Encyclopedia of World CulturesVolume I - NORTH AMERICA - C docx

As noted above, the extended family and the somewhatlarger kinshipnetworkwerethe basic social group-ings in Cajun society.. Mutuallybeneficial trade relations induced the Catawba to ally

Cahuilla 47Cahuilla

ETHNONYMS:Ceni, Caddoquis, Teja

'Caddo" isthenameused foranumberof relatedand

perhaps affiliatedgroups who lived inthe lower Red River

Valleyandsurroundingsections of whatare nowLouisiana,

easternTexas,and southern Arkansas.The number ofCaddo

subgroupsisunknown andmayhaverangedfromsix to more

than a dozen, including the Adai, Natchitoches,

Kadoha-dacho,Hasinai, Hainai, andEyeish.Thename"Caddo"is an

Anglicization of the Frenchcorruption of"Kadohadacho,"

thenameofoneof thesubgroups.Eachsubgroup spokea

dia-lect of theCaddolanguage; onlyKadohadacho and Hasinai

are spoken today The Caddo now live mainly onallotted

landinCaddoCounty, Oklahoma,wheretheyareaffiliated

with the Wichita and Delaware andare largely assimilated

into European-Americansociety. In 1984 therewere about

three thousandCaddo

Firstcontact wasevidentlywith Hernando de Soto's

ex-pedition of1540.Subsequentcontactswith theSpanishand

French were generally peaceful, though the Caddo were

drawnintothewarsbetweenthe French and Spanish and

de-populatedbydisease.Followingthe LouisianaPurchase, the

Caddo ceded their landtothe federalgovernmentand moved

firstto Texasand then, in 1859, to theirpresent locale in

whatis nowOklahoma

TheCaddo lived insettledvillagesoflarge earthlodges

and grass-covered lodges similar to those of the Wichita

They subsisted throughacombination ofhorticulture,

hunt-ing,and gathering.Maizeand beanswerethemajor cropsand

deerandbisontheprimary game animals The Caddowere

well knownfor theirhighly developed manufactures

includ-ingbaskets,mats,cloth, andpottery.Their religion centered

on a supremedeity and lesser deities Theceremonial cycle

closely followed the annual subsistence cycle Leadership

rested with hereditary chiefs and subchiefs The tribeis

gov-ernedtoday by elected tribal officers andacouncil, which

op-erates independently of the similar bodies that govern the

Delaware and Wichita

BibliographyGregory, H F (1986) The Southern Caddo:AnAnthology

NewYork: Garland Publishing

Pertulla, TimothyK (1980) "The Caddo Indians of

Louisi-ana: AReview." LouisianaArchaeology 7:116-121.

ETHNONYMS: Cahahaguillas, Coahuillas, Cowela, Dancers,Jecuches, Kahuilla, Kawia

The Cahuillaare an American Indiangroupwholived

aboriginallyandcontinue tolivein south-central California

in a regionborderedroughly bythe San Bernardino

Moun-tains onthe north and Borrego Springs and the ChocolateMountains onthe south.Neighboringgroups werethe Mo-have,Tipai-Ipai, Serrano,Gabrielino,Juanefio,andLuisefio.Estimatesof theprecontactpopulationrangefromthirty-sixhundredto tenthousand Today, the Cahuillanumber aboutfifteen hundred and liveon or, moreoften,near ten reserva-

tions insouthern California The Cahuillalanguageisfied in the Cupan subgroup of the Takic family of Uto-Aztecan languages Althoughithadnearlybecomeextinct,

classi-efforts are now underway through language programs forCahuilla childrento maintain its use.Becauseof their inlandlocation, the Cahuillaweredirectly influenced byEuropeanslater than othermore western groups. Firstcontactwith theSpanishwasindirectthrough other Indiangroupswheremis- sions were established and probably mostly involved thespread ofEuropeandiseasestotheCahuilla Regularcontact

beganinabout1819and ledtotheCahuilla's adopting

farm-ingand cattleraising,workingfortheSpanish, and

convert-ing toRomanCatholicism In 1863 theCahuillawere

seri-ously depopulated by a smallpox epidemic The reservation

period beganin 1877, andsincethattimeand until the last

twenty yearsthe Cahuilla havebeen generally dependenton

and under the influence of the federalgovernment. Despite

majorchangesintheireconomy,religion, andsocialand

po-liticalorganization,the Cahuillacontinue to stresstheirtural identity while also identifying with the pan-Indian

cul-movement.

Aboriginally, the Cahuilla livedin permanentvillagesin

sheltered valleysnear water sources,with seasonalexcursions

to gatheracorns. Because they occupiedanecologically

di-verse region, majorfoodsourcesvariedfromone area to

an-other The Cahuilla, were, however, basically gatherers with rabbits, deer, mountain sheep, and smallrodents hunted andacorns, cacti roots, mesquite,berries, and

hunter-numerousother plant foods gathered.Basketrywashighlyveloped, with four types of coiled baskets made and deco-rated Today, the Cahuillaareintegrated, though somewhatmarginally, intothe Whiteeconomyandderiveincomefrom

de-wagelabor, salaried positions,business ownership, farming,and cattle raising.

Aboriginal social and politicalorganizationrestedon

pa-trilineages, clans, andmoieties. Both thelineages andclans

werelandowningunits Reciprocity was acentral value andpermeated all relationships, both between humans and be-

tween humans and the supernaturalworld The key ship positions werethe lineage leader, his administrativeas- sistant,and the shamans Tribal affairsaretoday managed by

leader-reservationbusinesscouncils andadministrativecommittees

and through participation in interreservation associations.

The traditional religion emphasizedthe performance ofindividual rituals as a means ofmaintaining balanced rela-tionships between all things andevents intheuniverse Tra-

ditionalpractices arestill usedinfuneralceremonies,thoughCaddo

48 Cahuilla

most Cahuilla are now Roman Catholics and some are

Protestants

BibliographyBean, Lowell J (1978). "Cahuilla." In Handbook ofNorth

AmericanIndians.Vol.8,California,editedbyRobertF

Hei-zer, 575-587 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Bean, LowellJ., andHarryW Lawton (1965).The Cahuilla

Indians ofSouthern California Banning, Calif.: Malid

Mu-seum Press

Cajuns

ETHNONYMS: Acadians of Louisiana

Orientation

Identification The Cajuns are a distinct cultural group of

people who have lived mainly in south-central and

southwest-ern Louisiana since the late eighteenth century In the past,

because of their Acadian heritage, residential localization,

unique language, and Roman Catholicism, it was relatively

easy to distinguish Cajuns from other groups in Lousiana.

Today, their identity is less clear It usually 'applies to those

who are descended from Acadians who migrated in the late

1770s and early 1800s from Canada to what is now

Louisi-ana, and/or live or associate with a Cajun life-style

character-ized by rural living, family-centered communities, the Cajun

French language, and Roman Catholicism Cajuns in

Louisi-ana today are a distinct cultural group, separate from the

Aca-dians of Nova Scotia Like the Appalachians and Ozarkers,

they are considered by outsiders to be a traditional folk

cul-ture with attention given to their arts and crafts, food, music,

and dance The name "Cajuns" is evidently an English

mis-pronunciation of 'Acadians." Cajun and Black Creole

cul-ture share a number of common elements, some of which are

discussed in the entry on Black Creoles of Louisiana.

Location In 1971 the Louisiana legislature designated

twenty-two parishes as Acadiana: Acadia, Ascension,

As-sumption, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline,

Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Pointe

Coupee, St Charles, St James, St John, St Landry, St

Mar-tin, St Mary, Terrebonne, Vermilion, and West Baton

Rouge This region includes coastal marshes, swamps,

prai-ries, and levee land In recent decades, as the region has

ex-perienced economic development and population shifts, the

boundaries of Acadiana have blurred And the Cajuns are

not the only residents of these parishes, which include

non-Cajun Whites of various ethnic backgrounds,

African-Americans, Black Creoles, and others.

Demography In the 1970s there were about 800,000

Ca-juns in Louisiana After Acadians began arriving in

idly,from about6,000in 1810to35,000in 1815to270,000

in 1880

Linguistic Affiliation Language use by Cajuns is a plextopic,with therelationshipbetweenthespeakersandthesocial context often determining what language is spoken CajunFrenchisthelanguage commonlyassociated with the

com-Cajun culture, though many Cajuns nolonger speak it

flu-entlyandits usehas declinedmarkedlyintheyoungertion.OlderCajuns speak CajunFrenchinthe home and withother Cajuns CajunFrench differs from standard Frenchin

genera-theuseofsomearchaic forms ofpronunciation,the inclusion

ofvariousloanwords fromEnglish,AmericanIndian, ish,and Africanlanguages,andasimplifiedgrammar.Cajuns usuallyuseEnglishasthecontactlanguageandasthe domes-tic language in an increasing number of homes In some

Span-homes and communities, Creole French isspoken as well

History and Cultural Relations Cajunculturebeganwith the arrival of French Acadians (the French-speaking people of the territory that is now mainly

Nova ScotiainCanada) whomigratedtoand settledinwhat

is now Louisianamainlybetween 1765 and 1785 Some

mi-grated directlyfromAcadia, whereas others cameafterstays

inFranceand theWestIndies Allcame as partof thedianDiaspora, which resulted from theirforced exilebytheBritish from Acadiain 1755 Becauseofadditionalmigrantswho arrivedintheearly 1800sandahighbirthrate,theAca-dians increasedin numbers rapidly andwere soon the most

Aca-numerousgroupin manylocales wheretheysettled Once

set-tledinLousiana,inenvironmentsverydifferent from Acadiaand in contact with other cultures including BlackCreoles,

American Indians, Germans, Spaniards, and Italians, theAcadian culturebegantochange, eventually becomingwhathascome to be calledCajunculture With the exception ofthose inthe levee-landregionwho lost their landtoAnglos,

mostCajunslived inrelative isolationin ruralcommunitieswhere they farmed, fished, orraised cattle

Itwas notuntil after WorldWar Ithatmainstream ety entered Acadiana and began to influence Cajun life.Mechanization of farming, fishing, and cattle raising, the

soci-buildingof roadslinkingsouthernLouisianatotherestof thestate, mass communication, and compulsory education

changed local economicconditions and exposed Cajunsto mainstream Louisiana society Contact also meantthat the

useof Cajun French decreased, and in 1921 it wasbannedfromuse inpublic schools

Theend of WorldWarII and thereturnofCajun

veter-ans totheir homes wasthebeginning ofa new era in Cajun culture, one characterized by continuing involvement inmainstreamlife andbythe birth ofCajun ethnicity,reflected

inprideinone'sheritage and efforts topreservesometional beliefs and practices In 1968 Lousiana created theCouncil for the Development of French in Louisiana

tradi-(CODOFIL) as a mechanism to encourage the teaching ofFrench in public schools Because of conflicts over whichFrench to teach-standard French or Cajun French-theprogram has notbeen a total success, though many Cajun

children do participate in French-language programs.Acadiansare oneofanumber ofgroupsof Frenchances-

try in Louisiana, which also includethe French-Canadians, Creoles,and those whoemigrated directlyfromFrance.Rela-

Cajuns 49

tionsbetweenthe Cajunsand othergroupsin Louisiana

in-cluding Anglos,Creoles,BlackCreoles,and otherswere

gen-erally peacefulbecause theCajunswerelargely self-sufficient,

livedindistinctly Cajunregions,werenumericallydominant

inthoseregions, and choseto avoid conflict Thattheywere

RomanCatholic while othersweremainlyProtestantfurther

contributed to group segregation Within theregional class

structure,Cajunswereconsidered better than Blacks but the

lowestgroup of Whites In general, theywere seen as poor,

uneducated, fun-loving backwoods folk Cajuns generally

viewed themselves as superior to thepoor rural Whites

re-ferred to as Rednecks

Settlements

Acadian settlements in the past varied in size, style, and

structure amongthe fourmajorenvironmentalzones.

