Monday, September 12, 2016

Can you please compare living in the wilderness to the camps?

Blackfeet, or Natives generally, would not refer to nature as "wilderness." That is a term used by Westerners or outsiders, finding nature threatening unless "tamed." Natives would call camps their villages or towns. The question also could be asking to compare Natives living on their own to Natives being forcibly removed to reservations.
If one is comparing living alone to living within the Blackfeet town, outside their town, a lone Blackfoot would not have family or social groups. Typically only those being punished for crimes would be forced into exile alone.
If you are asking about Blackfeet living independently compared to on a reservation, the biggest difference is they were forced onto the reservation by violence. They could not hunt off the reservation or leave it. They lived on army rations, often spoiled or stolen. Their traditional religion was banned, and some chose or were forced to become Christians.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the theme of the chapter Lead?

Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...