Education of Little Tree
Age and Tradition in the Education of Little Tree

Tradition is an essential element in any coming of age story, and the 1997 film The Education of Little Tree (adapted from a novel o the same title) is certainly no exception. In this film, an eight-year-old orphaned boy of Cherokee heritage named Little Tree is sent first to live with his grandparents who instruct him in Cherokee traditional ways and the history of his people, and is then removed to a Catholic school where his name is changed and the authority figures attempt to rob him of his identity as a Native American. The conflict in the film centers around Little Tree's attempt to hold on to his newfound traditions while being indoctrinated in the ways of the people he has come to regard as his enemy. His coming of age depends on his successful navigation and understanding…...

Native Americans had no central government before the first whites arrived. Each family was bound to have several cultures over a large geographic area. The system and beliefs that each tribe had were followed with honor rather than of fear or punishment. Each tribe had their own means to survive. ome were in agriculture/hunting and gathering while others relied in aquaculture/fishing. Native Americans lived in harmony with the nature. A log fell in the creek will not be removed as it was believed as a natural course of nature. When the sun arose, that signaled a very good time to hunt and gather berries. They viewed land as is, a land wherein they can get food, a land that can give them a shelter and other needs that would enable to them to live.

Pattern of technological advancements also varied with Native Americans and Europeans. The first had refined mathematics and…...

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Sources:

Koppel, Tom. (2003). Lost World: Prehistory -- How New Science is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners. NY: Atria.

West, Rebecca. (2003). Survivors in Mexico. Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Black Elk utilizes his visions to create understanding of nearly all things he is later exposed to. The discussion in closing will further illuminate his utilization of vision, to ask for help for his people in a time of crisis.
To discuss the vertical model of artistic communication it is difficult to narrow the filed to just one example, as Native American literature, and to a lesser degree film have become somewhat prolific as genres. Two authors who build upon this tradition are Scott Momaday and Alexie Sherman as they are significant and prolific writers of Indian tradition. Each has written and published several works, including a variety of genres, that all attempt to translate the oral traditions of their nations into a written form that contains the expression of the oral tradition.

In Alexie Sherman's collection of short stories, the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven he offers a…...

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Works Cited

Allison, Sherry R., and Christine Begay Vining. "Native American Culture and Language." Bilingual Review (1999): 193.

Bluestein, Gene. Poplore: Folk and Pop in American Culture. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.

A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104248317

Churchill, Ward. Acts of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Mary Rowlandson, Hannah Dustin, and Mary Jamison coped with captivity in their own way. The stories of their captivity revealed the great variety of customs among native American through the greatly different treatment afforded to the three women. Depending on the customs of the tribe that they encountered, or the specific political situation, each of the women was treated differently as either prisoners of war, slaves, or adopted as family members. Natives took captives in order to show their resistance to the settler's occupation of their land, as a custom to increase the members of their tribe, or even for monetary gain.
Mary hite Rowlandson, wife of Puritan minister Joseph Rowlandson, was captured by native Americans in February of 1676. During this time, King Philip, the leader of the ampanoag tribe of southern Massachusetts organized a rebellion against the incursion of white settlers on native land. In total 23 settlers were…...

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Works Cited

About.com. Mary White Rowlandson, Women's History. 12 April 2004.  http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_mary_rowlandson.htm 

Cook, Tom. Mary Jemison. Glimpses of the Past, People, Places, and Things in Letchworth Park History.

12 April 2004.  http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/jem.html 

HannahDustin.com. The Story of Hanna Dustin/Duston of Haverhill, Massachusetts. 12 April 2004. http://www.hannahdustin.com/hannah_files.html

Fashion
The misappropriation of Native American imagery, iconography, cultural ideology, and fashion is nothing new. After all, a slew of professional sports teams continue to run with Indian names and logos in spite of the controversy in doing so. A few sports teams, like the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball franchise, boast insidious "tomahawk" chants during their games.

The latest trend in Native misappropriation is not much more tasteful than a Cleveland Indians jersey in the fashion world. Several manifestations of the disturbing trend have emerged in consumer culture. One is that commercial manufacturers Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters have been selling lines of clothing and jewelry that is culturally insensitive as well as illegal. A second trend, exposed by bloggers around the Internet, is the lewd use of Native-style feathered headdresses. These recent trends are highly disturbing in that consumers by now ought to know better. Especially hipsters, a subculture that…...

