Carolla Calf Robe: Video Analysis

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

Turner, J.T. Arnason, R.J. Hebda, T. Johns, 2012). Before the arrival of Europeans, Aboriginal peoples mastered the cultivation of food crops in a range of fertile areas. The “three sisters,” which was a phrase used to describe the three crops: corn, squash, and beans as they were planted together where each plant depended and supported the growth and nutrition of the others. The myriad of food supplies made it possible for the Iroquoian First Nations to find stable communities. As many Europeans started coming and settling into Canada, they brought many illnesses along with them from some being from the long journey and others due to lack of food. The Aboriginal people made an assortment of various ways to heal wounds, coughs, and rheumatism. Since many were nervous about taking the medicine from the Natives, they soon realized that these people had in them vast knowledge about the land and its many natural wonders they inhabited in. Barks of spruce and juniper trees were used to make tea which contained vitamin C and berries and plants were picked and used as remedies for many things. Many plants were also used for utility uses. Woods played as a prime importance for fuels and as major items for things such as buildings, totem poles, and weapons including spears, bows, and arrows. Dyes, abrasives, and recreation items were also made from plants. All these things

Many traditional Native medicines and healing practices were discouraged with the advent of Western medicine, but now there is a movement to return to traditional ways (Zubek, 1994, p. 1924). Modern Western medicine treats the symptoms to cure a diseased state when the body is out of homeostasis. Native American healing traditions do this as well with herbs and plants suited to the purpose. These Native healing traditions also include sacred rituals, chants, and purification rites to help bring the spirit and mind of the afflicted back into balance. In effect, treating the whole person, not only the disease. A blending of these two healing practices could bring about better prognoses for today's patients. The purpose of this paper is

Storytelling continues to be an integral part of Native American culture, providing us with an understanding of what was important to the Native Americans. Through their stories, Native Americans expressed an understanding of the environment, and the relationship that existed between themselves and their environment. These stories also provide us with a look at Native American legends, history, and a collection of knowledge critical to their survival. Native American stories are deeply rooted in their relationship with Mother Earth. Their many years connected with land, life, water and sky has created many stories explaining these important bonds with Mother Earth. From ancient times the Native Americans have looked to their

When examining early American history it is commonplace, besides in higher academia, to avoid the nuances of native and colonizer relations. The narrative becomes one of defeat wherein the only interaction to occur is one of native American’s constant loss to white colonizers. It is not to say that the European colonizers didn’t commit genocide, destroy the land and fabric of countless cultures, but rather when looking at history it is important to take a bottom’s up approach to storytelling. We must examine in what ways the native Americans fought English colonization, not just through war, but also through the legal system that was established after the area was colonized.

Ruth Cuthand’s Trading series is comprised of patches that have beadwork which depicts the microscopic image of various diseases that Indigenous people were exposed to. This series also contains a beaded patch depicting a disease that the Europeans were exposed to as a result of contact with Indigenous people. In this series, Ruth Cuthand addresses the devastating consequences that contact with Europeans had on the cultures and lives of Indigenous people, while also working to decolonize the knowledge that people have of the historical realities that occurred between Indigenous and non Indigenous people. Ruth Cuthand also manages to depict the survival and strength of Indigenous cultures and lives in spite of colonialism and oppression.

Appalachian folk medicine is a system of healing made up of beliefs and practices that are transferred by oral tradition through families and communities. It was developed in response to a lack of access to modern medical care and combines homemade remedies with superstition and religious beliefs. A general definition of folk medicine is a collection of cures that are handed down by oral tradition and other similar means of heritage and are considered outside of mainstream medicine. Appalachian folk medicine sprung up from the need for health care. In pre-industrial Appalachia, doctors and modern medicine were rare and inaccessible as well as expensive, so people relied on traditional home remedies and superstitious practices to alleviate pain and to cure disease. Practices such as using turpentine and brown sugar to cure worms and the use of magnetism to stimulate the body to heal itself are common for many minor illnesses. The most common aspect of Appalachian folk medicine, however, is the widespread use of herbal and homemade medicines that are believed to have healing powers. It relies on local roots, flowers, fruits, bark, leaves, and seeds that could be gathered and then combined or treated to make them suitable for healing.

