Berdache

While reading "New Directions in Native American History" by Calloway, I came across a term I wasn't familiar with, Berdache. After looking into the term further I found that in Native American culture many tribes have members known as Berdaches, men and women who dress as and fulfill the gender roles of the opposite sex. Berdaches are coined as a "third gender" by westerners. This is another example of how little is truly understood of Native American culture due to stereotypes and misrepresentations. I wanted to share this finding in case some of you hadn't heard of this aspect of certain tribes' culture. I was surprised to have not heard of this previously. Many tribes included this third gender and they were not looked upon as outsiders, but were part of the community and fulfilled certain gender roles. From what I have found it seems that the meaning of a Berdache and their position varies from tribe to tribe, but us as westerners have not been able to truly understand their role. For many tribes such as the Plains, a Berdache was not always a person of same sex orientation. In some tribes the status of Berdache was inherited. I would imagine an understanding of this third gender would be difficult to grasp due to our current views and stereotypes especially when terms such as trans gender, homosexual, and transvestite are brought up. What writings I could find on Berdaches were scant and those produced by Native Americans next to none which is a central reason for misunderstanding Aboriginal culture in general. I did find an article by a Donald J. Blakeslee of Wichita State University written on the topic of Berdaches. I have not read all of it as of yet, but what I have gone over has been helpful. If you'd like to read the paper, the url is
<http://soar.wichita.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10057/1747/LAJ_v11_no1_p50-74.pdf?sequence=3>

Also, I have found the origin myth of the Berdache which I would suggest be read first as it is shorter that the above and more insightful to the true meaning of Berdache. The URL is
http://hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.BerdacheOriginMyth.html

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I know that this class is a diversity intensive course and we are supposed to make ourselves aware of other cultures and minimize our "ignorance" of them, but in a way I believe this hugely flies in the face of culture. I believe culture is largely individual. When we let our external self take over our individual self and the way we identify on the individual level, we come to have a skewed view of who we are. Even though many identify with a culture and the social aspect of this,such as tradition, we cannot let this be mistaken for the crux of culture. This aspect is too heavily focused upon and I think is done when people have not taken the time to look within themselves. This is truly all that matters when we get down to the basics. What is it that I want? What am I? Who am I? What makes me content? These questions will be revealed when you sit and listen to your inner self. Many people are too afraid to do this or have simply never taken the time. Knowing yourself is not a simple thing to do, but one cannot identify with culture on a social level until the individual has been identified, and this will differ for each person. I don't think people would take so much offense at another person misrepresenting "who they are" if people understood themselves better. We are human. We will all be hypocrites, liars, and cheats at some point either by doing so intentionally or not, but we will also be saints. This is the human element. If you know yourself, you are, I believe, more willing to acknowledge this and be  content with yourself and not as wrapped up in another persons thoughts of who you are or as concerned with what it is you do to "correctly" represent your culture to others or with others. This is not to say to never stand up for yourself either. America is a great country because we do stand up for what we believe in, but there is  a line where it is not a good thing to be overly sensitive, culturally aware, or diplomatically correct, especially when this is put before taking care of and knowing ones' self.

This has been brought to my attention throughout reading "Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Tradition is continually brought up. Past events are also. One example, "They were all witnesses and nothing more. For hundreds of years, Indians were witnesses to crimes of an epic scale." Sayings such as this come up almost every other line throughout the book. I think this is a great book, but it is important to pay attention to this. Maybe its the feeling I have that as the generations are raised, the ones before them are ingraining these stories into them so that these thoughts are always in their minds. Whenever anything happens that is good, bad, or ordinary a reference is made, blame placed, hopes of future success left buried. Whether good or bad, this makes me worry that the importance of the individual is being lost and the past is becoming too much of a focus, one that will hinder growth, progression, and too much of an unhealthy type of tradition.

