Åbo Akademi, the open university, the centre for continuing educationIntercultural communication

Course: In the Melting Pot of Religions, 2003Module 7 – Literature essay Teacher: Ruth Illman Date: 20.06.2003

Nina MichaelFrantz-Schubert-Str. 4aD- 85540 HAARTel.: 0049 89 4605117E- post: Ninamichael2@aol.com

1

Mary Crow Dog: LAKOTA WOMANWritten down by Richard ErdoesAn intercultural reflection

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION2. THE INDIAN ISSUE3. MARY CROW DOG3.1 The childhood3.2 Mary as a vagabond3.3 The turning point3.4 The significance of the religion3.5 Wounded knee3.6 Mary marries a medicine man3.7 Mary – a full-fledged Indian woman4. RICHARD ERDOES5. SUMMARY5.1 A summary of Mary’s story5.2 How my understanding of the cultural encounter between Indians and whites grew6. ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL ENCOUNTER7. CONCLUSION8. EPILOGUE9. SOURCES

ONLY WHEN THE LAST TREE HAS BEEN CUT DOWN,ONLY WHEN THE LAST RIVER HAS BEEN POISONED,ONLY WHEN THE LAST FISH HAS BEEN CAUGHT,ONLY THEN WILL YOU REALIZE THAT MONEY CANNOT BE EATEN.Cree Indian prophesy (Morgan, 1995, p. 9)

1. INTRODUCTION

This essay is about Mary Crow Dog’s difficult struggle to find her identity, and about her cultural encounters as a Sioux Indian woman who has grown up in a reservation in the USA. Richard Erdoes has written down her experiences in the book Lakota Woman (1990). Mary says it is difficult as an Indian to hold on to your life style and your language when surrounded by a foreign and more powerful culture. The average American admits that from a historical point of view a great injustice has been done to the Indians, but most are ignorant to the fact that this is still happening (Coyote, nr 54 2002). For the analysis of the cultural encounter between Mary Crow Dog and the white people I mostly used literature from the course compendium, and the

2

Indian psychologist Eduardo Duran’s thoughts on the problem (1995). I am trying to understand and interpret this process, as well as forming a hypothesis. My hypothesis consists of the fact that I think the process of colonisation is still continuing, and that the Indians react to this with powerless hate. This inhibits the will and ability to adapt to the majority culture. Weak adaptation leads to communication difficulties. It would be worth striving for biculturalism, which would enable the Indians to move freely in two cultures.

2. THE INDIAN ISSUE

I will take up this question here so that it will be easier to understand the story. The Indian issue consists of background factors that still have influence today, and the present circumstances concerning the relationships between Indian tribes and the dominating white society. The arrival of Christofer Columbus to America in 1492 led to the conception that America was a country of unlimited opportunities and no inhabitants. Columbus called the people he met Indians because he thought he had come to India. The Indians they encountered were in their way, and the colonisation led to history’s largest genocide through war, murder, forced relocation, slavery, intentional and unintentional spreading of contagious diseases, forced assimilation, and cultural destruction. According to the white people the Indians were savage heathens without any human value (this information according to Wearne, 1996). The term Indian is actually misleading, as there are 250 - 300 different tribes in North America only, of which some speak languages as different to each other as Swedish and Chinese. Nowadays we talk about Native Americans, and in the USA the term First Nations is also used. However, changing the name does not change deeply rooted opinions. I will here use the term Indian because it is the one used in the book.

The destruction of the Indian way of life continues in different ways, among other things by exploiting the natural resources on their land, so that they no longer are able to make their living off for example hunting and fishing. There is great unemployment in the many reservations (Frantz, 1993). Many of the previously proud Indians lack the strength to re-establish the customs, practices and ceremonies that are so important for their identity. The Indians are fighting to regain land and lost identity. “I have white friends. They are good people. Man to man I can relate, but with Americans as a whole, that’s different” (Leonard Crow Dog,1996, p.57).

3. MARY CROW DOG

In this section I only account for the content of the book. All information is from there, apart from a few parenthesis with complementary information.

3.1 The childhood

Mary Crow Dog:

“If you want to be born into this world you should see to it that you are WHITE and MALE. It is not the big, dramatic events that press you down, it is enough that you are Indian. Traditional Indian knowledge and experience is called barbaric superstition by the white missionaries, teachers and employers. They say we must kill the Indian in us to get ahead in this world.”

