Jeffrey R Gudzune's Blog

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

We have too long explored topics such as war, religion, and politics, and while these are excellent opportunities to look at the Native American experience, there are other issues that can be explored. We know what happened to the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears, to the Iroquois as a result of the American Revolution--but do we know what life was like in the villages and towns. Do we know what crops were cultivated and how agriculture spread throughout North America? What of the innovations that allowed for certain difficult crops to be grown in seemingly inhospitable environments? Starting next week we will look at these and other exciting topics.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Even though I have once again encountered computer problems, the research into the life and career of Jim Thorpe continues apace. This weekend we will wrap up our look at this sports icon with a detailed exploration of his career after he retired from professional sports. Thorpe found it difficult to find suitable employment once he left professional football and this soon had an impact on his personal life. We will see just how much his departure from sports effected his life and how he managed to overcome.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

While the Olympic games continue I thought it best to take a more detailed look at one of the most acomplished athletes in American sports history. Jim Thorpe has been described as the "geatest athlete in the world" by heads of state and the average man on the street. When I first conceived this project I was concerned that I would not be able to capture the true essence of the subject. I know little of sports, save my minimal exposure as a virtual takling dummy while an exchange student at Oxford, but I wanted to explore a topic that was approapriate for the times. This week, we will finish with our look at Jim Thorpe and return to single subject biographies and essays for the remainder of the summer. After that, I will bring your more topics that will hopefully captivate you.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

In honor of thr Olympic games I bring you this look at the career of one of the greatest athletes in American sports history. We will see that the story of Jim Thorpe is the story of the American dream, a dramatic story in which the protagonist struggles against all odds to achieve success.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Due to the fact that my computer is suffering from a slight case of the vapours, I was unable to complete the final draft of this week's artcile. I really should do copies. In any case, I will be able to upload my article tomorrow night. I apologize for the delay.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

As children we are told to obey our parents lest we fall victim to any number of horrible catastrophies. Some of these stories involve a mysterious figure who can come from the darkest regions of the mind to punish bad little boys and girls. Nerely every society has some figure of mysterious origin, invoked by parents as a means of getting thier children to listen to them. In Lakota tradition, the figure of Anukite is often invoked to serve this purpose. However, as a figure within indigenous religious beliefs, she is much more. This coming article will be a slight non sequitor in honor of the forthcoming Olympic games. We will take a look at the role Natives Americans have played in America's quest for Olympic victory.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

In order to bring you an in depth analysis of Lakota creation mythology, I have elected to postpone this week's article until next week. I have been in the midst of a move back to my old residence and have been forced to do it without the aid of professional movers. This is partially due to the fact that finding good movers has proven difficult and partially due to the fact that I am cheap. I promise to have the finished article ready for next week. As always, I will be available for comments and any suggestions.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

I recent weeks we have discussed the rise of Ite' as a cautionary tale directed towards young Lakota--primarily, as we will see in next week's article, towards young men. Ite' is the perfect mythic figure; innocent at first, a pawn later in her story, a bitter exile, the schemer, and soon a force to be reckoned with. Writing this most recent series has been quite exciting for me, as I have followed the story arch with great interest. I hope the public has also found it to be a fascinating tale.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Ite' was punished for being a part of Wakanka's deal with the trickster, Iktomi. Sky was outraged at the suplicity of the humans and how the gods had been duped, and punsihed all concerned. Marring Ite's beauty and banishing her to the empty earth, Sjy sought to make her aware of her folly. This would nto be the end of Ite', nor would this be the last time Iktomi would become involved in human affairs.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

The legend of Double-Faced Woman stands as one of the primary morality tales of the Laktoa tradition. This coming article will look at the conclusion of our story and just how far reaching the effects of Wakanka's deal with Iktomi were.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This topic has given me more to research than I had originally thought. The Lakota creation stories are full of dramatic twists and turns. What is more interesting is that there is now extant a plethora of informaion on the topic thanks to the research of tribal historians and Lakota religious scholars.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

