DOCSLIB.ORG

Writing from Home: Contemporary Native American Women's Life

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Writing from Home: Contemporary Native American Women's Life 外 國 語 文國 學 立 系 中 山 大 學 ， 博士論文 國立中山大學外國語文學系 博士論文 自「家」書寫：當代美國原住民女性的生命敘事 Department of Foreign Languages and Literature National Sun Yat-sen University Doctorate Dissertation 自「家」書寫：當代美國原住民女性的生命敘事 Writing from Home: Contemporary Native American Women’s Life Narratives 研究生：張淑君 Clara Shu-Chun Chang 研究生：張淑君 指導教授：黃心雅 博士 Dr. Hsinya Huang 中華民國102年1月 101 January 2013 學年度 國立中山大學外國語文學系 博士論文 Department of Foreign Languages and Literature National Sun Yat-sen University Doctorate Dissertation 自「家」書寫：當代美國原住民女性的生命敘事 Writing from Home: Contemporary Native American Women’s Life Narratives 研究生：張淑君 Clara Shu-Chun Chang 指導教授：黃心雅 博士 Dr. Hsinya Huang 中華民國 102 年 1 月 January 2013 i Acknowledgements It is with inexpressible appreciation to acknowledge the encouragement, help and suggestions received during the process of writing a dissertation and completing the Ph.D. program. I feel exceedingly fortunate in having professional guidance and generous support from my advisor, mentors, friends, and family; all of them contributed to this work. Without them, this dissertation would not have been possible. The completion of my dissertation was aided by 2011 Doctoral Dissertation Award from the National Science Council, Taiwan. With its generous financial assistance, I could concentrate on writing up the dissertation. I feel really honored to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my advisor, Dr. Hsinya Huang. I have been greatly helped by her advice and expertise. I sincerely appreciate her unfaltering perseverance through my fragmented ideas and rugged language. I am also indebted to Dr. Joni Adamson for her hearty encouragement and stimulating suggestions. She has been a great mentor to me for years, providing invaluable comments on my works and steadfast support for my research. Moreover, I would like to thank my oral examiners, Dr. Kai-Ling Liu, Dr. Jade Tsui-yu Lee, Dr. Min-hsiou Rachel Hung, and Dr. Shiuh-huah Serena Chou, for their ii expert advice to improve this dissertation. Their keen critical perceptions allow me to fortify this dissertation with more substantial arguments. I especially thank to Dr. Min-hsiou Rachel Hung for her inspiring conversations which enable me to formulate the idea about “home writing.” Lastly, my gratitude also goes to my fellow graduates and friends, Roy, Jeff, Ruby, Hui Chun, Lisa, Siao-Jing, Rosa, Maggie, and Shiang-hui, whose warmhearted friendship helps me overcome the difficulties in writing this dissertation. Moreover, my parents and my husband are always great supporters during my graduate studies. With their unconditional assistance and sacrifices, I could focus on dissertation writing while taking care of my beloved children, Yu-Cheng and I-Chen. I also want to thank to my children for their understanding of their fully occupied mother. It is with love and support I can accomplish my responsibilities as a Ph.D. student, a mother, and a wife during these years. Given the fact, I dedicate this dissertation to my professors, beloved family and cherished friends whose encouragement and companionship become a driving force to see the light at the end of the tunnel. iii 摘要 本論文檢視當代美國原住民女性作家的生命書寫如何形塑當代美國原住民 女性對於「家園」的概念。 論者王荷莎以自我、生命、與書寫切入美國原住民 自傳的閱讀，本論文計畫以王荷莎的論點為經，繼之以「家」的論述為緯，爬梳 「自我」、「生命」、「家園」與「書寫」如何在原住民女性生命敘事中相互形塑觀 照，以原民自我與女性經驗將生命書寫轉化成原鄉想像建構的場域，藉以銘刻當 代原住民女性的歸家之路。「家園」是美國原住民女性自我形塑與自我表徵最重 要的指涉位置；失落家園的殖民歷史與女性家居生命經驗形塑原住民女性對「家 園」的想念、想望與想像，因此本論文從當代美國原住民女性的「家園」經驗切 入其生命敘事文本的閱讀，探討原住民女性自我、家居日常生活與原鄉文化想像 如何巧妙交織出當代原住民女性別有興味的「家園書寫」。當代原住民女性透過 生命故事，書寫她們對「家園」的想念與想望，以文化想像成就「家園」的建構， 以文字實踐其歸鄉之旅。總結，本論文以「自家書寫」為引，探究以「家」為研 究方法切入當代美國原住民女性生命敘事文本閱讀的可行性與可能性，透過論述 與文本反覆參照，辯證「家」如何成為美國原住民女性生命與文化實踐的動機、 途徑、與願景。本論文選讀四位當代美國首屈一指的原住民女性作家的生命書寫 作品，包含琳達･荷根回憶錄《觀照世界的女人：原住民回憶錄》、黛安．葛蘭西 回憶錄《掌握呼息》、路薏絲．鄂翠曲回憶錄《藍樫鳥之舞：初為人母的一年》 與萊絲里．席爾柯回憶錄《綠松石岩層：回憶錄》。 