Perspectives on the North American Indians 9780773595323

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f PERSPECTIVES ON THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS (

MARK ~G LER

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The Carlelon Ubrary No. 60 M cClelland alld Srewart Limited Toronlo/ MOlllreaJ

I ceil ?~-I () I H I E CA RL ETON LIBRARY

A series of Canadian reprints and new collections of source material relating to Canada, issued under the edito rial supervision of the Institute o f Canadian Studies of Ca rleto n University. Ottawa.

IJ IRECTO R O F Til E lNSTITUTE

Pa uline Jeweu GI:NERAI. EDITO R

D . M. L. Farr EXECUTI VE ED ITOR

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18 SG7

James Marsh EOITOR IAI. BO ARD

N.3 ~I c

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Duncan M. Anderson (Geography) O. C arman Bickerton ( History) Bruce A . Mc Farlane (Sociology ) Thomas K. Rymcs (Ecollomic.f) Derek G. Sm ith ( /IIIIII ropoiogy) Michael S. Whi u inglon (Political Sciel/ce)

M cC/el/(lfu/ alltl Stewart Limited. 1972 ..... . L RI G HTS RESE II.\ I' D

The COllodioll PlliJli.fiJ ers

McClellan d and Stewart Limited 25 Holli nger Road. Toronto 374.

Prim ed tllld hound ill Callada by T. fl . 8 esl Priming CompolI)' Limited

I

Table of Contents In troductio n Part I:

vii

A CC ULT U RATI ON

Th e Acculturation of American Indi ansEvon Z. Vogt 2. So me Acculturative Trends Amo ng the Eastern Canadi an Es kimos - Asen Balikci 3. Diversity in White- Esk imo Leadership Interactio n - David Damas ' 4. Th e Flexibility of Eskimo Social Organizatio n -

W. E. Willmott 5. Order and Freedom in Huron SocietyBruce G. Trigger 6. Leadership Am ong th e Indians of Eastern Subarctic Canada - Edward S. Rogers 7. Bad Friends - Asen Balikel Part II :

ED UCAT IO N

8. Educatio n A mo ng American Indians: Individua l and C ultural Aspects - Robert J . Haviglwrst ~ In- G rou p O rientation and Self-Co nceptions of Indian an d Non- Indi an Students in an Integrated Sc hool - Balta Abu-Laban to. Parental Be havior a nd Student Altitudes Towards High Schoo l Graduation Amo ng Ind ian and Non -In d ian Students in Orego n an d Alberta

- Henry Zen tner

2 14

27 33 43

57 72

88 89 103

II I

I I. T he Im pact of Eth nici ty a nd Occupa tio nal Backgro un d on the Aspi ratio ns of Ca nadian Yout h-

Part 111 :

Balta Abu-Laban

12 1

ECO :-.lO MI C OR G,\ l' I ZAT IO:-..i

130

12. Mino rity Val ues and Econom ic Achievement: The Case o f the No rth American In dian - Mark Nagler 13. N ative Indian s and the T rade Union Mo vement in Brit ish Co lumbia - Stuart Jamieson 14. N ative Indians and the Fishin g In dustry o f British Colum bia - Percy Gladstone

13 1

142

156

Pan IV:

IS:

SOC IAL PRORLDtS

Female Infanticide on the Arctic Coast - Asen Balikci

175 176

16. The Rol e of Alcohol among the Nonh American Indian Tribes as Reported in the Jesuit RclationsR. C. Dailey 17. Stresses of Change and Mental Health Among the Canadian Eskimos - Frank G. Vallee 18. Reservation Social Structure and Anomie; a Case Study - Henry Zenlller 19. Continuity and Emergence in Indian Poveny Culture - Bernard 1. James Part V:

T HE U RBA :'\ EX PERIE:,\CE

20. A "Rural" Indian Co mmunity in an Urban Setting - John H . Dowling 21. The Integration of Americans of Indian Descent Edward P. Dozier, George E. Simpson, and J. Milton Yinger 22. Reciprocal Exploitation in an Indi an-White Community - Niels Winther Braroe 23. Alternative Models for the Study of Urban ) Migration - Theodore D. Graves 1"124. Status and Identification Groupings Among Urban Indians - Mark Nagler 25. Value Congruence Among Indian and Non- Indian High School Students in Southern AlbenaHenry Zentner

