INTR296

Emily, I really like how first, you are focusing on alcoholism as a specific topic: a lot of psycological, health, political, economic, and social connections will come from focusing on one thing. Also, I think that it is important to understand their mentality more, as you implied in your last question. From our readings, we are still unsure: the contact with the people there will help answer your questions. To add, maybe look at the mentality within different generations: do the children have the idea that they must take responsibility for alcoholism? Do the older people see alcoholism as a threat, or is alcoholism associated at all with the saguaro festival and vomiting ritual? Also, what were the change agents that made alcoholism so present in O'odham society? When did those changes start occurring and what was going on to make them occur? Great job Emily!

subsistence

While out initial question of subsitence was vast in its idea, the readings have given me a specific question to focus on. We initially felt that subsistence can be boiled down to the ways in which the Tohono O'odham people gather food, secure water in an environment such as the desert, and build shelters to protect their environment. Knowing what I have learned from the readings and the previous courses in Native American religions, I am interested in the religious aspect of all three of these things. While we consider these mundane necessities, I am interested in focusing on the belief systems around them. In addition, the topic of post-contact in relation to all three of these is important. Where are younger generations deviating from these traditions and where are they keeping the same ones. Our broad topic has great overlap with other topics which will make for interesting research and benefit the entire group.

More on Subsistence

After reading the responses to our original posting, I have become interested in the idea that religion could be the mechanism that the O'odham people use to fulfill their basic needs (food, water, and shelter). I think our trip to Arizona is the perfect opportunity to answer this question. The pre-contact subsistence lifestyle was very community-centric, while the post-contact lifestyle has become more individualistic--it would be interesting to inquire more about this in AZ. I am also wondering how to best integrate the other topics of water and health (the food aspect of this topic) into our broader "subsistence" topic. For example, the water rights that Joe and Sara discussed had a huge impact on life on the rez. How have the O'odham adapted farming/livestock techniques in response to repeated abuse by the government? Does this abuse have any long-term repercussions? I read about livestock reduction techniques in one of the articles and it mentioned that people are still really angry about this and have developed something like a post traumatic stress disorder...Anyway, I am learning more about our topic every day and I hope to have an extensive list of questions to answer on our trip next week.

Sacred Sites cont.

The Tohono Oodham people, like all Native Americans, are closely connected to the land. They are called the "Desert People." They embrace the harsh landscape because they recognize it as their place. This fundamental connection serves as the basis for our continued research regarding spiritual and cultural beliefs arising from their unique landscape. We want to see how the desert itself informs their religion. We are specifically interested in visiting many of the sacred sites (such as the Shrine of the Living Children) that serve as physical representations of these beliefs. We hope to visit and observe first-hand how the modern Tohono Oodham people use and preserve these sites in order to understand how spirituality might have been changed in the post-contact era.

Questions Again

Having done the reading, I would say the wuestions remain in many ways the same. However, now with more of an idea of what the focus is to be on the paper, some new ones can be added tot he mix. How do the sacred sites demonstrate the relationship to landscape? In what ways is the culture inherently changed by disruption in the sites, and how is cultural change shown through changes in the sites? How much are the O'odham tied to their land?

OOdham health

Health is a subject involving genetics, psycology, outer influences such as germs (wandering disease), prevention, curing, health care, and treatment. To the O'Odham, it involves layers of experience as well. In our project, I am going to focus on genetics, food, and nutrition specifically with Type II diabetes, because the interaction of these subjects provides an objective understanding of the disease and its prevalence among the Pima and Papago. One of the most interesting things that I found out is that there is a genetic basis for diabetes among Native Americans: insulin markers found on cells have proven that Native Americans have a higher suseptibility to the disease. This means that for years, the 'desert' diet of the OOdham conditioned their genetic make up to be different from ours. With this in mind, how on one hand can we force the Oodham to assimilate into Anglo culture while at the same time telling them that they are different genetically, and therefore must eat differently?

In Az, I would like to know more about how prevention of disease and treatment of disease works today: does a moral code or does Catholicism 'define' being a good relative? Also, do shamans or medicine men have any role in current institutional curing? Or, do hospitals have alternative and traditional medicine?

Health Specifics

I've been reading a lot of background material on health and aftera partner conference, we've decided to look at both alcoholism and type II diabetes as our health issues. I, being the psychology major, am focusing on alcoholism. I am especially interested in the saguaro wine ceremony and how it relates to alcohol consumption. It seems that the O'Odham have always been in the practice of getting drunk, but traditionally, it was highly ritualized. I am wondering if some despiritualization went on post-contact that devalued alcohol. The wine ceremony is just one piece of the puzzle, though, and I hope to find out more about this health issue.

And Water Continues...

Joe points out an interesting part of our topic: How does the culture of a place change when such a basic need is taken away? The progression of contact (from the mountain men to Anglo settlers) has created simultaneous problems with how the O�odham survive and function. Frustration arose from both the outside community and the insiders because of the growing perception that the O�odham were lazy, rather than lacking a vital resource to survive/ create a product. The United States government continually underestimated the need for water and only recently (with the Salt River- Pima Maricopa Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988) did they give the warranted amount and water rights over to them. I would like to look further into how the O�odham have tried to reach government agencies for aid during the 40 year drought, as well as how they are represented currently. My readings have spanned a good bit in to how water rights were fought over, but there still remains a problem over how these are viewed within a sacred context. I also need to look more into how current residents feel about their land/ water and if they feel the government has treated them fairly. Also if there are differences in everyday water usage in and outside of the reservation, as far as farming techniques and conservation.

specific questions

Water was and still is an essential resource for the O'odham people. In researching the role of water, the chain of events that led to the destruction of the ecosystem, the failure of the O'odham agriculture and in effect the disentigration of the community and culture of the people demopnstrated the importance of water in survival. Upriver settlement was the primary cause of the water problems which compounded as more non-indians moved into the area adn the water resources were mismanaged and redistributed. Many of my questions have been answered thorugh my reading but I think the disregard for the Native Americans of the area by the government as well as other settlers is an interesting area needing more time. I also want to observe what cultural aspects fell victim to the lack of water in relation to the surviving.

Subsistence

The topic of subsistence boils down to the three basic needs of humans: food, water, and shelter. In our opinion, religion and culture develop around these three basic needs. Our essential question is two-fold: how does the tribe fulfill these needs and how does religion and culture spawn from them?

Landscape and Sacred Sites

What-as much as can be understood by us-was their relation to their landscape? How did their beliefs influence these interactions and come to be manifested in their sacred sites? What was changed by contact, both geographically and within their relationship to the landscape? What was disrupted or destroyed? In what ways do they work to maintain or rejuvenate old lifeways and traditions in the face of American government and influence?

Health: the essential questions

How has the health of the O'Odham changed and what were the elements that caused those changes? While tracing the specific topic of Type II diabetes, we will investigate many different effects of European contact on the O'Odham people.

the essential questions of water

As a neccesity to survival, water is an essential influence and building block in each culture. When a ceratin resource is not abundant, it acheives a higher level of improtance spiritually and funtionally in the realtive society. In North America, the manipulation of the water resources have evolved from archaic agriculture to the maintainance of large urban centers. The relationships to water have changed as it has become commodified and the once sacred water sources have become hollow landmarks in the migration of people thorughout the country. What forces motivated the changes in the use of water resources and how did they effect the societies and cultures that funtioned within these ecosystems?

Here's a first entry

OK here's the class blog, and the idea is that you'll use it constructively with minimal coercion. We'll see...