3

Mary Brave Bird is a Sioux Indian woman. Between 1870 and 1880 all Sioux Indians were forced into reservations, and had to leave behind everything that gave their life meaning – horses, hunting, weapons. Mary was born in 1955, in the Rosebud-reservation in South Dakota. The Sioux Indians in the west were called Lakota, and the ones in the east were called Dakota. In connection with the birth of Mary’s sister Sara their mother was sterilized: “Some think that the fewer Indians there are, the better.” Mary was ‘iyeska’, a half-blood Indian woman, she had some white blood from her father’s side. She wished she could purify herself from this.

The centre of Sioux Indian life was the extended family. In this collective the children were never alone, they experienced love and security. Corporal punishment did not occur, and it was here that the traditions the white men wanted to destroy, because they constituted a barrier for “progress and civilisation”, were upheld. The Indians were therefore forced to live in nuclear families. The white people meant that a healthy egoism brings advantages without which a higher civilisation is not possible.

Mary’s father left her mother after she was born. Suddenly he was gone. Her stepfather drank, and Mary used to argue with her mother about this: “I was born a rebel”. From her stepfather she learnt how to drink at the early age of ten, and she lived as a vagabond: “This was my way of punishing my mother.” The men drank because they had no work and nothing to live for. Mary’s mother underwent training and became a nurse. She had to travel 100 miles to work. The grand parents took care of the six children. The family was poor, but Mary did not suffer because of this, as she was not aware of it and knew no other way of living.

Mary was then forced to go to a boarding school. It was there that she first came into contact with racism, there that her cultural encounters with white people begun. In a shop she was holding an orange that she wanted to buy, but she did not have enough money. Her teacher was also in the shop, and she said: “Why do these filthy Indians have to touch the groceries? Now I’ll have to buy fruit in another shop. How disgusting!” In the playground a white child said to Mary: “You monkey, you smell and look like an Indian.” The children were not allowed to speak Sioux in school. The missionaries often said: “You must kill the Indian in you to free the human.” In the boarding school the sisters of Christ’s holy heart taught the children with a leather strap in their hands. After the boarding school Mary was neither Indian nor white. Towards white people she felt only hatred and distrust. Mary’s involvement in the resistance movement started with a hippie who came to interview the children and thought they should do something. They put together a newspaper, “Red Panther”, in which they described the incongruities. This led to great trouble for Mary. After an argument with a teacher she punched his nose bloody. She left school: “I will not be treated this way.”

3.2 Mary as a vagabond

Mary describes herself as a loner. She was constantly afraid of white people and felt uneasy in their company. She also felt unsure about whether or not the full blooded Indians accepted her. She always felt an inner anxiety, she always longed to get away. Her mother was a catholic, and she had brought Mary up according to her faith. One day Mary told her mother that when she grew up she wanted to live as an Indian. Her mother would not hear of it. Mary considered her mother puritan, and that there were walls of misunderstanding between them. The mother led a normal life, worked hard, owned a house, a car and a television. Mary said their mother did not

4

have it easy with them. She did what her older sister Barbara had done; she ran away. Their mother had called Barbara a worthless whore when she was pregnant. The doctors said they had to do a caesarean section, and her uterus was surgically removed without her knowing – forced sterilisation.

Mary calls this time of her life, when she roamed around without a goal, her vagabond life. St Francis, Parmelee, Mission – they were all reservation towns without any hope. The houses were made of tar paper and almost everything you can steal. An old rusty trailer or the couch part of a car served as a living room, the kitchen was made up of orange cartons, and a tent constituted the nursery. The toilet was outside. These towns were full of drunken Indians standing around doing nothing. They took their desperation out on each other in often bloody fights. If they were having a good day they drove around in their cars, packed with people, from bar to bar. Barbara was Mary’s best friend, and the only one who really loved her. She tried to raise her little sister not to drink or smoke, though she herself did.

Mary spent some time in different towns in the reservation, drinking, smoking marijuana, joined groups where you stole to survive, and where fights were common. She found nothing wrong in stealing, she felt she was only taking back what the white people had taken from her. Drinking was part of normal life in the reservation. Once during the time she was drinking she went for a beer in a saloon in Rapid City. This town was notorious among Sioux Indians as being the most racist town in the whole country. Several saloons had a sign above the door saying: “No Indians allowed”. Mary sat down next to a white woman who cast a contemptuous gaze on her and said: “Damn it, you filthy INJUN, get back out to the street and the gutter where you belong!” Mary asked the woman to repeat herself. “You heard me, this place is not for Indians. Bloody hell, is there nowhere a white man(!) can have a drink in peace and quiet without having to look at you people?” Mary felt her blood boil, broke an ashtray, cut the woman in the face with the pieces, and at that felt better.

