11 research outputs found

    Native knowledge of great lakes ecology: Climate changes to Odawa lands

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    Climate change has been observed for hundreds of years by the plant specialists of three Odawa Tribes in the Upper Great Lakes along Lake Michigan. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SLBE) is the focus of two National Park Service (NPS) studies of Odawa Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of plants, ecosystems, and climate change. Data collected during these studies contributed to developing Plant Gathering Agreements between tribes and parks. This analysis derived from 95 ethnographic interviews conducted by University of Arizona (UofA) anthropologists in partnership with expert elders appointed by tribes. Odawa elders recognized in the park 288 plants and five habitats of traditional and contemporary concern. Tribal elders explained that 115 of these traditional plants and all five habitats are known from multigenerational eyewitness accounts to have been impacted by climate change. The TEK study thus represents what Odawa people know about the traditional environment and thus provides a foundation for more complex government-to government relationships between Odawa tribes and the NPS. These research findings are neither intended to test Native TEK nor the climate findings of Western science. It should however be pointed out that both are in general agreement about what has happened due to climate change and thus there is now a TEK data base for co-stewardship

    Puaxant tuvip: Powerlands Southern Paiute cultural landscapes and pilgrimage trails

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    Southern Paiute people stipulate that when the world was formed, the Creator gave them sole possession of the lands that constitute the traditional Southern Paiute nation and the Creator gave them the responsibilities to tend to the land, resources, and each other. As a result, from these stewardship duties, Southern Paiute people developed complex socio-ecological methods for promoting and maintaining both ecological and spiritual balance. One method was used by medicine people or Puha'gants and it involved them traveling to special ceremonial areas to acquire knowledge and power. These journeys required Puha'gants to undergo intense purification and preparation and they traveled along designated trails to places far away from their home communities. The pilgrimage process allowed the pilgrims to gain knowledge and power at their destination places to use in ceremonies to restore balance and promote sustainability in their home communities. My dissertation study examines six pilgrimage trails across Southern Paiute territory in an effort to understand this process. As a way to frame my discussion, this analysis draws upon four concepts—(1) Southern Paiute place logic, (2) cultural landscapes, (3) pilgrimage, and (4) communitas. For trail systems under study, I examine the types of places visited and their associated performance characteristics, and specifically the types of relationships pilgrims, or Puhahivats with each other, the places visited, and objects used
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