Peyote is a narcotic cactus plant that has been used in both religious and healing ceremonies of Native Americans for thousands of years. Peyote is considered safe by a majority of Native Americans, but also vastly important to their religious heritage. Not only is it considered historically important but the use of peyote is central to many beliefs of modern Pan-Indianism. Interestingly, the more popular peyote became among Native American tribes, the more of a concern it became to the US Government and this strange correlation of tribe use vs. government concern forces us to ask why peyote has become such a central point of conflict. This essay will attempt to answer that question and show why the

Native American traditional medicine and spiritual healing rituals go back for thousands of years, these traditions often focus on different variations of alternative medicine. This knowledge is passed on throughout generations, many of the tribes learn that by mixing natural plants such as herbs and roots they can make remedies with healing properties. It is believed that being healthy is when people reach a state of harmony not only spiritually, mentally but physically. To be able to overcome the forces that cause illness people must “operate in the context of relationship to four constructs —namely, spirituality (Creator, Mother Earth, Great Father); community (family, clan, tribe/nation); environment (daily life, nature, balance); and self (inner passions and peace, thoughts, and values)” (Portman & Garret, 2006, p.453). In this research paper I am going to show evidence of the tremendous influence that Native American medicine and spiritual healing have over modern medicine in the course of healing

The Natives of California distinguish plants and animals into diverse locations of botany and zoology . They learn to cultivate throughout the views of animals and by creating a food chain that benefited the tribe. Many native tribes observed the environmental system that either made other species survive and extinct. The natives were considered to be curious about the environment they lived that prepared them want to learn, observe, and practice rituals. The natives were uninformed that religious ritual such as coordinating the sun and moon movement was practical rituals of much groundwork for collecting food and building supplies. Like many other American native groups they established and discover valuable properties of plants. Using kernels, plant roots, tree barks and herbal leaves as curative purposes. As the native embarked a lot of nature resources there were many that are ineffective and some are used in today’s modern medicine.

In this class, I was presented with an opportunity to reflect upon my personal knowledge of Indigenous

They played the role of curing diseases and infections among the natives. Traditional healers will often give their patients multi—medications made from plant, animal and minerals. As an example the Historical curanderos served as the primary healthcare providers in many communities. They utilized a mixture of herbal mixtures minarals and other extractions to cure the sick without leaving behind spiritual interactions during healing. The curandero is highly accessible, without the intervening variables of excessive social and spatial distance that sometimes affects the delivery of health care in the United States” (Trotter and Chavira

One of the principle strengths of this article is the way that Davis is able to contextualize the cultural significance of both his journeys as well as the struggles faced by each respective indigenous culture he chronicles. In doing so he provides rather tangible representations of culture such as that of language and other customs that are rapidly vanishing from the face of the earth due to the forced assimilation of indigenous natives who have been made to modernize. As the article goes on to demonstrate, in many times this modernization of indigenous

The purpose of this study was to collect information on how people of a particular culture and region make use of wild plants. Ethnobotany studies the interactions between people and plants in nature, with influences of botany and anthropology and can contribute to discussions that link indigenous human populations to areas of interest for biological preservation. Ethnobotany medicine, the scientific term for traditional health care, encompasses the knowledge, skills, methods, practices, and beliefs about health care found among the members of a community. These approaches take into account the interests of indigenous communities involved in such areas in order to emphasize the importance of the traditional knowledge of the

Herbal medicine is an aspect of the medical field that seems to have been overlooked in the past few decades, with the majority of focus on being western medicine. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples, and explorers alike counted on herbal remedies and medicines for treatment of wounds, personal hygiene, and curing sickness. The Aztec were a group that held a vast array of knowledge and skill in natural medicine, and even invested a great deal of energy into further researching herbal medicine. Unfortunately, Spanish friars destroyed all of the Aztec’s written records of botanical successes. After all, the priests considered the Aztecs’ as savage at the time. Even though there is much to be learned about Aztec natural medicine, there were many records kept by employees of the more enlightened members of the Spanish government. In this essay, the author will cover the few aspects known about Aztec medicine including the research they carried out in the name of Herbal medicine, a historical context behind medicinal practices among the Aztec, and also the plants and their uses.