During her time as a vagabond Mary had a short marriage, and got pregnant. The only thing she mentions about this man is that he was not suitable to be a husband and a father.

As an Indian woman in the ghetto Mary constantly had to defend herself against violence and rape. She says that in a “me-or-you” situation she would kill a person if that was the only way out.

3.3 The turning point

Mary quit drinking when she came to realize that she had a meaning in life as an active member of the Indian movement AIM (American Indian Movement). AIM broke out in the reservation like a whirlwind, like an ever increasing strong wind. Her first encounter with the movement aroused in Mary something like an earthquake. In 1971 she heard Leonard Crow Dog speak. He said that through generations Indians have tried to talk to the white man, but that he has not got ears that hear, no eyes to see with, and no heart to feel with. He said that this is why they now must speak with their bodies, and that he is not afraid to die for his people. Another man spoke about the white people who had been stealing their land and massacred them for centuries. He had wrapped himself in an inside-out American flag, and said that each star represents a state stolen from the Indians. He spoke in contempt about those Indians who crawl for the white man,

5

and about the Indian chiefs who sell their land “on sale”. A young man said: “We are the AIM, and we are changing the conditions.”

The AIM was founded in 1968. In the beginning they concentrated on the problems in the Indian ghettoes in St Paul’s slums. The name AIM was chosen because of its implication of goal, action and direction. A lot was learned from the black movements. However, Mary emphasizes the fact that there is a fundamental difference: “In many Indian languages black people are called BLACK WHITE PEOPLE. They want what the white people have, they want to get in there. We Indians want out!” Crow Dog said they wanted to fight the white system, not the white man. Mary noticed that these Indians were different, they moved with more self-confidence compared to the subdued Indians she knew in the reservation.

3.4 The significance of the religion

The movement for Indian rights was above all spiritual. Indian religion was forbidden until the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt (president of the USA 1901-09), and Indians were thrown in jail for taking part in ceremonies. Mary also chose this religious way. Her grandfather Fool Bull had taken her to her first “Peyote-Meeting” when she was a child. Peyote is the most important medicine for Indians as it produces visions. They strive to reach these conditions before all important decisions and actions. In her vision Mary heard her dead relatives speak. After this she felt very happy and at high spirits. Taking part in ceremonies and rituals gives spiritual and mental strength. Re-establishing these was therefore an important aim for the AIM.

3.5 Wounded Knee

In spite of being pregnant Mary took part in the siege of Wounded Knee in 1973. She says she does not perceive herself as being radical or revolutionary. All she wanted was to be able to live in the way that she considered important, to rule herself in practice and not only on paper, that the rights were respected. If this is revolutionary then the concept suits me, she said. Wounded Knee has symbolic value for the Sioux Indians as it was there, in 1890, that the Indians’ last fight for freedom took place. (The legendary Sioux chief Sitting Bull was killed while resisting being captured, and this led to the Teton-Dakota Indians’ open revolt which was brutally fought by the Americans. 300 men, women, and children were killed [Frei, 1992]). The dead were buried in a mass grave which is now abused as a tourist attraction.

It all started with a government lawyer’s well meant attempt to do something for “the poor Indians”. Mary thinks that sometimes well meaning people cause more suffering than people like general Custer. (Custer was the one who started the fight “the only good Indian is a dead Indian”, and who decided to exterminate the Indians after the defeat against the Sioux- and Cheyenne Indians in 1876 [Lubchansky, 2001]). According to a new statute from 1934 all Indian tribes were to get an elected government with a tribe president and council. The trouble was that all Indian nations already had their own chiefs and councils. The United States’ government chose half blood and quarter blood Indians who had commitments to Washington for politicians. These governments were not accepted by the full blooded Indians and had little real power.

Dicky Wilson was one of these tribe presidents at the Pine Ridge reservation, the neighbouring reservation to Rosebud. He had earlier been forced to leave the reservation as he had abused his

6

position to enrich himself. As tribe president he annulled the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly. According to Mary the worst thing was that he kept a private army, which blew his adversaries houses into pieces. Deaths caused by violence did not get investigated and solved. While this civil war took place in Pine Ridge, the AIM was forcing their demands through in Rapid City (see section 3.2). Nearby a white man stabbed a Sioux called Wesley Bad Heart Bull to death. The inhabitants of Rapid City had been harassing the Indians for 80 years, and now they were boiling with rage.

