...2013 Oppression, Sexual Violence and Their Effects on Native American Women Isabella J. Baxter '15 Gettysburg College, baxtis01@gettysburg.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the Native American Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Baxter, Isabella J. '15, "Oppression, Sexual Violence and Their Effects on Native American Women" (2013). Student Publications. Paper 87. http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/87 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/ 87 This open access student research paper is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact cupola@gettysburg.edu. Oppression, Sexual Violence and Their Effects on Native American Women Keywords Native American Women, Sexual Violence, Oppression, Colonization, White Feminism Abstract This paper is a response to the chapter “Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide” in Andrea Smith’s book Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. Smith argues that U.S. colonial culture strategically uses sexual violence against Native women as a weapon to ensure the oppression and...
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...Give The Land Back Native Americans have been subjected to some of the most inhumane atrocities. What about the land we walk upon makes it ours to occupy? Hundreds of years ago, one of the greatest forms of violence nearly wiped out America’s original owners from existence. What’s worse is that the bloodshed of the Native peoples has become almost invisible to the everyday American, while what’s left of the previouslyindigenous population feeds off of the scraps White society has left for them. With this in mind, the most ethical actions the United States can do is return its stolen land. Thus, the United States federal government should give the land back to the Native Americans. The land that we currently reside on doesn’t belong to us, we stole it from the indigenous tribes that populated it before our arrival. Americans are so unaware of their own history that they don’t even recognize the atrocities committed against the Natives. The federal governments owes the Natives their original land, the reservations they currently live in are a testament to the oppression that occurred since Columbus sailed the seas. If not for the federal government who can say what the Natives could be doing now, it was our hand that saw to their demise. To exterminate a society like theirs, we began with supplementing Abrahamic religions for Indian culture, this effectively made Indian culture disappear. Culture was not the only victim in our oppressive actions, the Trail of Tears slaughtered over 2...
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...the racial hierarchy that esteems one race over the other. However, Darwin meant for this theory to apply to animals; the predator-prey relationship, and not to human-beings. His cousin, Francis Galton was responsible for tying the theory to the social construction of humans. This helped spark the concepts of colonialism, slavery, and enlightenment in Europe and America which ultimately was the conquest of many people’s identities most especially to the colonized and oppressed who were deemed inferior to the White man. Hegel’s dialectic states that freedom was a condition achieved first by the ownership of oneself (Lowe, 200) During the age of US imperialism, African Americans were held under slavery precisely under this notion that the Whites were more “fit” than non-Whites. Because of this, African Americans were driven to lose their identity not just of being the inferior race but they were dehumanized as well. Black female slaves were not viewed as “mothers” by slave-owners but merely as “breeders” like animals. (Davis, 7) The slave system also discouraged male supremacy in Black men. Because of this, Blacks did not have a chain of command, they had no “family provider” (Davis, 8) They were denied any system of property, marriage, and family which were was what individuals needed to have true freedom of identity (Lowe, 201). The belief of the superiority of the White man led to the mentality that any other non-White was inferior and therefore a threat to the “purity” of...
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...much hostility. The British invaded their land and oppressed the Native American people for hundreds of years due to their cultural differences and lack of understanding. James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar mirrors the discovery of the new world, albeit in a very different light. The American military colonizes and destroys land on Pandora, while showing no regard for the welfare of the Na’vi. Avatar serves as an allegory for warfare and cultural hatred based on ignorance and a lack of multi-cultural acceptance and understanding. The Na’vi society of Pandora is an extremely naturalistic people. The Na’vi are the dominant species of Pandora, much like humans on Earth. They are a humanoid species that very much believes in the spirituality of nature and the world around them. In Na’vi society, there are marriage parallels, and they believe in an all-knowing God figure. This is itself, is a very strong correlation to the Native American cultures of early North America. Many of those cultures had similar beliefs. A lot of these Native American cultures believed in a strong connection between the physical world and the spiritual world, just like the Na’vi and their connection with the “Tree of Souls”. This seems to be a very obvious and intentional symbolization of the Na’vi people and a huge foreshadowing of the persecution they would endure, much like most Native American tribes. On the other hand, the American military force that forces there way upon Pandora and into Na’vi territory...