關鍵字：美國原住民文學、生命書寫、家、原鄉、文化創傷、文化想像、群落感 iv Abstract This dissertation examines how contemporary Native American women conceptualize home in their life writings. As Hertha Wong understands Native American autobiography in terms of the tribal sense of self, life, and language, I extend her reading by shifting the focus to the sense of home as represented in Native women’s life narratives. With far-reaching implications, home constitutes a defining point of reference for Native women’s self-recognition and self-portrait. Native women’s sense of home is largely guided by their loss of and imagination for their home places. Native life writings thus convey an emotional longing for an imaginary or physical reunion with their homeland. Native women’s specific experience of home thus provides a cutting edge for this project. I argue that, in Native women’s life narrative, the sense of home implicates the awareness of a female self, the practice of everyday life in domestic sphere, and cultural attachment to their home places. I intend to demonstrate Native women’s everlasting quest for and construction of home in their life narratives and explore the possibility of using home as a critical approach. Overall, the project explore how self, life, and home are intertwined and inscribed in Native women’s life narratives and how each writer launches and paves her way home through the life stories. The focal texts in this project include Native American women’s life narratives composed at the turn of the century, specifically Linda v Hogan’s The Woman Who Watches over the World: A Native Memoir (2001), Diane Glancy’s Claiming Breath (1992), Louise Erdrich’s The Blue Jay’s Dance: A Birth Year (1995), and Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir (2010). Keywords: Native American literature, life writing, home, home place, cultural trauma, cultural imagination, sense of community vi TABLE OF CONTENTS: 論文審定書 i Acknowledgements ii 摘要 iv Abstract v Chapter One Introduction: Writing from Home 1 Chapter Two This I Call Home 33 Chapter Three Home Lost in Linda Hogan’s The Woman’s Who 65 Watches over the World: A Native Memoir Chapter Four The Road Home in Diane Glancy’s Claiming Breath 109 Chapter Five Homesick at Home in Louise Erdrich’s The Blue Jays’ 145 Dance: A Birth Year Chapter Six At Home on Earth in Leslie Marmon Silko’s 185 The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir Chapter Seven Conclusion: Writing My Way Home 225 Works Cited 243 vii Chapter One Writing from Home Perhaps the World Ends Here The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on. (3) --Joy Harjo, “Perhaps the World Ends Here” Joy Harjo in her poem, “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” beautifully describes the living life around the kitchen table and elaborates on the significance of the table to a sustainable life at home. She describes how the kitchen table holds together the emotions that form the dramatic fabric of everyday life. Happiness and sorrow, hope and disappointment, remembrance and forgetting get entangled in the exact spot. The table where “the gifts of earth” are served to feed her family provides the metaphor of life. More than just the metaphor of life, the kitchen table is also a metaphor for a sustainable culture. Harjo and Gloria Bird, in the Introduction to Reinventing the Enemy’s Language, describe how a group of native women turn a kitchen table into a desk, where intellectual thoughts are inspired and circulated: “No matter, the kitchen table is ever present in its place at the center of being. It has often been the desk after the dishes are cleared, the children put to bed” (19). The artistic ideas are stimulated 1 and realized in the book, Reinventing the Enemy’s Language, after multiple meetings around the kitchen table. The talks among this group of women writers and critics have continued for years from their teenage years to the birth of their grandchildren. They gather around kitchen tables, preparing food for their children and grandchildren, telling stories of their family and communities, writing notes after reading manuscripts, and circulating their inspirations for tribal survival. The kitchen table is considered to be not only the heart of a home but also the mind of a house. Harjo’s perception of the kitchen table reveals the importance of the domestic sphere to her as a Native woman writer. Home, as represented through the kitchen table in the poem, carries the ideologies both for the domestic life and for artistic writings. This dissertation examines how contemporary Native American women conceptualize home in their life writings. As Hertha Wong understands Native American autobiography in terms of the tribal sense of self, life, and language, I extend her reading by shifting the focus to the sense of home as represented in Native women’s life narratives. With far-reaching implications, home constitutes a defining point of reference for Native women’s self-recognition and self-portrait. Native women’s sense of home is largely guided by their loss of and imagination for their home places. Native life writings thus convey an emotional longing for an imaginary or physical reunion with their homeland. Native women’s specific experience of home 2 thus provides