iroquois indians
Kurtis Mendonca
Anthropology 4
Ethnography Research
10/10/2014
Iroquois Indians
The book I used for some of my ethnographic research was the League of the Iroquois by Lewis H. Morgan. The Iroquois were people of the longhouse. Longhouses are long and narrow bark covered homes, which contained one large extended family. Within the Iroquois tribe there were five sub clans that made up the Iroquois League which were the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
These sub clans made up the Iroquois League or league of peace and power, which was originally situated, in upstate New York between the Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls. With in these sub clans were three subdivided tribes, the turtle, bear, and wolf tribes, which were headed by a clan mother. The Iroquois were all considered an important native group in North American history. All Iroquois nations had matrilineal social structures which means the Iroquois women had more power in the tribe than the men did. They owned the property and the fields and determined kinship. “Kinship involves how people classify each other, the rules that affect people’s behavior and people’s actual behavior” (Nowak and Laird, 2010). Kinship is observed in our lives within our circle of social groups, and how we classify them in regards to importance and how we treat them is based on our classifications of them.
The Iroquois were a female dominated group. Unlike most societies, the Iroquois trace their ancestry through the women making them a matrilineal society. It is a culture of responsibility and respect, where each person is valued for their contribution to the group as a whole. Women are the main producers of food and owners of the land. The men help by clearing forest areas to prepare for farming. The men also hunt wild game as well as fight to protect their people. “The younger adults are expected to do a handle a larger share of work due to their strength and stamina. The basics of the Iroquois kinship
Anthropology 4
Ethnography Research
10/10/2014
Iroquois Indians
The book I used for some of my ethnographic research was the League of the Iroquois by Lewis H. Morgan. The Iroquois were people of the longhouse. Longhouses are long and narrow bark covered homes, which contained one large extended family. Within the Iroquois tribe there were five sub clans that made up the Iroquois League which were the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
These sub clans made up the Iroquois League or league of peace and power, which was originally situated, in upstate New York between the Adirondack Mountains and Niagara Falls. With in these sub clans were three subdivided tribes, the turtle, bear, and wolf tribes, which were headed by a clan mother. The Iroquois were all considered an important native group in North American history. All Iroquois nations had matrilineal social structures which means the Iroquois women had more power in the tribe than the men did. They owned the property and the fields and determined kinship. “Kinship involves how people classify each other, the rules that affect people’s behavior and people’s actual behavior” (Nowak and Laird, 2010). Kinship is observed in our lives within our circle of social groups, and how we classify them in regards to importance and how we treat them is based on our classifications of them.
The Iroquois were a female dominated group. Unlike most societies, the Iroquois trace their ancestry through the women making them a matrilineal society. It is a culture of responsibility and respect, where each person is valued for their contribution to the group as a whole. Women are the main producers of food and owners of the land. The men help by clearing forest areas to prepare for farming. The men also hunt wild game as well as fight to protect their people. “The younger adults are expected to do a handle a larger share of work due to their strength and stamina. The basics of the Iroquois kinship