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...offense to the mascot used by both schools. In the case of Florida State University, the school has developed a mascot (Chief Osceola) that portrays the American Indian as an aggressive savage. “When Osceola leads the FSU football players onto the field, he signifies armed resistance, bravery, and savagery, and his appearance builds on the prevailing understandings of Indianness that construct Native Americans as aggressive, hostile, and even violent” (King and Springwood [2000], p. 285). This portrayal of savagery is at the heart of the arguments by native Indians to remove their names from colleges using their image as a motivational and war-like incentive. I have never viewed the mascots of colleges as being an offensive form of racial disparity, but this article made me view this issue from the other side and opened my eyes as to why groups of people may be offended by how their name is being represented to the public. For example, I grew up an avid sports fan, but history never really caught my interest. Therefore, my view of the American Indian is distorted from the reality of their true image because I have only seen their name used as rally call for battle in a football or basketball game. King and Springwood (2000) elaborated on this issue by stating, “To characterize the indigenous Seminole people or any other native nation of North America as warlike or bellicose dehumanizes them and demonizes them. More important, it disregards both their cultures and their histories”...
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...of Native Youth Education. This curriculum was developed specifically for educators in the state of Maine’s public high schools who wish to use this guide as a tool to improve Native Youth Education. NEG (Native Education Guide) provides lesson ideas and examples that support current lesson structures as well as implementing a culturally appropriate material for the Native Student. While many Native Education curriculums exist, NEG is designed to adapt to the block scheduling of the Public High School in Maine. This curriculum recognizes the appropriate education material needed for its intended audience, which focuses on the tribes of Maine whose youth attend Public High School. NEG aims to provide its learners with a set of educational experiences that encourages empowerment and positive Native identity through community education. Native Education is the study of the human, tribal, environmental, historical and social experience of the Natives of Maine. Native Education is very complex with a lot of variables such as time, space, place and the students; NEG therefore focuses on a number of messages: - Community Building - Seventh Generation Sustainability, Economics and Ecology - School Education Policies and Institutions (Boarding Schools to Current Education Models) - Colonization and the “White Expansion” - Cultural Appropriation - Native Ritual, Ceremonies, Practices, Healing Circle - Dominant Religions and their Influence on Culture - Oppression vs...
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...Native Americans (including Alaskan natives) consist of 5.2 million people making them only 1% of the whole United States population. There are over 566 recognized tribes and 324 federally-recognized Native American reservations. The largest tribes are Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. Although Native Americans live all throughout the United States, they mostly populate California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, and Michigan (US Bureau of the Census). To be considered a Native American depends on who you ask because the rules for each tribe varies. Some tribes use the method known as the blood quantum which defines membership by the degree...
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...Providing Culturally Competent Care to a Native American Patient Introduction When caring for a Native American patient, it is imperative that the nurse provide culturally competent care. In this scenario, there are two main dimensions along which cultural tensions between the patient and the nurse can arise. The first pertains to the actual practices and values of Native American culture, which may be at odds with the practices and values of dominant healthcare institutions. The second is both broader and more subtle: it pertains to the historical relationship of the Native Americans peoples vis-à-vis mainstream U.S. society. After addressing both of these dimensions, suggestions will be made with respect to how a nurse could bridge this gap and provide culturally competent care for the Native American patient. To start with, it is important for the nurse to acknowledge that the Native American perspective on health may simply diverge from the default culture's perspective in some significant ways. For example, BigFoot and Funderburk (2011) have discussed how Native American conceptions of family are different from the contemporary norm, and how this results in the need to adapt nursing interventions in this sphere to the cultural context of Native Americans. Further, these alternative conceptions are often supported by a whole alternate philosophy of life: for example, while Native American culture certainly doesn't advocate passivity "in the face of grave potential...
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...with self-reflection. Human services providers must look critically at their own belief systems, values, and worldview and the ways in which they affect practice. (p. 204) When thinking of cultural interpretations, Weaver, H. (1998) speaks to the difference in personal responsibility between the European Worldview and that of the Native People. Most Europeans tend to think of the concept of personal responsibility in a self-serving manner, when the Indigenous peoples think of it in a much broader cultural manner where what I do will affect others in a much broader world view. In recent years the Department of the Interior has supported acts that protect the native people’s children and their culture by placing at risk children within families of the same culture. Government reports finds that one of the major issues facing tribes is the shortage of qualified staff and high turnover rates within these areas specifically foster care. Martin, M. (2014) asserts that: “quality medical care is lacking on most Native American reservations and native advocates argue that reasons for this relate to racial disparity and historical mistreatment and oppression.” (p. 227) Education is one of the keys to making a much needed change in this area. Teaching the members of the Indigenous Nations to give back to their own communities and in turn teach their own members to care for one another is a step in the right direction. There are scholarships now available, but there continues to be a need...
