ED 750:N 477/no.125/991/spring USD - I.D. WEEKS LIBRARY Spring, 1991 INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN INC 3 1594 00668 0644 THE Bulletin PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA, 414 EAST CLARK STREET, VERMILLION, SOUTH DAKOTA 8 * •^**r *4«H * JUN 13 199/ NEWS REPORT 125 (ISSN. 0042-0069) c H B U I N From The Director FURTHER MORE AND IN CONCLUSION .... Lilacs and final examinations are on campus once again. Teaching and learning occupy much time, but interspersed among these prime activities are special events which provide breaks from the routine. We apologize for not offering full coverage of all such activities in the Bulletin. At the same time, we are extremely gratified at readership response to our request to send along material for publica­ tion; this edition could easily encompass 40 pages. Con­ sequently, there is not much space for me to ramble or pontificate, a pleasant outcome indeed. We offer congratulations to all students and their parents O 1991 Marty Grant Two Bulls who together completed a successful school year. Learning Ptebloka to read and write is only one-half of our children's educa­ GREAT MOMENTS IN tion. We must also teach them the principles of our Indian AMERICAN HISTORY heritage. In this way we will prepare them for leadership roles. The Good Red Road is a good one and we need to help them learn how to walk on it. Send your comments, essays, or other items to the Institute for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you. Mitakuye Oyasin. THE FIRST FAST FOOD g) MARPf GRA/JT Tfr* £UCCJ S%, /S9t rflT03i</// / \v**/n i^tt^ «^ vV^ &\ ^KV l^*>wf<V > /9cJu ^*kJ\s ^^d y H BULLETIN Native American Alumni NOTES ABOUT THE COVER Silas Blaine (USD v84) teaching and coaching, Crow Creek High School. Congratulations on a highly successful basketball season! Mr. Delbert No Neck (Oglala), whose drawing is featured on the Martin Brokenleg (USDv 83) sabbatical at The University of South Dakota. cover, is a self-taught artist working v Mary Cook (USD 82) Information Dissemination Specialist at United in pen and ink, oils, and water colors. Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, North Dakota. Delbert specializes in spiritual and Cheryl Crazy Bull (USD v79) Vice President, Sinte Gleska College, religious works, subjects in which he can put feeling. Two artists he espe­ Rosebud, South Dakota. cially admires are Ed Two Bulls and v Mollie Emery (USD 86) South Dakota State Department of Social Ser­ Reuben Fast Wolf. People interested vices, Eagle Butte, South Dakota. in commissioning pieces are encour­ Steven Emery (USD v86) appointed Attorney General, Cheyenne River aged to write him at: Sioux Tribe, Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Box 389 v Russell Hawkins (USD 77) reelected Tribal Chairman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Springfield, South Dakota Sioux Tribe, Sisseton, South Dakota. 57062 Dana Marshall (USD v90) teaching at Marty Indian School, Marty, South Dakota. The Bulletin Sherman Marshall (USD v84) Tribal Judge, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Rose­ bud, South Dakota. Editor: Leonard Bruguier Justin "Doug" McDonald (USDv87) teaching psychology at The Univer­ Co-editor: Peggy Fox sity of South Dakota. Graphics: Marty G. Two Bulls Seth Noisey (USD v88) alcohol and drug abuse counselor, Todd County The Bulletin welcomes submissions. High School, Mission, South Dakota. Feel free to send your thoughts, poems, v stories, or drawings to us for consider­ Robert Penn (USD 84) outstanding artist in Vermillion, South Dakota. ation. Please enclose a self addressed Lamoine Pulliam (USDv77) teaching at Sioux Falls College and Augustana, stamped envelope if you wish the material returned to you. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Letters to the editor are also encour­ v aged although they will not be consid­ Ferial Deer Skye (USD 88) working at St. Norbert College, DePere, ered without a return address. Wisconsin. Published four times a year by: Thelma Thomas (USD v86) President, Nebraska Indian Community Col­ lege, Winnebago, Nebraska. The Institute of American Indian Studies (Issn. 0042-0069) Howard Valandra (USDv 78) President, First Computer Concepts Incorpo­ University of South Dakota rated, celebrating its tenth anniversary. Rosebud Indian Reservation, South 414 E.Clark Street Vermillion, SD 57069-2390 Dakota. Fax # (605) 677 - 5073 v Everdell Wright (USD 77) Superintendent, Marty Indian School, Marty, 2,500 copies of this document were printed by University of South Dakota, South Dakota. Campus Copy at a cost of .970 per Glenn Zephier (USDv 85) Intensive Resident Guidance counselor at Marty document. Indian School, Marty, South Dakota. 