a cutting edge for this project. I argue that, in Native women’s life narrative, the sense of home implicates the awareness of a female self, the practice of everyday life in domestic sphere, and cultural attachment to their home places. I intend to demonstrate Native women’s everlasting quest for and construction of home in their life narratives and explore the possibility of using home as a critical approach. Overall, the project explore how self, life, and home are intertwined and inscribed in Native women’s life narratives and how each writer launches and paves her way home through the life stories. The focal texts in this project include Native American women’s life narratives composed at the turn of the century, specifically Linda Hogan’s The Woman Who Watches over the World: A Native Memoir (2001), Diane Glancy’s Claiming Breath (1992), Louise Erdrich’s The Blue Jay’s Dance: A Birth Year (1995), and Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Turquoise Ledge (2010).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Record of the Church Session at Monroe, Chickasaw Nation, 1823
    RECORD OF THE CHURCH SESSION AT MONROE, CHICKASAW NATION (1823-1842) Transcribed and annotated by The Rev’d R. Milton Winter, Ph.D., Historiographer of Saint Andrew Presbytery (PCUSA) September 2008 These minutes are transcribed from a photocopy of originals housed at the Department of History, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Philadelphia, Pa. They provide original records for the history of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in the northern portion of the state of Mississippi. Insofar as practical transcription follows the format and spelling of the original. A few obvious errors in spelling or wording are corrected. Additions or corrections to the text are placed within brackets. Subject headings are inserted at key points in brackets to add clarity to the transcribed record. Page numbering from the original manuscript appears on these pages in brackets. This transcription has been compared with one printed in E. T. Winston, “Father” Stuart and the Monroe Mission (Meridian: Tell Farmer Press, 1927): 25-42, on which I have relied for assistance in the spelling of various names. 2 from The Chickasaws, by Duane K. Hale and Arrell M. Gibson. Territorial Map of Mississippi E. T. Winston The Rev’d Thomas C. Stuart 3 [1] The Rev. Hugh Dickson, of the Presbytery of So. Carolina, having been commissioned by the missionary Society of the Synod of So. Carolina and Georgia,1 to visit Monroe2 for 1 This, being the closest and most convenient governing body of the Presbyterian Church, the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia assumed responsibility for the evangelization of territory to its west.
    [Show full text]
  • Capital Negotiations: Native Diplomats in the American Capital, 1789-1837
    CAPITAL NEGOTIATIONS: NATIVE DIPLOMATS IN THE AMERICAN CAPITAL, 1789-1837 by Stephanie L. Gamble A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland October 2014 © 2014 Stephanie L. Gamble All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT “Capital Negotiations: Native Diplomats in the American Capital, 1789-1837,” examines the culture of diplomacy created by Native delegates and American officials as they negotiated in the seat of federal power. Between 1789 and 1837, more than 170 delegations of Native peoples from more than forty nations arrived in the national capital to engage in diplomacy with the United States government. Deputations ranged in size from a single diplomat to several dozen. The majority of delegations consisted of members of only one nation, though a notable minority was comprised of individuals from multiple nations. With many of these visits overlapping, Indian ambassadors were visible, nearly ever-present figures in the capital’s streets, theatres, hotels, and federal offices, as well as on the roads and waterways leading to and from the capital. Examining speeches, government records, newspapers, guidebooks, and personal letters, this dissertation uncovers the evolving expectations and strategies of Native diplomats as well as federal officials’ attempts to control Native visits. This project demonstrates the myriad ways in which Natives and federal officials performed diplomatic identities not just for one another but also for a wider American public, through extensive newspaper reporting and public displays of Native culture and American progress. Further, it establishes the importance of the American capital as a physical and ideological space for Native leaders and diplomats.