Settle-mentsincluded isolatedhouses, smallfarms, towns,ranches,

and families living on houseboats Population relocations,

the arrival ofnon-Cajuns,andchangesin economic activities

have all produced changes in settlement patterns In recent

years, there has beenamarked trend to settlementin towns

andcities throughmigrationfrom the ruralareas.The

Aca-dian cottage, a small, nearly square dwellingwith acovered

frontporch andhigh-pitched roof, was a distintively Cajun

house type inthe 1800s It was raised a few feet above the

groundand constructed fromcypresswood and infilled with

clay and moss. Some later styles ofdwellings were

elabora-tionsonthe basicstyle, thoughall havenowbeenreplaced by

modem-style homes made from mass-produced materials

Economy

Subsistenceand CommercialActivities InCanada, the

Acadians livedby farming (wheat,oats,rye,vegetables),

rais-ingcattle,andfishing,andby selling surpluscropsandcattle

andbuying manufactured products. Louisiana had a

mark-edlydifferentenvironment, with four environmentalregions,

none exactly the same asAcadia These new environments

ledto the development ofnewsubsistence and commercial

pursuits in Louisiana as well as variation in activities from

one region to another In the levee-land region, the early

Cajunsettlersgrew maizeandriceforconsumptionand

cot-tonfor sale.Theyalsogrewvegetablesand raised cattle

Non-Cajuns began settling in theregion around 1800, however,

and took much of the land forlarge plantations.MostCajuns

movedelsewhere;those thatstayedlivedbysubsistence

farm-inginthe backwatersuntil wellintothe twentiethcentury In

theswamplandregion,fishingand thehuntingandgathering

ofcrawfish, ducks, crabs, turtles, frogs, and moss were the

majoreconomic activities Bythe late 1800s, mostCajunsin

thisregionwereinvolvedinthe commercialfishing industry,

andmanystillaretoday, though theyhave modernized their

equipmentand methods and often live outside the swamps

TheCajunswho settledontheLouisianaprairiesdeveloped

two economicadaptations.Thoseintheeast grew maizeand

cotton, supplemented by sweet potatoes Those in thewest

grewrice and raised cattle, with local variation in terms of

whichwas themore important Inthe marshlandregion, on

the Chernier Plain, Cajuns raised cattle, trapped, and

gar-dened;onthe Deltaic Plainthey farmed,fished, hunted,and

trapped.

Regularcontactwith the outside economy,which

influ-enced allregionsbyabout 1920,haschangedthetraditional

economy.Cattleranchinghasdeclined, andsugarcane,rice,cotton,andmaize are nowthemajorcrops.Astownshave de-

velopedandcompulsoryeducation laws have beenenforced,Cajunshave beenemployedin service-sectorjobs, andmany

nowworkinthe oiland gasindustries that have entered thesouthernpartof the region Withpublic interestinthe Ca-

juns as a folk culturedeveloping in the 1960s, tourism hasalso become a sourceofincome

Industrial Arts Aspects of the traditional subsistence

technologyof the1 800sthat drawattentiontodayaremainly adaptationsto lifein theswamp andmarshlands The tradi-tionaltechnologyhasbeenmodernized, althoughtraditional

knowledge and skills are still valued Aspects ofthe tionaltechnologythatareofinteresttodayaretheCajuncot-

tradi-tage,thevarioustools andtechniquesusedincollecting

craw-fish, crabs,andmoss, and thepirogue (anarrow canoe madefrom adugout log orplanks).

Trade The intinerant traders (marchand-charette) who

once supplied most household supplies are a thing of thepast MostCajunfamiliesare nowintegratedintothemain-

stream economy and purchase goods and services

Division of Labor The traditional economy centeredon

cooperationamongmembers of theextendedfamilyand dred.Mengenerallyhadresponsibilityfor subsistenceactivi-ties, andwomenmanagedthe household.AstheCajunshavebeen drawnintoAmericansociety, traditionalsexroles have

kin-weakened, withwomen nowworking outside the home andoften taking the lead in "Americanizing" the family.

LandTenure DespitetheirearlysettlementinLouisiana,Cajunsownrelativelylittle land This isthe result ofa num-

ber offactors, including dishonest landagents, Cajun

igno-rance ormisunderstandingof realestatelaws,andpatrilineal

inheritance of property coupled with patrilocal residencewhich meant that once sizable farms were divided intosmaller and smaller units overthe generations Today, lum-

bering, fossil fuel, and agricultural corporations own muchland inthe Cajunregion, andin somelocales, manyCajuns

lease the landtheyfarm

Kinship

The basic social andeconomic unit intraditionaltimes was

thepatrilineallyextendedfamily,whosemembers often lived

near oneanother.Nearbyresidencewasencouraged by

patri-local postmarital residence which involved fathers givingnewlymarriedsons apieceof thefamilyland Widertieswere

also maintained with the local community, which often

in-volved homesteads located some miles from one another.Preferentialcommunity endogamymeant that others inthecommunity often included the wife's kin People were in-

volved with this kinship networkthroughout their lives

Marriage and Family

MarriageandDomestic Unit. Althoughcommunityand

in-group endogamy was preferred, some women did marry

non-Cajunmenwhowererapidlyandeasilyassimilatedinto

thegroup Marriage usuallyoccurredat ayoung age.Divorce

was rare and difficulttojustify Althoughthe nuclearfamily

unitlivedinthesamedwellingaspartof the extendedfamily,

50 Cajuns

the extended familywasthebasicsocial andeconomic unit

Kinworkedtogether, helpedbuild each other'shouses,went

tothe same church, had to approvethe marriage of female

kin,cared for each other's children,andsocialized and

cele-bratedtogether. Both the countrybutchery (la boucherie de

campagne),where kinmet everyfewdaystobutcherhogsfor

meat, and theweekly publicdance (fais do-do) provided

op-portunities for regular socializing by family members Men

werethemajordecision makersintheirhomes,but ifa man

died, hiswife,nothissons, assumed control Children lived

athome untilthey married

This traditionalpatternofmarriageandfamily beganto

change afterWorldWar Iand thenchangedeven more

rap-idlyafterWorld War 1I.Today,nuclear families havereplaced

extended ones, with economic ties now far less important

than socialones inkinshipgroups.Husbandsnolonger

dom-inatefamilies,as womenworkoutside the home and establish

livesfor themselvesindependentoftheir families The

prohi-bitionof theteachingof FrenchinLouisianaschools has

cre-ated a generation gap in some families with grandparents

speaking Cajun French, parents speaking some Cajun

French, and the grandchildren speaking only English.

Mar-riagetooutsiders has also becomemorefr-equent,andisoften

thereverseof the formerpattern,withCajunmen now

marry-ing non-Cajunwomenwho acculturate their husbands into

mainstream society

Socialization Traditionally,childrenwereraisedbythe

ex-tended family Cajuns rejectedformaleducation outside the

homeexceptforinstruction provided bythe church Parents

emphasizedtheteachingofeconomicanddomestic skills and

participationintheactivitiesofthekinshipnetwork.In 1916

school attendance upto age fifteen becamecompulsory,

al-thoughthe lawwas notrigorouslyenforced until 1944 Public

school educationplayedamajorroleinweakeningthe

tradi-tional culture,as itresultedin manychildren neverlearning

or even forgetting Cajun French and provided skills and

knowledge usefulin mainstreamsociety,thusgivingyounger

Cajuns theopportunityforupwardsocioeconomic mobility.

Today, Cajun children attend both public and parochial

schools andtensof thousandsparticipateinFrench-language

programsinelementaryschools Therapid growthof the

Uni-versity of Southwestern Louisiana, McNeese State

Univer-sity, and NichollsStateUniversityisevidence thatmany

Ca-juns now attend college as well

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Social cohesiveness inCajun

com-munitiesaswellas ageneralsenseofbeing Cajunwas

main-tained through various informal mechanisms that brought

Cajuns together both physically and symbolically. The

RomanCatholic churchwas amajorunifying force,as it

pro-videdthe beliefsystemthatsupportedmanyCajunpractices

aswellasdifferentiated Cajunsfrom theirmostly Protestant

neighbors. As noted above, the extended family and the

somewhatlarger kinshipnetworkwerethe basic social

group-ings in Cajun society These social units were maintained

through dailyparticipationof members andthrough regularly

scheduled get-togethers such as the boucherie and the fais

do-do and the cockfights that brought the men together.

Therewas noformal classstructure,thoughaCajun elite,the

"Genteel Acadians" emerged in the early 1800s They were

mainly a few familieswho had become wealthy as farmers, merchants, or professionals They tended to marry non-Cajuns, lived among AnglosandCreoles, andlooked downuponthepoor,ruralCajuns.WithintheCajungroupingen-

eral, there was a continuum ofwealth, though most were

poor.Today,astheCajunshave shifted frombeingadistinctcultural group to an ethnic group, group cohesiveness has

weakened,witha senseof"being Cajun"derived frombership in agroup that shares a common tradition.PoliticalOrganization. Therewas nooverarching political

mem-structure governing Cajun life, nor was there any purely Cajun politicalorganizationatthe locallevel.Rather, Cajuns generally participated in Louisiana and national politics as

voters.Two governorsand otherstateofficialscamefrom theGenteel Acadian ranks in the 1880s In the 1900s, Edwin

Edwards, "the Cajun Governor" was first electedin 1972.Social Control and Conflict Conflicts were preferably

handledby the local group, through mediators, or through fightingbetweenmenwhenmattersof honorwereinvolved

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religous Beliefs TheCajunswereandaremainlyRomanCatholic Expertssuggestthat the traditional culturecannot

be understoodunless the central role of the Catholic church

isconsidered On theonehand,theirRomanCatholic beliefs

settheCajunsapartfrom thesurrounding population,which

was mainly Baptistand Methodist Onthe otherhand, thechurchwas avisible and activeparticipant infamilyandso-

cial lifein everycommunity Thepriestwasoftenamajorure inthecommunity, settingthe moraltoneandservingas a

fig-confidant and adviser as necessary. All life events such asbirth, marriage, and death required church rituals as did

many daily events, with the blessing offields, tools, boats,

andso on anintegralpartof the workcycle.Therewerealso

numerous festivals and feast days of religious significance Perhaps more important, the church teachings formed thebelief system underlying Cajun social organization Maledominance inthehome,stablemarriages, large families,and

so on wereallinaccord with therequirementsof the church

In addition, Roman Catholicism as practiced in Acadianacreatedanatmospherethat allowed the celebration oflife,or

"lajoie de vivre," so characteristic ofCajun culture.Ceremonies All themajorRomanCatholicholidayswere

celebratedbytheCajuns.MardiGraswasthemostimportantfestival, with local communities celebrating in ways oftenmuch different than that in New Orleans Public dances

(bals), festivals,and feastswereregularlyheldinCajun

com-munities All usually involvedcommunity dinners, dancing, playing, drinking beer,andmusicmaking,and allwerefamily

affairs with the entire family participating Although theyoccur nowlessoften,publicdances,especiallythe faisdo-do,

are still important social events for the extended family.Dances, parties,and otheropportunitiestohaveagoodtime

are an integral element ofthe Cajun life-style. Numerousother festivalsareheldinAcadianaeachyear, manyofwhich

are harvest festivals focusing on local crops such as sugar cane, rice, crawfish, andshrimp.

