American Indian Collectivism: Past Myth, Present Reality

PERC ^ | Summer 2006 | Carlos L. Rodriguez and Craig S. Galbraith

[OddLane]

In the past, most if not all North American indigenous peoples had a strong belief in individual property rights and ownership. Frederick Hodge (1910) noted that individual private ownership was “the norm” for North American tribes.

Likewise, Julian Steward (1938, 253) asserted that among Native Americans communal property was limited, and Frances Densmore (1939) concluded that the Makah tribe in the Pacific Northwest had property rights similar to Europeans.’ These early twentieth-century historians and anthropologists had the advantage of actually interviewing tribal members who had lived in pre-reservation Indian society.

[The Great RJ]

Another myth is that the Indians lived in total harmony with the environment and took only what they needed from the land. Prior to the coming of the horse, large buffalo herds were spooked,sometimes by setting prairie fires, and stampeded off a cliff. There are several places in the upper prairies where there is archeological evidence of these “buffalo jumps”.

[MNnice]

As a Sioux injun myself, I like to remind my white liberal friends that Indians were the most anti-liberal, politically incorrect society imaginable. They were traders (capitalists), hunters, warriors (not pacifists), chose their leadership by who was the most accomplished hunter and warrior (meritocracy), awarded success (eagle feathers were awarded after battles like campaign ribbons), wore fur, and subsisted on a diet heavy in red meat.

Oh, and they made their gay men sit with the women.

[sarasmom]

ROTFLMAO!
As a mixed “breed”, I have a hard time dealing with quasi-learned,revisionist historians.

No, the various Native American Tribes were not peacefull groups of pacifists, living quiet, spiritually focused lives, in perfect harmony with nature and each other.

I've been told my tribe was(and what's left of it,is) matriarchal.
The women were the ones who tortured captured enemies.

I'm uncertain which side of my ancestry I would want to claim me as kin, if I was suddenly thrust back into the past.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks OddLane. Related: How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Caipirabob]

#3 - Love it. My wife and kids are part “Chibcha”. It really adds a dimension of interest for the kids when we explore ancient petroglyphs and abandoned settlements around here in AZ.

[Graybeard58]

Interesting, informative and funny post. Thanks.

[Inyo-Mono]

LOL! Great comment. A couple of my ancestors became “property” of the Mohawk and Shawnee when they were captured.

[SunkenCiv]

• Pilgrim lesson: Spreading wealth leads to pooled poverty
• How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims
• Give Thanks to America: God Shed His Grace on Thee
• Capitalist lesson from first Thanksgiving

[OddLane]

Glad some people are interested in this.

There's so much junk people are infused with in public school, and the media, it's hard to get to the actual history of this continent.