pg 52 questions

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Kendal Santos US HIST: American Indians Questions P. 52 1. What do these stories convey about the Navajos’ and Iroquois’ view of their place in the world and their relations with animals? These stories convey the Navajos’ and Iroquois’ view of their place in the world as it is their privilege, as something they must work to deserve. These origin stories are also “guides for proper conduct” 1 meaning, the stories are almost an outline for the way it is believed they should treat nature and the environment around them. Instead of the Navajos’ and Iroquois’ looking at the earth and all animals as their inferiors, they see them and treat them as their equals. Throughout the many stories, it is always said they exist with and talk with the animals; placing them alongside one another rather than levels of anarchy. 2 2. In what ways do the stories define identity? What do they say about what it means to be Navajo and Iroquois? What do they suggest about gender roles in Navajo and Iroquois society? These stories “define people’s place in the world and tie them to the landscape and history of their homeland”. 3 The stories told from generation to generation are not only teaching young Indian men and women about the world and the places they live, but about themselves. The history of their land and their ancestors’ interactions with it allows them to reach a level of understanding of who they are as an individual. Within the Navajos’ stories, they heavily express the importance of balance and harmony. By this, it is said the Navajos’ responsibility is to uphold harmony by practicing rituals and good living. 4 In the origin story of the Navajo, there was a balance between male and female powerful beings. And at one point in the origin story, there was a riff between the men and women. Apart from one another, these groups struggled to live a satisfying life, so a chief had to question their separation. The second chief “asked why they should not bring the women across the river and all live together again” 5 , and in doing so, the men and women were reunited. After this, it was seen that men and women prosper best when they are unified, not separate, and unequal. 1 Collin G. Calloway, First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History , 5 th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins), 2016, 40. 2 Calloway, “First Peoples,” 40 3 Calloway, 41 4 Calloway, 42 5 Aileen O’Bryan, The Dine: Origin Myths of the Navaho Indians (Washington D.C./Smithsonian Institution), 1956, 8.
3. What do the stories convey about Navajo and Iroquois ideals and morality; of their beliefs about the consequences of wrongdoing; of their responsibilities? The stories show their beliefs that the consequence of wrongdoing is the destruction of their home. For example, in the origin story of the Navajo people, when “the Cayote had stolen the two children of the Water Buffalo, and only the first woman and the Cayote knew the truth”, hurricane-like floods came across the third world. 6 This causes everyone in the third world to need to evacuate to the fourth world, only being able to bring a few necessities along with them. Thus, the stories convey their responsibilities as living in harmony with one another and living a life of little to no wrongdoings; otherwise, the privilege of living in this world could be taken away through destruction. 4. In what ways are the stories in conflict or consonance with historical explanations of tribal migrations from other places to their homelands? Scholars use their “increasing sightings of the Navajos as they emerge from the distant past into recorded history,” 7 as proof of tribal migrations. They say that the Navajo tribe traveled from northern Canada and the Iroquois were said to occupy regions from the Hudson Valley to Lake Erie. However, the Navajo and Iroquois tribes tell their creation and journey to be different. The Navajo people tell the story of their ancestors coming from lower worlds, and the Iroquois say, “the world was created on the back of a giant sea turtle and that their ancestors fell from the sky”. 8 6 Aileen O’Bryan, The Dine, 9. 7 Calloway, 41 8 Calloway, 43
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