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Works Cited

"Chief Pendant Necklace. WTForever21. Blog. Retrieved: http://wtforever21.com/2011/08/chief-pendant-necklace/

Kane, Rachel. "Forever 21 Sells Faux Native American Items in Their Columbus Day Sale." Huffington Post. October 10, 2011. Retrieved online:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-kane/forever-21-columbus-day_b_1000788.html#undefined 

"Native American culture shouldn't be appropriated for fashion." Turn the Page. Oct 29, 2011. Retrieved online:  http://taholtorf.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/native-american-culture-shouldnt-be-appropriated-for-fashion/ 

Native Threads. Website:  http://www.nativethreads.com/

Indians'Old World: Native Americans and the Coming of Europeans, (Salisbury, 1996) details how many of the characterizations that have been presented about the Native American cultures in the United States have been incorrect. The author explains that historians have treated the coming of the Europeans to North America as the beginning of history about the people in North America, whereas, in realty, the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the onslaught of other Europeans who followed was merely a blip in the history of North America. Native Americans and their complex cultures and nations had occupied the North American continent for centuries preceding Columbus' arrival and historians have done these cultures a major disservice by minimizing their existence.
The article also suggests that the fact that historians have either minimized or ignored the contributions of the Native Americans brings into question the accuracy and validity of these historians' assessment…...

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References

Salisbury, N. (1996). The Indians' Old World: Native Americans and the Coming of Europeans. William and Mary Quarterly, 435-458.

Native Americans

For example in her essay on "Pagans, Converts, and Backsliders" Mary Young argues that a dialogue did occur between white and native culture, not simply in terms of a trade of goods and land, but also of religious worldviews.
According to Young, to view 'the native mindset' as a monolith is an error. Natives took a multifaceted view of their own religion, often creating a synchronistic faith of Christianity and traditional native movements and there is no "single metaphysical outlook" that can be characterized as Indian (Young 79). This sense of cultural dialogue stands in profound contrast to Martin, who refers to what he calls "the scythe of Christianity" cutting out Native American religion entirely from the history books as well as history itself (Martin 218). Additionally, Vine Deloria's essay, also included in the collection, on "Revision and Reversion" cautions against Martin's view of Native American thinking as impenetrable, arguing…...

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Works Cited

Fixico, Donald Lee. The American Indian Mind. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Martin, Calvin, editor. The American Indian and the Problem of History. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1986.

Decentering of Culture in Native American Groups in the Later Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
While Westernization has created tremendous problems for a wide variety of indigenous cultural traditions, there is little question that the introduction of Westerners to the Americas resulted in some of the most massive destruction of an indigenous culture ever seen in history. The vast majority of this destruction occurred prior to the 19th century. When Europeans first came to the Americas, they decimated native populations with disease and violence. Later, Native Americans were forced off of their land. The infamous Trail of Tears in which many Native American groups were forced from their traditional lands and onto reservations occurred in the early 19th century. Therefore, by the end of the 19th century, it is fair to say that Native American culture had already been indelibly impacted by the Western expansion. However, it is important to note…...

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References

Bear, C. (2008, May 12). American Indian boarding schools haunt many. Retrieved May 20,

2011 from NPR website:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865 

Grant, U. (1871, December 4). State of the Union Address. Retrieved May 20, 2011 from Infoplease website:  http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/83.html 

Johansen, B. (1998, September). Reprise / forced sterilizations: Sterilizations of Native

Substances such as sugar and honey were not used in the aboriginal diets, and the use of abusive substances such as alcohol or other min-altering psychoactive agents with the exception of tobacco and the 'black drink' were not common or problematic (French, 2000).
Prior to the introduction of alcohol the natives were seen as fit, athletic and lean people, whereas the people of today are often seen as obese and sickly (French, 2000). Today the dietary practices and substance abuse habits of natives run rampant. Among Native Americans alcohol abuse is considered the norm rather than the exception to the rule (French, 2000). Many tribes are no longer recognized, and many natives live in a state of displacement as they are forced to live on inadequate spaces that don't come close to representing the vast land they used to occupy.

ecently tribes have become less concerned with their blood degree and…...

