Essay 4 for Native American Spirituality - Fall 2010 | ANT 272.00, Study notes of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Download Essay 4 for Native American Spirituality - Fall 2010 | ANT 272.00 and more Study notes Introduction to Cultural Anthropology in PDF only on Docsity! Mike McCall 12/10/2010 Ant 272: Essay 4 Native American Spirituality Traditional Native American culture is one of faith and closely associated with nature. As Europeans made contact with natives, they brought with a much different perspective of the world and this would eventually lead to the destruction of countless lives, homes, artifacts and even entire cultures. Today, archaeologists and anthropologists are trying to learn and protect any and all links we have to past Native American cultures. At the same time, the ancestors of these people want their culture back and respect from the scientific community regarding sacred objects tied to their culture. To understand Native American spirituality and religion, it is first necessary to get an idea of the fundamental ideals behind these concepts as they refer to Native American culture. Indian groups do not have a structured religion like that of Christianity. As such, the term spirituality is used generally. This spirituality has one all encompassing idea. Human beings are intertwined with nature in such a way that we are “intimately linked to one another and morally bound to the natural world” (LTM pg 302). Commonly, Native Americans find all things found in nature as sacred; be it rock, tree, deer, river etc. The ideal is to live in balance and harmony with nature. Besides this strong association with nature, there is also a supernatural aspect to Indian spirituality. They often have strong beliefs associated with evil spirits and deceased ancestors. For instance, in Ishi culture, the soul can not move on to the after life unless it is intact. Other cultures will not go near burial grounds for fear of spirits. Certain tribes like the Lakota go on vision quests. This is marked by a period of fasting, meditation and physical challenge. Sometimes the quest will begin with a purification ceremony involving a sweat lodge. A man then separates himself from the tribe and goes into a wilderness area. He will not return, eat or sleep until his quest is finished. The process can take days, weeks or possibly months. The goal is to receive a vision that will guide his development for the rest of his life. They also seek to acquire a guardian spirit who will be close and supportive for their lifetime. Today, we recognize Native American peoples and we have made leaps towards finding and protecting remnants of their past culture. However, it was not always this way. In times shortly after contact, European people were fascinated with Native Americans. They were seen as a primitive people. This led researchers to dig up bones and sacred items in order to study them or send them to museums. This is clearly a violation of morals. Think of a recently deceased relative. Imagine if someone came to their grave, dug up their bones and then shipped them off to some museum to be put on display. You would be outraged! Well, so were Native Americans. During the rise of Craniology, armies were ordered to collect skulls of Natives for scientific study. This led living Natives to fight back and caused the deaths of an unknown amount of soldiers and Indians. Later in American history, it was becoming increasingly profitable for private collectors to go collect artifacts and sell them. These collectors were destroying the scientific value of these sites. They would raid them, take what is profitable and ruin any potential knowledge to be gained from the site. This eventually led to the first piece