Films show women’s role in American Indian culture
Diversity in gender roles featured in Women’s History Month
presentation
By Tatiana Botton
There is no one image of women in the American Indian culture,
according to a two-video presentation honoring Women’s History
Month.
As part of the March national celebration, the Women’s Resource
Center sponsored screenings of the films The Sunrise Dance and The
Right to Be. One video shows a very young woman in her traditional
cultural environment while in the other, an older woman demonstrats
strong political ideas and goals.
"This year for the Women’s History Month, we wanted to present
videos that show a positive image of women," said Fatima Ford, the
program coordinator for the Women’s Resource Center. "We try to
highlight the place women have in society with the affirmation of
their role in their community."
In The Right to Be, Harriett Skye, a 61-year-old member of the
Sioux tribe, decides to attend New York University to study film
after recovering from alcoholism and almost killing herself.
"There have been volumes written about Indian people, that have
not always been true. We need more Indian people in mass
communication. We need to do our own TV shows. And until that
happens we’ll need to live with what other people do about us,"
Skye said.
She decided to return to the Sioux tribe at the Standing Rock
Indian Reservation and expose the political problems that exist
because her tribe is not free, she said.
"The people of the Sioux are very poor and one of their
principal goals when they have access to the media is to make
statements about the quality of their lives," said Paul Kroskrity,
an anthropology professor and chair of American Indian Studies.
But not all the people present agree about the quality of the
videos presented.
"The advent of video has opened a lot of opportunities,
especially for the minorities, including the American Indians. The
films were interesting but I would like to see more Native American
women artists challenging the traditional Western form of
storytelling and break away from talking heads and linear
narration," said Angela Aleiss, a UCLA teacher and a monthly
lecturer on American Indians in film.
Though the screening attracted a very small number of people,
those in attendance said they found the videos informative.
"The media are the only way to reach a large number of people,
but these type of videos should be presented in large places with
more people coming to watch them," said Helen George, a graduate
student of linguistics who attended the video-presentation.
The film Sunrise Dance detailed the Sunrise Dance ceremony, a
rite of passage for adolescent Apache girls. For three consecutive
days nonstop, 13-year-old girls dance and pray.
"Some American Indian groups emphasize more the men and some
others the women. The Apache society is a matrilineal society,"
George said.
The western Pueblo Indians trace their descendants primarily
through the mother, in contrast with the Eastern Pueblos in New
Mexico who tend to be patrilineal, Kroskrity said.
There is an ongoing debate to explain why some societies are
patrilineal and some others matrilineal, Kroskrity explained. One
theory attributes the shift to the father’s heritage to Spanish
influence, while the second theory suggests it reflects an
adaptation to their harsh living environment, he said.
"In the American Indian societies there is a sharp distinction
of men and women roles. But it’s complementary between them,"
Kroskrity said, explaining that in some Pueblo societies of the
Southwest, the women do the re-plastering work of the village
houses, something that for Western societies would be considered
men’s work.
"Those societies honor the difference between men and women.
It’s not like the Western culture thing of saying ‘Women can’t do
anything,’" said Ynes Van Holt, a viewer of the video.