Just as someone wrote about the
headdress in Native American culture, the part that someone’s hair plays in
their culture is important too. After
watching the video about the Indian boarding schools my heart broke at the idea
of the children of these tribes being taught that what they were was not good
enough. Just as the Europeans did to the
African slaves they shipped to the United States, they also cut the hair off of
the Native children so that they would all look the same and not identify with
their roots, heritage, and culture. "The
shaved head was the first step the Europeans took to erase the slaves’ culture
and alter the relationship between the African and his or her hair."
(wiki)
It’s a weird idea that they
wanted them to be white children but simultaneously the Europeans did lots of
things to segregate the Native populations.
I wonder how many of these “Native children turned white” actually got
the treatment and “benefits” of being white.
Back to the idea of hair as a
means of expression… I found it
interesting the many different styles that were created to express a look for a
certain group of people, tribe, band, or village. Hair was used as a means of expression for
both men and women. For instance the
image below is that of an unmarried Hopi maiden with her hair in an elaborate
style called the “squash blossom”.
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Hopi maiden with squashblossom
whorls
|
Another means of expression with
hair was by Native men, it is said that they only cut their hair to show grief
or shame, and often wore the front part of their in special styles harded and
shaped by grease or clay. The Mohawk style
(known as roach hair) as we know it today is actually a style that was worn by
men from Eastern Tribes like the Lenape and Iroquois.
 |
Caddo man with roached hair
|
Today that style is work much in the way of
the headdress (as a fashion statement) and I don’t believe much thought was
given to wear the style originated.
With that said, I wonder if the
cutting of hair was a blind attempt by the boarding school directors or a well-informed
attempt to transform the young Indian population.
Works Cited:
"African-American Hair." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_hair>.
"Native American Hairstyles." Native American Indian Hairstyles (Braids, Whorls, Scalplocks, Roached 'Mohawk' Hair, And Other Styles). N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2014. <http://www.native-languages.org/hair.htm>.
"Wounded Knee: We Shall Remain?America Through Native Eyes." Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 2009. Web. 3 Aug. 2014. <http://digital.films.com.library.esc.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=1667&xtid=44693>.
I am also interested in native headdresses and hair styles. In the course reading I ran across information pertaining to using hairstyles to identify the age and marital status of tribal women, I thought this form of identification was quite interesting. When my family and I recently visited the Ganondagan Dance and Music Festival there was an informative education session in regards to headdresses, jewelry and how they were used as identification to others as to what nation and clan an individual belong to. While at the festival myself and my family learned a lot and we enjoyed the time.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your blog I thought you were very much right on when you said removing their hair ripped away their sense of herritage, roots, and culture. I immediately thought to myself by doing that, they European natives did not have to see the human side of them, it is almost as if by taking away who they are they did not have to feel the guilt in knowing what they did was truly wrong. On some level I would think that these people had to know that. That is just my opinion and do not mean to be so bold but it is just how I feel.
ReplyDeleteIn our culture hair is important to us. When someone passes we usually cut it short to offer in mourning of our loved one. There was once when I cut my hair off after I ended a painful relationship. It signifies cutting off the past and dead end starting over again. Everything that we feel think see and hear is in our hair. Its a large part of us and it holds our strengths and our weaknesses. There are some tribes that think that someone can place "bad" juju on them if they have a piece of their hair. I'm not sure how true this is but I have seen MANY woman burn their hair. Whether it's collected from a brush or a hair cut it's burned immediately. When boarding school students has their hair chopped off in the manner it was I think that was the beginning of them losing sight of all that they knew.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Thank you for offering more information and insight on the topic of Native hair. Due to images seen as a child I generally picture Natives as simply have long straight dark hair or with shaved heads with a strip left. I now see that much like other cultures- natives used their hair to express something specific like we use our hair as another way to represent ourselves.
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