[R-G] Notes [November 1 2008]

[Hunter Gray]

Sky Gray -- truly a wonderful companion and all that anyone could ask for in a Kitty, and more -- is helping me with the computer stuff this morning. Challenging situation. The catnip mouse diversion worked for a little while but we have now opened a fresh can of tuna.

Well, RBB has ended the month -- only coincidentally is it Halloween -- with a true and not atypical July 4th display of fireworks. Drawing from the traditions of my maternal grandfather [who I cordially -- and I do mean cordially since we were great friends -- describe in my long Civil Rights Movement Veterans interview as "capitalism incarnate"] I note that the post tally for our just completed month is 895, topping the previous record of 887 for November, 2001.

I'd say, in an all-around friendly fashion, that it's deep breath time. We're all on the same side. Always will be.

And we're all quite articulate indeed.

And passionate.

[I much like the just given suggestion of John [Beba] about good beer. To that I'd add Johnny Walker Red. I miss the days of long yore when I was not an abstainer.]

And, of course, we are all aware that a major development in American history -- the Obama campaign -- is now moving toward an extremely probable victory. [When we voted yesterday, in the Bannock County Courthouse Annex, the very large room was full -- and there was lots of motion: people coming in to vote, people registering for the first time, all kinds of people -- many young, and some quite young. The lady in charge said that, in past elections, they only drew a tiny handful of early voters each day. But they were well staffed.]

True, Obama is no saint, no messiah [and I really don't get the impression that he thinks he is -- though, of course, some others may.] But he and the contextual and foundational forces around him represent, in my opinion, a great step [not a leap] forward -- and forward with the Winds of History,

It's a good -- a damn good -- fighting chance.

Our job is to Keep Pushing, Keep Fighting. Whatever happens and whenever, our work is always cut out.

I appreciate the comments on the Iroquois and the Great Confederacy -- which picked up on mine of yesterday. During my one year of high school teaching -- and from my very first semester of higher ed teaching [college/university], I have always managed to incorporate therein Native historical and social cultural material -- and very much current issues. During my thirteen years at University of North Dakota, my three favorite courses -- quite officially in the Native context -- were Intro to Indian Studies, Federal Indian Law, and Contemporary Indian Issues.

And, if I have always been surprised -- but not too surprised -- about the dearth of awareness and accurate knowledge on the part of non-Indians [and even some Indians] about Native matters. But I've been very pleased, always, about the friendly and open-minded nature of virtually every student I've ever had the privilege of teaching -- all kinds of students, many kinds of subjects. [I should add that I have always avoided "guilt-tripping."]

For anyone interested in the Iroquois, here is a list of recommended books I provided awhile back -- and have given earlier on at least one of our lists. I have appropriate comments as well. And, of course, I am always happy to answer questions, on list or off.

Dear Walter:

Thanks for your inquiry. I'm posting this on another list or two as well --
since it's an excellent question and my response, I trust, is equally
excellent. As you know, being a professor, ask a professor a question and
he or she is still responding 45 minutes later.

Anyway -

The ancient Iroquois Confederacy -- which is very much alive and extremely
vital -- is complex and quite formal. It exemplifies, within the context of
the traditional cultures of the initially five and later six Iroquois
nations, the very carefully worked out balance between collective and
individual well-being [ and here, in this matter of confederation, between
the component nations and the Confederacy as well] -- that is the enduring
and fundamental dimension of any Native tribal nation [and other Fourth
World tribal societies.] Agriculture and hunting were the traditional
economic mainstays of the village-based Iroquois nations that make up the
Confederacy: Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga -- and, sixth,
Tuscarora [coming up from North Carolina in the early 1700s.] As such, this
extraordinary entity is much more structured than, say, that of the old
Wabanaki [Abenaki or Abnaki] Confederacy -- to the east and northeast of the
Iroquois -- where the participating nations were traditionally hunters and
trappers and where the family bands comprising the Abenaki nations were
necessarily semi-nomadic. [Among these Wabanaki tribes are the St. Francis
Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac.]