The Laktoa tribe has a fascinating creation mythology. In the course of my research, I determined that there was too much information available to write one article on the subject. The dramatic nature of Iyan's actions has been told and retold by indigenous scholars with as much passion as any Christian myth over the centuries. This is at the heart of the Lakota religious revival that has taken place throughout the past few decades. Next week, we will look at the creation of man.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week we have begun our look at Native American creation mythology. While it would be difficult to explore in depth every understanding of the act of creation, the next several weeks will look at seveal of the more well known interpretations.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week's article was presented in a slightly different format. Though not my choice, it is a bold departure that will become a facet of the coming series of articles. Having concluded our look at Plains cultural traits, we wil not move into other social issues that have affected the coarse of indigenous hitory.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Yes readers, it has finally happened. I am taking my first vacation in a year. I have taken time off for illness and pressing concerns relative to my other employment, but never to have a little "me time". I will think of some new ideas and topics for the remainder of the year and come back ready to dive right in. Until then, please peruse any of my previous articles for your reading enjoyment. Just a reminder, we will be finsihing up our exploration of healing rituals and moving into other social and political issues of the modern world.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week I truncated my exploration of Lakota healing songs so that I would be better able to lend greater detail to the topic for next week. After that we shall end our comprehensive exploration of indigenous medicinal practices and move onto othe rimportant social issues. We will of coarse return to this subject in the future, as more research become available.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

For some time now, I have endeavored to present a detailed picture of indigenous life. I have made every effort to avoid slipping into talk of war and politics and have focused on tribal customs and attributes. The limitations of space prohibited a more detailed exploration of singing among other tribes, but next week we will look at how the Lakota Sioux and Plains employ singing for a variety of purposes.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Next week, we will continue our exploration in indigenous culture by looking at other aspcects of Indian lifeways. As I have tried to stress, there is much more to historical exploration than battles and military leaders. Looking at the specific cultural traits that constitute a society is the best and only way to fully understand a different way of life.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Philosophers and religious scholars have debated the existence of the afterlife since the advent of civilization. In this last article, I explored the concept of the afterlife as it pertains to Crow and Lakota social development. While of late I have limited my topics to only a few tribes in specific geographic areas, I have done so in order to present more detail on the topic at hand and greater explore the meat of the subject.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week I elected to review two particular myths surrounding the introduction of death into the mortal world. While it would be impossible to cover all similar stories I centered on two that seemed paticularly interesting to me. Next week, we will look at the afterlife and its effect on indigenous tribes.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week we explored dance as a form of social expression. Used to entreat the spirit world to intervene in the lives on mortals, dance is an important aspect of Indian society. While there are many more uses that what outlined in the published work, I elected to concentrait on the four most important.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

At the end of a hard day of approving loans with the hope that they will be repaid there is nothing more relaxing than lighting up a cigarette. often referr to this as a "serenity smoke." Among the tribes of the southwestern Plains, however, the ritual smoke is a conduit to the spiritual realm. It is a means of prevailing upon the creator spirit to interevene in the healing process. In religious ceremonies, smoking takes the prayers and thoughts of thge people up to the spiritual realm. Within social settings, smoking is a way for people to connect with one another and with the spiritual realm.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

