M2 Blog Assignment


            An available resource that was provided to us students in module two was The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, in Oklahoma City. The museum is dedicated to educating people on the cultures of the Indian peoples.

            Reviewing the website, a person will clearly see how in touch the Native Americans have been for thousands of years. The website provides information about the significance of earth, wind, fire and water.

            The tour of the center promises to teach how the wind brings the spirit of the environment to the people. Wind is the sound and breathing of nature and helped develop language. Fire represents the life cycle of Indians. Tribes had their own “Fire Keepers,” this part of the tour represents how the Indians struggled and survived the different obstacles they have faced. Water has always played a significant role in Indian life, and the tour shows how water represents the healing powers water possesses. A tour of the center will also show the importance of earth to the Indian beginnings. Visitors can interact with mound structures and the building abilities of mound building tribes. According to the website, most of the tribes from Oklahoma originated from mound building cultures.

            After reading about the cultural center, I developed a new appreciation for how important nature is to Native Americans. The importance of nature helped me understand why they celebrated the animals they killed. I believe this appreciation has clarified why the Indians have been so good at conservation. Other readings I have done, animals were abundant in North America until the Europeans arrived; an example is the destruction of the Buffalo population in North America.


The American Indian Cultural Center http://www.theamericanindiancenter.org/

Comments

  1. EnriqueJune 27, 2019 at 1:19 PM

    Hi Lawrence,

    Apart from educating others on the cultures of the natives, these educational institutions exist to preserve their heritage, culture, and to serve as an accredited source of information for anyone seeking knowledge and actual historical facts. Also, apart from developing an appreciation for how important nature is to the natives, I believe it is equally important to know that the cultural center was able to preserve this along with other traditions and beliefs. Imagine if our only source of information was through history textbooks or similar literature where major events occurred and aren’t told as they should be such as in our readings through Nabokov and Treuer.

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    1. AnonymousJune 29, 2019 at 11:41 PM

      Yes, I definitely agree with this, Enrique—great point.

      Delete
  2. MkingJune 27, 2019 at 5:42 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. MkingJune 27, 2019 at 5:43 PM

      I enjoyed looking through this website learning about how certain symbols relate to the Natives culture. The Our Identity section of The American Indian Center discussed what the different symbols seen mean. For example, colors represent different things found in nature like blue for the sky and yellow is symbolic of the sun. Circles are representative of circularity of life as seen in the earth, sun and moon. The radiant symbol is used to visualize the relationship between different tribes and the center of the center of the symbol.

      The American Indian Museum. Our Identity. Retrieved from: http://www.theamericanindiancenter.org/identity

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  3. AnonymousJune 29, 2019 at 11:49 PM

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  4. AnonymousJune 29, 2019 at 11:49 PM

    Thanks for sharing this, Lawrence. I appreciate you sharing all of these aspects of nature that was made prevalent on the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. I think it's especially interesting because I would venture to believe that a lot of indigenous people (not just in the Americas) have a strong connection to nature. I often think about how far-removed many of us are from nature.

    I remember taking a look at the site and noticing that the center isn't open yet, but I’d love to visit it when it does open.

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