#haudenosaunee people

[memoriae-lectoris]

Despite the vast territories designated as New France on maps of colonial North America, the French did not exercise sovereignty over this entire region. For the most part, indigenous nations retained their sovereignty, and the French exercised their influence through alliances and trade with these nations.

The French and Canadiens were able to have a sphere of influence in North America only because of their alliances with indigenous peoples. Mi’kmaq scholar Dr. Daniel N. Paul describes early contacts between his people and the Acadians as a “mutually beneficial and respectful relationship” which had allowed “the French settlers to begin to establish themselves in Acadia… without opposition from the Mi’kmaq. During this period, the two peoples established many social exchanges. Inter-marriage was quite common, and each adapted to many of the customs of the other.”

Doctor Paul also states that the fortunes of both groups changed after the British took possession of Acadia in the early 18th century. However, relations between the French-speaking settlers and indigenous peoples were not always amicable. The French waged wars against the Fox in upper Louisiana and the Natchez in lower Louisiana, and there was sporadic warfare with the Haudenosaunee (“Iroquois” is regarded a pejorative term) in Canada.

[shu-of-the-wind]

saw some tags on a reblog i did but yes, iroquois is a derogatory term. it's a french bastardization of (i believe) the algonquin word for "snake." the term is used to describe member tribes of the haudenosaunee (approximate pronunciation ho-di-no-SHO-ni) confederacy in the capital region of the us and up into canada, which include:

Mohawk / Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (approximate pronunciation "gah-nyen-geh-hah-ga") - “People of the Flint." Also referred to as the “Keepers of the Eastern Door” because they are the nation furthest to the east in the Confederacy. (alix note: mohawk communities are predominantly in canada but there are bands in northern new york as well.)

Oneida / Onyota’a:ká (approximate pronunciation "oh-nyo-DA-aw-GA") - “People of the Standing Stone” (there are two Oneida nations in the US, one in NY, one in Wisconsin, because of,,,y'know. displacement.)

Onondaga / Onöñda’gegá’ (approximately pronounced "ohnen-DA-geh-GA") - “People of the Hills.” Also referred to as the “Keepers of the Central Fire” because they were the center and capital of the Confederacy

Cayuga / Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (approximately pronounced "guy-yo-KO-no") - “People of the Great Swamp”

Seneca / Onöndawá'ga (approximately pronounced "Oh-nown-da-WA-gah") - “People of the Great Hill.” Also known as the “Keepers to the Western Door” because they are the nation furthest to the west in the Confederacy

Tuscarora / Skarù:ręˀ (approximately pronounced "ska-ruh-reh") - “The Shirt Wearing People" or "the hemp gatherers" In 1722, the Tuscarora moved from North Carolina to the Haudenosaunee area to seek refuge and they were invited to join the Confederacy

all nations in the confederacy are still extant and all (to the best of my knowledge) have programs to keep their languages alive; i've linked to the govt websites for each nation.

just like...as a general rule of thumb if something sounds french (or european, tbh) and it's being applied to indigenous peoples of the americas it's safe to assume it's probably not the right word to use. (exceptions exist: the st croix band of ojibwe, etc.) rule of thumb is double check and you can do this very easily by searching "[name of nation] tribal government website" to see what names and terms are acceptable.

(i keep forgetting to put this on posts but yeah, i'm white. i grew up in haudenosaunee territory, i work in indian law [canadians don't fight me, that's the legal term in the us, i don't like it either], and this is basic 101 stuff that every settler in the us needs to fuckin know.)

eta: this should also be obvious but if a mohawk, tuscarora, seneca, cayuga, onondaga, or oneida person self-describes as iroqouis, leave them the fuck alone. same rule of thumb as a lesbian self-describing as dyke. as a lesbian, i get to reclaim that word. as a white person, i do not get to reclaim iroquois. it's that simple.

[juniperharvest]

context: I am have a bad week, I am very put upon and angry and not white. When I feel this way I listen to music to fix myself. I tried Mountain Goats, I tried the Centaur World soundtrack, I tried many many musicals. I saw that Hozier dropped a new album the day I super needed it, listened to half then got in the car to drive to a state park to go on walks bc that’s the other thing that fixes me. The thing that was getting me specifically as I drove while listening to Hozier was the fact that a “Lake Oswego” exists in OREGON. Further rage inducing context: that’s an Iroquoian word. The Haudenosaunee live (for the most part, historically and contemporarily) on the opposite coast of Turtle Island. White men named the place after a different place without understanding or appreciating the name a land based people gave their land. And then made it a sundown town. They took the Haud name and then did violence to Black ppl about it. People call Lake Oswego “Lake No Negro”. 