    [Show full text]
  • WAINWRIGHT-THESIS.Pdf
    ABSTRACT Both Native South and Deep South: The Native Transformation of the of the Gulf South Borderlands, 1770–1835 by James Eyre Wainwright How did the Native South become the Deep South within the span of a single generation? This dissertation argues that these ostensibly separate societies were in fact one and the same for several decades. It significantly revises the history of the origins of antebellum America’s slave-based economy and shows that the emergence of a plantation society in Alabama and Mississippi was in large part a grassroots phenomenon forged by Indians and other native inhabitants as much as by Anglo-American migrants. This native transformation occurred because of a combination of weak European colonial regimes; the rise of cattle, cotton, and chattel slavery in the region; and the increasingly complex ethnic and racial geography of the Gulf South. Inhabitants of the Gulf South between the American Revolution and Indian removal occupied a racial and social milieu that was not distinctly Indian, African, or European. Nor can it be adequately defined by hybridity. Instead, Gulf southerners constructed something unique. Indians and native non-Indians—white and black—owned ranches and plantations, employed slave labor, and pioneered the infrastructure for cotton production and transportation. Scotsmen and Spaniards married Indians and embraced their matrilineal traditions. Anglo- and Afro-American migrants integrated into an emergent native cotton culture in which racial and cultural identities remained permeable and flexible. Thus, colonial and borderland-style interactions persisted well into the nineteenth century, even as the region grew ever more tightly bound to an expansionist United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Choctaw Literary Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century A
    UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE WHO SHALL GAINSAY OUR DECISION? CHOCTAW LITERARY NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By PHILLIP CARROLL MORGAN Norman, Oklahoma 2009 WHO SHALL GAINSAY OUR DECISION? CHOCTAW LITERARY NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH BY __________________________ Dr. Geary Hobson, Chair __________________________ Dr. Craig S. Womack __________________________ Dr. Catherine Hobbs __________________________ Dr. William Henry McDonald __________________________ Dr. Marcia Haag © Copyright by PHILLIP CARROLL MORGAN 2009 All Rights Reserved. THIS STUDY IS DEDICATED TO THE CHOCTAW PEOPLE like a full moon over a thunderhead in the east in a buoyant blue late afternoon sky i see your imagination as a people you rise early you are visible even the light of the sun cannot burn you off through a dark night you are there on the other side of earth the glare of transplanted cities cannot hide your agriculture your stories your flare for oratory you speak you listen you persevere ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a great debt to Geary Hobson, my ‘elder brother,’ for his patient wisdom and unerring dedication to his students and to the causes of Native American people, especially to our arts and literature. I thank the other members of my doctoral advisory committee—Craig S. Womack, Catherine Hobbs, Henry McDonald, Marcia Haag, and earlier, Robert Warrior—for their dedication to quality scholarship. To all my other professors in the OU English Department, I thank you for teaching me to ferret out knowledge, think critically, and embrace the truth.