Russel Means was one of the leaders of AIM. He practiced non-violence tactics with his men. They could, for example, suddenly appear in great numbers when Russel whistled in a certain way. The negotiation was to take place in – Custer! A column was put together with Custer as target. “We were not there to cause riots, but to see justice done.” In South Dakota the murder of an Indian was considered a harmless assault. However, if an Indian murdered a white man he got sentenced to death, and could considered himself lucky if the sentence got changed to life in jail. “We have had enough of this kind of justice!” The verdict was announced: Bull’s killer will be punished for causing the death of another. The Indians now wanted to know if the jury thought it was murder or only manslaughter. They were expelled from the court room and a fight broke out. The police used tear gas, smoke bombs, and water cannons. The Sioux Indians now uttered their war cry. They tried to destroy a police car, robbed shops, set the court house and chamber of commerce on fire, but did not fire a single shot.

They returned the same night to Rapid City, where Wilson and his men were waiting. An elderly woman told them to go to Wounded Knee, and to hold forth there. In 1973 they stood on the hill where the fate of the Sioux nation had been decided. The message to the government was: “Come and discuss our demands with us, or kill us!” The siege continued for 71 days, and Crow Dog was the spiritual leader. FBI agents and sheriffs surrounded them. Peaceful conversation was attempted. The government’s representatives told the Indians to first lay down their weapons, and then they would talk to them about their complaints. The Indians answered that they wanted to negotiate first, and then they would lay down their weapons. Two Indians were killed and several were injured at Wounded Knee. One white man was injured.

Indian religion was re-established at Wounded Knee under the leadership of Crow Dog. In 1890 his grandfather had led the spirit dance in the very same place. Crow Dog announced that they would dance the spirit dance the next day. This was danced with the participants holding hands and forming a circle, and for Crow Dog this symbolised the rebirth of the Indian unity. He also believed that through dancing you could reach a connection with the past. Therefore he decided to re-establish the spirit dance where it had been put down and had to be reawakened. Thus they danced the spirit dance for the first time in 80 years, for 4 days from early morning till late at night.

On evening Mary had a vision: Along a river she heard women cry, babies scream, cannon shots and galloping horses. She did not know what the vision meant, if it was about the future or about the past.

On April 5th 1973 Crow Dog left Wounded Knee to together with three others go to Washington to try to reach an agreement. Mary left Wounded Knee with her son Pedro a week before the siege ended, when her uncle Buddy had been shot. It was a terrible blow for her, and she wanted

7

to help with the funeral. On the way she got sent to prison, and they wanted to take her baby away from her as she was considered an unfit mother – poor, unmarried, and an agitator. Buddy’s sister happened to pass by and she promised to take care of the child. When Mary was released from prison her mother was there. She was upset about what had happened to her daughter so now they got along. They were both mothers now, and she was a grandmother.

Crow Dog returned with an agreement. When the warriors signed it they said: “Another agreement that will be broken”. He was sent to the prison in Rapid City as it was thought that he had not given up enough weapons, but only junk.

3.6 Mary marries a medicine man

Leonard Crow Dog wanted to marry Mary, but she did not immediately agree. She felt he was not suited to be a husband as he was 12 years older than her. He had three children from his previous marriage. His house did not have any modern conveniences, and it was always open to all of the extended family as Leonard always helped everybody. Mary was not accepted by his family who were all full blooded Indians. Her Christian family did not accept him either. Now she was constantly occupied with cooking and cleaning for everybody. This led to her falling sick and losing her strength. Finally she was not even able to sit up. Leonard treated her according to Indian methods. He said that with his x-ray eyes he could see that she was not ill, but that she felt unloved; she had fallen sick because of her longing for love. Suddenly everybody stood around her. Her father-in-law stroked her cheek and called her daughter. She took peyote for a whole night. After that she went to lie down in her bed, and she saw herself laying there like a dead woman: “The thing that lay there was my former self.” The power of the peyote came over her, and she laughed and laughed. She knew she would be well again.

Leonard taught Mary to see with her heart’s eyes, to see the real reality behind the fake reality in things, which is the purpose of Indian religion. Before this she had watched ceremonies the way white people watch them; without understanding their significance. Mary feels that Indians are abused as colourful marionettes to sing and dance for tourists. She says: “Tunkashila, the great spiritual father, has equipped the universe with powers that should be used for good, not for evil.