Arts With theircurrent status as afolkculture, ableinteresthasdevelopedinthe expressiveelements oftra-

consider-ditionalCajun culture, especiallythe musicand food Both

Caribou Inuit 51

areunique culturalforms,withaFrench base combined with

elements drawn from American Indian, Spanish, African,

British, and Germancultures Both have alsochangedover

the years as new features have been added Today, Cajun

music comes in avariety ofstyles,thetwo mostprominent

beingthecountry-westernstyleandzydeco,which reflects the

influence of Blackrhythmand blues.Cajunmusicinvolvesa

band, singing, andsometimesfoot-stomping.Theparticular

instruments vary withthestyle,thoughthe fiddle and

accor-dionhave beenbasic instruments forsome time Aswith their

music, Cajun food reflects thecombiningof elements froma

number of cultural traditionson arural French base

Tradi-tional Cajun cuisine was alsoinfluenced, of course, by the

foods grown oravailablelocally.Fromthis combinationof

in-fluences,wefind, forexample, theheavyuseof cayenne

pep-perfor a piquant taste, an oil and flour roux, gumbo,dirty

rice,jambalaya, boudin (stuffed hog intestine casings), and

crawfish asdistinctive elements of Cajun food

See alsoAcadians, Black Creoles ofLouisiana

BibliographyConrad, Glenn R.,ed (1983).The Cajuns: Essays on Their

History and Culture.Lafayette:Center for LouisianaStudies,

University ofSouthwestern Louisiana

Del Sesto, Steven L., and Jon L Gibson, eds (1975) The

Cultureof Acadiana: Tradition and Change inSouth

Louisi-ana Lafayette: University of Southwestern Louisiana

Dorman, James H (1983) The People Called Cajuns

Lafay-ette: CenterforLouisianaStudies, University of

Southwest-em Louisiana

Rushton,William Faulkner(1979).The Cajuns: From Acadia

to Louisiana.NewYork: Farrar, Straus&Giroux

Caribou Inuit

ETHNONYM: Kinnepatoo

Caribou Inuitrefersto fiveindependentgroups

(Qaimir-miut, Harvaqtuurmiut, Hauniqtuurmiut, Paallirmiut, and

Ahiarmiut) ofcentral Canadian Inuitlocatedonand inland

from thewestshore ofHudsonBaybetween610 and650 N

and 90° and 102° W.The name "Caribou" was appliedby

Europeans on the Fifth Danish Thule Expedition

(1921-1924) and reflects the groups' reliance on the caribou for

food andrawmaterials The fivegroups didnot view

them-selvesas partofanylargeroverarchinggroup. The Caribou

Inuittodaynumberabout three thousandlocatedinthe

vil-lages ofChesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove,

Es-kimoPoint,andBakerLake.They speakdialectsofthe

Inuit-Inupiaq language

Theprehistoryof theCaribouInuitisunclear.First

con-tactwith Whiteswas in1612-1613,although regularcontact

began only after the founding of what was to becomeChurchill, Manitoba, in 1717 From then on, the CaribouInuit have undergone a slow but steady acculturation intoCanadian society,involving theuseofgunsinhunting andthe introduction of trapping, regular trade, and whaling Ac-culturative pressure intensifiedfollowing resettlement in thepermanentvillages after 1950 and the introduction of Cana-dianschools, television,and wagelabor.Inresponsetotheseforces andWhite claims on traditionalInuitland, the Cari-bou Inuit have been actively involved in Inuit politicalorganizations

Thetraditional winter dwellingwasthe snowhouse, placed by theskin-covered snow houseand then the conicalskintent inthe warmer months Campsnumbered fromafewpeopleto asmanyasfifty, and splitorcoalesced as food sup-

re-plies allowed Beginning in 1950, the Caribou Inuit along

with someNetsilik and Iglulik Inuit weresettled by the dian governmentinprefabricated housing in the fivevillageslisted above

Cana-Thetraditional economy centered on the caribou, whichwas the primary source for food and raw material for cloth-ings, tents, tools, and containers Caribou hunting remains

an important activity, though the traditional methods ofherding and lancing from kayaks have been replaced by riflesand snowmobiles Fishing was and is also important, againwith traditional methods and equipment giving way to mod-

emones.Although each group was associated with a lar region, land was generally open to all who wanted to ex-ploit it Today, wage labor, craftproduction for the touristtrade, andwelfare have become important sources of income.The patrilocallyextended family residing in one large orseveraladjacent dwellings was the basic social unit The old-est capable male was the group leader (ihumataq) Poly-gynousmarriage (especially sororal polygyny) was common,andpolyandryhas been reported Intermarriage between dif-ferentgroups wasevidently common Patrilocal residence wasthenorm, though other arrangements were permitted

particu-No centralized authority existed for any of the fivegroups norfor the Caribou Inuit in general Cooperation inhunting and trade was based on kinship and residential pat-tems Partnerships of various types common in other Inuitgroups wererelatively unimportant

Caribou Inuitmyths are similarinfocus to those othercentralInuit groups, thoughsomewhat less elaborated Thecaribou figured centrally in the supernatural world; it was pro-tectedby Pingna (a female supernatural figure who alsopro-tected otherliving things) and was the object of various ta-boos Hela (air) was the source of misfortune Shamanstreated illness and predicted the future Singing and songfeasts were important and frequent expressive activities

Bibliography

Arima, Eugene Y (1984)."Caribou Eskimo." In Handbook ofNorth American Indians Vol 5, Arctic, edited by DavidDamas, 447-462 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Insti-tution

Birket-Smith, Kaj (1929) The Caribou Eskimos: Material andSocial Life and Their Cultural Position Report of the FifthThule Expedition, 1921-24 Vol 5, Pt 2 Copenhagen,Denmark

52 Carrier

Carrier

ETHNoNYM: Takulli

The Carrier are an American Indian group located in

north-central British Columbia along the numerous lakes

andriversintheregion.Theestimatedprecontactpopulation

ofroughly eighty-fivehundred decreasedto alow of about

fif-teen hundredby 1890 and hassince increased to about six

thousand The Carrier were composed of fourteen named

subtribes,whichonthe basis ofcultural, territorial,and

lin-guistic evidence have been classified into two orthree

divi-sions such as the northern, central, and southern Carrier

Seventeenbandsarerecognized bytheCanadiangovernment

today. The Carrier use the subtribe names in reference to

themselves They speak anAthapaskan language.

Carrierprehistoryisunclear TheCarrierwereinvolved

in intensive trade relations with groups to thewest, which

eventuallyinvolved indirect trade with White tradersmaking

portonthe northwestcoast toseekbeaver, fox,and other furs

supplied by the interior groups Contact with Northwest

Coastgroupssuch asthe Gitksan andBellacoola resultedin

the Carrier adopting the social stratification/potlatch

com-plexof thesegroups Firstcontactwith Whiteswas in 1793

Within fifteen years, North West Company fur trade posts

wereestablishedinCarrierterritory andthe traditional

Car-rierhuntingandfishingeconomybegantochange. Furtrade

activitywasjoined by goldminingin 1858,thenfarmingand

ranching, and finally lumbering ofCarrierlands

Prior to Whitesettlement, families followed an annual

cycleofcongregatinginsettlementstovisit,potlatch,prepare

food forstorage, and live off of stored foodorseparatingin

ordertohunt andtrap Beginninginthelate1800s,the

gov-ernmentbegansettingaside land for theCarrier,whichnow

includessomesixty-threethousandacres in over twohundred

reserves.Traditionaldwellingsincluded A-frame houses and

plankhouses modeled after those of the NorthwestCoast

The Carrier were hunters, fishers, and fur trappers

Salmonwastheprimaryfishtakeninbaskettraps,and

bea-ver, bear, caribou, and other animals were hunted The fur

trade, at first indirect through the Northwest Coast groups

and later direct with the North West Company and then

Hudson's Bay Company, quickly replaced huntingand

fish-ingastheprimaryeconomicactivity.Asthe furtrade became

moreandmorelucrative, purchaseoffood andequipment

re-placed hunting for food and traditional manufactures to a

largeextent.Todaywagelabor(mostlyseasonal workin

can-neries, on ranches, or in lumbering) andgovernment

assist-ance arethe majorsourcesofincome supplemented by

trap-ping and craftsbysome families

PriortoextensivecontactwithNorthwestCoast groups,

the patrilineallyextended family (sadeku) was probably the

basic social unit. Northwest Coast influences produced

somewhat different forms of social organization amongthe

northern and southern Carrier subtribes Though subtribe

variation existed, in the North social organizational units

wentfrom subtribetophratriestoclanstomatrilineages.

So-cial rankingwas based onwealth (largely obtained through

the fur trade) and was signified by personal and clan crests

and potlatching. Control of subtribe land was allocated to

thephratries.IntheSouth,thesystemwasless elaboratewith

crest groups (who conducted potlatches), bilateral descentgroups, and sadeku Potlatching,bannedbythegovernmentanddiscouraged byCatholic missionaries, haslargely disap- peared Marriagewasusually precededand followedbya pe-

riod of bride-service.Polygyny,thesororate,and leviratewerepracticed in the past

The Carrierare nowmostly RomanCatholicinbelief,if

notentirelyinpractice.Traditional beliefsandpractices boos, dreaming, quests, and soon) focusedon spirits

(ta-Bibliography Jenness, Diamond (1943).TheCarrierIndiansoftheBulkley

River: Their Social andReligious Life. U.S Bureau of

Ameri-canEthnologyBulletinno. 133.Anthropological Papers,no.

25, Washington, D.C

Morice, Adrien G (1905) The History ofthe Northern rior ofBritish Columbia (Formerly New Caledonia), 1660-

Inte-1880 3rd ed Toronto: William Briggs.

Tobey, MargaretL (1981). "Carrier." InHandbookofNorthAmerican Indians Vol 6, Subarctic, edited by June Helm,

413-432 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

ontheedge (or bank) ofariver,"or"peopleof the fork." TheCatawba called themselves "Nieye" (people), or "Ye

iswa'here" (people of theriver).

Location Aboriginallythe Catawba livedinthe southernPiedmont between 34" and36" N and 79" and 82" W, an

area nowoccupied byNorth and South Carolina.Most

Cat-awbatoday live inthese two states.

Demnography Todaythe Catawbapopulation is

approxi-matelyfourteen hundred Atthebeginning offrequent

con-tactwithEuropeansinthe late seventeenthcentury,after150years ofsporadic contact (and, presumably, lossesto Euro-peandiseases), Catawbanumbers mayhave approachedten

thousand

linguistic Affiliation The Catawba aboriginal language

was abranch ofSiouan, often termed Eastern Siouan Thelast known speakerof the language diedin 1959

Catawba 53

History and Cultural Relations

Ancestorsof the historic Catawbaprobably migratedtothe

southern Piedmont from across theAppalachianMountains

severalcenturiesbefore Columbus When Europeansarrived,

theCatawba borderedonthe Cherokeetothe west, the

Che-raw,Occaneechi, Saponi, Tutelo, and other Siouan-speaking

Piedmont groupstothenorth, the Tuscaroratothe east,and

the Mississippian chiefdom of Cofitachique to the south

Contact withtheir fellow Piedmontpeoplesappears to have

beenpeaceful;relations with otherneighborsweremarkedby

conflict Initialcontactwith EuropeanscamewithHemando

de Soto'sexploratoryarmyin1540,but continuous contact

with Europeansdid not begin untilthe middle of the

follow-ing century, when traders from Virginia (and, after 1670,

South Carolina) pushedintothe Piedmont

Mutuallybeneficial trade relations induced the Catawba

to ally with the English colonists against the Tuscarora in

1711, butin1715abusesby colonial traders led the Catawba

to joinYamasee, Creeks, and othersin awar against South

Carolina Following their defeat, Catawba relations with the

English intruderswerepeaceful.Catawbawarriorsfought on

the side oftheBritish in the Seven Years' War and allied with

the Patriotcause in the American Revolution

In a 1763 treaty with representatives of the British

Crown, theCatawbaNation agreed to give upitsclaims to

much of the Carolina Piedmont in exchange for a reservation

of 225 square miles (144,000 acres) along the Catawba River

In 1840, however, the Indians,under intense pressure from

settlers (to whom they hadleased much of the reservation),

signed the Treaty of Nation Ford with South Carolina,

relin-quishing these landsinexchange for promisesof money and

the purchase of land somewhere else Efforts tosettle them

elsewhere-including an abortive attempt to remove them

across the Mississippi River with other Southeastern

Indians-were unsuccessful After a short stay among the

neighboringCherokee,the Catawba returned to the Catawba

River, where in 1842 South Carolina purchased a 630-acre

reservationforthem In 1943 the Catawba established a

rela-tionship with the federal government that included the

addi-tion of 3,500 acrestothereservation.This relationship with

the federal government was terminated in 1962, and the

"new" (federal) reservation was broken up Today many

Cat-awba remainon ornearthe"old" reservationestablished by

SouthCarolina in 1842

Settlements

Duringtheaboriginaland early contactperiodsthe Catawba

built settlementsalong the Piedmont's rivers and streams.At

onetimethesevillagesprobablywerewidelydispersed, but by

the earlyeighteenthcentury European diseases andraids by

enemyIndians had helped create a tight cluster of six or seven

towns,with perhaps fourhundred personsineach, near the

junction of the Catawba River and Sugar Creek Palisades

were acommon feature, aswereopenareasinthe center for

communal activities Mosttownshad a large"state house,"

which wasused for ceremonies and for greeting and housing

guests By the late eighteenth century, disease had reduced

the number ofsettlementstoone ortwo,and a declinein

en-emy raids made palisades superfluous A century later the

townsthemselves were gone, and the Catawbawerescattered

across the landscape-some on farms, others in nearbytowns-as theyare today

The aboriginal Catawba house was a circular or ovalstructure framed of bentsaplings and covered with barkor

skins Around the time of the American Revolution theybegan toimitatetheirWhiteneighbors and buildlogcabins.Today their houses are indistinguishable from those of thesurrounding population

