Native Cultures Outline

Lecture I

Elements of Culture

• The Cultural Ecological Paradigm– “Culture is Man’s extrasomatic means of

adaptation” – White 1951– Culture is shared, learned, & integrated– Culture is influenced by environment

Subsistence Strategies

• Hunting and Gathering (Foraging)– Relies on natural plants and animals in environment– Small group size (20-50)– Low population density (1/50 sq miles to 5/1 sq mile)– Politically simple

• Bands or tribes, almost always egalitarian

– High mobility, usually seasonal• Housing tipis, wigwams, wickiups• Low amounts of wealth• Baskets, bladders, skins (parfleches)

– Lack of food storage– May be technologically simple or surprisingly complex

Subsistence Strategies

• Pastoralism– Relies on domesticated animals and sometimes crops– Medium group size (up to several hundred)– Low to medium population density – Politically more complex

• Tribes or Chiefdoms, but generally egalitarian– High mobility, often seasonal

• Housing like yurts or tipis, but can be semi-permanent• Higher amounts of wealth due to draft animals• Products from animal parts common

– Lack of food storage “on the hoof”– May be technologically simple or surprisingly complex)– Not seen in North America

• Ducks, Turkeys, Dogs, Cavies, Llamas only domesticates

Subsistence Strategies

• Horticulture– Relies on simple cultigens, usually local in origin– Medium group size (several hundred people)– Medium to high population density (50/1sq mile & up)– Politically and socially complex

• Tribes and Chiefdoms, but generally egalitarian• High kin importance

– Sedentary• Housing Longhouses, Pueblos, Daub and Wattle• Higher amounts of wealth and status goods• Pottery, farming and processing tools

– Pottery, baskets, or boxes for food storage– Often technologically complex in arts and

subsistence items

Subsistence Strategies

• Agriculture– Relies on more developed, often imported, cultigens– High group size (hundreds to thousands of people)– High population density (500/1sq mile & up)– Politically and socially complex

• Chiefdoms and States, always stratified• High kin importance and non-kin rulership

– Sedentary• Housing Longhouses, Pueblos, Daub and Wattle, Earth Lodges• Higher amounts of wealth and status goods• Pottery, farming and processing tools

– Pottery, baskets, or boxes for food storage– Often technologically complex in arts and subsistence items

• Monumental Architecture, Sciences, Writing, Public Works

Religious Beliefs

• What is Religion?– A set of rituals, rationalized by myth, that

mobilizes supernatural powers• Ritual –

Patterns of behavior and timing with religious purpose

• Myth –

Sacred narrative with supernatural actors

Occurred long ago

Tells how things came to be

More on Religion

• Functionalist Explanations– Psychological– Social– Cognitive

• Types of Religious Belief– Animism (supernatural spirits)– Animatism (Impersonal force)– Magic (pseudoscience)– Witchcraft (accidental? influence of Force)

Religious Practitioners

• Shamans

• Priests

• Medicine Men

• Sorcerers

Religious Rituals

• Rites of Passage– Puberty Ceremonies– Vision Quests

• Rites of Intensification– Funerals– Weddings

• Revitalization Movements– Ghost Dance and Wovoka– Longhouse Religion and Handsome Lake