Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo was born May 9, 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Muscogee Tribe. She went to the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and studied painting and theater, and not music and poetry. She earned her B. A. from the University of New Mexico and her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. Her most recent book of poetry is How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, which has gone on to win awards. She picked up the saxophone and put together a band that blended elements of tribal music, jazz, and rock. She says that “the band takes its name from this term because we are: a poet, an Indian water rights attorney, a tribal judge, two educators and a stock clerk; and because all of us have worked for justice in our lives, through any means possible and through music.” She also says that the term poetic justice “is a term of grace, expressing how justice can appear in the world despite forces of confusion and destruction.” She has taught at Arizona State University as a lecturer in 1980-81, at Santa Fe Community College, The Institute of American Indian Arts. She’s held Assistant and Associate Professorships at various academic institutions

Native American Studies

American Indian Studies programs have often been accused in the past of charges of political advocacy and of lacking a certain objectivity that is the standard for disciplines of academic scholarship. Several colleges in the Southwestern region of the U.S. began Native American Studies programs in the late 70's and early 80's. The University of Arizona started the first A.I. studies Ph.D. program in the nation, and University of California at Berkeley became a popular location for American Indian studies. The political rhetoric that was used in defense of keeping these programs in the 70's was one affirmative action and civil rights, and later shifted to the need to educate minority students to meet the growing needs of a shrinking and increasing technologically developing world. The interdisciplinary nature of the field has seemed so far to be best suited to the more focused aspect of graduate study. The challenge for Native American studies is that they are held to the standards of scholarship that must conform to the institutional norms, with strict adherence to written documents- which doesn't offer much flexibility to oral literatures and histories that Native Americans created.

Lakota Sioux Indians

North Carolina seems to be the home of the Sioux. They lived as seven tribes. The word "Lakota" means ally or friend. They moved to the plains abut the middle of the seventeenth century. It was a great turning point for the Sioux when they acquired the horse from the Cheyenne. Once established in the high plains, the original seven Sioux groups divided. The Lakota drove the Crow, Pawnee, Shoshone from their hunting grounds. The Lakota smoked k'nick k'nick tobacco, which was an important spiritual element of their culture- the pipe from which they smoke from contains, or is the universe. In the winter, tribes would break up into smaller bands because it was easier to feed everyone that way. Lakota women performed a lot of hard labor and were not regarded any less than men. They were quite influential in tribal affairs. A willingness to follow leaders was never a strong suit for the Lakota. They really didn't rely very heavily or regard them as having the same authority as leaders in European cultures follow their leaders. It was also a Lakota custom to have different names for oneself at different points in life. Crazy Horse acquired his name from his father shortly after he related to him a vision he had of a dancing horse made of shadow.

Crazy Horse

I researched Crazy Horse as the subject of my review project and found some very interesting things about how the myth around his legend was created. The first thing that I noticed upon approaching the subject was how scarce the information about Crazy Horse is, and that a major part of his representation relies upon the mythology about him, the stories about him, and secondhand accounts of people who knew him. There are no letters or speeches to look at and study, we must extrapolate from what has been said about him decades after he died. It seems that he was such a revered figure because of how selfless a person he was. He had very little possessions, and helped the most impoverished of his Lakota people stave off hunger. He tried very hard to live up to the expectations that his people had about his character; it was considered very important that a Lakota member live up to their unique individual role in the community. Crazy Horse was a very independent, aloof personality to his people. He was physically different that most Lakota- with very light skin and light hair. His skill and prowess as a warrior is where he gets his most acclaim; he gained respect and showed his leadership through example.