190 203 214 227 241 242 249 258 27 1 280

289

Suggestions for Funher Reading

300

Note on the Editor

303

Introduction The purpose of this volume is to prescnt a soc io logica l interpretation of how native Ind ia ns are adj usting to No rth American society. Traditio nall y. the investigatio n from a sociologica l perspective of minorities withi n the North American mainstrea m has tcnded to focus on the larger minorities. Ana lysis of native North American Ind ians has been left prim ari ly to an thropological a nd eth nological investiga tion. Since the begi nning of the twentieth century, North American natives have come into contact with modern ind ustrial society and hence have bee n pro mpted to affi liate with this society as a conseq uence of the innuence of mass commu nication and anticipated educational, economic, poli tical a nd social benefi ts. It appears that Ind ian co ntact and the subseq uent patlern s of accommo dation to industrialized society are a function o rthe fo llow ing facto rs: fi rst, the size and nature of the reserve or reservation environ ment ; seco nd, the density o f the population to which the Indian is exposed ; third, technological develo pm ents; a nd fou rth, develo pments in social o rganization withi n Ind ian society a nd wit hin the majority of the .populat ion. Indeed, desp ite all the pressures fo r changi ng the patterns of life of North American Ind ians in to those that fit the mode of the whi te man, there a re still conti nuing India n systems of social structure a nd culture persisti ng with variable stre ngt h withi n co nservative nuclei amo ngst the Ind ian population. Evon Yogt in his article " T he Acculturati on of American Ind ia ns" traces a conceptu al framework fo r the analysis of Indi an accu lt uration and d iscusses the limiting factors to full accul turatio n. He maintains that the scope of accu lt uration depends on two se ts of variables: the nature of the two cultures which come into contact, a nd the co ntact conditions. He assesses the va lidi ty of a num be r of hypotheses th at have been ad vanced to ex pl ain the persistence of India n cul ture in the face of increasi ng pressu re fro m wh ile society. He then an alyzes the deve lopment of " Pan- India nism " which he describes as custom s a nd institutions that have bee n synthesized fro m clements derived fro m diverse cul t ures and to so me extent fro m white Ameri can cultu re. As Yogt ma intains " th e significance o f this Pa n- Indianism in general terms is that it provides a social and cultural fr amewo rk within accultu rating Indi an gro ups a nd ma inta in s their sense o f identity and in tegrity as Ind ia ns as lo ng as the do mina nt la rger society assigns t hem to subo rd inate Slatus." Asen Balikc i in his article " Some Accu lt urated Trend s Amo ng the Eastern Canad ian Esk imos" a nalyses in the same vein as Yogt the pattern s by wh ich many Eskimo gro ups have reacted in d iffer-

viii

PER S PECTI VES 0:-.: 1 1" J)I A~S

em ways to the activ ity or "i ntrusive inn uences.'· Damas, in his a rticl e " Diversity in White-Esk imo Leadershi p Inte ractio n" a nd Will mott in his a rticle the "Flexibil ity or Esk im o Social Organizatio n" note how thi s particula r min ority reacts as a co nsequence o r co ntact to "roreign society:' The changes in social organiza tio n a nd leadership pa uerns are d iscussed in detail by Wi ll mo tt , Trigger, and Rogers. Rogers ma intai ns Ih al "outside authority fig ures have taken over the role or leader. or attempted to do so, inhibiting the development or local leadersh ip. In add ition, ma ny o r the du ties o r the rormer leaders have been stripped away thro ugh the acculturative process thereby weakeni ng their positi on. Furthermore, with a breakdown in the nalive culture, t he people have not estab li shed new object ives o r clea r-cut goals, which would promote the development o r strong leadership roles. T his. in part, is due to a lack or educati o n and at the sa me time the main tenance o r ma ny o r their old va lues a nd customs." As a conseq uence or ma ny co nt act conditio ns, a large segment o r the North American Ind ian po pUla tion is comi ng into co ntact with white institut io ns. Hav ighurst observes th at the culture of the India n fai ls to adequate ly equi p him ror the Nort h America n educa tio nal system a nd he no tes thai motivatio n fo r school achievement is relatively poo r by white standard s amo ng children o r Indian tri bes whose cult ure is ba sed o n co-o perat io n rat her than competit io n. He mainta ins thut the Ind ian is a man of two cultures, inevitab ly trying to bridge two rehllivcly diverse value systems. He concludes the following: America n Ind ia n groups have not taken parl in Ameri ca n educatio n a t the secondary and higher levels, as have Europea n immigra nt gro ups ... most India n groups have clung to eno ugh o r their tradi liona l cu ltures ta prevent them from adopting rull y tht;! white America n culture, including its attitudes toward educatio n a nd its usc o r ed ucatio n as a means ar social mo bili ty a nd occupa tio nal achieveme nt. Individua l Indians have do ne very well in the Ameri ca n ed ucat io nal system by committing themselves to learn ing the dominant Am erica n cullUre an d liv ing in it. T he nu mber a r such people is relatively small and gives evidence o r the great holdi ng powe r of many o r the Traditiona l Ind ia n cu hures upo n their members. even in the race of pressu re a nd tempta tio n ta sec k the advantages o r the America n cu lture. The diffi cu lt ies whic h I-Iuv ighurst a na ly5(..'