Jazmyn Davidson

Professor Schaefer

Cultural Anthropology 1010

11.20.2017

Ethnography

Introduction

I chose to do my Ethnography project on the Native American Sioux Tribe. There are 9

different Sioux Tribes within South Dakota but the one that I specifically chose was the

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. There are three different break downs of people and cultures

amongst the Native American Tribes is South Dakota: Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota. The

population of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is 17, 259. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Headquarters is located in Eagle Butte, South Dakota while the reservation itself is in North

Central South Dakota taking up about two counties.

My husband is Tongan (Pacific Islander) and Native American (Cheyenne River Sioux),

so this really swayed me in choosing them for my Ethnography project. Being Pacific Islander

myself, I wanted to know more about my husbands other culture and family. I honestly didnt

think that there would be a difference in what I learned about Native Americans in elementary

and doing my research on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. I was surprised to find that there are

many similarities to my own culture. I think one of the biggest things that threw me off about the

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe was the endless hours and effort put into creating art pieces used for

cultural dances as well as artwork used for everyday necessities.

When I did my own personal research and interviews with my husbands family to be

able to find out more about the Native American Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. I found that in my
research and interviews there were many aspects to the culture identity of the Native Americans.

I loved being able to find through my research more in depth detail of what the practiced within

their culture to signify the meaning of traditions and cultural identification.

Methods

When starting this assignment I used the method of researching the web to go further into

my learning of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. I chose this method of researching websites

because it was a good source of being able to find the organization and the establishment of the

Native American Tribe. It also allowed me to find more in depth information that I wouldnt

have been able to get with just doing interviews of my husbands family. I also chose personal

interviews with my mother in law of her experiences, stories, and memories of being a member

of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. This form of methods was very useful in getting an idea of

what it was really like to be a part of this tribe and to hear about the many traditions she

experienced for herself as a young child. My mother in law was also able to show me pictures of

different tribal traditions that she was taught and hopes to pass on down to her children and

grandchildren.

Body-Cultural Description

From my methods of research, I found that the language spoken within the Cheyenne

River Sioux Tribe is called Lakota, Lakhota, Teton, or Teton Sioux. You would also

refer to this as the Siouan Language. My mother in law told me about how she learned as a

young girl the Lakota language and although she didnt really use it often enough to create

sentences she was able to learn frequent words her mother used to communicate with her. She
still can remember some of the words from her childhood and teaches her children the little that

she does know.

I remember my mother in law talking about the government within the tribe as well as

outside of it too. She explained to me that on the reservation they dont have to uphold to the

laws that are created for the state. They have tribal authorities and government that handles all

issues dealing with the law. I found in my research that the reservation government that my

mother in law was talking about was actually established through the Indian Reorganization Act

in April 1935. This government is made up of elected executives: Chairman, Treasury, Secretary,

and 15 representatives from each district.

In doing my research on stratification among the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe I wasnt

able to really get a good idea of how things were in the tribe. I know that talking with my mother

in law she told me about stories that she was told about the old times in the tribe. She described

how everyone within the tribe were pretty much on the same level but when it came to leaders of

the tribe they were the ones that held the power in almost everything and were as you would

classify, upper class. She told me that times when she was growing up on the reservation there

were many noble people who were key assets to the tribe and when they died their families felt

as if they held the same nobility and power in the tribe.

The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe is known for using Buffalo as a main source of food and

clothing back in the day. They also were fortunate enough to have horses as their main use of

transportation especially with traveling so much. Now, on the reservation there are a lot of

resources from the tribe that aid in schooling, homes, and land. I know that my husband is able to

receive help from his tribe for school and if we ever choose to move back to South Dakota we

are eligible to obtain free land to build a home on with the assistance from his tribe.
 From online research I came across a site that talked specifically about the Sioux

Tribe Marrying Season. This describes how men would choose to take either one wife or

multiple wives to marry. They would ask as many wives to marry as they wanted and it was up

to the women to say yes or no. When marrying the women you would present them with a horse

and would to start the marriage off in a new home or other words teepee. The men would kill a

buffalo and use the hide to give to their wife or wives to make the outer part of the teepee. This

was what marriage was like for the Sioux Tribe in the olden times.

I loved researching this topic because I heard so much about religious and spiritual things

that Native Americans do. I found from doing my internet research that there are many different

spiritual and religious rituals that are within the Native American Sioux Tribe. They practice

different rituals such as: The Sweat Lodge, The Sun Dance, Rites of Passage and Healing

Ceremony, The Vision Quest, and The Medicine Wheel. These different religious and spiritual

practices are very significant to the Native American Sioux Tribe because they are rituals which

ensure healing, translation, and purification.

