Napi

Napi
Author: Hugh A. Dempsey
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing Co
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2018-04-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1772032182

An enthralling collection of traditional Blackfoot stories revealing the frailty of mankind and the enduring power of narrative. Napi, the Old Man of the Blackfoot Nation, appears prominently in mythology, sometimes as a quasi-Creator, sometimes a fool, and sometimes a brutal murderer. Although Napi is given credit for creating many of the objects and creatures on Earth, and indeed the Earth itself, the Blackfoot do not consider him to be god-like. Napi stories tell of this mythical figure creating the world and everything in it, but getting into trouble when he starts tinkering with his own creation. Perhaps for this reason, anthropologists have labelled him a trickster/creator. For thousands of years, people have gathered around the campfire and listened to stories of how Napi blundered and schemed his way through Blackfoot country. They laugh at how Napi was outwitted by a lame fox, how he tried to fly with the geese only to look down when he was told not to and fell to the earth. He makes a perfect subject for telling, listening, and enjoying—and for teaching. Reproduced by permission of Blackfoot Elders, these stories offer complex insight into an ancient and still-thriving culture through the figure of a flawed yet powerful creature—a mirror of humankind itself.

Invisible Reality

Invisible Reality
Author: Rosalyn R. LaPier
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1496201507

-Invisible Reality presents a vital look at Blackfeet history and the traditional belief that Blackfeet made nature adapt to them.---Provided by publisher.

Colonialism on the Prairies

Colonialism on the Prairies
Author: Blanca Tovias
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2012-07-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1836240600

This book spans a century in the history of the Blackfoot First Nations of present-day Montana and Alberta. It maps out specific ways in which Blackfoot culture persisted amid the drastic transformations of colonisation, with its concomitant forced assimilation in both Canada and the United States. It portrays the strategies and tactics adopted by the Blackfoot in order to navigate political, cultural and social change during the hard transition from traditional life-ways to life on reserves and reservations. Cultural continuity is the thread that binds the four case studies presented, encompassing Blackfoot sacred beliefs and ritual; dress practices; the transmission of knowledge; and the relationship between oral stories and contemporary fiction. Blackfoot voices emerge forcefully from the extensive array of primary and secondary sources consulted, resulting in an inclusive history wherein Blackfoot and non-Blackfoot scholarship enter into dialogue. Blanca Tovias combines historical research with literary criticism, a strategy that is justified by the interrelationship between Blackfoot history and the stories from their oral tradition. Chapters devoted to examining cultural continuity discuss the ways in which oral stories continue to inspire contemporary Native American fiction. This interdisciplinary study is a celebration of Blackfoot culture and knowledge that seeks to revalourise the past by documenting Blackfoot resistance and persistence across a wide spectrum of cultural practice. The volume is essential reading for all scholars working in the fields of Native American studies, colonial and postcolonial history, ethnology and literature.

Retelling Trickster in Naapi's Language

Retelling Trickster in Naapi's Language
Author: Nimachia Howe
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2019-10-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1607329794

Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language is an examination of Nitsitapiisinni (Blackfoot) origin stories about one of the most powerful and unpredictable of the early creators in Niitsitapii consciousness and chronology: Naapi. Through in-depth linguistic analysis, Nimachia Howe reinterprets the earliest references to Naapi, offering a more authentic understanding of his identity and of the meanings and functions of the stories in which he appears. Naapi is commonly and inaccurately categorized by Western scholars as a trickster figure. Research on him is rife with misnomers and repeated misinterpretations, many resulting from untranslatable terms and concepts, comparisons with the binary tenets of “good” vs. “bad,” and efforts by Niitsitapii storytellers to protect the stories. The five stories included in their entirety in this volume present Naapi’s established models of reciprocity, connection, kinship, reincarnation, and offerings, shown in descriptions of, and predictions for, the balance between life and death, the rising and setting of planets, wind directions and forces, and the cyclical nature of animals, birds, plants, glaciers, and rivers. Retelling Trickster in Naapi’s Language will be of interest to students and scholars of Native American studies, ethnography, folklore, environmental philosophy, and Indigenous language, literature, and religion.

Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: Fiction-Hyksos

Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: Fiction-Hyksos
Author: James Hastings
Publisher:
Total Pages: 922
Release: 1914
Genre: Ethics
ISBN:

Scope: theology, philosophy, ethics of various religions and ethical systems and relevant portions of anthropology, mythology, folklore, biology, psychology, economics and sociology.

The Blackfoot

The Blackfoot
Author: Julian Haynes Steward
Publisher:
Total Pages: 62
Release: 1934
Genre: Siksika Indians
ISBN:

Structured Worlds

Structured Worlds
Author: Aubrey Cannon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2014-10-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317544226

Hunter-gatherer societies are constrained by their environment and the technologies available to them. However, until now the role of culture in foraging communities has not been widely considered. 'Structured Worlds' examines the role of cosmology, values, and perceptions in the archaeological histories of hunter-fisher-gatherers. The essays examine a range of cultures - Mesolithic Europe, Siberia, Jomon Japan, the Northwest Coast, the northern Plains, and High Arctic of North America - to show the role of conceptual frameworks in subsistence and settlement, technology, mobility, migration, demography, and social organization. Spanning from the early Holocene period to the present day, 'Structured Worlds' draws on archaeology and ethnography to explore the role of beliefs, ritual, and social values in the interaction between foragers and their physical and social landscape. Material culture, animal bones and settlement patterns show that the behaviours of hunter-gatherers were shaped as much by cultural concepts as by material need.