Dissident Women: Chapter 2

This chapter had an amazing amout of information on the women of the EZLN. When thinking of insurgents I don't usually think of women being a large part of that. It was interesting to read about how the population of the EZLN is at least 30% women. Something else that was interesting was how the women were able to hold high ranks if they were able to handle it.
A thought that came to mind when reading about the women that were fighting for their rights was how American women think of womens rights in other countries. The common idea is that these women are helpless and they need a higher power to come into their country and fight FOR them. It is great to read that these women are doing it on their own with the help of the men of their country, and there is less help from United States.
The gender demands requested by the Zapatistas seem to me like basic needs. Women of America do have restrictions on what they can and cannot do, but for these women of Chiapas, they are wanting to have food, respect, the same ability to learn as anyone else. The things that they want are things that we as American women already have, though some have husbands that beat them. The difference there, is that the husbands in Chiapas beat their wives as a way to educate them into doing what they are brought up to do. It alsmost seemed like a cultural thing, but for American husbands, it is not really a cultural thing.
The idea of fixed marriage scares me. I could not fathom the idea of marrying a man that I am not in love with. I also could not deal with having loads of children that may or may not live because I cannot afford to take care of them.
This chapter was enlightening. I would lable this a strong women story. =)

Don't Let the Sun Step Over You: Chapter 2

After reading this chapter I thought about how much time and energy it took the Native families to travel to get food and supplies. In the beginning of the chapter where it talks about the family traveling to get their rations, it apparently took about a week for them to get to San Carlos where the rations were being distributed. I couldn't imagine myself traveling on foot for weeks or days at a time. It is so easy for us to get what we need now; all we have to do is hop in our cars and drive to the grocery store down the street.
Another part in the chapter that was interesting, yet sad to read about, was the death of the narrator's brother. He and three other boys had to tear down a wikiup that had caught on fire during a lightening storm. Because of the fumes and smoke from the yucca the boys all got sick and died. When I read this I wondered if smoke inhalation was even a thought when the teacher made the boys tear it down and obviously it was not. Also the thought that the fumes were so deadly and the teacher new it was terrible because that means that he murdered those children and all that happened after that was he fled and was never seen again. H was not presecuted or anything like that.
The story of the Badger's Eye was a good one. I never knew that Black eyed peas had a story behind them in any other culture besides my own. I knowthat black eyed peas are a huge part of African American culture. We eat them on most holidays, and they are a staple in bringing in the New year because they bring good luck.

Don't Let the Sun Step Over You: Chapter 1

There were a lot of interesting stories in the first chapter of this book. It was helpful how the narrtor went over the different members of her family and explained each ones name and where they were from or who they married.
The constant occurance of death by Tuberculosis was sad to read about. Many parents lost a lot of their children to this illness. At one point the narrator says that she and one more of her siblings are the only ones left alive out of at least 9 children. She seemed really sad that her only sister had died because she was the only girl left. A lot of the children also seemed to die when they were off at the boarding schools. I read in another book how the children would die of homesickness and how they would become so depressed because they were away from their families and what they called home.
Story telling was also a huge part of this chapter. One of my favorite stories was at the end of the chapter when the narrator is explaining what "don't let the sun step over you" meant. If the children were to stay in bed too long then the sun would step over them and they would be in trouble. The narrator recalls when she was younger how her parents were strict with her because there was much to be done as far as house work. She was out collecting wood at the young age of 5 or 6. In American society our 5 and 6 year olds are struggling to tie their shoes and put their toys away (not that this is a bad thing). This shows the different level of resposibility that children of different cultres have. When I was 5 I was entering the first grade and still running around without a care in the world. I didn't have chores until I was about 9 years old. The only thing I had to do was do my homework and keep my room clean, other than that I had a lot of free time to get into trouble. =)
I also found the story of William Goshoney. He got struck by lightening and from there on he was able to sing and bring rain. According to the story those that got struck by lightening they were not able to touch the crops beacuse they would dry up, and one of the things that lightening did not strike was the Sycamore tree. Other than that lightening went after a lot of other differnt things that the families had to get rid of to keep the lightening away. The story also says that women that are struck by lightening are not able to have children. =(
Ultimately, this is an interesting book so far because it reads like a converstaion as oppose to a biography or a book of testimonies. It is enjoyable.

