Gender, Politics and Spiritual Transformation: Comment on Lawrence

Eric S. Greene
Miami-Dade Community College

Lawrence's detailed account of the ways in which other species have been incorporated into the Sun Dance raises an array of questions and research possibilities not only about the ceremony itself, but about the analysis of non Western cultures from a Western perspective. Although we may study the role of other animals in the Plains Tribespeople's ceremony, we must be cognizant of the fact that they may not see other animals as "the other," but rather as spiritual equals; it is that world view which the Sun Dance reflects, and which poses a challenge to the Western-trained mind.

The world of the Plains people is the experience of the Great Mystery who the Lakota call Wankan Tanka. "She is the necessary precondition for material creation, and she, like all of her creation, is fundamentally female ­ potential and primary" (Allen, 1986, p. 14); and has qualities of both Mother and Father. Traditional tribal societies reflected the overall feminine quality of the "Creatrix": they were gynocratic and ­ contrary to popular belief ­ "never patriarchal" (Allen, 1986, p. 2).

All that exists is perceived as the expression of the Great Mystery, rather than as independent entities (Kehoe, 1981; Brown, 1992). To the Oglala (a Lakota tribe) and others on the Plains, everything has a spiritual "guardian divinity" or "mother archetype" (Brown, 1992, p. 114); the physical is seen as a shadow of the spiritual (Brown, 1992, p. 6). The relationship to these archetypes, vis-á-vis interactions with individual physical beings, is central to Plains people's spirituality; it is a relationship guided by the Great Mystery according to a preconceived cosmic plan. Even objects, names, colors, and drawings have totemic qualities, and are not considered as representations or symbols in a Western sense: they do not allude to other forces or experiences, they are those "events" (Allen, 1986, p. 68; Brown, 1992, p. 90). For example, the sun is thought to manifest the life-giving force of Wankan Tanka (Allen, 1986, p. 61), and the buffalo are considered 'companion to the Sun' (Laubin, 1977, p. 279; Matthiessen, 1991, p. 16). The color red, as used in ceremonies, bears out the unifying principle between the sun, earthly life, the blood that supports life, and buffalo (Laubin, 1977, p. 282; Brown, 1992, p. 93; Allen, 1986, pp. 28, 69).

The Oglala have four main categories in their taxonomy of animal life: the "two-legged peoples" (i.e., humans), the "four-legged peoples," the "crawling and swimming peoples," and the "Winged-Beings." Of these, buffalo were seen as the "Master Guardians," and a reflection of "all growing and living things upon the earth" (Brown, 1992, pp. 23, 47). There is a profound link between women and buffalo, who are usually seen as 'she': "The bison is the chief of all animals and represents the earth, the totality of all that is. It is the feminine, creating earth principle which gives rise to all living forms" (Black Elk in Brown, 1992, p. 13).

Throughout the year, buffalo traveled in bands of cows and calves led by the older cows. During the rut, smaller bands joined together with the bulls in enormous herds which stretched across the plains. Similarly, tribesmen left their families to go hunting, on horse raids and on war expeditions while the women managed the tasks of everyday life, and wise women had final say over rituals and hunting strategies (Kehoe, 1981, pp. 291-2). During the buffalo's rut, many Plains tribes gathered together for the Sun Dance.

It was widely believed, as Lawrence states, that the Great Mystery provided buffalo as a "gift" for physical well-being and spiritual sustenance (also in Allen, 1986, p. 69; Kehoe, 1991). Black Elk (1990, p. 40) explains how the human body is understood to be composed of four basic substances which have correlative sacred foods, one substance being meat. This information, he writes, was "brought to us by Elk Woman nineteen generations ago," a belief which exemplifies the link between women and meat (preparation).

Before horses were reintroduced in North America in the 16th century, buffalo hunting was an elaborate and laborious activity: a corral was often built below a high cliff, and a band of mother cows and their calves would be lured towards, and chased off, the cliff by both men and women. The men slayed the injured, while the women butchered and processed the bodies (Kehoe, 1981, p. 291). "Woman bears, that is true. She also destroys. That is true. She also wars and hexes and mends and breaks" (Allen, 1986, p. 14). And she participated in the killing and butchering of mother buffalo and their young.