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References

French, a. (2000). Addictions and Native Americans. Westport: Praeger

Parker, L. (1990). "The missing component in substance abuse prevention efforts: A Native American example." Contemporary Drug Problems, 17(2), 251-270

Thomason, T.C. (2000). "Issues in the treatment of Native Americans with alcohol problems." Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 28(4): 43

Native Americans

The Seinfeld “Native American” scene from Season 5, Episode 10 illustrates several sociological concepts. Like most episodes of Seinfeld, this one highlights Erving Goffman’s (1956) concept of embarrassment and social organization, as well as Goffman’s (1959) analysis of self-presentation and dramaturgy. In this scene, Jerry buys Elaine a “Cigar Store Indian,” a “kitchy” and darkly humorous relic from the past, from a time in which sensitivity to diversity, cross-cultural awareness, and political correctness were not yet normative. A “Cigar Store Indian” is a stereotypical representation of a Native American, and is understandably offensive especially to people from Native American backgrounds. It also just so happens that Elaine’s friend Winona is Native American, and Jerry also has a crush on Winona. His excited purchase of the Cigar Store Indian represents a major social faux pas, something that is not normative, and an act that causes embarrassment to Winona, Elaine, and also…...

On the other hand, their depiction as perpetual victims of racial violence tended to diminish the degree of true society and infrastructure that existed for these tribes, reducing them to lone individuals or small bands and the obvious underdog in a game of cat and mouse. Certain characters are also used to depict the stereotypical pride of the Native Americans, showing a willingness to die against all reason for a cause that was already lost. This is another romanticized vision of Native Americans that almost attempts to assuage the guilt of white oppression by making the sacrifices of the Native tribes seem almost willing and granting of a certain degree of nobility.
Northern Exposure

In the early 1990s, Northern Exposure was a very popular and rather unique show, providing comedy not in the standard sitcom-with-laugh track format, but through more dramatic and realistic explorations of an isolated town full of odd…...

Visits home were frowned upon and discouraged, and most Indian families could not afford to pay for the long journey home from the schools, so children remained there year-round until their schooling was complete in many cases.
However, many families did see the worth of a formal education for their children. Author Child notes, "Still, many Ojibwe parents, persuaded of the importance of an education or learning a trade for their child's future, would have agreed with the North Dakota father whose son and daughter attended Flandreau when he expressed his desire for their success in school and wish to keep them there, 'as much as we can stand it'" (Child 54). These parents often hoped their children would receive an education, but also learn a trade, so they could make their way in the world as adults. In theory, children attended school for half the day, and then learned…...

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References

Child, Brenda J. Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Coleman, Michael C. American Indian Children at School, 1850-1930. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1993.

Editors. "Native Languages of the Americas: Chippewa." Native Languages.org. 2008. 5 Dec. 2008.  http://www.native-languages.org/chippewa.htm .

Meyer, Melissa L. Ethnicity and Dispossession at a Minnesota Anishinaabe Reservation, 1889-1920. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

......starting around noon, I visited the art gallery at the Woolaroc property. The property itself is a sprawling celebration of the landscape and wildlife unique to this part of North America: there are herds of buffalo on the property although we did not get to see any when we arrived. I headed straight to the gallery, which is locally renowned for its collection of paintings from the Taos group. Many of the artists on display I had heard of before, and was eager to encounter first hand and was not disappointed. Although I relished the paintings themselves for their objective aesthetic beauty, I came away from the experience with profound mixed feelings about the way Native Americans have been appropriated for use as subjects by white artists.
The objectification of Indians in European-American art parallels their subjugation as a people. Caldwell (n.d.) points out the "longstanding history and tradition of America's…...

One of his major works was a long poem written in three cantos about the horrors he experienced while being held prisoner on a ritish prison. ship. There we see a much edgier, angry Freneau who is willing to write about real life in real terms:
Here, generous ritain, generous, as you say,

To my parch'd tongue one cooling drop convey;

Hell has no mischief like a thirsty throat,

Nor one tormentor like your David Sproat."

All of these influences eventually came together, resulting later in the 19th century in Transcendentalism. This time when American writers reached to the past, they combined the best higher ideals of both the Puritans and the Enlightenment, and the love of nature from neoclassicism, and produced bodies of work that transcended all its previous influences. The roots for the literary movement that would bring us "Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville,…...