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities The Catawbapursued a subsistence routine that balanced agriculture withhunting,fishing, and gathering The staples of their diet weremaizeand venison The peltry procured by the hunters was ingreat demand by European traders, who arrived inthe lateseventeenth century By the middle ofthe eighteenth cen-tury, however, the deerskintrade had declined, and the Cat-awbahad to find other ways to acquire the European goods-firearms, clothing, kettles-that had become necessities

Whilecontinuingtohunt,farm, andfish, theyalso leasedervationland toWhites after 1763 andpeddledhouseholdgoods, especially pottery, throughout the region With theloss of the reservation in 1840, manybecame sharecroppers

res-on nearby farms orearned a living selling firewood Today

mostCatawbaareemployed in local industry; many are fessionalsortradespeople

pro-Industrial Arts Aboriginal craftspeople produced pottery,baskets, and other items Today some thirty Catawba potterscontinue topracticetheir ancient craftregularly, and anothersixtydo so occasionally

Trade Inaboriginal times Catawba carried on an sivetradewith neighboring groups in deerskins, natural dyes,and otherproducts Trade with European colonistsincludedslaves, peltry, and baskets in exchange for firearms, alcohol,cloth, beads, and other items The pottery trade, which began

exten-inthe late eighteenth century, continues today

Division of Labor Until the end of the eighteenth tury, women were responsible for farming, dressing animal

cen-skins, cooking, making pottery and baskets, and raising thechildren The men hunted, fished, traded, and cleared newfields The decline of the deerskin trade reduced the men'seconomic importancewithout substantially altering the divi-sion oflabor; not until the end ofthe nineteenth century didmenbegin to replace women in performingagricultural tasks.Making and peddling pottery, which was primarily the re-sponsibility of the women, was central to the Catawba econ-omyuntil WorldWarII.Today the division of labor mirrorsthat of the surrounding society

Land Tenure Little isknownof Catawba land tenure inaboriginal times, but usufruct probablyprevailed, with ulti-mate ownership residing in thecommunity, but individual orfamilial rights to a tract respected aslong as that tract wasused The reservation established in 1763 placed all landsunder tribal authority, though particular families may haveheld the right to collect rent from certain tracts leased to

Whites On the state and federal reservations individuals

"owned"atract of land, with theright to rent it out and leave

it to their heirs.When the"new"federal reservation wassold

in 1962,Catawbascould choose a cash settlement or a tract

of land; 286of the 631 people on the tribal roll chosecash

54 Catawba

Todayonthe"old" (state) reservation,aCatawbamustapply

to the tribal council for an allotment

Kinship

KinGroups and Descent Catawba society was

matrili-neal atleast until theearly twentieth century Extended

kin-ship groupswereclearly importantindeterminingan

individ-ual's place in society-serving to protect one from harm,

determiningwhom one could marry, andsoon-but there is

noclear evidence of clans

Kinship Terminology Efforts to fit Catawba kinship

terms into an accepted kinship classification category have

beenunsuccessful Fragmentaryevidence, however, suggests

that theTutelo, a Siouan-speaking Piedmont tribe livingnear

the Catawbaincolonial times, followed the Dakotasystem

Marriage and Family

Marriage Catawba marriage rulesinaboriginal and

early-contact timesprobably forbade first-cousin marriages

Polyg-amy was neither unknown norcondemned, but most

mar-riages were monogamous Incourtship, a man or his relations

approached the woman's parentstoask permission, though

the woman'sconsent wasalsorequired Marriageswere

matri-local, and divorce was easily effected by either party

Domestic Unit Extended families have been and

con-tinue to bethe norm

Inheritance Matrilineal inheritance was the rule in earlier

times; bilateral inheritance obtains today

Socialization Catawba child-rearing practices were

per-missive, with ostracism, ridicule, and example the rule

Folk-tales were (and tosomedegree still are) animportant

educa-tional tool, setting out proper modes of behavior and warning

of punishment by native enemiesorsupernatural beings for

thosewhodisobey Today,formal educationishighlyvalued:

therewas aprimaryschoolon thereservationfrom 1898 to

1966, and beginning inthe 1930s Catawba were attending

the local high school Today many go on to college

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization Until the early nineteenth century,

men achieved status through theirskillsas hunters,warriors,

and speakers Age conferredstatus onbothmenandwomen

Women, who enjoyed equal status with men, may also have

acquired statusthrough theirskillsas potters-astatus that

may have increased in the nineteenth century as pottery's

economic role became more important Although

sur-rounded after 1750byaslave-owning culture, the Catawba

owned few slaves themselves Indeed, they tended to shun

African-Americans

Political Organization Towns were largely independent

before the arrival of Europeans, with eachtownpossessinga

council of elders, a headman, and a war captain At some

pointintheearly colonial period thesix or sevenvillages that

cametocompose thecoreof the CatawbaNationdeveloped

atribal government along thesamelinesasthetownpolitical

organization: a chief (eractasswa), apparently always drawn

from aspecifickin group,wasselectedbyacouncil made up

of leaders from each town During the eighteenth century,

refugeegroups-Cheraw, Wateree, and others-from other

partsof the Piedmont arrivedinthe Catawba Nation, builttheir own towns, and participated in this national counciluntileventually they were thoroughly incorporated into Cat-awba culture

In1944,aspart of their agreement with the federal

gov-ernment, the Catawba drew up a formal constitution alongthelines laid down in the Indian Reorganization Act (1934).Federal termination ended this constitutional government,but the basicpolitical structure of chief and council contin-ues today, with every adult member of the tribe eligible tovote for these officers

Social Control Until the late nineteenth century themaintenanceoforder among Catawbas was left to the tribe.Ostracism and ridicule were vital elements in ensuring goodbehavior, butmore serious crimessuch as homicide often led

torevengeby thekin of the victim Since the late nineteenthcenturythe Catawba have been subject to the laws of the sur-rounding society In addition, Mormon codes of conducthave been important in settingthe standards of behavior.Conflict Alcohol was a common cause ofviolence in theeighteenth century; early in the next century, rights to landleases on the reservation were a point of contention betweenfamilies Apparently the decision to sell the reservation in

1840 was also a source of conflict, as was the debate aboutwhether to remove to the west The decision to terminate thenation's relationship with the federalgovernment divided theCatawba in 1959, and today there are disagreements over thebest strategy forseekingcompensation for the Treaty of Na-tion Ford, which was never ratified by Congress as federal lawrequires

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs In aboriginal times the Catawba werepolytheistic, with the emphasis on the maintenance of har-mony and balance among the various forces governing theuniverse.The Indians as a rule rebuffed Christianmissionar-ies until the nineteenth century, when some of the Catawbabecame BaptistsorMethodists In the 1880s, Mormonmis-

sionaries visited the nation, and by the 1920svirtually all theCatawba had converted to Mormonism Theyremain largelyMormon today Fragmentary evidence hints that Catawba re-ligion had a supreme being that was associated with the sun

In addition, there were numerousspirits-personal, animal,and elemental-whose powers could be used for good or ill.Today vestiges of these spirits remain in the stories of yeh-asuri, or"wild Indians," who are said to liveinthe woods onthe reservation

Religious Practitioners Priests, or "conjurers," enjoyedgreat prestige in the aboriginal and early-contact era for theirpowersashealersand diviners How long the position lasted

is unclear, though certainly not past the middle of the teenth century From the 1840s to 1962, theCatawba had astate-appointed physician; today many of the Indians stillvisit the last man to holdthis office

nine-Ceremonies In addition to the numerous rituals to beperformed by individuals (suchashunters) during thecourse

of daily life,theCatawba had communalceremonies tobrate the harvest and pray for future success in planting Thefate of their ceremonial round is unknown; during the earlynineteenth century the harvest ceremony may have evolved

cele-Central Yup'ik Eskimos 55

into anannualmeetinginlate summertodiscuss the leases of

reservation lands "Powwows" were said to have been held

intothe latenineteenthcentury,thoughtheir form and

func-tion are unknown

Arts Singing, accompanied by tortoise-shell rattles and

pot-drums, was common at ceremonies

Medicine. Sickness could be caused byghosts,evilspirits,

orthe violation of certain taboos Cures combined medicinal

plantsapplied through proper rituals Today the Catawba rely

exclusively on Western medical practices

Death and Afterlife Death was ascribed to the same

causesassickness The afterworld was said to bedividedinto

goodand badspheres, thoughthe influence ofChristianity

onthis belief cannotbediscounted.Heavenwassaidtohave

fourlevels Elaborate funeralceremonies, includingspeeches,

feasts,andperiodsof mourning, were the norminaboriginal

and early-contact times As late as theendof the nineteenth

century, funerals included a fast, athree-daywaitfor the

de-parture of the soul, and a taboo onspeakingthe name of the

deceased Today, Catawba practice mirrors that of the

na-tion's neighbors, except that potters may be buried with a

piece of theirpottery

onthesideof theBritish, andin 1779 theirvillageswere

de-stroyed by American forces Subsequently, many of theCayuga migrated toCanada and establishedtwovillagesonthe Six Nations Reserve, while others scattered among other

of the Iroquois tribes in New York In theearlynineteenth

century some of the Cayuga remainingin NewYorkmigrated

toOhio, and from there to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in

1831.Othersjoined the Oneida in migrating to Wisconsin in1832

Traditionally, the Cayuga were a hunting and farming

people,butgathering and fishing were also important ence activities.The Cayuga held ten of the fiftyhereditary sa-

subsist-chem positions in thecouncilof the League of theIroquois

and,alongwiththeOneida,were known as'Younger

Broth-ers" of the confederacy

See also Iroquois

Bibliography

Wait, Mary VanSickle, andWilliam Heidt,Jr. (1966) TheStoryof theCayugas, 1609-1809 Ithaca, N.Y.: De Witt His-torical Society ofTompkins County

Bibliography

Blumer, Thomas J (1987).Bibliography of the Catawba

Na-tiveAmerican Bibliography Series, no 10 Metuchen, N.J.:

Scarecrow Press

Brown,DouglasSummers (1966) The CatawbaIndians:The

People of the River Columbia: University of SouthCarolina

Press

Cayuse

Hudson, Charles M (1970) The Catawba Nation

Univer-sity of Georgia Monographs, no 18 Athens: UniverUniver-sity of

Georgia Press

Merrell, James H.(1989).TheIndians' New World: Catawbas

and Their Neighbors from EuropeanContactthrough the Eraof

Removal Chapel Hill:University of NorthCarolina Press

and probably number about three hundred today on theUmatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, where they liveamongtheWallawalla and Umatilla

TheCayugawere oneof the original member tribes ofthe

League of the Iroquois or Five Nations Confederacy The

Cayuga, living mostly in Ontario, NewYork,Wisconsin,and

Oklahoma in the 1980s, numbered more than three

thou-sand In lateaboriginal and early historic times theCayuga

occupied a narrow strip of territory centering on Cayuga and

Owasco lakes in NewYorkandstretching south from Lake

Ontario toward the Susquehanna River In 1660 they

num-bered approximately fifteen hundred

TheCayuga were drawnintothe AmericanRevolution

Central Yup'ik Eskimos

ETHNONYMS: Aglurmiut,Akulmiut,Askinarmiut, Bering SeaEskimos, Canineqmiut, Kiatagmiut, Kuigpagmiut, Kusquq-vagmiut, Marayarmiut, Nunivaarmiut, Pastulirmiut, Qaluya-

armiut, Southwest Alaska Eskimos, Tuyuryarmiut, miut, West Alaska Eskimos

Unaliq-56 Central Yup'ikEskimos

Orientation

Identification The name 'Eskimo" probably originated

from Montagnais, although the belief thatit was apejorative

term meaning "eater ofrawflesh" is erroneous The people

refertothemselvesas"Yup'ik" or"Cup'ik" (therealpeople)

This self-designation derives from the word for "person"

(yuk) plus thepostbasepiak, meaning"real" or "genuine."

