Preview

Anthropological Study of the Southwestern Papago Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
627 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Anthropological Study of the Southwestern Papago Society
The Autobiography of a Papago Woman

In the latter part of the 1930s, PhD. Ruth Underhill headed a college-financed anthropological study of the Southwestern-based Papago society (Lavender). The result from the venture was a self-proclaimed “autobiography” of a Papago woman’s recount of her experiences as a member of the tribe. Though Underhill’s Autobiography ultimately fails to provide a comprehensive historical study of the Papago, it nonetheless provides a rich, fascinating introduction to the world of Native American customs and traditions.

To begin, roughly one-third of the book consists of Underhill’s own experience as an upper-middle class woman attempting to immerse herself in a native, seemingly alien Native culture ("University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences"). Because of her inability to speak O’odham, much of the Papago woman’s account (Chona) is based on the often inconsistent accuracies of translators who speak only broken-English. In addition, the constraints Chona’s age applied on her memory recall resulted in often repeated stories, which Underhill then cropped and chose based on the premise that the most interesting facts of Chona’s character were her crises rather than the events that were significant to Chona herself. Underhill herself considers the possibility of several biases undermining the validity of the book as a historical resource when she admits this in her preface.

Furthermore, Underhill’s weaknesses in approaching the study qualitatively are only matched by her ability to effectively describe many of the contemporary customs of the Papago tribe, most of which had prevailed over hundreds of years. She relates the tribe’s unwavering piety to relay animal stories only during particular seasons, the social conventions that govern Papago interactions, and even the tribe’s attitude towards child-rearing. She discusses the lack of thanks in Papago communication and that gifts are repaid with other gifts and are



Cited: Lavender , Catherine. "Ruth Underhill and María Chona, Papago Woman (1936)." The Department of History. The College of Staten Island/CUNY, 04 09 1998. Web. 5 Sep 2012. <http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/chona.html>. Ruth Murray Underhill: 1883-1984." University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences. University of South Florida, n.d. Web. 5 Sep 2012.  Underhill, Ruth M. The Autobiography of a Papago Woman. New York: Kraus Reprint Co, 1969. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Indian Squaw Summary

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page

    When Anna Woodward and Josiah Flint lived in Steuben County, New York, it wasn’t unusual for Indians to stop by the cabin to trade. One day an Indian squaw with her papoose strapped to a board came to trade baskets for bread. When finished, they started down the path. They were scarcely out of sight when Anna heard a piercing scream and ran to see what was wrong.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    After reading the novel Nest in the Wind: Adventures in Anthropology on a Tropical Island, written by Martha C. Ward, I learned about a culture on an island that is much different but similar in many ways to ours. The Climate of the Island was tropical with heavy rainfall. The Island was known as a “tropical paradise”. Ward a female Anthropologist went to this Island to study its inhabitants . Some area she focus on was Family, Religion, sex, tradition, economics, politics ,medicine, death, resources and daily activities . Ward approach to getting this information as accurate as possible was to live among the Pohnpeians as . She got involved in their culture and community. She even , though unwanted gained rank in their society. Her and Her Husband lived in a tin hut, learned customs and manners. They were forced to do the daily chores , find food learn the language and be an active part of the community When the first arrived they had little idea what to expect. They went for information and what they got was a life changing experience. Their study is one of the few done on the traditional way of Pohnpei life recording everything from chores to beliefs.…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the strengths of this book is the historic content. The author recorded a great deal of history about the life of the Pueblo Indians before the Spanish conquest. Customs and rituals were cleverly depicted. The story was told of not just what the Indians did, but also gave some premise as to why. The frequent explanations gave appreciable insight into the lives of the Pueblo Indians. Several traditional stories were included which illustrated what the Indians believed their genesis to be. The stories provided an engaging backdrop to the book. Their traditions were portrayed in a neutral light, without signifying a positive or negative influence on their way of life.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Taylor’s “Dead White Writer on The Floor” Pocahontas’ specific language choice provides a critique against the stereotype of the dependent native woman that she finds herself constructed as.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The purpose of N. Scott Momaday’s essay, “My Kiowa Grandmother,” is personal self-expression, because he attempts to define his own values and judgments through an exploration of the memories and stories he has of his grandmother and ancestors. The title of Momaday’s essay sets the stage for the rest of his words. “My Kiowa Grandmother,” becomes an exploration of who she was and the values that she lived by as part of the last generation of true Kiowa Indians. The essay that ensues is about Momaday collecting his interpretations of her life and analyzing the stories to find the values that the Kiowa honored and followed. Through his exploration, Momaday establishes a system of values that he chooses to try to follow himself. The essay’s content is divided not by a beginning, middle, and an end, but rather through a series of episodes and recollections that are slightly disconnected but belong to a larger picture. The essay is filled with descriptions of the land the Kiowa dwelled on and the manner in which they lost that land, thus forcing them onto a reservation. He discusses the journey his ancestors took as he himself travels in their footsteps a century later across North America, from Montana to Arkansas, where the Kiowa lived for many decades. He then begins to offer a more personal view of…

