals and religion, or traditionally, as they help uphold old values beloved by their people for centuries.

Pg. 15 - Resources, landscape, and climate influenced the development of Native American societies by allowing them to have trade surpluses and specialize in certain goods. Landscape also affected what animals could be raised in that area.

Evans continues to trace the evolution of women’s roles in society, which increasingly diverged from men’s roles-- for indigenous women as male-dominated war metaphors became more culturally central, and for Europeans as men grew very economically successful compared to

Cherokee Women, Gender and Culture Change 1700-1835, written by Theda Perdue, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London, 1998. First Bison Books printing: 1999.

She also talks about the Native feminist ethics, which brings understanding of the cultural perspectives of leadership under the spotlight. In this respect, I think understanding of Native women’s traditional gender functions, roles and responsibilities is crucial in perceiving Indigenous feminism. This is because I think in many tribal societies such as the Pashtun tribal societies in the northwestern FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) perceive gender roles and responsibilities as complementary. The FATA areas and the colonial government system were creation of the British colonizers. This example is very much relevant to the case of Native societies that were/are colonized in North America because the British colonial rulers applied the similar methods to control and regulate Pashtun tribes in the FATA areas. In comparison to the CFR Courts to implement the Code of Indian Offences in Canada, the colonizers introduced and enforced the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) in the FATA areas on the Pakistani side of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In this colonial structure, the Political Agent system implemented the FCR in which, for example, because of one tribal individual the entire tribe was punished. Unfortunately, the FCR is still very much alive and is being used the way many colonial laws are currently implemented in Canada and

Our nation’s history has been deep rooted in the conflict involving Native Americans, ever since the beginning of America and it is one hard to get rid of even as the days go by. The impact of colonialism can be seen in Native American communities even today, and it can only be understood through a cultural perspective once you experience it. Aaron Huey, who is a photographer, went to Pine Ridge reservation and it led him to document the poverty and issues that the Sioux Indians go through as a result of the United States government’s long term actions and policies against them. One must question all sources regarding these topics because there is a lot of biased and misinformation about Native American struggles, and sometimes schools do not thoroughly teach the truth so students can get an insight. There are also different sociological perspectives in this conflict, along with many differing opinions on how to approach the problem and deal with it. This is where ideas clash because people believe their views are right regarding how to handle it.

There was a clear division between men and women in the Native American society but each had their own crucial role in the society. Women carried out many important jobs and even “helped develop the elaborate cultural, social, political, and economic patterns that characterized most of the hundreds of Native groups that spanned the continent.” So not only did women influence their own societies but also societies of Native groups across the country. Many Native societies were even matriarchal, where women could rule families and sometimes even tribes. Women participated in elections and most all political roles were elected by the women.

Native American, or American Indians, have a rich culture comprised of struggle, strife and success. For this paper, i will discuss the Native American Culture and it's history.

Prior to Western colonization, American Indian women played an important role in their communities. Many women were valued for their contributions socially, politically, spiritually, and economically and were viewed as leaders (Poupart p.171). Men and women each held different duties in their communities; women had important tasks to fulfill such as the taking ownership of land, crops, and decision-making. Viewing genders as equals was important in the Native communities because their differences were seen as complementary and balanced when used together. In some communities, women were seen as slightly inferior to men because they contributed offspring in the sacred creation of life. Oral history stories say that women were seen as the wisest of the group. Women were viewed as the “Light of Knowledge” and were said to “come first and light the way for males…because they are not created with an automatic connection to the Atisokanak World” and need to be guided (Boatman p.61). The roles of American Indian women were respected and honored in communities, unlike in Western culture.

What if everyday in America there was not an action someone could take because someone of an opposite race sexually assaulted or domestically abused that person? Often news outlets only focus on major even in cities or towns, but never the reservations. With the lack of awareness of the number of rapes and domestic abuse victims on reservations, at large society is saying America doesn’t care due to reservations having sovereignty. Even with new laws signed into place by President Obama to deal with the rape and abuse problems to Native American women, that come from non Native Americans, the problem with this is it’s a pilot only on three tribes (Culp-Ressler,1).It is said it will expand soon, but how soon? America is not known for being

De Beauvoir’s “Woman as Other” lays out an elaborate argument on gender inequality; using the term “other” to establish woman’s alternate, lesser important role throughout her work, the author dissects and examines from its origin the female’s secondary position in society in contrast to man. Indeed, from the beginning of recorded history, the duality of man, by definition, positions woman at the opposing end of the spectrum in relation to her male counterpart. Even by today’s modern and accepting standards, the female suffers under the brand of being the sub-standard half of the duality equation; compared to her male opponent, women are paid lower wages, have fewer and limited expression of rights, achieve lower

Today in Canada, the lives of Indigenous women are affected by colonization every day. Since the moment of contact, settlers have used Indigenous women as key objects to oppress and assimilate Indigenous people as a whole. As a female, non-Indigenous university student, I strongly feel that in moving forward trying to stop allowing there to be missing and murdered Indigenous women, we must discuss where these problems originated and why the origin is still relevant today. Indigenous women were oppressed and used by Europeans as a tool to assimilate all Indigenous Peoples and erase Indigenous culture through forcing women into ‘traditional’ western gender roles; which has had lasting impacts on Indigenous women today through being stereotyped and dehumanized in their forcedly assigned gender roles. Firstly, I will discuss how western gender roles were involved in the colonization of Indigenous women and how women were targeted specifically in the attempted erasure of Indigenous Peoples. Next, I will examine the effects of colonization on Indigenous women who were forced to take on not only the same but even further dehumanizing gender roles that European women assumed. Finally, I will argue how the imposition of these gender roles has affected and still affects Indigenous women today.

Current American society is constantly affected by events from the past, but sometimes what society thinks is in the past is not so far behind. The way Native Americans were treated historically continually plays a part in current American society. Due to the racism and stereotypes carried throughout society the Native American cultural circle is constantly under fire.

THESIS STATEMENT: The Native Americans were historically doomed because of the Europeans inability to accept elements of Native American culture that they felt were savage, the natives inability to acknowledge the Europeans threat to their lifestyle and land, and the far superior European army used to defeat Indian tribes.

Though both human beings, Simone claims that woman is not equal to man and that she may never achieve full independence from him. However, the author claims woman can and should claim for liberty. By her own nature woman is different than man. The author states that “woman has ovaries [and] a uterus; these peculiarities imprison her in her subjectivity, circumscribe her within the limits of her own nature’ (4). Hence, to de Beauvoir her biology and even the way she thinks (4), woman is different from man and there is no reason to argue about equality. De Beauvoir states “a condition brought about a certain time can be abolished at some other time” (8); in that the author claims that it is impossible for women to break its condition of dependency