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1. "Happy Hunting Grounds" Q. What does the term "happy hunting grounds" refer to in Native American beliefs? A. The term "happy hunting grounds" refers to a benevolent and Edenic afterlife in which game is plentiful and there for the taking. For each people/nation for whom it is used, one would want to work out whether the idea is aboriginal or influenced by Christian thought on the afterlife. Shepard Krech III Professor of Anthropology Director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Brown University
2. Native American Beliefs about the Afterlife Q. From what I have read (briefly), the Native American religions seem to have in common the lack of punishment in an afterlife for sins or general wrongdoing committed while on earth. Punishment seems to be confined to life and does not extend into afterlife. Am I wrong in this assumption? David A. Dear David: Your question is a really good one, which, unfortunately, has no easy answer because there were hundreds of North American Indian cultures prior to 1500—and hence ways of imagining what happens after death, and because Christianity influenced many aspects of Indians' religious thought, including ideas of death, of a single high god, of a primordial flood, and so on, and because I'm not certain that anyone has focused comprehensively and comparatively on the afterlife. (Nor are Christian ideas of the afterlife easily reduced to a soundbite; for example, for two thousand years there have been at least two competing ideas of what existence after death is like—one ethereally theocentric and focused on joining God, and the other corporeally anthropocentric and focused on joining one's departed relatives.) I get the sense that, for many in native North America, what happens after death depends on
status in life (e.g., a special place for special people like warriors who die in battle or for
religious leaders) and on comportment in life (those who transgress norms—who "sin"— end up
in a less satisfying realm or as less satisfied beings). For example, in the cultures of some
societies, witches/sorcerers become stinkbugs; in others, miscreants are dropped off a slippery
log that one is to walk over into the afterlife. Important in any afterlife discussion is
reincarnation, a widespread belief in native North America. One scholar in particular, Åke
Hultkrantz, has discussed some of these issues. [One of his recent publications is Native
Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility.]
3. Native Americans & Animism / Native Americans in Academic Philosophy Q. Dear Sir: I have two questions. (1) Are there any philosophers other than Greek philosophers who studied animism? The Greeks specialized in materialism. My concern is to connect a philosopher with animism. (2) Are there any Native American philosophers in the past and today? Thanks, Chester A. Response to Question #1 from Dr. William Lycan, Philosophy, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dear Chester, In my experience, current philosophers use the label "animism" to mean not a doctrine defended by any philosopher, but the instinctive attitude of primitive people and small children to think of inanimate objects as sentient and/or as having wills. Sometimes animism in this sense is called "Naive Panpsychism" to distinguish it from "Philosophical Panpsychism," the self-conscious philosophical thesis that everything in the universe (including ashtrays, pebbles and even helium atoms) is a sentient being. Panpsychism has different variants. Some panpsychists think that all the objects in the universe have "the same" sentience or consciousness, that in some sense unites everything. Closely related is the idea of a "world soul." Some panpsychists think the whole universe is itself a big sentient being. Historically, panpsychism has been held by many philosophers, including
some of the Presocratics. Panpsychism was big during the nineteenth
century in Europe. The American philosopher Josiah Royce held it. It's
even making a resurgence in current American philosophy of mind—for
example, David Chalmers and Leo Stubenberg have each recently defended
it. Response to both questions from Dr. Anne Waters, American Indian Philosophy Association, University of New Mexico, via Dr. Lycan. Regarding your query about Native American animism, I would have to suggest that anyone doing work in this area must pay attention to native languages—the main identifier in most native languages in the Americas is whether it is animate or inanimate. I do not wish to suggest that this distinction plays into a binary logic, as it does not. From the best I can gather, American Indian languages participate in what is called "fuzzy logic"—what I call nonbinary dualism. Basically most differentiations are made on an everchanging continuum. I believe the basic ontological system is passed via the family system of teachings about the world. Let me recommend a book to be published by Blackwell Publishers in the spring of 2001, titled American Indian Thought: A Philosophy Reader, coedited by Anne Waters, J.D., Ph.D., and John H. Dufour, M.Phil. As to your second question: yes, there are a few professional academic American Indian philosophers, but not too many. (Wonderfully, we are outnumbered by far by the nonacademic traditional American Indian philosophers!) I am currently trying to track down an American Indian who might have had a Ph.D. in philosophy back in the 1920s, but this research is still in its infancy. On the other hand there was a native academic philosopher who passed away about two years ago, and I would like to have the time to find out more about his life. As to contemporary times, there are currently four American Indians with Ph.D.'s in philosophy:
Several of us have recently created the American Indian Philosophy Association. We welcome anyone with an interest in philosophy, especially American Indian philosophy. We have a web site at http://home.flash.net/~wakaro/aipa. Finally, be careful about believing things about American Indians. There is as much false information "out there" as there is false jewelry! Addendum to Dr. Waters's response from Dr. Kenneth Stikkers, Philosophy, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, via Dr. Lycan. The recently deceased Native American philosopher that Dr. Waters mentions is Robert Bunge. He and I received our Ph.D.'s together in 1982 from DePaul University and remained good friends. He was born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. His first language was Lakota, which he was teaching at the University of South Dakota at the time of his death in 1996. His book, An American Urphilosophie BP (Before Pragmatism) (University Press of America, 1984) is an important contribution to Native American philosophy, I believe. He was one of the most amazing individuals I've ever met and I miss him greatly. Although his Ph.D. was in philosophy, he was in the Department of Modern Languages—he claimed 26 languages!—and was working on a Bulgarian wordbook at the time of his death.
