Third Exam Study Guide Questions - ANTH 329 North American Indians
Subject To Change
Focus on sections 8 and 9 of the Schedule, focusing on the Apsáalooke (Crow), and the Inuit and Netsilik. Consult the Schedule for appropriate reading assignments from Oswalt, PDF handouts, lecture points, web links, and supplemental materials. The strongest graded essays will be those that are able to integrate examples and references from the lecture materials with textbook readings, and present them in a poignant, insightful manner.
What are the major traditional cultural characteristics which distinguish these Tribes? Rephrased, how is each people unique from the other?
Among the broad cultural expressions, consider, where appropriate and applicable, the following key elements when comparing societies: 1. oral traditions, 2. religious concepts and ceremonialism (including access and application of sacred power, and primary ceremonies), 3. aesthetic styles and expressions, 4. kinship and social organization, 5. subsistence patterns, 6. implications for culture change, and 7. world view.
Focus questions: 1. as expressed among the Apsáalooke (Crow), what is "medicine," how is it acquired, in what what is it applied to the lives of people, and how does it work, i.e., what is its efficacy? 2. as expressed among the Apsáalooke (Crow), what is the Sundance, what is the process one goes through, and are its roles and purposes? 3. as expressed among the Apsáalooke (Crow), discuss the nature of family and kinship, and of the "clan uncles"? 4. as expressed among the Inuit and Netsilik, who is Sedna and what are her roles? 5. as expressed among the Inuit and represented among other Indigenous peoples of North America, what are the defining relationships between human and animal/plant/fish, between humanity and nature? Provide examples to illustrate you responses.
Reflect on meaning and insights from the movie, Fast Runner.