I have a great deal of material -- always growing -- on Native American
matters posted on our very large social justice website www.hunterbear.org

A short piece of mine, if you haven't seen it, gets quickly into the matter
of tribal or mutual responsibility: the individual has an obligation to the
tribe and the tribe has an obligation to the individual; should these
interests conflict, the well-being of the tribe takes precedence; but,
within that very carefully established framework, there are clearly
developed areas of individual and family autonomy into which the tribe
cannot intrude. That little piece of mine is "Racism, Ethnocentrism, and
Native Tribalism [it was recently published in the Northwest Ethnic Voice.]
Here is its link on our site:
http://www.hunterbear.org/nativetribalism.htm

Here are several suggested books. I have a thought or two attached to each:

Lewis Henry Morgan: The League of the Iroquois [League of the
Ho-de-no-sau-nee or Iroquois], Corinth Books, New York, 1962 [many
editions]. This is, of course, one of the major classics by the Rochester,
New Yorker who worked so closely with traditional Iroquois -- especially the
excellent Donehogawa [Eli Parker], the Seneca who was also Brigadier General
in the Union Army and Grant's chief aide, as well as being the first Native
person to head what was becoming the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Morgan's
works and subsequent extensive correspondence were of great and enduring
interest to Marx and Engels.

Edmund Wilson: Apologies to the Iroquois, Vintage Books, New York, 1960.
This is an excellent introduction to the Iroquois by the gifted and
well-known writer -- who "discovered" the Iroquois and whose healthy
fascination became life-long. A component essay in Wilson's work, Joseph
Mitchell's "The Mohawks in High Steel" is a splendid addition.

Dean R. Snow: The Iroquois, [Blackwell, Oxford UK and Cambridge MA, 1994.
A great deal of material -- historical and contemporary -- is presented in
a well organized, trenchant, and lucid fashion. A full and very palatable
reference work.

Annemarie Anrod Shimony: Conservatism among the Iroquois at the Six Nations
Reserve, Syracuse University Press, 1994. This is an extremely detailed and
intricate study of Iroquois traditionalism -- including traditional
government -- into and with an emphasis on contemporary times. Very well
done and presented, this first appeared under the aegis of Yale in 1961;
the new edition is updated. [My father secured this when it initially
appeared and I read portions at that point. That copy was falling apart and
we were delighted to get the updated reprint.]

William Fenton: Parker on the Iroquois, Syracuse University Press, 1968.
This is the edited compilation [by Professor Fenton] of much of the vast
primary research and analytical work -- on many key components of
traditional Iroquois culture -- by the noted and traditional Seneca scholar
and activist, Arthur Caswell Parker [great nephew of Eli Parker] who was, in
addition to being a broadly acclaimed ethnologist, an active organizer of
Native rights organizations: e.g., Society of American Indians [1911] and a
founder of National Congress of American Indians [1944.] Arthur Parker, I
should add, was an extremely important role model of mine as I developed.
This work contains a great deal on traditional Iroquois governance, the
origins and development and vigorous continuation of the Confederacy, and
the Constitution of the Five Nations of the Confederacy.

For a first-rate discussion of the origin and development of the Society of
American Indians and Pan-Indianism in general [organizations and movements
transcending specific tribal lines], see Hazel Hertzberg: The Search for an
American Indian Identity: Modern Pan-Indian Movements, Syracuse University
Press, 1971.

As Ever -- Hunter [Hunter Bear]


HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

Check out our Hunterbear website Directory http://hunterbear.org/directory.htm
[The site is dedicated to our one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray:
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See our Community Organizing Course [With new material]
http://hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm

And see Hunter's Movement Life Interview:
http://hunterbear.org/HUNTER%20BEAR%20INTERVIEW%20CRMV.htm