Location Thephysicalenvironmentof the CentralYup'ik

Eskimosis a rich and varied one, and not atall the frozen

wasteland of popular imagination The Yup'ik occupy the

lowland delta ofwesternAlaska, including the drainages of

theYukon, Kuskokwim,Togiak,andNushagakrivers,aswell

as the Bering Sea coast lying between them Innumerable

sloughs and streams crisscrossthe coastal tundra, covering

closetohalf the surface of the land withwaterand creating

the traditional highwaysofitsnativepopulation Along the

coastline between the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, thesea is

shallow and the landisflat Volcanic domes provide reliefon

Nelson and Nunivakislands, and mountains meetthe coast

inthe vicinity of Bristol Bayand the Togiak River

Demography In early postcontact times, the Central

Yup'ikEskimos may have numberedasmany asfifteen

thou-sand persons This numberwasreducedbyoverone-half by

the smallpoxepidemic of1838-1839 as wellassubsequent

epidemics.Closetoeighteen thousandYup'ik Eskimos livein

westernAlaska today,aswellasseveralthousand living

out-side the region

Linguistic Affiliation The CentralYup'ik speakthe

Cen-tralAlaskanYup'iklanguage, which aboriginallywas one of

five Yup'ik languages Together with the Inupiaq language,

spoken by the Eskimos livingto the north andeast across

Canada andGreenland, theyconstitute theEskimo branch

of theEskimo-Aleutfamilyoflanguages.Atpresent,Central

AlaskanYup'ik isinternally divided into four major dialects,

all ofwhich arespoken in westernAlaska today

History and Cultural Relations

Theancestorsof thecontemporaryYup'ik Eskimoswere

orig-inally shore dwellers, settling primarilyonthe coastal

head-lands of western Alaskathree thousand years ago Population

pressure combined withthe need for a more reliablefood

sup-ply produced migrations ofthese shore dwellers upthe

drain-agesof the coastal rivers aroundA.D 1400.Atthebeginning

of the 1900s, Yup'ik Eskimoswere still moving slowly but

surely upriver, intermarrying with and gradually displacing

the Ingalik Athapaskan population that bordered them on

the west and with whomthey shared largely friendly relations

Thefirst nonnatives tomakeadirect impactonthe

re-gion were Russian traders and explorers who sought to

ex-pand the fur trade into western Alaska prior to 1850 The

traders wereaccompaniedbyRussianOrthodox priests After

thepurchase of Alaska by the UnitedStates in1867,the

he-gemony of the Orthodox missionwaschallengedby the

es-tablishment of a Roman Catholic missionalongtheBering

Sea coast in 1888 and a Moravian mission on theKuskokwim

River in 1885 Together the missions constituted the major

nonnative influence inthe regionuntil 1900, when the

dis-covery of gold on the Yukon River inspired a dramatic

in-crease of traffic on both the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers

Although richdeposits of gold were never discovered in

westernAlaska, the decades between 1900 and 1920 sawasteady increaseinthe nonnativepopulationatthesametimethe influenzaepidemics of1900 and 1919continuedtoun-dercut theregion'snativepopulation Governmentandmis-sion schools, regular steamshipand airtransportation, and,

inthe 1960s,increased federal and statesubsidy ofhousing,health care, and social services also worked to increasenonnativeinfluence.Butthe region'sgeographical isolation,

aswell as the lack oflargeamountsofcommercially valuableresources, limited nonnativeactivity The regionis atpresentdominatedbyYup'ik-speaking natives, and the only signifi-cantpopulations ofnonnativesliveintheregionalcentersofBethel and Aniakonthe Kuskokwim River andDillingham

on Bristol Bay

Settlements

Prior tothearrival of theRussians intheearly 1800s, the stantial population of western Alaska was socially dividedinto a number of overlapping extended family networks,which in turn wereunited into territorially centeredvillagegroups,rangingin sizefrom 50 to 250people At various sea-sons family groups, married couples, or groups ofhuntersmoved tooutlying camps for resource extraction Duringthemore settled winter season, extended families gathered to-gether into large permanentwintervillages, residentially di-videdbetween a communal men's house(qasgiq) and smallerindividual women'shouses Thepopulation moved annually,but within afixed range; it was thus relatively settled com-pared to otherEskimo peoples Exchanges of food, women,names, feasts, and visits also served to unify village groupsinto at least thirteen larger, more comprehensive regionalconfederations, which alternately traded and warred witheach other

sub-The population decline owing to diseases introducedfrom theearly 1800s on put anend to interregional warfareandundercut interregional social distinctions Beginninginthe early 1900salong the rivers and somewhat later along themoreisolated Bering Sea coast, people began to gather intopermanentyear-round villagesfocused on a school, cannery,store,church, and post office At presentthe population is di-vided into some seventy year-round villages ranging in sizefrom onehundred to six hundred, along with two major re-gional centers, Bethel andDillingham

The aboriginal Yup'ik winter dwelling was a subterranean sod-insulated log structure with a centralsmokehole and underground tunnel entryway These well-insulatedbut damp sod houses began to be replaced by airierlog cabins along the rivers wheretimber was more accessiblebeginning inthe early 1900s and somewhat later along thecoast.Beginning in the 1950s, cabins were replaced by framehouses, often govemment-subsidized Although log cabinsare stillused in timbered areas, standardized frame dwellingsare the dominant form of housing in the region today

semi-Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities Traditionally,theCentralYup'ik Eskimos were hunters and gatherers, rely-ing on the region'svaried ecology to support a social and cere-monial complexity unmatched in any other part of the Es-

kimo world The shallowcoastline is rich in seals, walrus,belugawhales, and saltwaterfish including herring,halibut,

Central Yup'ikEskimos 57

and cod The rivers werethe spawning grounds for no less

than fivespeciesof salmon.The coastal wetlands hostedmil

lions ofmigratorywaterfowlduringthesummer season Small

furbearers including fox, muskrat, mink, and otter were

trapped, and caribouwerehuntedalongthe riverdrainages

Fromtheestablishment of Russiantradingposts in theearly

1800s,trappingprovided supplementalincome to native

resi-dents Reindeerherdingwasalso introduced around 1900but

had disappeared everywhere bythe1940sexcept on

predator-free Nunivak Island Commercial fishing began to play a

major role in the economy of the region in the 1890s in

Bristol Bay and by the 1930s along the Yukon and

Kuskokwim rivers.The rich salmonfishery andtherelatively

new herring and bottom fisheries are the most important

private-sector commercial activities in the region today

Along withthecommercial fishery,income islargely derived

fromemploymentin stateandfederally funded jobs and

pub-licassistance programs onwhich the regional populationis

markedlydependent.This cashincome is in turnusedto

sup-portthe substantial harvest of fish andgame for localuse.

Exceptfor dogs, therewere no importantdomesticated

animalsinaboriginaltimes.Reindeerherdingwasintroduced

bymissionaries atthe end of thenineteenthcenturybut

con-tinuesonly onNunivak Island Musk-oxen werealso

intro-ducedonto Nunivak Island inthe 1940s anda smallherd

subsequently begunonnearby Nelson Island Both of these

herds have prospered and are nowthe subject ofregulated

hunting bybothnonnative and localhunters

Industrial Arts Aboriginally, all men carved both wood

and ivory, and all women were adept at sewing skins and

weaving grass into articles for household use. Today some

men continue to carve ivoryjewelry and wooden fish traps

andwomen toknit andsewskinsboth for homeuseandfor

sale Menalso carvedecorative wooden masks,andwomen

weave grassbaskets forsaleto tourists andcollectors

Trade Precontacttrade in native articles, including furs

andseamammalproducts,wasmaintained betweenriverine

and coastalgroups withintheregion aswellasbetween the

CentralYup'ik Eskimos and theAthapaskan peoplestothe

east. Russiantradegoodsfirstentered theregionby Siberian

trade routes across the Bering Strait, and inthe mid-1800s

Russian trading stations were established along the rivers.

Duringthe nineteenthcentury,tradelargely consisted of

lux-ury goods, including tea, tobacco, and beads By the early

1900s,the increasedrivertrafficresulting fromtheKiondike

gold rushalong withrisingfurprices dramatically increased

both native buying powerand the inventory ofgoods that

wereavailable for trade

Division ofLabor Just as men and women lived and

workedindifferentsocialspaces inthe traditionalwinter

vil-lage, theywereresponsiblefordifferent productiveactivities.

Menhunted and fished during theday Inthemen's house

they carved and repaired tools, kayakframes, and objects of

everydayuse, aswellas training young menand boysinthese

tasks Women's work included processing their husbands'

catch, preparing food, gathering plant materials, making

clothes, fashioningpottery, weaving grass, andrearing

chil-dren Ritual and medicinal activities were assignedtoboth

menandwomen.Thisbasic division of labor remainedin

ef-fect until the modemera.Todaywomen areincreasingly

em-ployed outside the home, although they retain primary

re-sponsibility for food preparation and child care Men alsocontinue toactively harvest fish and game

Land Tenure Aboriginally, landtenureand landuse werebasedonprioruse Anindividual had therightto use apar-ticularsitebecauseof hisrelationshiptoprevious generations

ofuserswho had harvestedatthatsite inthe past.Earlynative interest inthe region focusedonsmall mining claimsand tradingand cannery sites, and these claims rarelycon-flicted with traditional patterns of land use In 1971, theAlaskaNative Claims SettlementActcreated regional andvillage native corporations, which were given corporate title

non-to a portion of theirtraditional holdings, while substantialacreage wasretained for state and federal use Atthesametime, federal andstatelawsincreasingly regulated the harvest-ing of fish and game in the region These regulatory con-straintsandnewlegalboundaries areincreasingly in conflictwith historic patternsofland use and are the focus of consid-erablecontroversy inthe regiontoday

Kinship

KinGroups andDescent Aboriginally, the bilateral tended familywasthebasic social unit This unit consisted offrom two to four generations, including parents, offspring,and parents' parents Married siblings of either the parents ortheir offspring might also be included as family members.These extended family networks lived in a number of territor-ially centered village groups, members ofwhich were joined byoverlapping tiesof bloodand marriage For the larger villagegroups, most marriageswerewithin the village Although theextendedfamily continues to be an important social and pro-ductive unit in western Alaska today, increased emphasis onthe nuclear family household, intermarriage with nonnatives,and a declineintheimportance of intrafamily sharing and ex-change networks have undercut its importance

ex-Kinship Terminology The Yup'ik Eskimos follow theIroquoissystemof kinship terminology Although many nu-ancesof thetraditional system have been abandoned, Yup'ikkinship terms continue to be used in both reference and ad-dress Thetraditional practice of addressing persons namedfor a deceased relative by the kinship term (in either English

orYup'ik) appropriate to that relative is also still widely ployed

em-Marriage and Family

Marriage Traditionally, marriage was encouraged tweendescendants of cross cousins Most marriages were mo-nogamous, with occasional polygamy, and serial marriageswere common Before the advent of Christianity, the mar-riageceremony consisted of the bride serving food to her newhusband inthe men's house while wearing newly made cloth-ing presented to herby the family of the groom Duolocal res-idence was thenorm Awoman raised her daughters in thehouse whereshe wasbom, while at age five her sons went tolive in the men's housewith their father When a young manwasmarried, he movedinto the men's house of the father ofhis bride while the woman remained in her mother's housewhere she in turnwould raiseher children Traditionally mar-riages were dissolvedeasilyby either spousefailing to provide