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Bibliography

Boynton, Percy H., ed.:"On a Honey Bee," by Philip Freneau, in American Poetry. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1918. Accessed via the Internet 12/23/04. copyright 2002.http://www.mith2.umd.edu:8080/eada/html/display.jsp?docs=freneau_honeybee.xml&action=show.Site

Cesarini, J. Patrick. 2003. "The ambivalent uses of Roger Williams's: A Key Into the Language of America." Early American Literature, Sept. 22.

Lossing, Benson J. 1877. "Jersey, the British Prison Ship," in Our Country. A Household History for All Readers, Vol. 2. Accessed via the Internet 12/23/04.  http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_vol_2/jerseybri_jc.html 

VanSpanckeren, Karen. 1998. "Outline of American Literature." U.S. Department of State, November. Accessed via the Internet 12/23/04. http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/oaltoc.htm

Boycotting British goods meant that American women were going to have to make sacrifices, and stop consuming goods that were imported from Britain. The cartoon of the women of Edenton, NC signing a non-consumption agreement represent American women involving themselves in the political and economic boycott of Britain by the American colonies. ("A Society of Patriotic Ladies") However, it is actually a criticism of women's involvement in political affairs by representing the women who signed as silly women engaging in silly activities. The entire cartoon is designed to give the impression that women are not able to take on political issues seriously and deal with them effectively. Instead, the women in the cartoon are engaging in sex, playing, drinking, and are generally distracted from the important issue at hand.
orks Cited

"A Society of Patriotic Ladies- North Carolina Digital History." LEARN NC. eb. 14

Oct. 2011. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-revolution/4305

2000. Print.

"Laws on Indentured Servants." Virtual…...

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Works Cited

"A Society of Patriotic Ladies- North Carolina Digital History." LEARN NC. Web. 14

Oct. 2011.  http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-revolution/4305 

2000. Print.

"Laws on Indentured Servants." Virtual Jamestown. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.

Titles for an Essay about Stereotypes in Pocahontas

Title 1: The Myth and Reality of Pocahontas: Unraveling Stereotypes in Popular Culture

This title succinctly captures the central theme of the essay by highlighting the contrast between the idealized image of Pocahontas and the historical complexities of her story. It suggests an exploration of the ways in which stereotypes have distorted the understanding of this significant figure.

Title 2: Pocahontas: Beyond the Feminine Ideal and Cultural Misappropriation

This title emphasizes the problematic nature of the stereotypes surrounding Pocahontas, particularly her portrayal as a passive love object and a symbol of Native American culture. It hints....

1. The impact of colonization on Native American societies
2. The role of cultural preservation in Native American communities
3. The effects of federal Indian policies on Native American tribes
4. The representation of Native Americans in media and popular culture
5. The ongoing struggle for land rights and sovereignty for Native American tribes
6. The importance of language preservation in Native American communities
7. The challenges faced by Native American youth in contemporary society
8. The intersection of environmental activism and Native American rights
9. The significance of traditional healing practices in Native American communities
10. The contributions of Native Americans to American history and culture.
11. The impact....

1. The Complex Legacy of Native American Boarding Schools

Examine the historical context, policies, and motivations behind the establishment of Native American boarding schools.
Analyze the devastating cultural, linguistic, and social impacts of these institutions on Native communities.
Discuss the ongoing efforts to address the intergenerational trauma and promote healing and reconciliation.

2. The Role of Native Americans in the Environmental Movement

Explain the deep connection between Native American cultures and the natural world.
Explore the contributions of Native leaders and communities to environmental protection efforts.
Discuss the challenges and opportunities for collaboration between Native Americans and non-Native allies.

3. Native American....

Origins and Inspiration of the Flute: A Journey Through Time and Culture

The flute, an enigmatic and captivating instrument, traces its roots back to the primordial depths of human history. Its origins lie in the realm of nature, imbued with the spirit of the wind and the song of birds. The earliest flutes, crafted from hollow reeds or animal bones, were likely born out of a profound connection between humans and the natural world.

Paleolithic Origins:

The earliest known flutes date back to the Paleolithic era, approximately 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. These primitive instruments, discovered in archaeological sites in Germany and Slovenia,....