Choice Outstanding TitleDance, a vital expression of community and
spirituality for Native Americans, has been the traditional
metaphor for resolving conflict among Southern Plains tribes.War,
on the other hand, has been the metaphor for Anglo-Americans.
Attacking conflicts in terms of dichotomies--us vs. them, friend
vs. foe, civilized vs. savage--the European-influenced U.S.
government has created battles out of almost every military,
political, and social situation, from the Revolutionary War to the
War on Drugs.Here lies a fundamental cultural difference, says
Howard Meredith, that has led to mistrust, poor communication,
frustration, and polarization. The Anglo-American assumption that
analysis and argument are universal and permanent traits, he
contends, is not only erroneous, but has proven detrimental, even
devastating, for Native Americans who have not customarily shared
those values.Historically, the U.S. government has tried to
disintegrate tribes, alienate, assimilate, divide and conquer. And
in the process, it has ignored the positive relationships the
tribes had established among themselves and with their physical
environment.Although conflicts have arisen among tribes, Meredith
asserts, the Southern Plains peoples have spent the vast majority
of their time in mutual support of one another rather than at war.
The Wichita, Caddo, Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Apache, Arapaho,
Delaware, and others brought together by choice or adversity
achieved harmonious coexistence through imagination, mythology,
art, dance, commerce, and conservation. In Dancing on Common
Ground, Meredith uses tribal oral histories to describe alliances
before the European infiltration and extensive archives, federal
documents, and personal interviews to examine the evolution and
attempted annihilation of native traditions through the past three
centuries. Looking toward the future by assessing the past, he
argues that the Southern Plains Indians need to re-establish
self-determination, traditional practices and values, and their
native languages to overcome the adverse effects of federal
paternalism, strengthen tribal relations, and improve economic and
social conditions for all people in the Southern Plains.
"This unique book combines linguistics, history, archaeology, and
anthropology into a whole overview of the development of tribal
alliances and self-governance through time. No other scholar
addresses so successfully and so well the imagery of political and
historical issues through dance."--C. Blue Clark, author of Lone
Wolf v. Hitchcock: Federal-Indian Relations at the Turn of the
Century"This book opens up new relationships in Indian studies,
suggesting new interpretations of Indian-White relations, past,
present, and future."--Charlotte Heth, editor of Native American
Dance: Ceremonies and Social Traditions
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