A Guide To Contemporary Plains Indians

The Indian groups of the Plains continue to forge their distinct histories and traditions, melding older traditions with contemporary life. A Guide to Contemporary Plains Indians explores the many exciting cultural and recreational opportunities from Plains tribes. Readers will gain a historical understanding and learn about various activities available to the public. More than 65 color photographs illustrate the beautiful landscape these people call home.

"In this exhibition, you will discover objects produced by 135 artists; objects that offer an unprecedented view of the continuity of the aesthetic traditions of the Plains Indians, from the 16th to the 20th century."--Musée du quai Branly brochure.

Discover the diversity of Indian tribes living in the Southwest. Historian Bernard Fontana explores the distinctive cultures of this region, explaining various reservation and tribal activities available to the public with an insider's knowledge of culture and etiquette. Hiking, birding, horseback riding, boating, and fishing--along with many other recreational pastimes and cultural celebrations--are profiled in A Guide to Contemporary Southwest Indians. More than 100 color photographs celebrate the beautiful area these people call home.

The story of the Native peoples of the Great Plains--including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota, Shoshone, Blackfeet, Kiowa, Pawnee, Arikara, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow tribes-- is integral to the history and heritage of the American West. These buffalo-hunting and horticultural people once dominated the vast open region of the Great Plains, west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, that stretches from present-day Canada to Texas. The Native people of the Plains found this vast, harsh land rich in resources, with tall grass prairies abundant with herds of buffalo and other grazing animals and fertile river valleys that supported farming. Economic practices were intertwined with spiritual ceremonial activities and core beliefs about the people's relationships to the land, sky, and universe. The magnificent arts of Plains Indian people also had such spiritual underpinnings, which, together with their historical and cultural contexts, can provide greater insight into and appreciation of their tribal significances. Lavishly illustrated with more than 300 images of objects from traditional feather bonnets to war shirts, bear claw necklaces, pipe tomahawks, beadwork, and quillwork, as well as archival photographs of historical events and individuals and photographs of contemporary Native life, Memory and Vision is a comprehensive examination of the environments and historic forces that forged these cultures, and a celebration of their ongoing presence in our national society.

Plains Indian History and Culture, an engaging collection of articles and essays, reflects John C. Ewers multifaceted approach to Indian history, an approach that combines his far-reaching interest in American history generally, his professional training in anthropology, and his many decades of experience as a field-worker and museum curator. The author has drawn on interviews collected during a quarter-century of fieldwork with Indian elders, who in recalling their own experiences during the buffalo days, revealed unique insights into Plains Indian life. Ewers use his expertise in examining Indian-made artifacts and drawings as well as photographs taken by non-Indian artists who had firsthand contact with Indians. He throws new light on important changes in Plains Indian culture, on the history of intertribal relations, and on Indian relation with whites—traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, and the U.S. Government.

This book provides a thorough and engaging study of Plains Indian life. It covers both historical and contemporary aspects and contains wide and balanced treatment of the many different tribal groups, including Canadian and southern populations. Daniel J. Gelo draws on years of ethnographic research and emphasizes that Plains societies and cultures are continuing, living entities. The second edition has been updated to take account of recent developments and current terminology. The chapters feature a range of illustrations, maps, and text boxes, as well as summaries, key terms, and questions to support teaching and learning. It is an essential text for courses on Indians of the Great Plains and relevant for students of anthropology, archaeology, history, and Indigenous studies.

Plains Indians have long occupied a special place in the American imagination. Both the historical reality of such evocative figures and events as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Sacajewea, and the Battle of Little Bighorn and the lived reality of Native Americans today are often confused and conflated with popular representations of Indians in movies, paintings, novels, and on television. Ingrained stereotypes and cultural misconceptions born of late nineteenth– and early twentieth–century images of the romantic nomad and the marauding savage have been surprisingly tenacious, obscuring the extraordinary cultural and linguistic diversity of the dozens of tribes and nations who have peopled the Great Plains. Here in one volume is an indispensable guide to the extensive ethnohistorical research that, in recent decades, has recovered the varied and often unexpected history of Comanche, Cheyenne, Osage, and Sioux Indians, to name only a few of the tribal groups included. From the earliest archaeological evidence to the current experience of Indians living on and off reservations, a wealth of information is presented in a clear and accessible way. The history of the Plains Indians has been a dynamic one of continuous change and adaptation as groups split and recombined to form new social orders and cultural traditions. Contact with Europeans and the introduction of trade in horses, slaves, furs, and guns dramatically altered native societies internally and influenced relations between different groups. In the face of pressures resulting from America's westward expansion throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—the extinction of the bison, the imposition of reservation life, and the assimilationist policies of the U.S. federal government—the native peoples of the Great Plains have struggled to preserve their distinct cultures and reorient themselves to a new world on their own terms. The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains is divided into four parts. Part I presents an overview of the cultures and histories of Plains Indian people and surveys the key scholarly questions and debates that shape this field. Part II serves as an encyclopedia, alphabetically listing important individuals and places of significant cultural or historic meaning. Part III is a chronology of the major events in the history of American Indians in the Plains. The expertly selected resources guide in Part IV includes annotated bibliographies, museum and tribal Internet sites, and films that can be easily accessed by those wishing to learn more. The third in a six-volume reference series, The Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture, The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains is an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and researchers.

Voices of Native American Indian Educators: Integrating History, Culture, and Language to Improve Learning Outcomes for Native American Indian Students, edited by Sheila T. Gregory, provides vivid, comprehensive portraits, as well as scholarly quantitative and qualitative rese...