No Parole Today Pg. 1-17

I was surprised to read that one of the Indian School teachers was a black woman. Before this book, I had never read nor heard of such a thing. The author does express that there were not many jobs for blacks so they had to take ones like teaching in the indian schools in order to make ends meet. Though this does not excuse any of the African Americans from their responsibility in this. It is like an opressed race oppressing an even more oppressed race. Sad, but true.
Another interesting passage that I read was when the author talks about naming. In the beginning she recalls being in her kindergarten or first grade class and listening to the instructor buthcer the students names, and none of them were really bold enough or couragious enough to correct them. This reminds me of a part in a story written by Toni Morrison called "Song of Solomon". At one point a young boy finds out how his grandfather got his name during slavery times. When the slaves were set free, his grand father had to go to get papers done on him and the man in charge asked him where he was from and who his father was. The man in charge was drunk and just made up a name based on what he had misheard, and with the boys grandfather not being able to read or write, he didn't correct him. A majority of the children that atteneded the Indian schools probably had their names changed because the mistresses and head masters lacked too much knowledge to say them correctly. They also had the intent on taking away as much Indian culture as they could and that could also be why they changed the children's names; to better assimilate them into the dominant white culture and religion.

Every Day is a Good Day Chapter 3

In chapter 3 I came across a great statement written by the author. She says " Though many non-Native Americans have learned very little about us, over time we have had to learn everything about them" (Mankiller, Pg. 43). This caught my eye because she is right. The Native peoples of this land have had to learn about those that entered it a took it away. They even had to assimilate into the dominant culture in order to live. It is interesting to read about this from Native women's perspective because they have a lot more to say than most would think.
I also agree with what she was saying when she talked about how the lack of information about the culture was the cause for stereotypes. "This lack of information has produced a number of stereotypes, including that of the mystical child of nature- spiritual but incapable of higher thought- or the blood thirsty savage who murdered and scalped innocent settlers" (Mankiller, Pg. 42). It is amazing how people make up facts about things that they have not even studied or experienced. Something that is often thought of when dealing with indigenous people is that they have less of a cognitive thought process and they have no knowledge. But if they were that much less knowledgeable than anyone else, then how would they have been able to live for thousands of years on this land? How would they have been able to survive? Because they are not totally familiar with Westernized views, it makes them look as though they have less knowledge, but for those anthropologists and historians, they feel like they have all the knowledge in the world because they read some books and took some pictures. The indigenous are not considered in matters pertaining to their land and their values.

Abstract....

Erica Luckett
10632028
CES 372
Margo Tamez
October 12, 2008


“Native American Women on the Big Screen: The Stories of Pocahontas and Sacajawea”


For my project I plan to research two known Native American women, Pocahontas and Sacajawea. What I plan to find out is more about their lives and their struggles and compare it to the Hollywood and Disney versions of their lives. Though they are two different women of two different tribes, they seem to share some of the same trials and tribulations with each other as well as with other Native women. It is apparent that the idea of the “savage Indian” has not died though many Native cultures have. The idea of helpless Indian woman or helpful Indian woman is common in many movies. A majority of our America “heroes” are glorified while the Natives continue to be viewed as the same primitive culture that would not survive without being saved, converted, and reborn into the dominant races culture. As for Native women, they were receptacles for genocide and abuse. Earlier in the semester when we did our collage of what it is to be Native, some things that I found were pictures of European women dressed up in sexy native woman costumes, Native women are printed on the backs of coins for helping Europeans find trails and things, and there was the famous Pocahontas that was created by Disney. Some questions that came to mind were: How do the portrayals of Natives, specifically Native women, help or hurt the Native community? How accurate are these portrayals and how are they drawn up by directors?
Some of the sources that I have found so far are from www.filmreference.com/encyclopedoa, here I found some information about movies created about Native peoples. It talks about the movies mostly being stories of colonization of indigenous people and the designated role of “the Indian”. I also plan to find some information from our readings about events and certain tribes and compare them to what is depicted on the big screen. I also found a bit of information in “Every Day is a Good Day”, where the author, along with some other Native women talk briefly about how American pop culture affects the Native community as well as portrayals in movies. So far I have been able to find lots of information on both Pocahontas and Sacajawea, the hard part is picking out the most reliable sources.