4. "Symbols in Southwest Indian Art" Q. Could you tell me if the symbols used in Indian pottery, beadwork, and woven tapestries/small rugs have specific meanings, and whether these vary from tribe to tribe? I am especially interested in a weaving which is said to be from northern Arizona. The symbol in the center of it represents the original owner's "lifeline"—this section of the weaving is white, and the remainder is striped in tan, old gold, and burgundy. From each corner, a twisted burgundy tail extends maybe four inches from the woven piece. Its dimensions are about 24" x 36" and it is estimated to be 20-25 years old. Any information you may be able to offer would be greatly
appreciated. A. Dear Karen, Designs on textiles and ceramics often do have meanings, but they are often multiple and/or ambivalent, and we cannot always discern them with absolute certainty. Arizona has over twenty different Indian groups, which makes generalization impossible for that state. Many textiles are Navajo; many ceramics are Puebloan. I advise reading, in this order: - Stephen Trimble, The People: Indians of the American Southwest (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1993)  for ideas on the meanings of design
- Kate Kent, Navajo Weaving: Three Centuries of Change (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1985) for general books on the topic- Christian Feest, Native Arts of North America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980)These works will guide you to others. Shepard Krech III Professor of Anthropology Director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Brown University
5. Nisga'a Indians in Canada and an Anglican Missionary Q. Hi. I am a Nisga'a aboriginal from the Nass River community in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. I am doing research on the founding of our Aiyansh YMCA as part of the missionary work of James B. McCullagh in the late 1800s. In 1893 a friend in England sent McCullagh a printing press. He taught the Nishga how to use it, and he translated the Gospels into English and Nishga—it was a great step in education. A part of that education was forming the Aiyansh YMCA, and this is what we are interested in knowing about from you if we can. We are trying to get the history of the YMCA he had formed in the Nass River community called Aiyansh or Gitlakdaiks. We'd appreciate a contact person to send us in the right
direction. A. Dear Brad, I suggest that you contact Prof. Elizabeth Vibert, Department of History, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, an historian who knows the nineteenth-century Plateau well. She might steer you in the right direction. Other possibilities might be church historians. The mother lode is the Church Missionary Society Archives, Birmingham, England, but the Anglican Church in British Columbia could guide you toward microfilm collections available in Canada.
Three works that might help you are:
6. Shamans' Favorite Animals Q. I was wondering what two animals you would think were most important to shamans. Thanks. Christopher A. Dear Christopher: Given hundreds of nations and cultures, there is no way to answer this in the abstract. Shamanism, "power"—whatever it be called or however the native concepts be translated—varied culturally and individually. Often people gained power during a period of abstinence and isolation (when they experienced, or received, a vision), and in doing so they gained animal-helpers that were later useful to the shaman/medicine-man/medicine-woman in curing, killing, prognostication, influencing events, etc. The animals could be almost anything: birds large or small, a carnivore or herbivore, etc. That
much said, however, some animals were "stronger" than others for some (all?) people, e.g., bear,
wolverine, mink among northern Indians.
7. Indians and Long Hair Q. I am looking for religious reasons why Native Americans kept their hair long. Your help would be gladly appreciated. A. I've never read any account, primary or secondary, that suggested that Native Americans of either sex wore long hair for religious reasons—it appears instead to have been a matter of aesthetic preference. Indeed, James Axtell in The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in
Colonial North America (Oxford University Press, 1985) has a very
striking drawing of an Indian woman who marks her embrace of Catholicism
by cutting her hair—a symbol of native pride and vanity (as it was in
European culture as well). For more on Indian religion, you might also
consult Alvin Josephy, Jr., ed., America in 1492: The World of the
Indian Peoples before the Arrival of Columbus (Knopf, 1992).
8. Native Americans and Christianity Q. I am a student in Canada and am double majoring in Native Studies and Sociology. My question: why do Native Americans continue to turn to Christianity as their belief system when everything they need is within their own beautiful and rich culture. After everything the Europeans put them through—after the genocide, forced conversion and residential schools—you would think they would want nothing further to do with them. What is it that still pulls Native Americans toward Christianity? Thank you for taking the time to read my request. A. I don't know about the appeal of Christianity among contemporary Native Americans, but James Axtell has got some interesting material about the logic of 18th-century conversions in his book The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America (Oxford University Press, 1985). You might look into the writings of William McLoughlin on the 19th-century Cherokee, who were the most "christianized" of any of the tribes. He has several wonderful books on the history of the Cherokee, including The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870 (University of Georgia Press, 1994) and Cherokees and Missionaries, 1789-1839 (Yale University Press, 1984). Christine Leigh Heyrman Professor of History University of Delaware There are two websites you may want to check out. In the site “The Religious Movements Homepage @ the University of Virginia” at http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~jkh8x/soc257/home.htm, go to the page “Native American Spirituality” at http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/%7Ejkh8x/soc257/nrms/naspirit.html, and scroll down to Part IV: “Native American Spirituality and Christianity.” You might also check out the website “Christianity Among the Indians of the Americas,” a project of the Marquette University Archives, at http://www.mu.edu/library/collections/archives/indians.html. National Humanities Center
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