Native American Documents

Discussion Questions for Class, March 29

• What have you learned about American culture from the materials so far on the West (lecture and documents)?
• What cultural conflicts are represented in these documents?
• What are the similarities and differences between Indians and the other ‘outsider’ groups we’ve encountered in this class?
• How does the concept/process of Americanization apply to Native Americans?

· Adding to our list of what it means to be an American, what can these documents
tell us about perceived relationships between owning property and citizenship?
· How do Luther Standing Bear’s and Zitkala-Sa’s narratives in particular demonstrate individuals in a borderland – between two cultures? Hybrid identity?

• What are your thoughts on the picture essay? What does this line of inquiry (looking at art, film, etc.) say about myth & memory versus “history”?

· How do these narratives further our discussions about the relationship between
 memory and identity as well as the relationship between place and memory?