    • 1815 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    TRATNER, MICHAEL. "TRANSLATING VALUES: MERCANTILISM AND THE MANY "BIOGRAPHIES" OF POCAHONTAS." Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 32.1 (2009): 128-136. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.…

    • 2312 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Papago Woman

    • 3545 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Papago Woman, written by Ruth M. Underhill, is an ethnography of the life of a native american woman named Maria Chona, a member of the Southern Arizona Papago people located right outside of Tucson, Arizona on a reservation. Ruth lived among the Papago from 1931 till 1933. She studied the life of the Papago with her main subject an older Papago woman named Chona. She says at one point how she learned amongst these people and Chona, “I feel, nevertheless, that out of all this flurry there came the story as it had appeared in Chona's mind,” (27). By hearing the life of this Papago woman she learned about life as a Papago.…

    • 3545 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lee was a public relations executive and Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another false impression of Native Americans by the Haydens relates to their spiritual beliefs and culture. When Frank was asked to treat Marie’s illness, he mockingly said that he’d do a “little dance around the bed,” and “[beat] some drums.” (35) Here, Frank makes fun of their rituals and beliefs, showing his little respect and naïve opinion towards the culture of Native Americans.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Divine Roles Across Cultures

    • 41666 Words
    • 167 Pages

    Rice, Julian. Before the Great Spirit: The Many Faces of Sioux Spirituality. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.…

    • 41666 Words
    • 167 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Native American Casinos

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    After examining the past of Native Americans, their wanting to have a piece of the government pie, and the present affairs under the reservations is different to the living circumstances of Native Americans. It starts with issues such as drug abuse and prevention within the tribes. The next step for them is to ensure they have enough money to support their tribes and encompasses all their needs. Finally, it is how the tribes give back to the states they decide to build casinos in.…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the mid-nineteenth century a girl named Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe (Oona) was born in pitch darkness in the middle of the day when the sun and moon crossed paths. The book Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker is biography of Broker’s great-great-grandmother, Oona. It describes Oona’s life through what Broker has learned from her grandparents when they passed down the stories. In the book, one of the main themes is passing traditions on. I chose this theme because in the book, passing traditions on is major part of the characters’ culture. Passing traditions on is a practice that is important to many cultures and it effectively connects generations of people through experiences and stories.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the entire book of “Pocahontas and the Powhatan dilemma” the reader will be left shocked from discovering the real essence of the Native American culture. By unfolding many mysteries related to the English men-Powhatan relationship, Camilla Townsend intends to give the readers an awareness of the great plethora of lies written by the English people about the Native Americans that has been instilled in popular culture. The problem with all of this is that the author herself has failed to give an accurate account of history due to three main reasons.…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Native American Paper

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Native American literature is considered by many as the traditional written and oral literature of Native cultures around the world. Many of these literatures are transmitted over periods of time by storytellers. This particular literature has many features that includes a mixture of oral tradition techniques along with tribal mythology. The majority of these historic manuscripts of the Native Americans is deeply rooted in symbolic and mythic standards. This assignment will focus on how Native American literature is rooted in storytelling. The selected text of choice for the assignment is “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” by Louise Erdrich and “She Had Some Horses” by Joy Harjo…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the author depicts a transformation she undergoes during her captivity at the hands of the Indians. While her first inclination in captivity is to end her suffering as quickly as possible by giving up on her life, Rowlandson quickly takes up the role of survivalist, determined to stay alive long enough to be released and returned back to civilization. Along the way, however, Rowlandson compromises on aspects of her life in order to achieve this survival. As a means of surviving the ordeal of a constantly changing environment, Rowlandson adapts her opinions regarding food, the Native Americans, and even the land around her to take on the perspective of a savage, similar to that of her captors, as a means of compensating with her perceived savage environment.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays