Native Americans in Harmony with Nature


Book Description

There is a lot that we are able to focus on when it comes to working with and understanding the Native American people. This is a group that was once in harmony with nature, who had an order that is different than what we see with many of our modern times, and who would be able to live peacefully with the world for many years. When the white settlers came from Europe and started to take over, this spelled trouble for the native tribes, as we will explore in more detail as we go through this guidebook and learn about these fascinating groups that are known as the Native Americans. Even though the U.S. government was able to take over these people fairly effectively, this group of people was able to share a lot of values and believes with us that we can benefit from today. This guidebook is going to spend some time talking about the Native people, from all of the different tribes that are out there, and so much more. We will walk right from the beginning of these people, with a look at where they originally came from and how they got to America, all the way through some of their legends, their music, their artwork, their main leaders, and more. While we are on this, we can even take a look at some of the ways that the white settlers took over, how they were able to gain the trust or the power to do all of this, and some of the many wars that resulted in the process. And we will follow the process through until our modern times with a look at how many of the Native tribes that survived are doing today. There are so many topics that we are able to explore when it comes to these varied and diverse tribes, and so much that we can learn as well. some of the topics that we need to look through here include: -Origin and some of the theories about how the native people made it through North and South America. -Some of the different tribes that populated the continent, including how they lived and some of the things that made them unique. -What happened as settlers started to expand out and take over the Americas. -After settling in the area, we take a look at how the settlers began their own country against England and then turned their sights towards conquering the West. -Some of the popular Indian chiefs and celebrities who fought on their side. -Some of the cultural aspects that we need to know about these people, including some of the art, myths, and more. -A look at some of the social characteristics that we can learn from the native tribes, including their organization, music, medicine, and more. -How the native people handled the environment around them, including the current teachings and myths about how to go with nature. -How the native tribes are fairing in our modern world today. There is so much that we can glean and learn from people who have not stood a fighting chance in many years. And this guidebook is going to walk us through all of that and how we can benefit from using some of their beliefs and more. When you are ready to learn more about respecting and loving the earth in a manner that is as reverent as the Native Americans, make sure to check out this guidebook to get started.




Ecological Indian


Book Description

Krech (anthropology, Brown U.) treats such provocative issues as whether the Eden in which Native Americans are viewed as living prior to European contact was a feature of native environmentalism or simply low population density; indigenous use of fire; and the Indian role in near-extinctions of buffalo, deer, and beaver. He concludes that early Indians' culturally-mediated closeness with nature was not always congruent with modern conservation ideas, with implications for views of, and by, contemporary Indians. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




The Day Before America


Book Description

History and prehistory come alive in this extraordinary account of America as it was before it got its name. William H. MacLeish paints a heart-rending portrait of the lush, miraculous New World on the eve of the Encounter - the arrival of the first Europeans, after which nothing would be the same. Drawing on the work of anthropologists, geologists, and other academic experts, MacLeish roams over 18,000 years of the continent's history, exploring the role of climate and human activity in preparing the world that we have inherited. The Day Before America is studded with fascinating information on the awesome changes wrought by the ice age (and the inevitability of its return), the ecological effects of hunting and early agriculture, the astonishing variety of Indian civilizations, and the transformations in the continent's nature over the past five hundred years. It is a book informed by a deep commitment to the wonder and sacredness of the natural world. At bottom, it is a statement of belief in an unsentimental environmentalism - an effort to see our world in the longest view, and to value it all the more for that.




Forgotten Fires


Book Description

A common stereotype about American Indians is that for centuries they lived in static harmony with nature, in a pristine wilderness that remained unchanged until European colonization. Omer C. Stewart was one of the first anthropologists to recognize that Native Americans made significant impact across a wide range of environments. Most important, they regularly used fire to manage plant communities and associated animal species through varied and localized habitat burning. In Forgotten Fires, editors Henry T. Lewis and M. Kat Anderson present Stewart's original research and insights, written in the 1950s yet still provocative today. Significant portions of Stewart's text have not been available until now, and Lewis and Anderson set Stewart's findings in the context of current knowledge about Native hunter-gatherers and their uses of fire.




The Wisdom of the Native Americans


Book Description

The teachings of the Native Americans provide a connection with the land, the environment, and the simple beauties of life. This collection of writings from revered Native Americans offers timeless, meaningful lessons on living and learning. Taken from writings, orations, and recorded observations of life, this book selects the best of Native American wisdom and distills it to its essence in short, digestible quotes — perhaps even more timely now than when they were first written. In addition to the short passages, this edition includes the complete Soul of an Indian, as well as other writings by Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman), one of the great interpreters of American Indian thought, and three great speeches by Chiefs Joseph, Seattle, and Red Jacket.




Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence


Book Description

This groundbreaking multidisciplinary book presents significant essays on historical indigenous violence in Latin America from Tierra del Fuego to central Mexico. The collection explores those uniquely human motivations and environmental variables that have led to the native peoples of Latin America engaging in warfare and ritual violence since antiquity. Based on an American Anthropological Association symposium, this book collects twelve contributions from sixteen authors, all of whom are scholars at the forefront of their fields of study. All of the chapters advance our knowledge of the causes, extent, and consequences of indigenous violenceÑincluding ritualized violenceÑin Latin America. Each major historical/cultural group in Latin America is addressed by at least one contributor. Incorporating the results of dozens of years of research, this volume documents evidence of warfare, violent conflict, and human sacrifice from the fifteenth century to the twentieth, including incidents that occurred before European contact. Together the chapters present a convincing argument that warfare and ritual violence have been woven into the fabric of life in Latin America since remote antiquity. For the first time, expert subject-area work on indigenous violenceÑarchaeological, osteological, ethnographic, historical, and forensicÑhas been assembled in one volume. Much of this work has heretofore been dispersed across various countries and languages. With its collection into one English-language volume, all future writersÑregardless of their discipline or point of viewÑwill have a source to consult for further research. CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Richard J. Chacon and RubŽn G. Mendoza 1.ÊÊStatus Rivalry and Warfare in the Development and Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization Matt OÕMansky and Arthur A. Demarest 2.ÊÊAztec Militarism and Blood Sacrifice: The Archaeology and Ideology of Ritual Violence RubŽn G. Mendoza 3.ÊÊTerritorial Expansion and Primary State Formation in Oaxaca, Mexico Charles S. Spencer 4.ÊÊImages of Violence in Mesoamerican Mural Art Donald McVicker 5.ÊÊCircum-Caribbean Chiefly Warfare Elsa M. Redmond 6.ÊÊConflict and Conquest in Pre-Hispanic Andean South America: Archaeological Evidence from Northern Coastal Peru John W. Verano 7.ÊÊThe Inti Raymi Festival among the Cotacachi and Otavalo of Highland Ecuador: Blood for the Earth Richard J. Chacon, Yamilette Chacon, and Angel Guandinango 8.ÊÊUpper Amazonian Warfare Stephen Beckerman and James Yost 9.ÊÊComplexity and Causality in Tupinamb‡ Warfare William BalŽe 10.ÊÊHunter-GatherersÕ Aboriginal Warfare in Western Chaco Marcela Mendoza 11.ÊÊThe Struggle for Social Life in Fuego-Patagonia Alfredo Prieto and Rodrigo C‡rdenas 12.ÊÊEthical Considerations and Conclusions Regarding Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence in Latin America Richard J. Chacon and RubŽn G. Mendoza References About the Contributors Index




Grandfather


Book Description

"Grandfather was an anachronism. Modern time and place had no value in his world, for his world was without limits or time. His world was that of nature and eternity. He was truly one of the ancients, part man, part animal, and almost entirely spirit. His home was the wilderness, and in the wilderness, he tested all things. Most of all, he was a searcher for truth. His was a life of grand simplicity that few would ever know, where true riches were defined in beauty..." Tom Brown, Jr. Here is the incredible true story of a Native American whose tribe roamed free, far from the chaos we call "civilization." His wisdom is a remarkable integration of different philosophies, of different peoples, tribes, and religions. Now Tom Brown, Jr. shares the insights of his beloved teacher--insights that speak to the eternal spirit within us all.




The Animals Came Dancing


Book Description

In this major overview of the relationship between Indians and animals on the northern Great Plains, the author recovers a sense of the knowledge that hunting peoples had of the animals upon which they depended and raises important questions about Euroamerican relationships with the natural world.




Walking on the Wind


Book Description

In the spirit of the highly acclaimed Medicine of the Cherokee, coauthored with his father J. T. Garrett, Michael Garrett shares with us the delightful, all-ages stories passed down from his great-grandfather and other medicine teachers. Blending his background as an Eastern Cherokee with his skills as a counselor, Michael reveals through these tales how to make sense of our experiences in life, see beauty in them, and be at peace with our choices. "Michael's blend of traditional Cherokee ways with that of science and psychology illustrates that both Native and non-Native peoples can learn to thrive together...for the betterment of all" --Native Peoples magazine




Nature Across Cultures


Book Description

Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures consists of about 25 essays dealing with the environmental knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Indian, Thai, and Andean views of nature and the environment, among others, the book includes essays on Environmentalism and Images of the Other, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Worldviews and Ecology, Rethinking the Western/non-Western Divide, and Landscape, Nature, and Culture. The essays address the connections between nature and culture and relate the environmental practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both environmental history and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.