Review of Wilma Mankiller: Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous People

     Wilma Mankiller's presentation on the video was sponsored by Arizona State University and the Heard Museum. The Heard Museum is in Phoenix, AR and it has a great collection of American Indian Art. Wilma Mankiller is the former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and she served in that position for ten years. She is also an internationally known Native rights activist. Wilma Mankiller has 18 honorary doctorates, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton, and coauthored a book, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.
     In the beginning of her presentation she noted that she did not speak for all indigenous or Cherokee people since there is an enormous diversity among indigenous people. She did go on though to point out that indigenous people did have things in common and the most important was that their lives were connected to the Earth and that they had an interdependence with all living things. They participate in 100's of ceremonies every year to honor gifts from nature, seasonal changes and to give thanksgiving and they believe the world will end when people are no longer able to protect nature or restore the balance. Many non-indigenous people have lost contact with the land and they do not see the miracle of the natural world.
     Indigenous people have been subjected to colonial expansion and there have been untold loss of lives and millions of acres of land stolen. They have also been subjected to policies that tried to assimilated them in to the dominant culture. Wilma Mankiller's father and aunt were two of the children who were taken from their homes and sent to boarding schools. There is too little accurate information available in education, literature and films about indigenous people. There have been two stereotypes about Native Americans, one that they were spiritual people but incapable of higher thought or they are troubled descendants of savage people.
     Wilma Mankiller summed up her presentation with advice for the 21st Century indigenous people. Indigenous people need to develop reciprocal relationships with each other and find comfort in their traditions. They need to trust their own thinking and believe in themselves while sharing their traditions and knowledge. She presented a Mohawk quote that she felt addressed how to deal with all the anger from the past, "It's hard to see the future with tears in your eyes", so you need to to acknowledge the past and know it existed but then continually move forward.

The purpose of providing links to web resources for this course was to expand on the available information on the topic of First Peoples of North America and even though we had several textbooks this gave us even more. A quality academic website provides accurate information that will augment and provide alternative information to students for learning and assignments. This video was posted on youtube by Arizona State University and the Heard Museum added to the topic of this module.

A Native American focused journal blog in this course taught students how to write and post information on a blog that is available to anyone with interest in the topic of this course. For those who might want to do this on their own in the future they now have the information and skills to do it.

Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K_rVUmV7Y8&feature=youtu.be

Comments

  1. Colleen ChioffeFebruary 23, 2018 at 9:41 AM

    Although all indigenous groups and people are different and might have different beliefs, the majority of them seem to be working together towards a common goal, which unfortunately seems to be the only way they will achieve equality in this country.

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