UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE SOUTHERN CHEYENNE ORTHODOXY: A STUDY IN MATERIALITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By JOHN PAUL LUKAVIC Norman, Oklahoma 2012 SOUTHERN CHEYENNE ORTHODOXY: A STUDY IN MATERIALITY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY BY ____________________________________ Dr. Daniel C. Swan, Chair ____________________________________ Dr. Sean O‘Neill ____________________________________ Dr. Kristin Dowell ____________________________________ Dr. Gus Palmer, Jr. ____________________________________ Dr. Warren Metcalf © Copyright by JOHN PAUL LUKAVIC 2012 All Rights Reserved. I dedicate this dissertation to those Cheyenne people who sacrifice their time and effort to fulfill their obligations, and to those who gave me an opportunity to understand. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank the orthodox Cheyennes with whom I worked for trusting me with their knowledge and charging me to produce something useful for their community. From the earliest phases of my research, members of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma accepted me into their homes and treated me well. The members of the Littlehawk family, especially David and Leb Ramos, Charlotte McLaughlin-Rooks, and Sherri McLaughlin Mackay, accepted me warmly into their family. David became both my brother and close friend, and the guidance he provided to this study was invaluable. I am also grateful to members of the Whiteshield family, particularly the late Elizabeth Pendleton Whiteshield, Kerwin Whitesheild, Roberta Whiteshield, and Michelin Butler and her two daughters. The contributions of members of the Blackbear, Black, Miles, Hart, and Yellowman families helped to guide this study and to them I am thankful. The encouragement I received from Bill Red Hat, the Keeper of the Sacred Arrows, as well as other orthodox religious leaders, helped me persevere when I felt the weight of responsibility. iv Never have I met a storyteller as captivating as Dr. Henrietta Mann. Her words inspired me, and ultimately helped me to understand how moccasins relate to an orthodox Cheyenne system of values. To her, I am eternally grateful. My experience in graduate school was guided by Dr. Daniel C. Swan, who provided tremendous guidance to my scholarly development as both an anthropologist and a museum curator. He challenged me in ways that led to the development of new ideas and, ultimately, a better dissertation. Dr. Swan also provided me with curatorial opportunities that proved crucial to my career. I would also like to thank the members of my graduate committee for their guidance and patience as my research developed. Drs. Sean O‘Neill and Gus Palmer, Jr. introduced me to linguistic anthropology and taught me how cultures and languages intersect. Dr. Kristin Dowell was gracious enough to join my committee late in process, but provided valuable guidance and support during my research. I would also like to thank Dr. Warren Metcalf from the Department of History, who served as my outside committee throughout my entire graduate career. While studying in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, I was fortunate to have a group of supportive colleagues who shared many of my interests. Under the guidance of Dr. Swan, Dr. Dowell, and Dr. Jason Baird Jackson (Indiana University), a small workgroup was formed to v discuss current research in Native North America. I am grateful for the efforts of these professors and the other current and former students in the group, especially Dr. Michael P. Jordan, Amber Neely, Candessa Tehee, Dr. Jessica Walker- Blanchard, and Dr. Abby Wightman. These individuals served as both colleagues and friends throughout my doctoral studies, and their support made the hard times seem easy. Of this group, I would like to single out Dr. Michael P. Jordan. Mike and I met many years before coming together to study at the University of Oklahoma. During our time together we developed a strong friendship that will last the duration of our lives. Mike was instrumental in helping me make inroads in the Southern Cheyenne community by introducing me to David Ramos and the Whiteshield family. He and I have been through a lot together and I cherish every minute of it. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Evan Chambers at the University of Oklahoma Writing Center. Evan read aloud every word of my dissertation and helped me shape it and mould it into its final form. His advice made me a better writer. During the early phase of my research I worked with a number of traders who sell Cheyenne moccasins, including Chick Davis (Chick‘s Cowboy and Indian Store), Patricia and Charles Henry (Mohawk Lodge Indian Store), Wanda vi Queenan (Queenan Indian Trading Post), Linda Wheeler (The Indian Trading Post), Oscar Humphries (Indian Records), and Dale Schomp (Doc‘s Longhorn Trading Post). These individuals shared with me their years of experience and helped provide a understanding of the economics of moccasin sales and the tourist market. In the course of my research, I was fortunate to borrow 31 pairs of moccasins from friends and family for use in a structured survey method. I am grateful to Larry Thetford, the late Thomas Leonard, Dr. Daniel C. Swan, and Dr. Michael P. Jordan for trusting me with their possessions. My family has been supportive of me throughout my life and have encouraged me to pursue my goals. I thank my parents, John and Lynn Lukavic for providing me with opportunities that served as a foundation for all I have achieved. Finally, and most importantly, I could not have achieved anything without the loving support of my wife, Jennifer, and my two daughters, Nora and Mary Grace. My wife supported me in every way possible throughout this whole process, and I cannot imagine life without her. She and I both sacrificed a lot for me to reach this goal, and she provided me with unconditional love when I needed it most. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures..………………………………………………………………….xiii Abstract………………………………………………………………………….xvi Prologue……………………………………………………………………...…xvii Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 Delimitations and Limitations……………………………………………..8 A Southern Cheyenne Snapshot………………………………………….10 Cheyenne Ceremonial People: An Orthodox Perspective……………….14 Field Site, Recruitment, Confidentiality, and Methods………………….19 Chapter Overview………………………………………………………..22 Chapter One: Religion and Values of the Southern Cheyenne…………………..25 Cheyenne Religion, Value System, and Image…………………………..25 Judgment and Expression of Values……………………………………..30 Walking an Orthodox Road……………………………………………...38 Developing Habitus and Transmitting Cultural Capital………………....41 viii Societies and Families…………………………………………………....53 Shift From Societies To Extended Family Units To Nuclear Family Units To Individuals…………………………………………………….….65 Moccasin Making Families…………………………………………...….69 The Impact of Religious Orthodoxy on Material Culture………………..76 The Agency of Moccasins……………………………………………….78 ―Let me talk about the past…‖ – Dr. Henrietta Mann, 2 December 2009…………………………………………………….85 Facing Challenges in the Transmission of Knowledge…………………..88 Chapter Two: The Value(s) of Moccasins…………………………………...…100 Economic Value………………………………………………………...110 Production Value……………………………………………………….120 Use Value……………………………………………………………….122 Exchange Value………………………………………………………...126 Symbolic Value………………………………………………………....135 ix Prestige Value…………………………………………………………..136 Aesthetic Value………………………………………………………....140 Heritage Value………………………………………………………….146 Cultural Value…………………………………………………………..149 Traditional Value……………………………………………………….152 The Value of Knowledge……………………………………………….156 Chapter Three: Telling a Story…………………………………………………160 Stories: Past, Present, and Future…………………………………….....163 The Value of Storytelling……………………………………………….164 Rules of Storytelling…………………………………………………....165 Discourse in Designs: Past, Present and Future………………………...168 Cheyenne Stories……………………………………………………….170 Moccasin Designs: Teaching Orthodoxy……………………………….177 Behavior Traits………………………………………………….192 Valued Personal Traits………………………………………….194 x Cultural Lessons………………………………………………...196 Origin Stories…………………………………………………...202 Religious Reminders……………………………………………204 Embodying the Story…………………………………………………...214 Chapter Four: Cheyenne by Design…………………………………………….221 Non-Cheyenne Use of Cheyenne Designs…………………...…………236 Moccasin ‗Rules‘ and Orthodox Cheyenne Ideology…………………..245 Individual Versus Collective Ownership……………………………….252 Challenges to An Orthodox Indigenous Knowledge System…………..262 Reese Kincaide and the Mohonk Lodge………………………..263 Hobbyist Publications…………………………………………..268 Museum Collections…………………………………………....271 Cheyenne By Design?..............................................................................276 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...277 Future Research………………………………………………………...287 xi Final Thoughts………………………………………………………….289 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………291 Appendix A: Southern Cheyenne Orthography………………………………..324 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 01: Photo of Bear Butte by John P. Lukavic 4 July 2010…………...……26 Figure 02: Model of Angentive/Non-Agentive Beliefs and Actions (modified from Bourdieu (1977) and Comaroff and Comaroff (1991)………..……51 Figure 03: Cheyenne Women - Photo courtesy of Wanda Queenan, Elk City, OK…………………………………………………..…………55 Figure 04: Lineal ancestors of Minoma Littlehawk……………………………...63 Figure 05: Lineal ancestors of David Ramos,