    [Show full text]
  • Explorations in Sights and Sounds
    EXPLORATIONS IN SIGHTS AND SOUNDS A Journal of Reviews of the National Association for Ethnic Studies Number 13 Summer 1993 Table of Contents Review Essay: "Arthur M. Schlesinger's Vision of America and the Multicultural Debate" by Jesse M. Vazquez ...................................................................................................................... 1 Book Reviews: Marian Anderson. My Lord, What a Morning. Reviewed by Catherine Udall Turley ................................................................................................................................. 14 John D. Buenker and Lorman A. Ratner, eds. Multiculturalism in the United States: A Comparative Guide to Acculturation and Ethnicity. Reviewed by Harriet Ottenheimer ................................................................................................................................. 15 Pastora Sanjuan Cafferty and William C. McReady Hispanics in the United States: A New Social Agenda. Reviewed by Luis L. Pinto ........................................................ 17 Hsiang-Shui Chen. Chinatown No More: Taiwan Immigrants in ContemporaryNew York. Reviewed by Janet E. Benson ...................................................... ............................ 19 Stephen Clingman. TheNovels of Nadine Gordimer: History(rom theInside. Reviewed by Martha A. Davies .................................................................................................... 20 Jose Luis Colon-Santiago. La Primera Vez Que Yo Vi El Paraiso. Reviewed by Luis L.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2005
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2005 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the Old Natchez Trace Predates Columbus's Voyage Of
    ~ CD Ranger station Mileposts are shown every 5 miles and labeled every m Picnic area 10 miles. g Campground 9i) Restrooms '" Public telephone c:=::::J Historic route 01 c=..=:J the Trace II Sell-guiding trail Mile 418.0 Temporary Terminus. 411.8 Water Valley Overlook. Minimum par1<way bridge clearances are 14 teet. 407.7 Gordon House and Ferry Site. 6 inches. 404.7 Jackson Falls. Named for Andrew Jackson, the falls are on the intermittent Jackson Branch that empties into Duck River. 403.7 Old Trace. Take a pleasant walk on a 2,000-loot section of the original trace. 401.4 Tobacco Farm. Exhibits at the farm The history of the Old Natchez and barn explain tobacco growing and cur- Trace predates Columbus's voyage ing. A 2-mile drive along the old trace be- gins here. of 1492. Prehistoric Native OQ...2...S.heboss.-e\ac.,...1his is..the..site-ot QnQ,--==_", Americans tHized"the-nomerotl ~ of the stands that once served travelers on animal trails in the area. Hernando the trace. DeSoto, who wintered just south of 397.3 Old Trace. Here the trace marked the boundaries of the Chickasaw lands ceded to present day Tupelo in 1540-41, was the United States in 1805 and 1816. the first European to record this area. 392.5 Swan Valley Overlook. As early as 1785 settlers and 391.9 Fall Hollow. A short paved path merchants floated their crops and leads to an overlook where a stream products down river to be sold at cascades over a rock ledge before plung- ing 20 feet into a clear pool.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Oklahoma Graduate College
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SHAREOK repository UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE “PEOPLE TO OUR SELVES”: CHICKASAW DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By DANIEL FLAHERTY Norman, Oklahoma 2012 “PEOPLE TO OUR SELVES”: CHICKASAW DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY Dr. Joshua Piker, Chair Dr. Fay A. Yarbrough Dr. Terry Rugeley Dr. R. Warren Metcalf Dr. Robert Rundstrom © Copyright by DANIEL FLAHERTY 2012 All Rights Reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As with any scholarly endeavor, I certainly could not have accomplished this effort alone. Two early influences in my academic career, Ed Crapol and James Axtell, provided me with a love and foundation in the unique methodologies I combine in this dissertation. The idea for this dissertation was born in Robert Shalhope’s seminar in Fall 2006. Dr. Shalhope’s avuncular disposition provided an early litmus test in which to investigate the significance of Native Americans’ understanding of and interaction with the republican experiment that is the United States. His early encouragement gave me the confidence to investigate further. The choice of the Chickasaws as a subject of study is due thanks to a friendly suggestion from Matt Despain. To the members of my committee—during both the exam and dissertation phases—I owe a great deal. Fay Yarbrough has offered thoughtful criticism and consistent encouragement since she first became involved with my work five years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Through Our Own Eyes: a Chickasaw Perspective on Removal Student Reference Material