Please try to even roughly conceptualize how insane that makes me. I can’t describe the anger. 

And then I listened to Butchered Tongue and it gave me the exact inverted emotion. 

[coyoxxtl]

forgive me, i just hate haytham and his fans so very much

[hard-times-paramore]

Wehh why are they nerfing my girl? John doesn't mention Nonahkee in the cutscenes anymore. She's literally his girlfriend, and now he doesn't even talk about her. Like, in the og he talked about her going with them on a level, and in the remaster he doesn't mention her.

In the OG she had a bigger role in a tiny campaign, now she seems like an afterthought. Sometimes this remaster really is shit.

Also, I appreciate that they redesigned her to be less sexualized, cause she was totally stereotype town. I just liked her braids tho :( I think they should've left her braids.

[pumibii]

Today is Truth & Reconciliation Day

Today we remember.

Today we honour the lives lost in residential schools across Canada.

Today we honour the families affected by residential schools.

Today we honour the survivors of residential schools.

Today we honour the many diverse First Nation, Métis and Indigenous peoples across the country.

Today we remember what horrors Canada has done to those peoples.

Today we listen to Elders, Kokums, and any First Nations peoples

Today we respect those peoples and their stories

Today we respect, listen, remember.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“NO SACRIFICE OF WHITE DOG,” Brantford Expositor. February 7, 1933.  Page 1. --- But Deist Indians Welcome New Year With Ancient Ceremonies ---- Deist Indians on the Six Nations Reserve yesterday commenced the celebration of the New Year with the winter festival which will last through practically the whole of this week. Ceremonies are taking placein the long houses. Fires will bum. Ritualistic ceremonies take place and Indian braves and Indian maidens will dance in the glow of the flaming fire. 

It is at this festival which starts on the fifth day of the new moon either late in January or early in February that the white dog sacrifice used to take place. No white dog will decorate the pyre this year —and none has for years past— because a pure white dog without stain or blemish cannot be found. 

The ceremony has its origin with the Iroquois but now includes representatives of other tribes. It is strictly an ancient religious ceremony built upon the old idea of animal sacrifice.

[chinesegal]

OK so I want to make clear that I didn't mean to discount either Oldshrewsburyian or @hearthmistress ' responses. But its just that as someone who only has surface knowledge on anthropology and sociology glimpsed from whatever sources I can find online, I don't know what to do with the information I receive.

When I receive the information that Haudenosaunee women were considered sacred for their role as mothers in their religion and held the power of electing and deposing chiefs, its easy to come to the conclusion that cultures where women were considered subordinate to men and didn't have this level of agency when it comes to political decisions are less enlightened when it comes to gender roles than they are.

On social media I often see posts saying that unlike the European settlers, women in certain indigenous cultures had considerable power, autonomy and enjoyed freedoms that women in Europe did not. which in many cases is true.

But at the same time, I feel that labeling entire cultures and societies with a descriptor like "feminist" or misogynistic" would be reductive and essentialist, and I worry about who will actually benefit from this.

[pghlesbian]

(via Why is Indigenous Peoples Day so important? )

Guest post from Lee Dingus

Why is Indigenous Peoples Day so important?

Indigenous People’s Day recognizes the resilience of my ancestors and the legacy I carry with me, my grandmothers. It is a day dedicated to the impact colonialism had on my family and  many others

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I want to honor our sovereignty, resilience, and countless  contributions that we have made to the world. I also want to remind everyone that all of 574  Federaly recognized tribes we are all sovergin Nations, I ask that everyone uphold our solemn  trust and treaty responsibilities to all of our Nations and that everyone from all governemnts to  individuals work with us in strengthening our Nation-to-Nation ties. I ask that you acknowledge whose land you are on and respect that land and our people.

#IndigenousPeoplesDay

[nickysfacts]

Sometimes all a women needs to become empowered, is the inspiration and knowledge that it is possible!

