UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE SALT PORK AND ROASTIN’ EARS: FOOD AND COOKING IN A YUCHI COMMUNITY A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By DONNA J. MYERS Norman, Oklahoma 2004 UMI Number: 3148879 UMI Microform 3148879 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 SALT PORK AND ROASTIN’ EARS: FOOD AND COOKING IN A YUCHI COMMUNITY A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY BY _________________________ Morris W. Foster _________________________ Patricia A. Gilman _________________________ Lesley Rankin-Hill _________________________ Gus Palmer, Jr. _________________________ Gary Anderson © Copyright by Donna J. Myers 2004 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has been one of the biggest challenges I have ever undertaken. The field work was a joy, thanks to the Yuchi people, who let me come around and watch their activities and pitch in where I could. You all are so giving and open to me and other scholars who want to learn about your community. I have talked with many of you over the past seven years, and I appreciate all the time you have spent teaching me about your truly remarkable community. I am honored to know you, and I sincerely hope that our association will continue far into the future. Despite the joys of doing fieldwork, there were times when I never thought I would finish writing up my findings. It was my desire to create a tribute to my wonderful friends – Ella, Josephine, Maggie, Mary, Maxine, and Viola – that kept me going. I could not bear the thought of leaving this project undone after all the effort this group of exceptional women put into it. Not only did they spend hours talking with me about their relationship with food and cooking, they patiently showed me how they engage with the practice of cooking. This is their project as much as it is mine. Thank you, ladies, for your hospitality, your generosity, and your encouragement over the past several years. I will always cherish our friendship and my memories of the many fun and interesting times we have shared. You all are a big part of my life now, and I will never forget you. I would also like to express appreciation to the members of my dissertation committee for their support and direction throughout the course of this project. A special thank you goes to my committee chair, Morris Foster, for continually urging me to think and to grow as an anthropologist. Throughout my career as a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma you have challenged me to exceed my expectations for iv myself, and I sincerely value your leadership and encouragement both in the classroom and on this project. I consider myself fortunate to have been your student, and I thank you for asking me to be your research assistant and giving me the chance to work in the Yuchi community. I also want to acknowledge Jason Jackson, who served on my committee until leaving Oklahoma for new challenges and adventures at Indiana University. Jason, thanks for reading my drafts and offering valuable insight to the Yuchi community. Your depth as a scholar combined with your acceptance by the Yuchi people as one of them makes your input especially valuable. I have enjoyed knowing you and Amy both at OU and at the ceremonial grounds and wish you all the best for the future. See you next summer at Polecat. Friends and family constitute a vital component in the structure of this project. I could not have completed this project without you. Rodney Kitson has been my friend since my first week at the University of Oklahoma back in 1994. Our bond has remained strong despite the fact that we rarely see each other these days, both having moved to new locales. Rodney, every time I talked to you on the phone, you always, without fail, asked me, “How’s the dissertation going?” Thankfully, we have finally reached the day when I can tell you it’s done. You have always believed I could do it, even when I doubted myself. Thank you for pushing me and understanding that I needed your encouragement. Rodney’s step-mother, Gloria Kitson, is also a valued friend. Gloria, I never expected you to make such an important contribution to this research project, but you just happened to live in the heart of “Yuchitown” – Kellyville, Oklahoma. Throughout the course of my fieldwork, you often opened your home to me, and I sometimes stayed there for days on end. You even allowed me to bring my dog. I appreciate that so v much. I have enjoyed our many conversations and debates and have been challenged by your quick mind. You are quite a scholar yourself. What a God-send you have been – not only for giving me a place to stay, but also for your love and friendship. Reinhild Meissler, you’ve been a friend and support for much of the dissertation process. It’s funny that we’ve known each other for ten years (hard to believe it’s been that long) and became friends only a few years ago. You and your ideas about ‘voluntary simplicity’ came to my rescue when I was drowning in a sea of consumerism. You talked to me about how I could simplify my life, and your interesting and helpful view of the world has benefited me. You have changed my view of the world, too. Thank you for that and for the many supportive ideas you have given me in the process of writing this manuscript. Donna and Mark Awakuni-Swetland, where would I be without you? We have been together throughout the doctorate process. Mark, you and I have toughed it out together with Donna encouraging us both. I have watched Micah and Keali’i grow from infancy to boyhood. What a joy they are. We have shared many meals, conversations, joys, and tears. You have been a huge part of my support network, and I could not have accomplished this without you. I love you and miss you all. Diane McClellan, what can I say? You’re the one who got me started on this path in the first place, when I told you I hated my job as an insurance agent and wanted to be an archaeologist. You looked at me and said, “Well, what’s stopping you?” With your encouragement and some pushing (thank you for that!), I set off on that path, veered off a bit into the world of socio-cultural anthropology after deciding I really like talking to living people, got a B.A. in anthropology, and the rest, as they say, is history. Thank you so much for being my friend, sharing my hopes and fears, highs and lows, and everything in between. You are such a blessing to me. vi To my family – my parents, John and Dorothy Myers, my brother, Jim, and his wife, Cheryl, and my aunt and uncle, Jim and Nancy Skokan – all I can say is thank you for all of your spiritual and emotional support. There are so many times you listened to me vent all of my frustrations and didn’t even understand what I was talking about, but you never failed to do what you could to help, even if it was just to lend me a sympathetic ear and an encouraging word (and it was often much more than that). You are the best family a person could ever hope for and I love you all very much. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. WOMEN AND EVERYDAY PRACTICE 1 Method 3 Research Problems and Questions 5 Theoretical Contexts 7 Pierre Bourdieu – Outline of a Theory of Practice 7 Michel de Certeau and Luce Giard – The Practice of Everyday Life 17 Food as Practice 22 Food and Society 22 Food and Power 26 Anthropological Significance of this Study 31 Ethnographic Significance of this Study 32 2. YUCHI HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS 34 Historical Contexts 34 Social and Cultural Contexts 41 Kinship Patterns 42 Living Space 42 Subsistence Strategies 49 3. SIX YUCHI WOMEN 63 Contextualizing the Anthropologist 63 Introductions 71 Maxine Wildcat Barnett 71 Josephine Wildcat Bigler 76 Maggie Cumsey Marsey 80 Ella Littlehead Rodriguez 82 Viola John Thomas 84 Mary Barnett Watashe 86 Writing Life Histories 88 Langness and Frank – Lives: An Anthropological Approach 90 Watson and Watson-Franke – Interpreting Life Histories 97 Cruikshank – Life Lived Like a Story: The Social Life of Stories 100 Goldman – Take My Word 101 viii Chapter Page 4. VOICES 104 Powers and Powers – Model of a Food System 104 Born on an Allotment 110 Learning to Cook 146 5. FOOD AND COOKING IN A YUCHI COMMUNITY 152 A Brief History of Yuchi Towns and Ceremonial Grounds 153 Cooking at Polecat Creek 155 Innovations in Material Culture and Cultural Practice 162 A Brief History of Missions in Indian Territory and among the Yuchis 168 Cooking at Pickett Chapel 178 Intersecting Contexts 187 Changes Over Time 189 Yuchi Women and Food Practices 195 6. OBLIGATION, METAPHOR, AND POWER 198 Obligation 199 Symbols and Metaphors 201 Symbolic Cooking Patterns 203 Object as Metaphor 205 Dimensions of Power 209 Prospects for the Future 213 Implications and Recommendations for Future Research 215 REFERENCES CITED 217 ix ABSTRACT This study provides biographical sketches of six elder Yuchi women and illuminates their relationship with food and the practice of cooking within the Yuchi food system.