What to do if you get attacked and provoked? Mary describes a typical situation for Indians: Mary and Leonard wanted to drive home in their car after a ceremony in the state of Washington. They were surprised to find the gas tank leaking as it had been in perfectly good condition when they arrived. Two white men insulted them: “Look at these Indians, you see the long hair? When was the last time you visited a hairdresser?” They started to pull Leonard’s braids and pushed him over. A couple of Indians arrived, and also some white men armed with baseball bats. They attacked the Indians. Mary saw a police car parked in the road and asked the police men why they did not intervene, but they said nothing and drove a bit further away. Another couple of police cars arrived. The police men told the troublemakers to go home, that they had done theirs for the day. The Indians were arrested for being guilty of “violent rioting” (Landfriedensbruch in German). After that the usual process took place: prison, charge, free on bail, trial and a fine. Mary later found out that beating up Indians was a popular pastime in these parts. In connection with this event Mary came to think of an old joke:

8

“An Indian says to his neighbour: You have stolen my land, shot my father, raped my wife, made my daughter pregnant, and taught my son to take to the whiskey bottle. One day I will lose my temper. You take more care now!”

Leonard was considered a dangerous person after the incident at Wounded Knee because he was a medicine man, and not interested in politics. The government’s men knew that the Indians listened to him when he told them not to sell their land to the mining industry or uranium companies. Such a piece of advice is a threat to the system, and can mean prison. Leonard got sentenced to 13 years in prison. The public prosecutor declared the siege of Wounded Knee illegal and a criminal plot. It cost 200 000 dollar to get him free. During this time Mary overcame her shyness and learnt to speak in public. Several lawyers did their best for them, and Jean and Richard Erdoes coordinated the defence. Bill Kunstler was making a movie during this time. He said: “You hate them because their claim is totally legitimate, and you know it.”

Crow Dog’s house burned down under mysterious circumstances. Several of the people who had been against Wilson and members of AIM were murdered. Most of the murders were never investigated.

3.7 Mary – a full-fledged Indian woman

Mary became more and more like a traditional Sioux Indian woman. She engrossed herself in the preserved religion of her people, but something was missing – to take part in the sun dance! The sun dance was performed once a year, when the sun is at its highest. Here the Indians sacrifice their own flesh by cutting deep into it. They stare with open eyes directly at the sun, play flutes made of the bones of eagles, and say prayers while smoking their pipes. It is like a rebirth, the sun dance unites all tribes. Mary compares the sun dance to Christianity. Christians worship Jesus because he suffered for the people, instead of the people. In the sun dance you sacrifice your flesh to help somebody you are close to.

Mary started her dance with a flesh sacrifice. Leonard said: “It is a sacrifice, your prayers are determined for those who suffer in prison, for sick relatives.” She felt no pain. A blinding light filled her spirit. It was as if the sun said: “I am the eye of life. I am the soul of the eye. I give life.” She heard the spirits speak through the tunes of the flute. She felt nothing and at the same time she felt everything. In this moment she, an ‘iyeska’ raised by the white, completely became an Indian woman. She was filled with a violent sense of happiness.

4. RICHARD ERDOES

Richard Erdoes has written down the story of Mary Crow Dog. His family originated from the Austrian-Hungarian empire, he studied in Berlin, and fled to new York to escape the Nazis. There he joined the American civil rights movement, and has written several works on present day Indians.

5. SUMMARY

5.1 A summary of Mary’s story

9

Mary Brave Bird grows up in a reservation under poor conditions. She spends most of her time with her grandparents, as her mother works and her work place is far away. She is then forced to go to a boarding school where the catholic sisters try to drive out the Indian in her and replace this with the white people’s world. Here she is confronted with racism for the first time, and the rebel in her is born. After an argument with a teacher Mary leaves school to live on the street according to the rules which apply there. She drinks, steals, and is often involved in fights. Her language is aggressive and vulgar, especially when she is attacked by white people. Her attitude changes when she gets contact with AIM, and gets to know her future husband, the morally high standing medicine man Leonard Crow Dog, and others from whom she learnt a lot. Crow Dog knows everything from leading ceremonies and curing the ill to repairing cars, but there is one thing he will not do, and that is take to weapons. Mary gets to know everything about Indian religion, like for example the importance of learning to SEE the reality behind the facades people put up to protect themselves against the demands of life. Once again she has to fight against prejudice, as at first the Crow Dog family rejects her because she is not a full blooded Indian. Likewise her Christian family does not accept that she is part of a tradition-bound Indian family. When she finally for the first time takes part in the sun dance the Indian in her breaks out in full, and she feels completely happy; her childhood dream had come true.