🚺🗳

[marxism-transgenderism]

Wait unrelated to anything other than how bad Wikipedia can be related to my own research, any Wikipedia pages for the Indigenous history of the midwest sucks so much ass. Scanning through articles on like the fur trade or inter tribal relations youd come away with this impression that in the 17th century the Haudenosaunee (nearly always called the Iroquois) plundered and subjugated every single village from the bay of lake Erie to the Ohio river and depopulated the whole area in a gigantic empire with all the citations being books written from the 20s to the 60s. And like the Haudenosaunee did raid in the area but there is no archeological or documentary evidence of this GIGANTIC are ever being fully depopulated (most cite a single instance of some French traders in what's now Wisconsin meeting Miami people who migrated from the wabash River valley and nothing else) but most modern evidence points to changes in centers of trade for causes of population movement and we have good reassessments of the evidence going back over 20 years so it's not like this is some cutting edge research that just has yet to be updated. It's just that a narrative of near total depopulation done by other indigenous people prior to American settlement in the region works a lot better for the self appointed local historians who actually edit and write those Wikipedia pages

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Around 10 years ago, a linguist with experience in Haudenosaunee languages, Karin Michelson, was invited by three Oneida women to assist them in going through the archives of one of the world’s best-known museums. The Oneida women went to the Smithsonian Institution as part of a program known as Breath of Life, which enables Onkwehón:we to bring linguistic works back to their home communities. Michelson, who co-authored a dictionary for the severely endangered Oneida language, came along to help them sift through the archives. She first forged connections with the Oneida when she was at the Centre for Research and Teaching of Native Languages at the University of Western Ontario. “I think I would not have stayed in school if I had not met some of the people I got to work with,” she said. She went on to teach at Harvard before finally settling into a role at the University of Buffalo. But Michelson, a non-Indigenous woman who grew up in Chateauguay in the 1950s and 60s, encountered something else in the Smithsonian’s archives that caught her interest and surprised her – an unpublished manuscript called Notes to a Mohawk Dictionary.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[whencyclopedia]

Twelve Famous Native American Women

Native American women are traditionally held in high regard among the diverse nations, whether a given people are matrilineal or patrilineal. Traditionally, women were not only responsible for raising children and caring for the home but also planted and harvested the crops, built the homes, and engaged in trade, as well as having a voice in government.

The history of the women of the Native peoples of North America attests to their full participation in the community whether as elders and "medicine women" or as skilled agriculturalists and merchants and, in some cases, even warriors. Although hunting and warfare were traditionally the provenance of males, some women became famous for their courage and skill in battle. These women, as well as others in the arts and sciences, are often overlooked because they do not fit the paradigm of what has been accepted as American history.

Pocahontas and Sacagawea are usually the only North American Native women that non-Natives have heard of, but even their narratives have been obscured by legend and half-truths. Many other Native American women have simply been ignored, and among them are most of those listed below. These women, and the nations they were citizens of, include:

Jigonhsasee – Iroquois

Pocahontas – Powhattan

Weetamoo – Wampanoag

Glory-of-the-Morning – Ho-Chunk/Winnebago

Sacagawea – Shoshone

Old-Lady-Grieves-the-Enemy – Pawnee

Pine Leaf/Woman Chief – Crow

Lozen – Apache

Buffalo Calf Road Woman – Cheyenne

Thocmentony/Sarah Winnemucca – Paiute

Susan La Flesche Picotte – Omaha

Molly Spotted Elk/Mary Alice Nelson – Penobscot

There are many others who do not appear here because they are more widely known, such as the Yankton Dakota activist, musician, and writer, Zitkala-Sa (l. 1876-1938) or the Cheyenne warrior Mochi ("Buffalo Calf", l. c. 1841-1881). Modern-day figures are also omitted but deserve mention, such as the activist Isabella Aiukli Cornell of the Choctaw nation, who drew national attention in 2018 with her red prom dress designed to call attention to the many missing and murdered indigenous women across North America, and poet/activist Suzan Shown Harjo of the Muscogee/Southern Cheyenne nation. There are many more, like these two, who have devoted themselves to raising awareness of the challenges facing Native Americans and continue the same struggle, in various ways, as the women of the past.

Jigonhsasee (l. c. 1142 or 15th century)

According to Iroquois lore, Jigonhsasee (Jikonhsaseh, Jikonsase) was integral to the origins of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy dated to either the 12th or 15th century. She was an Iroquoian whose home was along the central path used by warriors going to and from battle and became well-known for the hospitality and wise counsel she offered them. The Great Peacemaker (Deganawida) chose her to help him form the Iroquois Confederacy, based on the model of a family living together in one longhouse, and, along with Hiawatha, this vision became a reality. Jigonhsasee became known as the 'Mother of Nations' and established the policy of women choosing the chiefs of the council in the interests of peace, instead of war. The American women's suffrage movement of the 19th century called attention to the freedom and rights of Native American women, notably those of the Iroquois Confederacy, in arguing for those same rights for themselves.