    THE CHICKASAW NATION DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND HUMANITIES Through Our Own Eyes: A Chickasaw Perspective on Removal Student Reference Material We were a fierce, war-like tribe that originally resided in what is now northern Mississippi, northwestern Alabama, western Tennessee and western Kentucky. Many of our largest settlements were located near the cities of Tupelo, Miss.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Memphis, Tenn. Because of our skill in warfare, we were sometimes called the "Spartans of the lower Mississippi Valley." We even raised our male children much like the Spartans, teaching them 1 military skills and acclimating them to pain and hardship at an early age. The training must have been effective, as historical observers of our tribe often commented on our bravery and courage. A French governor of Louisiana once wrote that Chickasaws "breathe nothing but war and are unquestionably the bravest of the continent."2 Figure 1: Map of Chickasaw Homelands as outlined in the Treaty of Hopewell 1786 In the early days of colonial America, we formed an alliance with the English. This meant that we frequently battled the French, a long-time English enemy. In fact, some historians credit Chickasaws for the United States being an English-speaking country. This is because we 1 Greg O'Brien, “Chickasaws: The Unconquerable People,” American Indian History, accessed September 5, 2013, http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/8/chickasaws-the-unconquerable-people. 2 Stephen R. Cook, "The Decades and the Villages: 1720-1730," Historical Overview, accessed September 12, 2013, http://www.thechickasawvillages.com/decades1720_1730.html. 1 delivered the French a crushing defeat at the Battle of Ackia in 1736, which took place in modern-day Tupelo, Miss.3 Almost 50 years after the Battle of Ackia, the Americans defeated the British in the Revolutionary War, and the American frontier quickly opened up as the newly independent country supported westward expansion.
    [Show full text]
  • Transformation of Early Nineteenth Century Chickasaw Leadership Patterns, 1800-1845
    University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Transformation Of Early Nineteenth Century Chickasaw Leadership Patterns, 1800-1845 Emily Paige Smithey University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Indigenous Studies Commons Recommended Citation Smithey, Emily Paige, "Transformation Of Early Nineteenth Century Chickasaw Leadership Patterns, 1800-1845" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 370. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/370 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TRANSFORMATION OF EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY CHICKASAW LEADERSHIP PATTERNS, 1800-1845 THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology The University of Mississippi BY EMILY P. SMITHEY May, 2014 Copyright Emily P. Smithey 2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This is an examination of the changing leadership patterns of the Chickasaw Nation during the early nineteenth century, and combines the internal function of Chickasaw government with the leaders’ responses to overwhelming external factors. This thesis begins in 1800, a time that hinges on the remnant Chickasaw political leadership offices of previous centuries, such as the Minko and Tisho Minko, combined with the formation of newer offices such as district chiefs. It ends in 1845 after the Chickasaws were forced to remove from their Mississippi homelands into the Indian Territory. After removal, the Chickasaws began a more centralized form of government by holding elections to determine their leaders, and leadership power increased.
    [Show full text]
  • We Are Still Here: Indigenous Perspectives of Resistance
    WE ARE STILL HERE: INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES OF RESISTANCE A Dissertation by SHARI LYDEANA VALENTINE Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Joe Feagin Committee Members, Stjepan Mestrovic Robert Mackin William McIntosh Head of Department, Jane Sell August 2019 Major Subject: Sociology Copyright 2019 ABSTRACT In this qualitative study, I endeavor to tell the story of Indigenous resistance, particularly in North America. This story is told through interviews with more than 130 Indigenous activists from 29 Native nations who demonstrate the enduring and coherent nature of Indigenous resistance. I contend that the cultural matrix of Indigenous peoples serves as an abeyance organization to produce recurring activism that conforms to a coherent Indigenous worldview. This worldview produces movements which consistently prioritize protecting the land, centering spiritual principles, fostering community and featuring vital participation by women. From the Ghost Dance ceremonies of the 1800s to the Water Protectors at Standing Rock, Indigenous peoples have resisted the dominant western paradigms. They have fought for a worldview that is not compatible with the white patriarchal domination of people and nature. This research illuminates an Indigenous worldview. What appears as an Indigenous “rhetoric of survivance” is actually deeply linked to a cultural, political and social epistemology with foundational and organic concepts like time, kinship structures and reciprocity – with concomitant “sacred civics” of “blood and responsibility” and a unique cosmology held in memory and trafficked orally. Through annals and volumes of academic research across disciplines and cultures not only American Indians, but Indigenous peoples in general, remain marginalized.
    [Show full text]