5.2 How my understanding of the cultural encounter between Indians and whites grew

I learnt much from Mary’s description of her cultural encounter whit white people. The fact that the conditions are tense I know, but that the whole life is still characterized by mutual attacks was new to me. Why, the book is written in 1990! The relations between full blooded Indians and those who are only part Indian is also burdened with negative attitudes, which I did not know. I also learnt much about Indian religion. The descriptions of life in the family were also instructive, and the Indians’ reactions in situations of political conflict taught me a lot for my work in AGIM, the Indian association in which I am an active member. I think I have been able to put into practice the theories that I have learnt in this course and in other courses I have read. I also write articles on ethnical conflicts.

6. ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL ENCOUNTER

I chose to write about the book Lakota Woman, which I read in German with the same title, because in this book the cultural encounter between Indians and white people is portrayed with emphasis on the significance of religion for man’s mental development. The theme of the course is “in the melting pot of religions”. This is described in the book in its esoteric manifestation, as an experience (Hjärpe, p. 101). The course has an intercultural hermeneutical approach which can be understood as an interest in the dynamics surrounding how a mutual understanding between people is established over cultural boundaries (Nynäs, 2001, text A, p. 307). Nynäs says that it is a process of interpretation where the idea of difference constitutes a natural pattern of explanation. References to cultural difference serve a purpose of giving word to experiences of negative attitudes and distant relationships (Text A, p. 309). This hostile attitude and suspiciousness is reflected in Mary’s story. This attitude is obvious both in the Indians and in the whites. The cultural encounters between these parties are dominated by stereotypes, and communication leads to one cultural clash after another. An example of this is the conflict with the tribal presidents. In the book communication between full blooded Indians and those who are not of pure breed is also portrayed as problematic.

10

As I see it the primary reason for the cultural clashes lies in the colonialists’ feelings of superiority towards the native inhabitants. That this process still has influence is a fact that I became convinced about when reading the book. The colonialists believed that the discovery of America gave them the right to manage the natives and by force take their land (Barsh, 1994, p. 1). For the Christians the Indians were demons from hell, and all their activities were determined by the devil (Lubchansky, 2001). We do not have to go to the USA to find this phenomenon. In his licentiate’s dissertation in ethnology Lorenz Khalzaleh talks about the spread of social Darwinism concerning the Sami people in Norway after 1870 (chapter 2.2, p. 2-3, 2000). The dynamics in colonisation politics is the same whether in America, Australia, Africa, or Europe. Khazaleh says that the ideology of social Darwinism proceeds from the fact that there are more highly developed cultures and more lower down cultures, and that Darwin’s teachings were interpreted in a racist way. Successful cultures could reach a higher civilisation while lower down cultures had to perish. Therefore, during the 19th century, Darwinism gave a scientific base that justified colonisation. Large missionary companies took it to themselves to destroy “the heathens’” way of practising their culture and their religion by deeming “Ethnozid” (Ethnozid is German, and means cultural annihilation) a blessing (Wearne, p. 103). According to Darwinism the “more highly evolved Europeans” were quite simply obligated to expel the natives (Wearne, p. 79). The natives were considered too primitive to be able to manage themselves. I think Washington’s appointment of tribal governments is described in the book as an example of this.

The white man also assumed that you had to have everything on paper, but the Indians’ land was not fenced in, and the boundaries were not defined. This led to the colonialists thinking that the land was at their disposal. In the 1987 edition of “American history, a survey” it reads: “America stood empty of people, and without human traces…” (Wearne, p. 46). Wearne interprets this as extreme ethnocentrism. The fact that the natural resources on Indian land are now ruthlessly exploited is a continuation of this attitude.