Every Day is a Good Day Chapter 2

In the beginning, the author talks about spiritualism and how Native American spiritualism has been copied and exploited by outsiders. In one of my other CES classes we watched a video about Native Americans and the struggle to keep their land, their culture, and their traditions. One specific part in the movie shows a group of Native Americans in a sacred natural place in the mountains during the spring. They had the elder medicine woman with them and they went up there to pray and conduct their traditional ceremonies. Not far from them was a group of whites yelling and hopping around while beating on drums and smoking. They had their infant children all laid out on blankets while they rolled "sacred crystals" at their feet to give them protection from evil spirits, and they had their faces painted and flowers in their hair. All in all, it was a mockery of true Native traditions. Those folks really thought they were doing something, making all that racket on the side of a mountain running around barefoot becoming one with nature. "Outsiders sometimes focus and even try to replicate discrete practices or ceremonies of traditional tribal groups, with little attempt to understand the complex belief systems and lifeways they represent" (Mankiller, pg. 13).
I have heard a lot of my white friends and collegues say that they are not sure what their culture is. This conversation was sparked off of the question "how come there isn't a European American student center at WSU?". A passage in the chapter from Gail Small reads: " In ancient times white people probably also had an understanding that everything was connected. They have lost their culture. They had to leave their land and move to a new continent. It would be almost impossible to keep their culture intact." (Small, Mankiller, Pg. 13). Something that I wonder is if there were ever any tribes or Europeans that lived a primitive lifestyle. I have seen primitive lifestyles from most ethnicities but nothing really stands out as being the beginning of white culture or tradition.

Every Day is a Good Day Chapter 1

In chapter one the author talks about some of the women that have influenced her in her life. Though all had amazing stories, the ones that stuck out the most was the story of Justine Buckskin and the story of Mary and Carrie Dann. When reading Justine Buckskin's story, I felt that she had to be one of the stongest women every. Her ability to see potential in others and to help others even when she was down was something that a lot of people are not able to do. It seems to be a true gift that she had. The Dann sisters fight for their land and their birthright as they called it was a great story because it helps the reader see that the American governement is still doing damage to the Native tribes. Our governement is stil trying to destroy what's left of the indigenous people while at the same time trying to put on a mask that looks to others like we are the melting pot country. It is very easy for one to foget about the Native tribes and all that they are dealing with; it is even easier to forget about what Native women are dealing with in losses and negative changes that were and still are being forced upon them.
Something else that was interesting to read about was how the author talks about the "experts on Native Americans". "White anthropologists and "experts" on Native Americans have written volumes anout the culture of traditional indigenous people with little understanding of the degree to which tribal knowledge continues to inform contemporary life" (Mankiller, pg. 6). She goes on to say " Too many books about specific tribal groups have been written by people who spent fifteen minuets on a reservation and became experts" (Mankiller, pg. 6). In my own personal opinion, I do not believe that an outsider to a specific culture can be called an expert per say. They can read all the books and do the research and study abroad and what not, but that does not compare to actually being a part of a specific culture. To live as a Native person and have certain traditions and values instilled in you is very different compared to just experiencing it as a historian.

Differences and Technicalities

Something that caught my eye was in the beginning of chapter 5 where the author mentions that American scolars do not necessarily refer to the US as a settler nation, even though it was the people that settled on this land that built the US on the backs of the indigenous and slaves. Unfourtunately, that is why racism is such an issue today because America was built on it.

Another interesting passage was how the European settlers were able to claim citizenship within this country but anyone else who trys to enter does not get to do the same. It is such a banged up policy, how even today, people from foreign countries have to go through so much to get into this country be it legally or illegally, when in the beginning, the settlers just came right in and made themselves right at home.

Some of the differences between the way the indiginous peoples ran their culture and the way that the dominant culture run things were interesting. In our dominant western society today, we base everything off of a patrilocal system where the male is dominant (to be more specific, the European American male is dominant), but in the indiginous cultures the women had more power and say of what was going on. In present day America, when a woman is head honcho she is not viewed as being human. She must be an alien because she doesn't need a male to get her business done, and she does not play the helpless woman role that most are trained to. Hillary Clinton is a great example of that. She had all kinds of lables because she was so head strong about what she believed in and she even ran for president. Not many women have acheived themselves in that manner. It seems that within the indiginous cultures the woman was more sacred. She was more than just a producer of children and dinner, she had a purpose.

"Native Women in the Labor Force"

Researching Native women in the work force was a bit difficult because for one, it is not something that you hear about on the daily news or on CNN. I had never really thought of Native women as being a part of America's work force, accept for those that assimilated into the dominant culture. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Native women in the work force, I think of them as being the primary care givers for children, I think of them as being the spiritual beings within the Native society, and I also think of them as being healers. Because of the way society has depicted Natives as being this way, immages of Native women are largely depicted like this.
When looking up information on Native women in the labor force I found that women are not talked about as often as men. Again, the norms of gerder roles plays a large part. The man is the bread winner and the woman is also a provider, but in a different sense. When looking up images, I found one somewhat empowering picture of a Native woman at work. She was a Native American Wonder Woman...yes, a super hero. She was given all of the Americanized characteristics of beauty and she was actually quite buff, and it was her job to save the helpless non mutant humans from the evil villans. This made me laugh because the Native woman was only given great power in a fictional sense as oppose to being shown as a hard worker within American society.