be-58 Central Yup'ik Eskimos

for and/or moving away from their partner Missionaries

re-portthatanumberof "trialmarriages"endingindivorcewere

usually preliminary to astable union

Domestic Unit Aboriginally, men lived in a communal

men's house while thewomenand children residedin

sepa-ratedwellings The nuclearfamilylivedtogetherinthesame

house only atthe fish orhunting camp Beginninginthe late

nineteenthcentury,missionariesworkedtoreplacethis

resi-dential separation.Today,the nuclearfamilyhousehold

pre-dominates, but owingto increasing costs ofmaintaining a

household aswell as increasing rates ofillegitimacy,

three-generation householdsare alsocommon

Inheritance Traditionally thegoodsof the deceasedwere

eitherleftatthe gravesite ordistributed among members of

the community outside the immediatefamilyof the deceased

The turn-of-the-century missionaries did their best to

dis-courage this practice,and atpresentproperty isretainedby

the deceased's immediate family

Socialization Contrary to the general perception of

Es-kimo child rearingaspermissive, Yup'ik children from their

earliest yearswerecarefully trainedinamultitude of

prescrip-tionsand proscriptions circumscribing culturally appropriate

thought anddeed These they learned through the

observa-tionof adult behavioraswellasthrough countless lessons

in-troduced bytheir adult care givers Failureonthe child's part

tofollow the rules was and still is met with teasing, ridicule,

andfinallythe threat of abandonment At present,as inthe

past,child rearing discourages overt and direct expressions of

hostilityand aggressiontoavoid injuring the mind of the

of-fender With therecentemphasisonpubliceducation,

socia-lization isincreasingly inthe hands of nonnative teachers in

the public schools

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization In aboriginal times, class

distinc-tions wereabsent An individual, male orfemale, achieved

standing within the community from a combination of

fac-torsincludingage, familyconnections, generosity, and

dem-onstrated skill and knowledge These same factors control

status withinthe communitytoday Women occupieda

posi-tionofequalitywithmen.Slaverydidnotexist,although

dur-ingthe historic period, orphans were often required to

per-form innumerable menial jobs within the community

Intermarriage with nonnatives has not resulted in marked

class distinctionsand at present accounts for fewer than one

out of tenmarriages

Political Organization Traditionally, Yup'ikEskimoshad

no formal organization to make political decisions

Leader-shipwasvested in the elder heads of large and well-respected

families When majordecisions were required or serious

prob-lems arose in avillage, residents responded in unison but only

whennumerous extended families were affected In the case

ofinterregionalhostilities,two ormorevillages might forman

alliance for the purpose ofa retaliatory raid againstthe

op-posing group.Although interregional alliances changed over

time, their relativestability priortothe arrival of the Russians

indicates their strength and importance in organizing

interre-gional relations The arrival ofthe Russians did little to alter

theprinciplesofvillage and regional political organization,

al-thoughthesubsequentpopulationdecline decreased thesizeandinfluence ofleadingfamilies

Federal oversight of the region expanded in proportion

tothegrowth of the nonnative population after 1900 Underthe Indian Reorganization Act (iA) of 1934, traditionalcouncils,aswellas tRA councils, were formed in somevillagesandbeganto act asgoverning bodies withinthe community.Permanentvillagesbegantoacquire municipal governments

inthe 1950s, and city councilswereestablished Recently anumber ofvillages have disbanded their municipal govern-mentsinfavor of the traditional andiRAcouncils Bythis ac-tion,theyhopetodivest themselves ofstatecontrol and reas-serttheirsovereign rightsin a nation-to-nationrelationship

with the federal government

Social Control The moralguidelines for life, whichweretaught tochildren from their earliest years, produced a highdegree of social control within traditionalYup'ik society Ifthese rules were brokenorignored, gossip, ostracism, teasing,

ridicule, and socialwithdrawal were traditionally importantmechanisms ofsocial control,and they still are today Fear ofretribution by a member of either the human or the spiritworld was also a powerful control mechanism In the case ofhomicide, blood vengeance by a close relative of the deceasedprevailed.Attheturnofthe century,Yup'ikEskimoswereforthe first timesubject to American civil andcriminal law, andformal sanctions began to be levied against offenders Civiloffenderswerebrought before the city council Later regionalmagistrateswereemployed to decide local civil offenses, whilemore serious crimeswerereferred to the state and federal judi-cial systems Atpresent,local village public safety officers andstate troopers take offenders into custody Individual villagesand regional organizations are working to regain local juris-diction over civil issues and increased community control.Conflict Interregional hostilities, including bow-and-arrowwarfare, were a regular aspect of traditional life in west-ern Alaska.Ironically, warfare was brought to an abrupt halt

bydeathitselfwhen the epidemics of the early 1900s cally reduced the native population Neither Russian norearly American activity in the region produced an organizedaggressive responseby the Yup'ik people, and the history ofnative-nonnative interaction in the region has been largelypeaceful In 1984,however, villages along the middle Kusko-kwim and lower BeringSeacoast organized into the YupiitNation, apolitical entity representing a nonviolent but none-theless aggressive response to increasingnonnative controlovertheir lives

dramati-Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs Thetraditional worldview of theYup'ikEskimos has encompassed a system of cosmological repro-ductivecycling: nothing in the universe ever finally dies away,but is instead reborn in succeeding generations This view wasreflected in elaborate rulescircumscribing naming practices,ceremonialexchanges, and daily living These rules requiredcareful attitudesandactionsto maintain the proper relation-ship with the human and animal spirit worlds and so ensuretheir return in successive generations Over the past one hun-dred years, the Yup'ik Eskimos have become active practition-ers of Russian Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Moravianism.Although they have abandoned many traditional practices,

Chehalis 59

many have been retained and the traditional generative

worldviewremainsapparentinmanyaspects of contemporary

village life

ReligiousPractitioners Traditionally,shamans exercised

considerable influence as a result of their divinatory and

heal-ing roles When the missionaries arrived in the nineteenth

century, they viewed the shamans as their adversaries, and

manyof the shamans actively resisted the new Christian

in-fluence.Others,however,converted andwent on tobecome

nativeChristian practitioners Today the major Christian

de-nominations inwesternAlaska are run by native pastors and

deacons

Ceremonies Thetraditional winter ceremonial cycle

con-sisted of six major ceremonies and a number of minor ones

Individually, the ceremonies served to emphasize different

as-pectsof the relationships among humans, animals, and the

spiritworld Among other things, the ceremonies ensured the

rebirth and return of the animalsinthe coming harvest

sea-son.Through dramatic ritual reversals of the normal

produc-tiverelationships,the human community was opened to the

spirits of the game aswell as the spirits of the human dead,

who were invited to enter and receive recompense for what

they had given and would presumably continue to give in

theirturn Masked dances also dramaticallyre-created past

spiritual encounters to elicit their participationinthefuture

Together the ceremonies constituted acyclical viewof the

universewhereby rightaction inthe past and the presentre

produces abundanceinthe future.Overthe years, Christian

missionarieswould dramaticallychallengethe expression of

this point ofview,although theyhaveneverfully replacedit

Arts Singing, dancing, and theconstructionofelaborate

ceremonial masks and finely crafted toolswere animportant

partof traditional Yup'ik life Althoughtheceremonies are

no longerpracticed, traditional recreational dancing and

in-tervillage exchange dancescontinue inmany coastal

commu-nities A richoral literature was also present traditionally

Al-though many of the stories have been lost, the region still

possesses anumber of knowledgeable and expert orators

Medicine TheYup'ikpeople traditionally understood

dis-ease tobe the product of spiritual malevolencebroughtonby

aperson's improperthoughtordeedinrelationtothe spirit

world Curing techniques consisted ofherbalmedicines,

rit-ualpurification, and the enlistment of spirithelperstodrive

outthe malevolent forces At present, Western clinical

medi-cine isthe primary means of handling sickness anddisease,

although traditional herbalremediesarestill oftenemployed

Death andAfterlife Death wasnotviewedasthe end of

life, as some spiritual aspects of eachmanand animal were

believed to be reborninthefollowinggeneration The

tradi-tional Yup'ikEskimosalso believedin aSkyland as well as an

underworld Land of the Dead, both of which housed the

souls ofdeadhumansandanimals It was from these worlds

that the spirits wereinvitedtoparticipate in the ceremonies

heldintheir honorinthehuman world

BibliographyFienup-Riordan, Ann (1983).The NelsonIsland Eskimo.An-

chorage: Alaska Pacific University Press

Lands, Margaret(1984) "NunivakEskimo."InHandbookof

North American Indians Vol 5, Arctic, edited by DavidDamas, 209-223 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Insti-tution

Nelson, EdwardW (1899) The Eskimo About Bering Strait.U.S Bureau of American Ethnology, 18th Annual Report

(1896-1897) Washington, D.C Reprint Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983

Oswalt, Wendell (1966) 'The Kuskowagamiut: Riverine kimos."InThis Land Was Theirs, edited by Wendell Oswalt,106-147 Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co.VanStone, James W (1984) "Mainland Southwest AlaskaEskimo." In Handbook ofNorth American Indians Vol 5, Arc-tic, edited by David Damas, 224-242 Washington, D.C.:Smithsonian Institution

Es-ANN FIENUP-RIORDAN

Chastacosta

The Chastacosta, including the Coquille, Galice tuntude), Tututni (Lower Rogue River Indians), and theUmpqua, lived in southwestern Oregon along the LowerRogue,Coquille, and Illinois rivers They spoke Athapaskanlanguages and numbered less thanfifty in 1970 They are nownearly extinct

(Taltush-BibliographyBakken, LavolaJ (1973) Land of the North Umpquas: Peace-ful Indians of the West Grants Pass, Oreg.: Te-Cum-TomPublications

Hall, Roberta L (1984) The Coquille Indians: Yesterday,Today, and Tomorrow Lake Oswego, Oreg.: Smith, Smith, &Smith Publishing Co

Chehalis

The Chehalis, including the Upper Chehalis (Kwaiailk),

Lower Chehalis, Copalis, Cowlitz, Humptulip, Oyhut,sop, andShoalwater Salish, livedinsoutheasternWashing-

Sat-ton along the Chehalis, Satsop, and Cowlitz rivers Theyspoke Halkomelem languages of the Coast Salish division

60 Chehalis

andnumbered382in1984.Theywerelivingamong the

Chi-nook on the Chehalis andShoalwater Indian Reservations

BibliographyHaeberlin,Hermann, and Erna Gunther (1930).TheIndians

of Puget Sound University of Washington Publications in

Anthropology, 4(1) Seattle

Marr,CarolynI.,DonnaHicks,andKay Francis(1980).The

Chehalis People.Oakville,Wash.: Confederated Tribes of the

Chehalis Reservation

Cherokee

ETHNONYMS: Chalaque, Cheraqui, Manteran, Oyata'ge

Ronon, Rickahochan, Tallige', Tsa'lagi', Tsa'ragi

Orientation

Identification The Cherokee are an American Indian

groupwhonowliveinNorthCarolina and Oklahoma The

name, "Cherokee" is apparently offoreign origin, perhaps

fromtheChoctawchiluk,meaning'cave,"anallusiontothe

Cherokees' mountainous homeland Historically the

Cherokee sometimes referred to themselves as

"Ani'-Yun'-wiya'" (real people) or 'Ani'-kitu' hwagi" (people of

Kituwha) inreferenceto oneof theirimportant ancient

set-tlements.

