Indian awareness: can we see non-peoples as people?

We have not been able to see North American native peoples as human societies with culture and religion. Since Columbus\u27 suggestion that he had reached Eden or its outer proximity, native peoples have been looked upon as either more or less than human. As such they were either to be destroyed or assimilated (i.e, made human). Once placed on reserves, government and church cooperated to educate, civilize, and Christianize them. This inability to appreciate fully human societies with culture and religion raises at least three theological issues for the church: 1) the church\u27s relationship to the dominant culture; 2) the effect of the traditional method of doing theology upon the image of native peoples; and 3) the violation of \u27justification by grace through faith\u27 by the \u27educate, civilize, and Christianize\u27 approach

The Caddo Archaeological Record in the Saline Creek and County Line Creek Valleys in Cherokee and Smith Counties, Texas

Both the Saline and County Line creeks in the upper Neches River basin were habitats where significant numbers of Caddo peoples lived in ancestral times. As with recent studies of the ancestral Caddo archaeology of the nearby Caddo Creek valley and the San Pedro Creek valley, the purpose of this consideration of the known archaeological record of Caddo settlement in the Saline and County Line creek valleys is to explore the nature of their permanent use during the lengthy native history of Caddo peoples in East Texas between ca. A.D. 900-1838

Using Dual-Language Books to Preserve Language & Culture in Alaska Native Communities

“Children learn their language on their mother’s lap.” This conventional wisdom from a Cup’ik Elder describes the approach used by many Alaska Native peoples to promote native language acquisition. Presumably, the children learn by listening to stories and tales from a trusted parent or caregiver. However, what happens when the caregiver does not speak the native language? This chapter describes an effort to address this issue while also promoting better educational outcomes by providing access to diverse dual-language books in Alaska Native languages through the use of a digital children’s library. Potential benefits from these efforts include an increase in resources for schools, a revitalization of Indigenous languages, and an increase in access, with hopes that future work will show evidence that using these dual-language books encourage greater parent support and involvement in education, support second language acquisition, and promote a strong sense of identity. Implications and future efforts follow.Ye

[Review of] Susan Lobo and Steve Talbot, eds. Native American Voices: A Reader

This valuable collection of readings edited by leading scholars in the field enriches the social science and educational literature for several reasons. First, the book provides a wealth of information for both undergraduate and graduate students. The readings are multidisciplinary, and contain scholarly articles, journalistic selections, documents, oral history and testimony, songs and poetry, maps and charts. The readings encompass a global approach with their foci on Indian peoples of the United States, as well as a few selections of indigenous groups in Canada and Latin America. The book is arranged into nine interrelated parts with discussion questions, key terms, and suggested readings at the end of each part. In short, the articles succeed in bringing to students important materials representing the rich diversity of Native Peoples

Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support benefiting Native Americans declined from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of total foundation giving. According to Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples, total grant dollars targeting Native Americans dropped 30.8 percent in the latest year, compared to a 14.1 percent overall downturn in foundation giving. This report was prepared by the Foundation Center with Native Americans in Philanthropy

Waterfowl Harvest Benefits in Northern Aboriginal Communities and Potential Climate Change Impacts

Migratory waterfowl are important to the diets of residents in Canada’s northern communities. Contrary to recreational hunters, indigenous peoples have rights to harvest wildlife for subsistence needs without permits. As a result, migratory waterfowl are an important component of diets of Aboriginal peoples in northern Canada, substituting for expensive beef transported from the south. Wild geese and duck provide many benefits to native people, including improved nutrition and health. In this paper, scaled-down data from global climate models are used in a wildlife model to project potential migratory waterfowl abundance in the Northwest Territories for three future periods up to 2080. The models project potential future harvests of geese and ducks by Aboriginal hunters and the financial and nutritional benefits. It turns out that northern Aboriginal peoples can benefit significantly as a result of climate change that affects migratory waterfowl, but likely at the expense of hunters and recreationists in other regions of North America.subsistence harvests by indigenous peoples; diet and nutrition; climate change

A Kantian Argument for Sovereignty Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Kant’s non-voluntarist conception of political obligation has led some philosophers to argue that he would reject self-government rights for indigenous peoples. Some recent scholarship suggests, however, that Kant’s critique of colonialism provides an argument in favor of granting self-government rights. Here I argue for a stronger conclusion: Kantian political theory not only can but must include sovereignty for indigenous peoples. Normally these rights are considered redress for historic injustice. On a Kantian view, however, I argue that they are not remedial. Sovereignty rights are a necessary part of establishing perpetual peace. By failing to acknowledge the sovereignty of native groups, states once guilty of imperialism leave open the in principle possibility for future violence, even though no current conflict exists. Only in recognizing self-government rights can states truly commit to the cosmopolitan ideal

[Review of] Herman J. Viola. After Columbus: The Smithsonian Chronicle of the North American Indians

In a factual but impassioned introduction, George P. Horse Capture writes a fitting foreword to this work on the history of Native Americans through the last five hundred years. Through the growing number of non-Indians honestly writing about the indigenous peoples, a mass audience is finally learning about the tragic history and the depressed conditions of the tribes. He praises the work of Dee Brown and of Alvin Josephy, Jr., as well as the author of the present work, Herman Viola

What Should Christians Take from the Native American Church Peyote Ceremony?

Native American religious tradition is a fascinating subject. Yet most Americans know very little about the spiritual practices of indigenous peoples. As a curious student of theology, I explored the modern Native American Church in my senior seminar research paper. I attended a peyote ceremony – a healing ritual using the hallucinogenic cactus peyote – and studied the history, theology, and practice of the Native American Church. Through my research and experience, I have seen similarities between my own Christian tradition and the Native American Church and contend that the sacramental use of peyote can be a powerful spiritual tool in strengthening anyone\u27s relationship with God