Monday, November 21, 2016

Native American Research

https://www.britannica.com/art/Native-American-music

This is a database about Native American music from Brittanica Encyclopedia. This relates to the topic because it discusses how music plays a huge role in Indian culture, musical styles, and music history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_music_of_North_America

This source is a page from Wikipedia. This relates to the topic because it covers music history in Native American lives and also discusses gender roles in Native American music. It also relates history back to modern day music.


Native American music is a very important aspect of Indian rituals, celebrations, and culture. Each event has different genres and styles of music which belong specifically to that event. New native american music was created, but most of the time old music was just passed down generation to generation. The origin of the music usually encompassed Indian values and beliefs. Indian music was also used to continue the Indian language which might not be verbally spoken anymore. The success of each musical performance was judged by how many people got involved whether they were dancers, musicians, or audience members. The amount of people participating represented the feeling of connectedness which the Indians highly valued. Singing and percussion were prominent aspects of Indian music and what set Native American music apart from modern music today. Indians treated music as a way to educate others about their culture and also to educate their children of their own culture. Gender often played a bug role in Native american music. Most music activities leaned toward one sex. Also, Native american music have their own category in the grammies called the Native American Music Awards which is held annually.



https://www.britannica.com/art/Native-American-music





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_music_of_North_America

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Savagery

Fran Hudson

The purpose of this activity was to read and learn about how Native Americans were viewed. We first looked up definitions of savage and savagery and then read about Native Americans in the text provided keeping the definition in mind. The definition of savage was a member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized, and also (of an animal or force of nature) fierce, uncontrolled, and violent.  The definition of savagery was the condition of being primitive or uncivilized.

The text portrays the Indians as animal-like, inhumane, and uncivilized. It is obvious they live very different to how Americans live. The text would shift the way I viewed Native Americans in a negative way because their morals and way of life was so different from ours. They value war and consider fighting in wars to be honorable. They were extremely revengeful and even burned their prisoners alive. They weren't very technologically advanced, living in huts and wearing very little clothing. They didn't even have books or a clear language they spoke. The text was supporting the idea that Native Americans were savages because they appeared uncivilized, cruel, and violent. By using "the savages" the text sets the Native Americans apart from the rest of us. This text would shift all American student's views on Native Americans very convincingly.