"Dead Man"

I came across a movie the other week on Netflix titled "Dead Man". You can watch it free on Netflix and if you don't have Netflix it is possible to sign up for a thirty day free trial. The movie may be in the library as well. The movie is a black and white western with, what I felt, was a comical undertone throughout. The movie was shot in 1995 and I thought I would make a suggestion to view it as we were talking about postmodernism and the film is considered to be a postmodern western as well as a psychadelic western. It stars Johnny Depp as William Blake who is on the run and would have been long dead if not for a Native American who found and aided him throughout the film. He calls himself "Nothing". Nothing and Johnny Depp seem to switch roles between main character and supporting character throughout the tale. When watching the film I felt continuously reminded of our class discussion regarding the cosmic comedy, reminding us of our imperfections and humanity. I feel this film ties into the curriculum perfectly. I do not have a link, but the title is "Dead Man" circa 1995 starring Johnny Depp, directed by Jim Jarmush. Also, the film is shot in black and white in its entirety, and is not what I would call to mind when thinking of "western" films. Iggy Pop, Christopher Gloven, and Billy Bob Thornton are also characters in "Dead Man", if that helps to drive the point of the comedic aspect home, but the plot is one of a serious nature, William Blake's (Johnny Depp) life is in grave danger. One more word I wanted to mention, I felt that the main focus of the film bounces to and from Blake's personal predicament to Nothing and the relationship they form, which I felt was the best theme of the film and was slipped into the mix very nicely.

Lack of Satisfaction

In Trickster Tales, as I was reading the Raven Lights the World section, I found myself reflecting on the theme of satisfaction. In reading the tales, it seems that in many of the tales the lasting message is a lack of satisfaction. The ending line in Raven and His Slave was, "Whats next?". I began thinking of how much of a constant satisfaction, going hand in hand with want and motivation, is in humanity and how it can be so easily overlooked in every day life, making the subtleness of the theme in the tales even more enjoyable.
I began to feel a great deal of respect toward this theme the more I thought about it. It seems that when the term "lack of satisfaction" is expressed the general connotation is one of a negative nature. At least for me, this was the case, but even negativity is central to life. Without lack of satisfaction, there would be no fear of death or failure. There would be no motivation, want of success, a better life, ambition, family, happiness or happiness. We would live in a bland world. We would be the cheerios of cereals without lack of satisfaction. The tales drive this point home in a subtle, but unavoidable voice.

Reparations

If reparations are made to Native Peoples, they should not be given individually. Reparations should be distributed, but they need to be released properly. I believe they should be released to the tribes, the councils that govern them. I'm not sure if that was the correct terminology. Reparations should not be made individually to families. I am sure the reparations would be needed, but it isn't right to give money to a family or person apologizing for what was done to their great great grandparents, or however far back. The tragedies committed against the Native People is larger than the individual level. Ill will is still being done to the Native Peoples and the impact of past actions continue, which is why any type of reparations made should go to the councils of the different tribes to ensure that the monies/commodities would be fairly and properly dispersed to the Native People as a whole.

Naming/Labeling

I believe that the current state of our government (not getting into politics) has influenced our society to rely more heavily upon naming and labeling in present day society more so than twenty years ago. I was in Social Services a while back, looking at their applications for food stamps and other forms of Government funded assistance. Race was a required field on the application. There were two boxes. One box read, "Hispanic or Latino". The other, "NOT Hispanic or Latino". What is the point?! What purpose does this field serve. The only thing I can come up with is that our government strives so hard to be diplomatic, politically correct, and sensitive to those who give themselves an identity other than "white". It seems as if our leaders fear having a finger pointed in their direction making accusations of being racist or unfair. This section of the application is offensive to both those of a Hispanic or Latino background as well as all others. This option is obviously a deciding factor on whether an applicant is approved or denied assistance as it was required. If two people with the same circumstances applied for assistance, were contributing members of society, and truly needed it, the government would find it easier to overlook the person who checked the box reading "NOT Hispanic or Latino" because our government considers those that are Hispanic/Latino to be part of a "minority". I don't understand why this question would be on an application for assistance. It should not influence the end result. My point: Someones' race or background shouldn't have anything to do with the outcome of a situation such as this one or any type of judgement made about a person. I am not saying that we are all the same. If someones heritage is important to them they should be proud and be able to express it if they choose.This isn't a slight against anyone who is Hispanic or Latino either. This was the reality of my experience.