Nnn Cheyenne River Sioux Traditions and Resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline
nnn Cheyenne River Sioux Traditions and Resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline Ryan Goeckner, Sean M. Daley, Jordyn Gunville, and Christine M. Daley n ABSTRACT: The No Dakota Access Pipeline resistance movement provides a poignant example of the way in which cultural, spiritual, and oral traditions remain authorita- tive in the lives of American Indian peoples, specifically the Lakota people. Confronted with restrictions of their religious freedoms and of access to clean drinking water due to construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), members of Lakota communi- ties engaged with traditions specific to their communities to inform and structure the No DAPL resistance movement. A series of interviews conducted on the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation with tribal members reveal that Lakota spiritual traditions have been integral to every aspect of the movement, including the motivations for, organiza- tion of, and understanding of the future of the movement. n KEYWORDS: activism, American Indian, Dakota Access Pipeline, Lakota, oral tradition, resistance, spirituality Ho tunksila wakan tanka Grandfather, Great Spirit; Tateuye topa na ate wakan tanka Four Winds, also Father, Great Spirit, hear Namahonpo me; Wiyohpeyata wakainyan oyate kin To the west, Thunder Being people, look Ahintonwanpo upon me; Na Wiyohinyanpata sinte sapala oyate kin To the north, Buffalo people, look upon me; Ahintonwanpo To the east, Black Tail Deer people, look Na itokagata wanbli oyate kin upon me; Ahintonwanpo To the south, Eagle people, look upon me; Na maka ina na unci maka Mother Earth and Grandmother Earth, look Ahintonwanpo upon me; Na wakatkiya na wakatkiya And upwards and upwards, look upon me; Ahintonwanpo To the center, Spotted Eagle, look upon me.
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