M01 A2 - Academic Journal Blog

Over the past few weeks I have read more than a few chapters on Native Americans along with watching videos for First People of North America class here at Empire State College. In one of the videos elders in the Native American society discuss land, water and leadership amongst other things. Each individual in the video is telling a story with a meaning which includes the heritage and ways of Native life. So far the book Native American Testimony by Peter Nabokov has been the most educational for me. The firsthand account of how Native American Indians viewed the early European settlers shed some light on how the two groups differed in so many ways. The greed of European settlers seemed to fascinate many of the Natives in the stories told by them through Nabokov. The settlers wanted to change everything they came in contact with to include how and who the Natives should worship when it pertained to religion. Another foundation for the early stages of the course was Mark Suttons book Native North America. In the book he makes many observations and one that stood out to me he states,  “Europeans managed their animals in captivity and harvested them at will, and the Indians managed their animals in the wild but still harvested them at will”(15). This quote along with the readings and videos support the greed the Native Americans had to contend with in the past and today. The web resources and readings used in this module form a good foundation on how Native American culture has grown throughout the ages since the early settlers arrived here in North America. The information from these resources has changed my views concerning native communities for more than one reason but the biggest reason of all was my ignorance for the culture as a whole. Even though my great grandfather was native once he passed on his ways and his culture were lost to my family. Until I started reading and researching the culture in the first few weeks of this class I realized how much I didn’t know about my own family history and about the first Americans in this land.

The information in the Native American plenary session seemed to reinforce the topic. It also recognizes that the people who were speaking in the video found either their Native roots through various ways or somehow wanted to give back to the Native Community. One speaker Brian Murphy who lives on and grew up on the Seneca Nation happens to work as an outreach specialist helping trouble adults from that area. He states in the video that he wanted to help his people by acknowledging the problems that he has seen while on the reservation. One of the questions that he asked himself and that he asks the people he counsels is what is it to be Native American? He goes on to descried the stereotypes of Native Americans that he himself has witnessed but through education he finds the true history of his people and how to find the correct identity. What is it to be Native American is a question many people cannot answer but through education myself and others can learn more about the culture that has many things to offer this society which have gone undiscovered.

 

 

Sutton, Mark. An Introduction to Native North America. 4th. Boston, Mass: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.

 Murphy, Brian. NA Plenary Session. 2012. Video. Vimeo LLCWeb. 5 Feb 2013. <http://vimeo.com/53705437>.