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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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