These rituals are very important in the Native American Sioux culture because they are

ceremonies that encourage tribal members to participate in ceremonial dances and chants that

can benefit those who involved as well as the tribe as a whole. They are initiations of tribal

members to continue on their paths to the next step in their spiritual and religious lives. They are

able to call upon spirits and ancestors to guide them in their lives as well as their spiritual

destiny.

I remember watching a Native American dancing group called Little Foot perform

traditional ceremonial dances. I was in absolute awe of how amazing it was and the different

costumes that were worn. Speaking with my mother in law she told me that its what you call
traditional regalia. She told me that those specific costumes and headpieces took very long to

make. They would use traditional sewing tools and do everything by hand. These specific pieces

took years to make or months if you stay on top of it because of the thousands of little beads and

jewels that are used to create such beautiful costumes.

My mother in law also told me about the traditional star quilts that are made in the Native

American Sioux Tribe. These quilts are made for various occasions but mostly for big special

occasions such as; birth of a baby, marriage, graduation, or other occasions when you complete a

big commitment or task. When interviewing my mother in law she spoke of how big of an

importance these quilts were because of the significance of accomplishment and love towards the

receiver.

Values that were very obvious in this culture was family and spirituality. They cherish

their families and that means the tribes as a whole. Everyone is considered family within the

tribe and you hold them all to a very high standard. Their spirituality is also a big valued aspect

in their culture because they believe that everything they do is from the influence of a higher

power. The Siouxs choose to consult with their higher being and spirits in whatever they do to

obtain the correct information on what they need to do or what path they must take.

My mother in law told me that some of the social norms that she can attest for growing

up on the reservation was drinking. She talked about how that was the Native American Curse.

When living on the reservation there wasnt much for her to do as well as other natives so they

chose to party and drink. This became such a norm for them that even native children began to

party and drink as such a young age. They didnt see this activity as something that was different

or out of the norm because EVERYONE did it.

Conclusion

Just like any other project I did run into some issues while trying to research the specific

culture group. It was hard for me to really find information that was aiming towards the

ethnographic assignments and weekly journal logs. Being able to find the very few websites with

information that seemed some-what credible was very helpful in certain categories but other

researches were harder to find or I wasnt able to find at all. I did do personal interviews with my

mother in law which I enjoyed but again information was very limited and only from the point of

view of my mother in law. These methods were the two main ones that I used for my project,

although I wasnt able to receive a lot more information like I hoped, it did end up being very

helpful and beneficial form my project.

When doing this project I felt that the culture group I chose would be very different from

my own but to my surprise there were many similarities. When learning about the different

cultural dances and ceremonies of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe I was able to relate back to

my own culture and how we also have cultural dances that are passed down from generation to

generation. The costumes that we use are one that are handmade by the women using them and

kept for the use of future dances. A lot of time and effort goes into creating these costumes

because of the limited resources and tools needed.

I also found that another similarity was the importance of family from both cultures. This

was a big one because I know that in my culture that family is big and the most important thing

that we cherish. Just like the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe we feel that everyone in the village is

family and we treat them so. In my own life now we treat everyone we come in contact with as

family and keep them close in our lives just as you would with anyone in your family.
 Some of my strategies that I feel that I would practice for cultural relativism would be to

not judge others cultures based on my own experiences in my culture. Being more open minded

to the practices of different cultures can help to see things from a brighter perspective and not

from the view of someone who may not know all the ins and outs of that culture. I would

practice to try new things that may seem scary and new to me with a different culture. I know

that I am usually off putting to trying new foods but I feel that changing this way about myself

can help to open my views on different cultures. Being able to do research by getting involved in

some sort of activity can help to broaden ones perspective of the culture at hand.

From this project I learned a lot about myself. I was able to see how I can be close

minded to a lot new experiences and cultural traditions. Going into this project I had tunnel

vision when learning more about the culture. I felt as if the things I had learned from previous

classes or social experiences made me think of how this culture group did things or what was

associated with them. I know that when doing this project I went in with the mindset of having

all the tools needed to complete this project. Having a family member who has grown up in this

culture her whole life would make this project a piece of cake but it didnt do too much justice

with my research.

I did enjoy this project a lot because I was able to learn not about the cultural group I

chose to do research on but also about my own cultural group and myself. Reflecting back on my

experiences I have definitely learned so much more than anticipated or expected. I know that

with my project I am more open minded to trying new things and getting more involved with

learning about different cultural groups. Having been able to do this assignment it has taught me

the importance of culture and how it has many variations around the world that can have

similarities as well as differences, this is what makes up our cultural identity.