Horses made it easier to chase, corral and kill buffalo. By replacing dogs as the primary transporter of goods, horses also enabled much more to be carried (including ceremonial objects used in the Sun Dance), which substantially raised the standard of living (Kehoe, 1981, pp. 278-9; Josephy, 1991). By the 1740's, almost all of the Plains tribes had horses, and by the end of the 18th century, nomadic Plains culture peaked (Josephy, 1991, p. 118). However, accompanying this prosperity was the threatening presence of white invaders, especially from the east, who pushed eastern tribes westward onto the Plains. It is generally thought that this period marked the origin of the Sun Dance (Newcomb, 1974, p, 99; Laubin, 1977). Although horses played an intrinsic part in Plains Tribespeople's culture, and in large part made the Sun Dance possible, their role in the Sun Dance was only briefly mentioned by Vine Deloria (in Brown, 1992, p. 67).

When a people are threatened with the prospect of cultural and/or environmental destruction, it is not uncommon for new religious movements to emerge with promise of revitalizing the culture. Tending to be messianic, they provide a vision of an ideal world and rituals depicting it. The Sun Dance could be interpreted as such a response to uncertainty. Often pledged for personal reasons, it was intended to beseech Wankan Tanka to provide buffalo and 'the good life.' And it was democratic ­ open to anyone, from any "ethnic background, sex, age, or physical and social condition" (Kehoe, 1981, p. 298).

For the Lakota and many other tribes on the Plains, incantation culminated in self-torture. Since it was believed that everything belonged to and was of Wankan Tanka, all one could truly sacrifice was oneself. It was a vision quest: a "search for the power and protection of a tutelary spirit. Among the Oglala ... the quest was participated in by virtually all the men and, although less frequently and in a somewhat less rigourous form, often also by women" (Brown, 1992, p. 3). Black Elk (1990, p. 40) explains, "...it is the woman who gives birth to us all through pain and blood. So we return that with one drop of blood and one drop of pain." Blood consecrates the Sun Dance; pain provides a path to wisdom. Women who menstruate and experience the pain of childbirth were thought to possess a special wisdom. Perhaps this is one reason why it was not as necessary for women to participate in self-torture. Still, women played significant and varied roles in the Sun Dance, and in many tribes, women pledged the dance (Crow Dog, 1990; Laubin, 1977; Wolf, 1980).

The messianic concept lends itself to metaphors of human reproduction, and pertains to the fertility of culture, the life cycle and, in this case, the continuance of buffalo. Lawrence describes a phallic center pole made from the trunk of a cottonwood tree. The cottonwood signified a reservoir of life-sustaining water in arid places, a 'tree of life' for many Plains beings. There were also complementary yonic symbols: the circles of the lodge, tipi, sacred hoop, life-cycles, dance, and the "psychic power-generating and protective 'battery' of the circle of Grandmothers" (Allen, 1986, p. 205). The stem of the Lakota's sacred pipe, Chanunpa, the bringer of truth, is purported to be akin to the tree of life and man, while the bowl has the quality of the whole world and is woman (Black Elk, 1990, p. 51).

According to the Lakota, a vision quest revealed that the Chanunpa was brought to the people by the White Buffalo Cow Woman who transformed into a white buffalo cow/calf. One account has the white buffalo calf to be a "berdache" or winkte (Williams, 1992, p. 28). Although physically males, winktes comprised a third gender category. The Lakota viewed winktes as sacred people with spiritual power. They danced in the Sun Dance, participated in self-torture and often blessed the center pole (Williams, 1992, p. 36). Williams (1992, pp. 41-2) states that "berdaches not only mediate between the sexes but ... between the spirit and the flesh. Since they mix the characteristics of both men and women, they possess the vision of both ... with the ability to see more clearly than a single gender perspective can provide." More needs to be learned of how winktes mediated between humans and buffalo.

There were other spiritual transmutations: "Men may turn into animals, and vice versa, or one species of animal may shift into another, or an animal may take on some plant form which is to become [a] sacred medicinal herb" (Brown, 1992, p. 4). Allen (1986, p. 82) relates how transmutations are addressed in ritual: "women's rituals and lore center on birth, death, food, householding, and medicine ... that is, all that goes into the maintenance of life over the long term. Men's rituals are concerned with risk, death, and transformation ­ that is, all that helps regulate and control change." Further research into accounts of spiritual permutations, especially regarding ideological patterns, would enhance our understanding of the relationship between tribes and other animals as reflected in dreams and visions.

