The Great Sioux Nation Case Study

The Great Sioux Nation
The Sioux Native Americans are a diverse tribe. There are three unions that make up seven different tribes that are distributed in the United States. The unions are the Dakota, or also known as the Santee, the Nakota, which makes up the Yankton and the Yanktonai tribes, and the final union is the Lakota, which makes up seven other tribes. The Santee Dakota can be found along the Minnesota River in what is now Minnesota. The Yankton Nakota migrated along the Missouri River in what is now southeastern South Dakota, and in southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa. The Lakota settled the greatest west to the Black Hills region of what is now western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and eastern Montana (fofweb.com). We can still see many factors made
up by the Sioux Native Americans today. For example, both North and South Dakota are named after the Sioux Tribes (Indians.org). The Sioux have followed patterns of being nomadic and also settlers. Originally the Lakota and Dakota Indians were farmers as well as hunters, but when the Spanish introduced horses to them they became mostly nomads for a long period of time, moving frequently to follow the seasonal migrations of buffalo herds. Horses being introduced to the Sioux Native Americans can be seen as positive form of popular culture.
The governance system of the Sioux is based on law and customs.
The tribes were made up of sub-tribes, which then were divided into other clans and bands of Sioux Indians. Each tribe was assigned a chief, who was chosen by their successfulness in war and by their ability to gain the public’s acceptance. The issues were dealt by the council in the tribe, which was made up of the community and elders. The moral codes of these Natives Americans were immensely important. The single act of being morally right could elevate a man into higher position of leadership. In each village, there were a set of “holy people” often called medicine man or priests. There were two different kinds of holy man; one could heal, bring good weather, or make the days hunt prosperous. The others could communicate with the spirits, andforesee the future, called shamans. Unlike the chiefs (that were always men) shamans or healers could be women. (galafilm.com). Popular culture has affected the governance system of the Sioux by spreading out the idea of “holy man” and “shamans” as uncommon or unreal. This could be seen as bad, because they lose some their earliest governance beliefs that were once the foundation of the
Sioux.
The Sioux was engaged in traditional religious practices. They believed that “Nature and humans were one”. To the Sioux the great creator was the Wankan Tanka, which translates into “all that is mysterious and holy”. Like many, they believed that their creator had always existed and always will. The Wankan Tanka was the “sun, moon, and the earth”. Other than the Wankan Tanka there were other spiritual beings, invisible to everyone, except to the holy ones. These invisible beings were called the Wakanpi. Death and the afterlife was not a big terror for the Sioux, which made them fierce warriors. Although The Sioux believed strongly in their customs, much changed when they were forced into reservation , where many branches of Christianity were allowed into these reservations, which were then able to influence this tribe into changing part of its ways of life (galafilm.com). This is one disadvantage that popular culture has come to affect the Sioux Nations, because many of their original customs have come to be sparsely spread throughout this particular tribe of Natives Americans.
Sioux women and men used various types of animal skins as traditional attire. Popular culture has brought them more efficient and comfortable clothing alternatives. Most of what the Sioux did to their appearance had a great purpose to them. For example, whenever the woman lost a loved one, it was custom to cut their usually long hair into a short bob, to represent their mourning. Men would usually wrap their long braided hair in cloth that had intricate strips and furs. The Sioux would paint their bodies in various patterns that would indicate time of war or time of festivities. Today, some of the Sioux Indians still wear custom clothing, but they pair them with jeans and other modern clothing instead of all the original attire. Which this is an advantage that popular culture has brought to the Sioux, because now there will be no need to kill as many animals for clothing (mason.gmu.edu).
Much has changed in the Sioux tribes in the years. They have been split up, hungered, and moved onto reservations by the United States government. The Act of 1889 allotted the Great Sioux Nation into small reservations. “What has been done in my country, I did not want. I did not ask for white people going through my country. When the white man comes in my country, he leaves a trail of blood behind him”. This is a quote by a famous Sioux Indian, named Red Cloud that clearly represents their feelings towards the people who removed the Sioux from their land. (snowwowl.com). This is one of the main disadvantage these Native Americans has faced, which is the loss of their tribal members. Once a Great nation, the Sioux, have lost nearly half of their members they once had.

References

"Chiefs - Sioux, About the Sioux." Chiefs - Sioux, About the Sioux - Galafilm, Montreal. Ed.
Galafilm Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013.
"Plains Indians." Plains Indians. Ed. Mason.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013.
“The Great Sioux Nation." Snowwowl.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
"Sioux Indians." Learn about the History of the Sioux. Ed. Indians.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013
Waldman, Carl. "Sioux." Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Third Edition. NewYork: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. American History Online. Web. 2013