Location AboriginallytheCherokee occupied theregion

of the southern Appalachian Highlands from 340 to37° N

and800 to85"W,mainlyinthepresent-daystatesof

Tennes-see and North Carolinainthe southeastern United States

MostCherokeenowliveinOklahoma and North Carolina

Demography In1970the Cherokee populationwas

esti-matedat66,150,with 27,197 inOklahoma, 6,085inNorth

Carolina, and 32,878inotherstates,mainlyCalifornia,New

Mexico,andTexas Inearlypostcontact timesthe Cherokee

numbered approximately 20,000 In a 1989 Bureau of the

Censuspublication,it wasnoted thatin1980therewere over

230,000Cherokee enumerated, which would make them the

largestNative Americangroup inthe United States

LinguisticAffiliation TheCherokeelanguageisclassified

intheIroquoian family Inaboriginal and earlypostcontact

timestherewerethree dialects: the EasternorLowerdialectis

now extinct; the Middle or Kituwha dialect is spoken in

NorthCarolina; andtheWesternorUpperdialectin

Okla-homa

History and Cultural Relations

Linguistic,archaeological, and mythological evidencesuggest

that the Cherokee migrated to the southern Appalachian

Highlands from the northprior toEuropeancontact in1540

Nativegroupsbordering theCherokeeterritory atthattime

included the Powhatan and Monacan to the northeast, theTuscaroraand Catawba to the east and southeast, the Creek

to the south, the Chickasaw and Shawnee to the west, andthenow-extinct Mosopelea to the north.Generallyspeaking,Cherokee relations with all thesegroups during the early his-toricperiod were contentious

Continuous contactwith Europeansdates from the seventeenth century when English traders from Virginia

mid-beganto moveamong native groups in the southern chians Following contact, the Cherokeeintermarriedexten-sively with Whites PeacefulCherokee-Whiterelationsendedwhen warbroke out with South Carolina in 1759 During theAmerican Revolution the Cherokee allied with the Britishand continued hostilities withAmericans until 1794 Whiteencroachments on their territory led a large number ofCherokee to migrate west between 1817 and 1819 In 1821,

Appala-after many years ofeffort, Sequoyah, a mixed-blood okee, developed a Cherokeesyllabary,which had the impor-tantresult ofextending literacythroughout the population

Cher-In 1835 gold wasdiscovered in the Cherokee territory andWhite encroachments increased

Inthat same year theTreatyof NewEchota arranged forthe sale ofCherokeelands to theU.S governmentandtheremoval of the Cherokee to Indian Territory (Oklahoma)andKansas.As the treaty was opposed bymost Cherokee,theremovalhad to be carried out by force involving seven thou-sandfederal troops Over four thousandCherokee,intermar-riedWhites, andAfrican-American slaves died en route or as

a result oftheremoval A band of severalhundredCherokeeescaped theroundup and in 1842 were granted permission toremain on land set aside for them in North Carolina The de-scendants of these two groups make up the present-day West-ern (Oklahoma) and Eastern (North Carolina) Cherokee

Settlements

Inaboriginal andearly-contact times settlements were terednear streamsandrivers Because of therugged topogra-

clus-phy, they were often separated byconsiderabledistances but

were linkedbyintricate tradenetworks.Uptosixtytowns isted, with populations of 55 to 600, butaveraging250-300persons Larger towns were built around a council house and

ex-afield for stickball and served as economic, social, and gious centers forsmallersurroundingtowns.Warfare, disease,and tradeattending European contact undermined the nu-cleated settlement pattern and resulted in more linear, dis-persed settlements

reli-Since theremoval,mixed-bloodCherokee in Oklahomahave tended tosettleon rich bottomlands nearrailroadcen-ters while full-bloodshave tended to settle in small isolatedvillages in the Ozarkfoothills.At theQuallaBoundaryReser-vation in North Carolina, the Cherokeepopulation iscon-centrated in four bottomland areas comprising five town-ships Each township has a small center, but most familieslive onisolated farmsteads on the edges of thebottomlands

and alongcreeksandstreams.Thecommunity of Cherokee

in the Yellow Hilltownshipis the site of numeroustourist tractions, shops, and restaurants The aboriginalCherokeehouse was of wattle-and-daub construction, ovaloroblong,

at-with asingledoor,nowindows,and apitchedroof ofthatch,

reeds, orpoles Today, much Cherokeewood-framehousing

Cherokee 61

issubstandard, althoughimprovements havebeen made

re-cently

Economy

Subsistence and CommercialActivities The Cherokee

werehorticulturalists, raisingcereal andvegetablecrops on a

swiddenbasis andsupplementing their subsistencethrough

hunting, fishing, and collecting The primary cultigen was

maizeand themost important gameanimalthewhite-tailed

deer Contact withEuropeansresultedintheaddition ofnew

grains,vegetables,anddomesticated animals.Duringthe

sev-enteenth century the European fur trade became a central

factorintheCherokee economy. Butthetrade declined in

themid-eighteenthcentury,andthe Cherokeeadoptedmore

intensive formsofagriculture and animalhusbandry

Priorto contacteachCherokeetownmaintaineda

mu-tual aidsocietyknownasthegadu:gi (laterknownasthe Free

Labor Company), whichcoordinated agricultural activities.

After contact the cooperative functions ofthe gadu:gi

ex-pandedtoincluderelieftothoseinneed ofemergency

assist-ance. InNorthCarolina the gadu:gi remaineda permanent

organizationuntilvery recent times,whileinOklahomait

be-came a temporary groupconstitutedtoperform specific tasks

Today the majorityofthe Eastern Cherokee continue

general subsistence farming, with tobacco, gardencrops, and

beefoccasionallyraised for cash AtQualla Boundary,

tour-ism provides income through retail shops, restaurants,

mo-tels,museums,andexhibitions; however,theseare not

suffi-cient to provide all families with adequate incomes. Other

income isderived from logging, seasonalwagelabor, and

gov-emment assistance. Amongthe WesternCherokee there is

little industry,tourist orotherwise, and they oftenrenttheir

landtoWhite ranchers ratherthanfarmitthemselves.Cash

income is fromranching and otherwagelabor,government

workprojects, andgovernment assistance.

IndustrialArts Aboriginalcraftsincluded metalworking,

potting, soapstone carving,andbasketweaving.Copper,then

brass, then silverwereusedbyCherokeemetalsmiths.Today

basketweaving persists amongCherokee women atQualla

Boundary, where the products are soldto tourists.

Trade A considerable precontact trade was maintained

with neighboringIndiangroups.Trade withEuropeansinthe

seventeenthcentury wasindirectandinconsequential,butby

theearly eighteenthcentury ithad becomeanintegralpartof

the economy. Salt obtained by the Cherokee from saline

streams andlickswas an importanttradeitem inboth

pre-andpostcontact times.

Division of Labor Prior to the mid-eighteenth century

womendidmostof the farming,while men wereresponsible

for hunting, fishing,andclearing fields forplanting.Women

alsoprepared food,madeclothes, madepotteryand baskets,

and raised the children Ritualandmedicinalactivities were

carried out mainlyby males After contact, both men and

women conducted trade with Europeans The decline of

hunting and the adoptionofmore intensiveagricultureinthe

eighteenthcentury altered the traditional division oflabor,

andmenreplacedwomen inthefieldsandwomen's workwas

increasingly confined to the household Today, at least

amongthe EasternCherokee,most women continue towork

inthe home Some,however, are employedintourist services,crafts, factorywork, and farm and domestic labor

Land Tenure Aboriginally, individuals had the right tooccupy,hunt, andcultivate the land with ownership vested inlocal clan sections Aftercontact the Cherokee were underconstantpressure tosell their lands to Whites, and as a result

intheearly nineteenth century the Cherokee Nation adopted

asystemof property law, placing all Cherokee lands under balauthority In 1906, tribal landinIndian Territory wasal-lotted to individuals by the U.S government.InNorth Caro-lina after the removal the Cherokee were prohibited fromowning land, and for a time all their lands were recordedunder the name of their White benefactor, Will Thomas.Today, the federal government is the trustee of the EasternCherokee lands, with actualownership vested in the EasternBand itself

tri-Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent Cherokee society was dividedintosevenmatrilineal, exogamous clans, or sibs Within eachtown,clan sections formed corporate groups that held and al-located land, regulated marriage, and controlled conflictamong local clan members Age stratificationwithin the clansection constituted the first level of local decision making.Clans rarely, if ever, acted as corporate groups on a tribewidebasis Since the time ofcontact, intermarriage with Whitesand acculturation has gradually undermined the clan system.Among theEastern Cherokee, clans are no longermeaning-

ful social units except among the very elderly

Kinship Terminology Traditional kinship terminologyfollowed the Crowsystem

Marriage and Family

Marriage In thetraditional marriage system, members ofthe mother's and father's matrilineage were forbidden as mar-riage partners, while marriagetomembers of the father's fa-ther's and mother's father's matrilineage was permitted andevenfavored Few modem Eastern Cherokee marriages con-form to theserules Marriages wereusually monogamous, butpolygyny was permitted and occasionally practiced In theeighteenth century the marriage ceremony was an informalaffair in which a man obtained the consent of the prospectivebride and her mother before accompanying her to a previ-ously prepared dwelling place Matrilocal residence was thetraditional norm Divorce was common and could be affectedeasily by either party

Domestic Unit Until recently, small extended familieswere common AmongcontemporaryCherokee the nuclearfamily tends to predominate Owingtopoverty andhigh rates

of illegitimacy, however,three-generation households also arecommon

Inheritance Since the nineteenth century, property hasusually passed to the person who took care of the owner inhis

orher lastyears Since that person has often beenthe

young-est son, ultimogeniture hasprevailed by custom

Socialization Generally speaking, children were and areraised permissively Ostracism,ridicule, and the threat ofex-temal sanctioning agents-"boogers"-were and still areused todiscipline and controlchildren Overtand directex-

62 Cherokee

pressions ofhostility and aggression are discouraged Parents,

many of whom are themselves welleducated,encourage their

children to remain in high school andoften to continue with

postsecondarytraining

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization Inaboriginalandearly-contacttimes

ageconferred status and theoldest, "beloved" men enjoyed

thegreatest prestige Women occupied a position of equality

with men, but as thetraditional division of labor shifted

dur-ing the eighteenth century their economicindependence

less-ened and their influenceandstatusdiminished

Institutiona-lized slavery appeared in the form of African slavesbefore

1700 and becamewidespreadin thenineteenthcentury

In-termarriage with Whites resulted in a class of mixed-blood

Cherokee who, afterthe American Revolution, increasingly

controlledpower andwealthwithin the society In the

nine-teenthcentury they formed a class of wealthy, educated, and

acculturated planters set apart from full-blood Cherokee by

language, religion, life-style, and values This class division

persists in contemporary Cherokee society

Political Organization Prior to contact with Europeans

each town was politically independent from the others and

had two distinctgovernmentalstructures-a White, or peace,

government and a Red, or war, government During the

course ofthe eighteenthcentury an overarching tribal

gov-ernment based on thetraditional town model was created in

response to Europeanexpansion.In 1827 a constitution was

adopted creating arepublican form of government modeled

after that of the United States, which remained active until

1906 when it was abolishedbythe U.S Congress In 1948

the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma was reestablished The

Eastern Cherokee incorporated as the Eastern Band of

Cherokee Indians in 1889

Social Control Eschewing face-to-face conflict, the

Cherokee haveemployedgossip, ostracism, and social

with-drawal as important forms ofsocial control.Fearofdivine

ret-ribution was a powerfulform ofsocial controlinthe past and

remains so among some conservativeCherokeetoday

Con-juring or witchcraftdeclined in importanceduringthe

eight-eenth century In aboriginaland early-contact timesserious

crimes wereadjudicatedby the White government Homicide

often led to blood revenge by clan members In 1898 the

Cherokee judicialsystem wasdissolvedby thefederal

govern-ment and the group wasplaced underthe jurisdiction of the

U.S federalcourts

Conflict Inthe eighteenthcentury the Cherokee were

di-videdmainly along lines of age over what the relationship to

the European coloniesshouldbe Inaddition,the

introduc-tion and gradualacceptance of the money economy and

Eu-ropeanvalues introduced an element of aggression and

com-petition between individuals and towns that previously was

unknown in the society Even moresignificant was the split

over the removal toIndian Territory,firstin 1817-1819 and

then more seriously in1838-1839 In general, mixed-bloods

favoredremoval while full-bloods did not This split broke

out into civil war after arrival in Indian Territory and

resurfaced during the American Civil War Beginning in

1896many full-bloods took part in the nativistic Nighthawk

Keetoowahmovement to resist the reallotment of tribal lands

and mixed-bloodsupport for reallotment For several decadestheNighthawk movement exercised a powerful force amongconservative full-bloodCherokee, but beginning about 1935itsinfluencewaned,owing to internal divisions and the oppo-sition of militant Christian Cherokee Today the mixed.blood/full-blood division persists, and on occasion the hostil-ity haserupted in violence

Religion and Expressive Culture ReligiousBeliefs Theaboriginal religionwaszootheisticandguided byadeepfaith insupernaturalforces that linkedhumanbeings to all other living things Evil was understood

tobethe resultof adisharmony withnature.Beginning in the

earlynineteenth century Christianmissionaries succeeded indriving native religious beliefs underground, and today the

Baptist denomination predominates among ChristianCherokeeinOklahoma and North Carolina Theexistence

of asupreme being in the nativereligionis notclear; however,

therewere numerous animal,elemental, personal, and

inani-matespirits These spirits werebelieved to havecreatedtheworld and to reside in seven successive tiers of heaven, on

earth, and inthewater,where theyremainuntil theexercise

of their powers isproperly petitioned

Religious Practitioners In aboriginal times priests

re-ceivedno special materialconsiderations, although theydidexercise considerable influence as a result oftheir divining

and healing roles In the nineteenth century ChristianCherokee pastors were an importantfactor intheconversionprocess

Ceremonies The native ceremonial cycle consisted of aseries of six festivals, the last three of which were held in

quicksuccession in the autumn,simultaneouslywith tant meetings of town councils The Propitiation Festival,held ten days after the firstnew moon of autumn and theGreatNew MoonFeast, was the most importantandwasde-voted to rituallyeliminating ill will among villagers and pro-motinglocalunity The sixfestivalshavebeen collapsedinto

impor-asingle GreenCorn Festival

Arts Singing was an important part of aboriginal andpostcontactceremoniallife.Forreligious and otherpurposestextsare sung inCherokee, buttunesand themanner of har-monizing arederived fromnonnative sources

Medicine In the aboriginal culture disease was

under-stoodto be theproduct ofspiritualmalevolencebrought on

by violating taboos Curingtechniques consistedofherbalmedicines, ritual purifications, and the enlistment of spirithelpers to drive out the malevolent forces Western clinical

medicine is now the treatment approach, although nativeconjurors still persist

Death and Afterlife Native beliefs ascribed death, likedisease, to evil spirits and witches Death was feared and so,too, were the evilspirits connected with death There was also

abelief in anafterworld,or"nightworld,"to which the ghosts

orsouls of the deceased desired to go A successful journey tothenightworld, however, depended on one's actions in life on

earth Funeral ceremonies had great religious significance,

and among Eastern Cherokee the funeral is the most tant life cycle ritual

impor-Cheyenne 63

Bibliography

Gearing, Frederick 0. (1962) Priests and Warriors: Social

Structures for Cherokee Politics in the Eighteenth Century

American Anthropological Association, Memoir 93.

Men-asha, Wis

Gulick, John (1973) Cherokees at the Crossroads Chapel

Hill: Universityof North CarolinaInstitutefor Research in

the SocialSciences

King, DuaneH., ed (1979).The CherokeeIndian Nation:A

TroubledHistory Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press

Dakota wordsha-hi'ye-la,meaning"redtalkers"or'people of

analienspeech." TheCheyenne refertothemselvesas

"Tse-tsehese-staestse" (People), although today the Northern

Cheyenne also are known as the 'Notame-ohmeseheetse"

(Northern-eaters) and the Southern Cheyenne are called

"Heevaha-tane" (Rope-people)

Location Throughout the late-eighteenth and

mid-nineteenth centuries, theCheyenne occupied a region that

extendedfrom theYellowstoneRiver,Montana,totheupper

Arkansas Riverinpresent-day Colorado andKansas.Inall,

theirterritoryextendedover500,000squaremiles, covering

nearly eightstates.The high plainsischaracterized by

short-grass vegetation, occasionally interrupted byriparianforests

and shrubs along the more perennialwaterways. Evergreen

stands predominate athigher elevations The climateis one

of hotsummersandharsh,coldwinters,withan average

an-nualprecipitationoften tofourteen inches Although the

re-gion was notconducivetohorticulture,itdidsupport alarge

bisonpopulation

Demography Atcontact (c 1780) populationestimates

indicatethattherewereabout3,500Cheyenne.Despitefour

knownmajorepidemics andanumber ofmassacresinflicted

by the U.S military forces, the 1888 Cheyenne reservation

populationwas3,497.Of thatnumber,2,096wereSouthern

Cheyenne living inIndian Territory (now Oklahoma) and

1,401wereNorthernCheyenne residingontheTongue River

Reservation, Montana, and the Pine Ridge Reservation,

SouthDakota In 1989, theNorthern Cheyenne numbered

5,716 An exact Southern Cheyenne population figure is

moredifficulttoobtain Currently 9,525 SouthernCheyenne

andArapahoareenrolledatConcho Agency;atleast 50 centidentify themselves asSouthernCheyenne

per-linguisticAffiliation The Cheyenne language is oneoffive mainAlgonkian languages spokenontheGreatPlains

Inthe postcontactperiod, therewere atleasttwomajor

Chey-enne dialects, Tse-tsehese-staestse and So'taa'e, the latterspoken by a tribe incorporated into the Cheyenne Todayonly Tse-tsehese-staeste is spoken, butSo'taa'e words havebeen adoptedintothelanguage

History and Cultural RelationsCheyenne history and cultural relations are linked totheirshifting adaptations from a woodlandpeople to equestriannomads on the Great Plains.Although theCheyenne haveneverbeen associated with a specific archaeological focus,oral tradition and ethnohistoricalevidence confirm that theprotohistoric Cheyenne occupied the woodland-prairie coun-try of the upper Mississippi Valley, where they inhabitedsemisedentary villages located along lakes and rivers.Asearly

as 1680, theCheyenneinitiatedcontactwith the French in

anattempt toestablish traderelations Their desire for tradeprovoked attacks from the Sioux andChippewa, who werecompeting for domination.Outnumbered and possessingno

firearms,theCheyenne were forced westward into the sotaValley andeventuallyontothenortheastern plains Ontheplains, the Cheyenne established at least twelve fortifiedearthlodge villages along the Sheyenne and Missouri rivers.Alliedwith the Mandan andArikara,theycontinued towarwith theChippewa, Assiniboin, and expanding Sioux Dur-ingthis period, theCheyenne incorporated the So'taa'e, in-termarriedArikara, and the Moiseyu, a Siouan group fromMinnesota.Although forced out of the Great Lakes fur mar-ket, the Cheyenne continued to trade, serving as middlemenbetween more westwardly nomadic Plains groups and theMissouri Rivervillage people Between 1742 and 1770, theCheyenne acquired horses andbecame equestrian nomads

Minne-By1820, the Cheyenne hadstabilized their geographical andpolitical position in the Black Hills region, allying themselveswiththe Arapaho and Oglala From here, the tribe expanded

in asouthwesterly direction Theirseparation into northernand southerndivisionsbegan asearlyas1790and was accel-erated inthe 1830s by the establishment of Bent's Fort onthe Arkansas River and Fort William on the North PlatteRiver

Formalrelations with the U.S government was marked

by the signing ofthe 1825 Friendship Treaty and

White-Cheyennerelations were generally amicable until the 1840s.During this decade, the Cheyenne witnessed a flood ofWhites migrating along the Oregon Trail and the destruction

of their environmentand bison herds; they also contractedinfectiousdiseases at this time The Cheyenne and their alliesresponded by conducting a series of minor raids To endIndian-Indianand Indian-Whitehostilities, the U.S govern-mentnegotiated the Treaty of 1851, making the division be-tween the Northern and Southern Cheyenne permanent.Thereduction of their landbase, the continuing invasion of

Whites, and theconstruction offorts prompted theenne tofight For the next twenty-five years, they waged waragainst the U.S military and White settlers; the SouthernCheyennesurrendered in 1875 and Northern Cheyenne re-sistance ended in 1879 With the Southern Cheyenne settled

Chey-64 Cheyenne

on their reservation, the U.S government attempted to

re-consolidate the tribe by forcibly removing the Northern

CheyennetoIndian Territory.Culturallyalienated,starving,

and infected with dysentery, measles, and malaria, 257

Northern Cheyenne broke out and avoided capture until

crossingthe North PlatteRiver.Theretheydividedintotwo

bands, both of whichwereeventuallycaptured,with the

rem-nants allowedto relocate in 1881 from Indian Territory to

Pine Ridge Agency.In 1884, the TongueRiver Reservation

wasestablishedby executive orderinsoutheasternMontana

and all the Northern Cheyenne werereunited In 1892 the

Southern Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation was dissolved

through allotment TheNorthernCheyenneReservation was

allotted in 1932, although the land was never opened to

Whitehomesteading, thus preserving the integrity of the

res-ervation Presently,both tribescontinue tostruggleto

estab-lish the legal and cultural rights they have lost over the

centuries

Settlements

Formostofthe year, the ten Cheyenne bands traveled

inde-pendentlythroughouttheirterritory.Campinglocationswere

usuallynearthe confluence oftwowaterways,nearadequate

game,wood,and grazing land for the horses During the early

summer, thebands congregated to conduct tribal ceremonies

Afterwards, the bandsdispersedtotheirterritories, settling in

wooded areasalong waterways for winter After being placed

ontheirreservationsthe Cheyenne continued to settle along

waterways, although eventually communities were formed

neargovernmentbuildings or White towns Aboriginal

Chey-ennehousingontheplains was athree-poletipireplaced

dur-ingthereservationperiodby cabins.Today, mostCheyenne

live in governmental housing, mobile homes, or converted

older reservationstructures Someof the homes are

substan-dard, although improvements have been made since the

1960s

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities Although

ca-sualgardeningcontinued among some bands as late as 1850,

the primary focuswasthebison Besides meat, the bison

pro-vided materials forshelter, clothing, and manufactured goods

and wasatradeitem Of over forty food plants gathered, the

most important were the Indian turnip, chokecherries, and

plums European contact resulted in the adoption of trade

foods into the Cheyenne diet Coffee, sugar, bacon, and

bleached flour became important commodities, especially

during thedramaticdecline of the bison Cheyenne

involve-ment inthenineteenth-century bison robe trade resulted in a

furtherdependency on European goods On reservations,

ra-tions,gardening, andmarginal wage labor became the

main-stay of the Cheyenne economy Today the majority of the

Southern and Northern Cheyenne income is derived through

thefederal government Among the Northern Cheyenne,

tri-bal enterprises suchaslogging, ranching, growing alfalfa,

sea-sonalwagelabor, and governmental assistance provide most

oftheir income The Southern Cheyenne are involved in

wheat raising, oil exploitation, some ranching, and

govern-mental workprojects Both tribes continue tobe

underem-ployed anddependent on governmental support The most

important domesticated animal was the horse, which was

usedfortransportation, warfare, and hunting, and becameasource ofwealth in Cheyenne society

IndustrialArts Cheyenne skills includedleatherworking,

woodworking, quillworking, featherworking, and stone ing After direct trade with Europeans, metal objects, glass

carv-beads, cloth, and otheritems todecoratereplaced articles ofnativemanufacture Today the Cheyennecontinue tomakeobjects forpersonal use, powwows, ceremonial purposes, andsaletonon-Indians

Trade The extent of precontact tradeis notfully known,but bythehistorical period the Cheyennewereinvolvedinacomplex trading network As middlemen, the Cheyenne

traded horses, dried bison meat, pemmican, dehydratedpomme blanche, and decorated robes, shirts, and leatherpouches with the Missouri River tribes In exchange, theCheyenne obtained European items such as guns, powder,andfoodstuffsaswellasnativemaize andtobacco By 1830,theyhadbecome involved in the bison robe tradewith Euro-peans, whichendedinthe 1880s, leading to complete eco-nomicdependency on the U.S government

Divisionoflabor Thedivision of labor was based on ageand sex Men's workincluded hunting, raiding, ceremonialactivities, andmanufacturing all itemsassociated with thesepursuits Young boys and elder men in the household wereoften incharge of caring for the horse herd Women's taskswere associated with domestic activities: gathering food andfuel, caring for children, butchering meat, makingpemmican,erectingand dismantling the lodge, manufacturing allhouse-hold objects, and preparing bison hides for use or trade.Younggirls assisted their mothers with these tasks, and elderwomenrelieved the mother of child-care duties Duringthebison hidetradeperiod, men's and women's labor focused onacquisition andproduction of hides During the reservationperiod, the division oflabor was altered radically with wom-en's workincreasingly devalued and confined to the house-hold SinceWorld WarII, Cheyenne men and women havebeenemployed in a variety of occupations ranging from trap-ping to law

LandTenure Aboriginally, any Cheyenne had the right

toresources within their territory Althoughportions of theirterritorywere contested by other Plains Indians, the Chey-enneclaimed and actively defended the region from the Yel-lowstone River to theArkansas River Within thisterritory,each band occupied and utilized afavored location, usuallynear major rivers

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent Descent was bilateral thoughclans probably existed when the Cheyenne resided insedentary earthlodge villages during the 1700s, clans nolongerexisted after they became equestrian nomads.KinshipTerminology Prior to the alteration of the kin-ship system during the reservation period, terminology fol-lowed theHawaiian system,emphasizing horizontal classifi-cationalong generational levels

Al-Marriage and Family

Marriage Marriage was a formal matter Premarital sexwas strictly prohibited and a girl's virginity was carefully