3 H B U L I N Stephen Riggs WAKAN KIN ODE7 STEPHEN RETURN RIGGS & DAKOTA WORLD VIEW Reflecting upon the popular view society which has frequently been at [All] were engaged in Danc­ that traditional Native American cul­ odds with itself. In a revealing letter ing Indian Dances. Nearly all tures are about to be assimilated into written in 1863 from Davenport, Iowa, drank beer which was fur­ the superior and wider American where he was preaching to the Santee nished them by white men. culture, Joseph Eppes Brown ob­ people imprisoned at Camp McClellan Some drank stronger drink and served (in his 1971 preface to The after the Little Crow war in Minne­ were intoxicated.... [Mahpiya- Sacred Pipe): "[non-Indians] are still sota, Riggs reported an incident, Tanka and Wajunhuta-sapa] very far from being aware of the clearly illustrating the complex influ­ confessed also to Conjuring, dimensions and ramifications of our ence the missionaries had: or doctoring the sick after the ethnocentric illusions." The striking A Paper was presented which Indian manner (A.B.C.F.M. fact is that along with native lan­ contains the names of men who papers). guages and traditional rituals, the On the one hand Riggs was dis­ deep, metaphysical aspects of many - suading them from being exploited: traditional Native American cultures "a white man....gave them $2 cash have survived. Traditional and had them dance....for the amuse­ Dakota-Lakota2 culture is a signifi­ ment of white people. He furnished cant case in point, continuing today them with drink. He made a profit by among communities in parts of it." On the other hand his judgment Canada, North Dakota, South Da­ of traditional medicine points up kota, Montana, Nebraska, and in other Riggs' failure to understand the Da­ states. Joseph Eppes Brown's remark kota world view more deeply. Not is especially applicable to the nine­ only was traditional treatment of the teenth century Presbyterian mission­ sick a deeply spiritual undertaking, ary, Stephen Return Riggs, whose but altered states of consciousness, interpretation of Dakota world view such as intoxication, were regarded continues to have enormous influ­ as spiritually powerful experiences, ence, not only on the way in which not to be regarded lightly. A medi­ non-Indians view Dakota culture, but cine man would most likely have the way many contemporary Sioux Leroy N. Meyer been concerned about the use of in­ construe their own cultural heritage. Philosophy Department, toxicating beverages, not out of some The Christian missionary effort University of South Dakota sense of shame, but out of concern was one major source of syncretism, for the spiritual power it involves. a mixing together of traits from vari­ Riggs' interpretation of Dakota ous cultures. Although it was aimed have, during the summer past, world view is succinctly expressed at completely changing the religious been guilty of Dancing, Drink­ in his Dakota Grammar: life of the people, sometimes it pro­ ing and Conjuring. The existence of spirits and the vided a buffer between the Dakota This was a confession of the necessity for the superhuman people and the harsher, more chaotic crimes or deeds and a profes­ are facts fully recognized by influences of the dominant society, a sion of repentance therefore.... the Dakotas. The unknown and H B U I N Dakota World the knowable form a broad belt language in its several dialects. He tinction between faith and belief. in which humbuggery can be not only helped translate the Bible In the preface to his Tah'-koo practiced by the Dakotas as into Dakota, but he contributed Wakan : the Gospel Among the Da­ well as other nations. The pow­ greatly to the study and survival of kotas, Riggs writes that 'Tah'-koo ers are evil. The lightning Siouan languages.3 Although greater Wah-kan' is the marvelous, the mys­ strikes suddenly and kills. The research on Dakota language and terious, the incomprehensible, of the thunder God is angry and mer­ culture has been achieved since, much Dako'tas. It covers the whole of the ciless. The north god sweeps of Riggs' work remains significant spirit-world and the god- manifesta­ down upon them with terrible today. tion to men" (1869, v). Discussing snow storms....Or in the spring Why Riggs misunderstood the Dakota worship, Riggs says that "the floods, the Unktehi, or god of Dakota world view is not easy to gospel [among the Dakotas] met an waters, is malignant and kills explain; it runs deeper than the obvi­ active and powerful enemy in their now and then... .And all through ous fact that he was a devout, nine­ false religion" (56), although "when the year the demon spirits of teenth century, proselytizing Chris­ one comes to learn the characters of the wolf and the bear and the tian. The reason for Riggs' misinter- their various gods, contradictory, lynx and the owl and the snake monstrous, and absurd as they all are are doing their mischievous ....he will not see how such a religion work.... Who shall cope with can have either vitality in itself, or be these evil-minded powers? any obstacle in the way of Christian­ ..