One important aspect in ethnical conflicts is that what people deny in themselves and see in others. Several examples of this can be found in the book (you monkey, can a person not have a drink in peace and quiet without having to look at you people, beating up Indians as pastime). T.H. Eriksen briefly takes up this question. He says that what the community denies, what we are not, the horrible other, the heathens and so on, are what we recognize, fear, or hate in ourselves (text B, 1994, p. 12). B. Bettelheim puts it like this: The Germans transferred, projected onto the Jewish negative traits like ingratiation, slyness, wiliness and obtrusiveness. This psychic mechanism results in a sense of relief for not being like this yourself. Then when the Jews in the in concentration camps were ingratiating or cunning to get a bit more food these expectations were confirmed, and the guards were twice as cruel (1980, p. 246, 247). This is why C.G. Jung says that if you want to change something in other people you should start with yourself, ask yourself what this has to do with you (1978). This mechanism is unconscious. An example of this in the book is: Kill the Indian in you and free the human.

As we get to understand from Mary’s story the Indians do not especially appreciate white people’s efforts to “help” them. An example of this is the hippie in Mary’s school who wanted to help the children, but this only led to Mary getting into more trouble in school. Eriksen talks about “understanding to death”, and means that feeling sorry for them only strengthens the walls between US and THEM (text A, p. 17). The Indians have had their experiences, and for the

11

present there are so many in the USA who are writing, researching, and the only ones who profit from this is the researchers. The Indians have therefore had bad experiences with researchers. This is why I concerned myself with the Indian psychologist Eduardo Duran’s view on the conflict. He points out that when the colonisation started there were 10 million Indians in North America, and in 1900 there were only 250 000 left (p. 28). He also talks about the Indians reacting with “soul wounds” (p. 24). I think you can also talk about cultural shock. These wounds of the soul have been weaved into the family structure in process that has been going on for generations (p. 30). He stresses that the Indians have a totally different outlook on life. For example, they think that the individual is a part of the creation, and are not, like the Westerner, individually inclined and think that the world exists to be dominated and explored (p.15).

The hatred felt in this kind of a situation can not be directed towards the perpetrator, as this leads to sanctions, and a feeling of powerless hate arises. Duran writes that the native American intensifies the perpetrator’s strength and turns the hatred inwards towards himself, or towards the surroundings. If the hatred is turned towards the individual himself, his self esteem will diminish, and despair with accompanying hopelessness will arise. The result is self destruction in the form of alcoholism, abuse of drugs, or suicide. If the hatred is turned outwards the person commits acts of violence, very often inside the nuclear family or in the community. These reactions occur much more often among Indians than among other Americans. One in three Indians have been in prison. A drunk Indian is a common sight in American society (Duran, p. 29). Re-establishing traditions has been an effective remedy against alcoholism. An example of this was the Shushwap Indians in Canada. There they managed to reduce alcoholism from 95% to 5% under a period of ten years by taking up traditional culture (p. 105).

I imagine that these soul wounds and this powerless hate have contributed to the Indians not wanting to adapt to the white man’s society. This has led to interruptions in the communication, of which I gave several examples in the account of Mary’s cultural encounters. Nynäs writes: An intolerant attitude brings with it difficulties in communication (article B, p. 6). You can not speak of understanding but of ununderstanding in the form Nynäs takes up, I can not understand Indians, I can not understand white people, I can not accept the way they live (text A, p. 89).

The theme of module 4 was the question of similarity and difference. I feel that in the cultural encounters with the Indians too much emphasis has been put on the differences. If you take a closer look there are actually similarities where the culture seems to take on bewildering and mysterious forms. One example is the religion. The Indians ask their visions and get answers to questions on important decisions and events. We Westerners have visions every night. To dream and to have visions have their source in the same spiritual process. I, for example, consult my dreams on such occasions. When I was to decide whether or not I should attend this course I asked the dreams for a hint. That day I had bought some ballpoint pens of a kind that I particularly like to write with. In the night I dreamt that the shop assistant showed me eight of those pens. I then believed that the course as well as the introduction course had eight modules. I figured that the message of the dream was that I should attend the course, and that turned out to be a good decision. What we experience as different is in fact something we have in common. Through visions Mary Crow Dog wanted to reach her inner core and develop herself. That is possible by listening to the message from visions and nightly dreams.

12

Spirits and spiritual beings is another thing we find hard to understand with our rational limitations. The Indians believe in these. The Christians believe in these too; the head demon is the devil, the spiritual beings are the angels. I think that these phenomena are archetypes from the collective subconscious according to the teaching of C.G. Jung (Nell, p. 13), which we project. There are religious people who have had such visions. The pope is in the habit of canonizing people who have had visions where they, for example, have seen the Virgin Mary. The archetypes take on different forms according to the traditions of the different cultures, but the psychic mechanism is the same.