I am tking the week off so that I may gather more research material and plan out the next several months worth of articles. Nex week, we will look at the cultivation of tobacco and its primary importance to indigenous culture.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Continuity and change is at the heart of historical analysis. In order for traditions to remain a part of a society they must be fliud and open to change over time. This is the case with the seven central beliefs of the Lakota Sioux. Having their origins in the central mythology of the Lakota, the seven rituals remain to this day and are widely respected within modern Lakota society. While some are not stressed as they once were, a proper knowledge of their importance is still important. This is what makes the study of native religious and cultural beliefs fascinating. Indigenous groups have managed to survive despite all efforts to undermine and in some case erradicate them. In the modern era, there has been a new birth of native study that have kept these traditions alive.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week we looked at the complicated ritual of the Sun Dance. Found throughout the northwestern plaims region, the sun dance has many meanings. In the coming weeks, we will examine more facets oh indigenous life.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week, despite slight delays due to unforeseen circumstances, we have looked at the vision quest of the Lakota. In this concept, we see another nearly universal trait. Moreover, even in the modern era the vision quest is used to assist when an individual has reached a crossroad in life. I have decided to look at the anatomy of a vision quest to show just how complicated it can be. More than just dreams, visions contain powerful images--signs and portents that can help an individual reach important conclusions.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Although the sweat lodge was not unique to the Mandan tribe, it is George Catlin's observation of their sweating ceremony that forms the basis of this week's article. I have chosen to focus on the Manadan only because of the detail with which Catlin described their ritual. However, as I have noted, the sweat lodge is found throughout the continent (with the exception of the Southwestern and Inuit tribes) and remains an important part of indigenous medicinal practices.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week, we looked at another ascpect of the complex healing rituals unique to indigenous culture. Although difficult to totally classify most aspects of native society, the parallels are interesting. Though I focused maninly in the Mandan and the Mid-western tirbal groups this week, I hope I was successful in conveying the universal nature of these complicated rituals. My study of native spiritual and medicinal practices has produced a plethora of research, the surface of which we have just barely gleaned. In the comming weeks, I would like to return to our glimpse of native lifeways with a review of how native societies view star signs, concepts like death and the afertlife, and good versus evil. Of coarse, this will all lead up to the introduction of Christianity and how indigenous cultures adapted.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Greetings to all my readers and associates at suite101. I must apologize for the lack of article this past week. I was totally devastated by a serious upper respiratory infection that has become walking pnenomia. I am on the slow road to recovery, but was unable to complete the article that I had intended to write for the week ending February 16. I am now back at my desk and once again researching. I assure you there will be a completed article for this week presented on time. I thank you all for bearing with me during my recovery from this illness.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week we took a look at medicine bundles and what impact they had on indigenous society. I chose this subject because it is important in our exploration of history to understand the importance of symbols to a society. The power of the medicine bundle lies within the faith behind it. It is not so much what is contained within the item, but the faith that the owner has in its ability to cure and protect against sickness.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, flourished in the Ojibway tribe throughout the eighteenth century. Created as a means of preserving traditional healing practices, this group soon expanded o include other Great Lakes tribes. The Grand Medicine Society is important to the study of Native American life perhaps because of the secrets that it procted and the time in which it flourished. Although known to have been in existence since the 1600s, the Midewiwin expanded at the right moment in history to provide a unifying focus for the tribes of the region. At a time when white influence posed a threat to the old ways og life. The influence of Christian missionaries, and their ignorance with regards to native culture, proved a significant threat the indigenous traditons.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This article was meant to explore the uses of peyote within the constructs of native society. Although not a universal trait, peyote did spread throughout the mid-west through the actions of the Comanche Nation. It was thier interaction the tribes along the Mexico border that first brought the mysterious plant into the continent of North America.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

Moving away from the usual review of this week's published examination, lets talk about what the study of Native American life truly teaches us. First and foremost, the study of Indian life is essential to the understanding of the history of the United States. From the onset of colonization, the indigenous tribes of North American and Canada were a factor in the growth and development of Europe's experienment in the so-called New World. A lack of undertsanding brought doom to many failed colonies while a respect for the differences in culutres allowed for some to flourish. It is with this in mind that wwe have swtiched gears from the more serious, and oft depressing, topics of wars, the rape of the land, the violation treaties, and the beastly way in which Native Americans were portrayed by whites in order to focus on a deeper understanding of just how unique native culture is.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

What we know...or at least, what we think we know, comes from years of misunderstanding and the belief that native life can easily be classified. There is no universal method for native culture. While there exist common themes, to assign common terminology to Native American is unfair to the study of history. In my most recent article, I used the terms shaman and medicine man to describe the professional healers within native society. This is what makes objective history more of an art form.

Posted by Jeffrey R Gudzune

This week we begin a look at the blending of indienous medicinal practices with spirituality as a method of healing. Native Americans used a vaiety of tools to improve the health of their communities--always with a mixture of natural science and faith.