Harmony or Justice

Traditional Plains culture harmonizes with many ecological and ecofeminist themes, and as such, complements a contemporary animal rights perspective (Regan, 1983); yet there remain important differences. The obvious one is that Plains Tribespeople maimed and killed other animals. Although the act of hunting was ritualized, is ritual ever compensatory when the outcome for the victims is the same ­ suffering and violent death?

In patriarchal Western culture, killing is considered a man's activity, while nurturing is linked to women. In traditional gynocratic Plains culture, there are also differences in gender roles, but a greater fluidity exists between them, as demonstrated by women's participation in the hunt, and the gender category of winkte. The idea of woman as hunter/butcher poses a challenge to 20th century urban society where stereotypical views of femininity and masculinity are based on patriarchal ideals. This is especially true when considering a society which valued the feminine, and in which buffalo were admired for their maternal care and served as a model for social organization. Yet women in most nomadic and agricultural societies kill, butcher, prepare and eat animals. The literature illustrates how Plains tribeswomen nurtured the members of their own community, and does not specifically address the idea of the Earth Mother's compassion towards her buffalo children.

For Plains communities, hunting was a necessity of life, and, as with all their activities, was deeply spiritual. They believed that by fulfilling their relationships within the web of life, of which other animals were a part, they were honoring Wankan Tanka and their own spirituality. While they respected individuals within their own communities, their relationships with other beings were based on the consideration given to archetypes rather than to the individuals thought to reflect them. Thus the primary ideological difference between traditional Plains cosmology and an animal rights philosophy is that the latter places its emphasis on the individual.

Although I have not come across any indication that the Plains Tribespeople felt compassion for individual animals, such as buffalo, this does not mean that it did not exist. This omission may simply reflect cultural biases and personal interests of various authors. Still questions remain: how did Plains Tribespeople see individual animals? ­ as "programmed" beings? It does not appear that humans were thought to be so programmed; they are depicted as having the ability to make choices. More research needs to bear out those differences within the cultural context of a fluidity between species and spiritual transmutation.

A spiritual view of nature has become attractive to Westerners in reaction to the teaching that the natural world is nothing but a material resource. However, the attribution of spirituality to native cultures can be oversimplified and romanticized with the language of "harmony with all species." Westerners use this concept of 'harmony' as an ethic: it connotes goodness, and represents the ideal quality of life. The popular understanding consists of three basic models: mutualism, non-interactive coexistence, and utilitarianism, such as predator-prey relationships. The latter is used to justify the utilization of nonhuman animals' lives and bodies. Animal rights philosophers (Regan, 1983) reject that as a model of human behavior as it is indicative of oppression.

Contemporary animal rights thought is not reliant on compassion for it advances a rational argument that incorporates behaviors towards other species within a concept of justice. However, we cannot deny the cultural significance of compassion if changes in the perceptions and behavior towards other animals are to occur.

The Sun Dance is a study in sociocultural change and adaptation, the mobilization of cultural resources. The integration of spirituality into daily life and its impact on the interactions between Native peoples and animals is dependent on the politics of environment and gender. More research needs to be done regarding the Plains Tribespeople's views on individual animals, gender differentiation, the relationship to Wankan Tanka, and the conceptualizations of pain and suffering, especially as experienced by other animals.

References

Allen, P. G. (1986).

The sacred hoop: Recovering the feminine in American Indian traditions. Boston: Beacon Press.

Black Elk, W. & Lyon, W. S. (1990).

Black Elk: The sacred ways of a Lakota. San Francisco: Harper.

Brown, J. E. (1992).

Animals of the soul: Sacred animals of the Oglala Sioux. Rockport, Mass.: Element

Crow Dog, M. & Erdoes, R. (1990).

Lakota woman. New York: Harper Perennial.

Josephy, A. M., Jr. (1989).

Now that the buffalo's gone: A study of today's American Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Josephy, A. M., Jr. (1991).

The Indian heritage of America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Kehoe, A. B. (1981).

North American Indians: A comprehensive account. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Laubin, R. & Laubin, G. (1977).

Indian dances of North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Matthiessen, P. (1991).

In the spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Penguin Books.

Newcomb, W. W., Jr. (1974).

North American Indians: An anthropological perspective. Pacific Palisades, Cal.: Goodyear.

Regan, T. (1983).

The case for animal rights. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Williams, W. L. (1992).

The spirit and the flesh: Sexual diversity in American Indian culture. Boston: Beacon Press.

Wolf, B. H. (1980).

The ways of my grandmothers. New York: Quill.

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