Continue reading...

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

😈😈 I’m cooking up some comics. Anyways “To Prevent Consequence” is the title for my American Revolution arc in Nor’easter verse. The first of these I made back in April to help introduce major characters in this arc in a fun way. I will note that these “cheat sheets” are an oversimplification of positions at the beginning of the American Revolution. I’ll keep this as a navigational post, and I’ll try to update it as each comic page comes out. Also links to all my comics can be found here & you can follow the tags #tpc comic for updates on the comic.

Denise/Quebec & Thomas/ Nova Scotia belongs to my friend ekuos.art on Instagram.

Also feel free to ask questions!

For reference, these are the chapters that I have mostly completed as of August 2024:

The End: Most of the 13 colonies see no other option, but to agree with their people and declare independence from Arthur thus putting their lives on the line. However some colonies remain on the fence. Furthermore, the colonies can’t seem to agree upon one of their own to lead them, or really have as a figurehead. In general the colonies can’t seem to even decide if they want to be independent together, or strike it out on their own. Henry (Massachusetts), a fierce advocate of independence, and an advocate of remaining together proposes that his cousin Alfred Jones, who was once Plymouth colony (yet his exact role in the present is unclear), be their figurehead while they unite together. However Henry & Alfred face great opposition from their peers.

The Ashes: Following the Battle of Long Island, Jennie Van Slyke (New York State) wakes up in Albany, hurt and disoriented. There she finds her longtime rival and now ally in independence, Henry with her.

lol I realize the font is small in case you needed a close up here it is.

Other notes:

You may be familiar with the Haudenosaunee as the Iroquois Confederacy, some suspect the name Iroquois comes from an insult and was later adapted by colonists. I put their names in their respective languages so Mr. Seneca (O-non-Dowa-Gah), Mr. Mohawk (Kaniek’kehá:ka), Mr. Onondaga (Onoñda’gegá”), Cayuga (Gayoghó:no’), Oneida (Onyota’a:ka), & Ms. Tuscarora (Skarùr:re).

Mr. Cherokee = Mr. Anigiduwagi

Mr. Mohican = Mr. Muhhekunneuw. Also Lynn/ NYC’s biological father

I focus mostly on settler colonial histories. I try my best to research and understand indigenous histories, but as this is a piece of fiction and I’m not a historian - I will be prone to error in my work. If you notice something egregious in this regard & have sources to lead me to, do let me know via private message.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Eight Indian Pupils Found After Quest,” Toronto Globe. October 26, 1932. Page 2. ---- Brantford, Oct. 25. - After wandering about the Six Nations Reserve, near here, since last night, four girls and four boys, ranging in ages from 14 to 15, returned back tonight to the Indian Institute from which they were missing.

Rev. H. W. Snell, in charge of the Institute, reported last night that seven girls and four boys, all dressed in the institute’s uniform, were missing. Search parties were organized to hunt for them, but during last night and today eight of the runways had either been found or had returned of their own accord.

Mr. Snell stated tonight that he knew where the three girls who are still missing could be located.

[AL: Make no mistake, though the story is trying to avoid this, but these young men and women were running away - escaping - from a residential school, a genocidal part of the Canadian settler state.]

[probablyasocialecologist]

The inhabitants of North and South America had grand cities, expansive agricultural fields, large-scale irrigation, and huge earthworks, including agricultural terracing, residential platforms above floodplain aquaculture works, and massive religious mounds —some in the shapes of animals. Near present-day St. Louis, one can still climb the central mound of the corn-crazy metropolis of Cahokia, a London-sized city that flourished from about A.D. 950 to 1250. And nearly everywhere people had a way with fire. Many North American groups used fire to clear areas to promote new green growth, which would in turn attract grazing animals that could be hunted. The Haudenosaunee, for example, burned Manhattan every fall. Many American prairies and grasslands thought to be “natural” were in fact artifacts of Indian land management.

In the east of North America, for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived, people supplemented their maize crops by using fire and tree planting to create orchards. These orchards have now mostly melted back into the forest but can still be picked out by their high concentrations of chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, hickory, and the like.

Emma Marris, Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World