The Indians are easily seen as colourful dancers and musicians in plumage. Mary calls them marionettes. Rut Illman takes up this question and calls them “puppets for entertainment”. We make the foreign more attractive by ascribing exotic qualities to them. In these cases you look at the part of Indian culture that makes them so different, that they can not be “persons like me” (Illman, p.7). I feel that it is not possible to exhibit the kinds of Indian dances that are described in the book, as those who experience something are those who are dancing. I do not think that these traditional dances are shown to tourists.

I see no other way out of the Indian dilemma than that the Indians accept to become “bicultural”, to retain their Indian identity AND to integrate themselves into the American society, to be able to effortlessly move in two cultures (Ferrero, p. 132). The weakness in this is that then you can not speak either of the languages if you do not have constant contact with both of the cultures. Here in Germany, where there are many immigrants, this is a problem. They think that if they accept to integrate into this society they have to give up their own culture. They are relieved when you explain to them that they can be both. Of course the fact is that the Indians were in the USA first, and they are proud of their origin. They say: “You can become American, but you can not become Indian” (Coyote, nr 46, 2000).

7. CONCLUSION

The white society expects the Indians to integrate into this. Because of reasons I have taken up in section 6 this is in many cases difficult. I draw the following conclusion:

Powerless hate causes intolerance. Intolerance prevents adaptation into the white society, which leads to increased difficulties in communication. These further weaken the desire to adapt. This is a vicious circle which should be broken by the majority culture, which should interpret and understand the negative attitudes in a correct way. It would be worth striving for that “biculturalism” could be accepted by the Indians.

8. EPILOGUE

Leonard Crow Dog: “We will not say that I am from a different tribe, nor that that one is black, that one is white. This attitude in the whites we will not acquire.“

9. SOURCES

The book I wrote about:Mary crow Dog and Richard Erdoes: Lakota Woman

13

American edition: Grove Weidenfeld, New York 1990Translation to German: Deutsches Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München 1994

The essay translated to English by: Therese Björklöf Other sources:1. Barsh, Russel L.: Indianer Nordamerikas, the article: Der rechtliche und politische Status nordamerikanischer Indianer, Geschellschaft für bedrohte Völker, Wien 1994 2. Bettelheim, Bruno, Aufstand gegen die Masse (The Informed Heart), Kindler Verlag GmbH, München 1980 3. COYOTE: Periodical published by the AGIM, Aktionsgruppe Indianer & Menschenrechte e. V. München. E- mail: post@aktionsgruppe.de4. Crow Dog, Leonard and Richard Erdoes: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men, Harper Perennial, 19965. Duran, Eduardo & Bonnie, Native American Postcolonial Psychology, State University of New York Press, Albany 1995 6. Eriksen, Thomas Hylland: A) Fleretniske paradokser: http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Fleretniske.html B) Kulturelle veikryss: http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Crossroads.html 7. Ferrero,G.P: the Cultural Dimensions of International Business. Prentice Hall 1998 8. Hjärpe, Jan (1998): Den motsägelsefulla bilden. Religionsmöten i en religionshistorikers och islamologs perspektiv. Article in the book: Möte med människor av annan tro, red: Arne Flodell 9. Frantz, Klaus: Die Indianerreservationen in den USA, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993 10. Illman, Ruth (2002), Cultural Encounters on International Ground. Multidimensional Experiences. Article in the anthology Reflecting Diversity - Viewpoints from Scandinavia. In print, the university of Gothenburg 11. Khazaleh, Lorenz, licentiate’s dissertation : Wessen Kultur bewahren ? Chapter. 2.2 : Unterdrückung der Vielfalt : http://www.geocities.com/iglu01/lizarbeit/22.html 12. Lubchansky, Carole & Jean Claude, Tevefilm: Indianerland, Frankrike 2001, tv channel Arte, Tyskland 13. Morgan, Marlo : Traumfänger, Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, München 1995 14. Nell, Renée : Traumdeutung in der Ehepaar- Therapie, kindler Verlag GnbH, München 1976 (on Jung’s interpretations of dreams) 15. Nynäs, Peter : A) Bakom Guds rygg - En hermeneutisk ansats till interkulturell kommunikation och förståelse i industriella projekt. Excerpt from doctoral thesis, Åbo Akademi (2001) B) Intercultural Communication in Industrial Projects - A Question of Cultural Adaption? Article presented at II European Academy of Managment (2002) 16. Wearne, Philip: Die Indianer Amerikas, Lamuv Verlag GmbH, Göttingen 1996

14