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...author talks about the treatment of bodies, in particular Native bodies, and how colonial thought and theory regards Native people as inherently “rapable” and “violable,” a colonial conviction that stretches past the physical bodies of Natives, to Native independence and lands as well. She explains that patriarchy is the foundation by which power is established over Native women's bodies because hierarchal, patriarchal authority and control systems of society are seldom found within native societies. Europeans, on the other hand, have long depended on these methods to suppress and infuse fear into their people. Sexual violence, consequently, serves the colonizer as one way of assimilating Native women into Western society, which, therefore, increases Native vulnerability to gender violence. Sexual violence exists to such a degree, according to Smith, that the "phenomenon indicates the extent to which our communities have internalized self-hatred". Chapter 2, Boarding School Abuses and the Case for Reparations, give some examples for the above mentioned violence. Boarding school systems in the United States are described as a tool for genocide and rape/sexual dominance. This chapter focuses, as well, on the reparations for such wrongs, encompassed by her communication of "abuses from a reparations framework" that is essential for coalition-building and active sovereignty. She addresses the need for a Native American involvement in the global reparations movement, but also...
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...End of an Era for Harmful Mascots Professional athletic organizations should have to ban all Native American mascots. Native Americans have dealt with racism and oppression of their people ever since the pilgrims had landed on this continent. They pilgrims started with a slow, methodical push to the Native peoples then started to move them cross country to private ground specified for them. These Native Americans were moved out from their homes. Now, they are expected to respect the use of their own people through mascots. Native American mascots have been used for decades...
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...In chapter 4 “Toward “The Stony Mountains”” Takaki Explains how were Native American’s land was taken and how they were forced to abandon there homes. In addition, he spelled out how the federal claimed to want to help Indians to survive by accepting the reality of European taking over America, but the laws that was initiated by the government were only pushing native American further west. Takaki wrote, “He supported the efforts of Mississippi and Georgia to abolish Indian tribal units and allow white settlers to take cultivated Indian lands.”(Page 81). The writer was referring to the president Jackson who was elected in 1828. By encouraging white settlers to take over most land in America and the near extinction hunting of buffalo, had to...
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...With higher rates of chronic disease and premature death among Native Americans, there has been more research exploring the causative factors for these outcomes (Drabiak-Syed 177; Pacheco 2152). One of these studies, the Havasupai study, informed tribe members that they would be collecting blood in order to explore factors contributing to the high rates of Type II diabetes among the tribe (“Havasupai Tribe and Lawsuit Settlement”). Unknown to the tribe members, the researchers were also utilizing the tribe’s blood to explore stigmatizing subjects, such as migration and inbreeding (“Havasupai Tribe and Lawsuit Settlement”). This resulted in a long litigation process, which ended with the research institution providing the tribe with monetary...
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...The definition of an American can be interpreted in a number of ways. America has a rich, diverse, and at times, upsetting history that has accumulated over the last few centuries, shaping the way that Americans are defined by people of other nations, as well as the way that they define themselves. Years of exploration and immigration have molded America and created a unique culture, so unique at times that parts of the culture clash. This has become the basis of conflict and prejudice that still prevails in today’s society and government. Explorers like Christopher Columbus used force to gain power and money, while other groups like the Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom, proving that Americans are built on a foundation of...
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...Enhancing the Awareness of Navajo Indians Michele Amoroso, Holly Bulian, and Tara Smallidge Loyola University Enhancing the Awareness of Navajo Indians Native Americans are composed of numerous, distant tribes, bands and ethnic groups, many of which survive as intact, sovereign nations. Once a self-governing, self-sufficient people, America Indians were forced to give up their homes and their land, and to subordinate themselves to an alien culture. From the origin of their tribes in the 1500’s to the early nineteenth century, American Indians have experienced oppression. Today, American Indians are more numerous than they have been for several centuries (Andersen & Collins, 2012). Today, Native Americans have a unique relationship with the United States. Since the late 1960’s, political participation has led to an expansion of efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages for younger generations and to establish a greater cultural infrastructure. This paper will discuss the specific tribe of the Navajo Indians to create awareness of their history, oppression, and current state in today’s world. The word Navajo comes from the phrase “Tewa Navahu”, meaning highly cultivated lands. The Indians largely reside in New Mexico and Arizona. The Navajo Indians originally began their tribes in the 1500’s. They traded maize, or corn crops, and woven cotton items such as blankets for things such as bison meat, and various materials, which were made for tools and weapons. Homes...
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