Black elk speaks and Geertz

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Abstract
This paper first introduces us to Clifford Geertz, tells us who he is and the contributions he has made in the area of his specialization. The paper further illustrates his arguments as far as religion, and religious views are concerned. The paper then goes further and discusses the Sioux religion and practices. It goes further to discuss some of its elements as a religious practice. The paper also discusses the coming of the American colonizers. With the coming of the American colonizers, Christianity came, and the colonizers started building boarding schools. The activities of these colonizers and their interactions with the people affected the Sioux religion and practice and to some extent, lead to the destruction of the religion. The paper then shows how the impact of colonialism is still evident on the tribe especially in its spirituality and traditions to date. Finally the paper discusses the role of women in governance and making of treaties.

Black Elk Speaks and Geertz
Introduction
Clifford Geertz is one the anthropologists with a detailed analysis of religion. He presents the claim that religion is not simply metaphysics. For the people who practice religion, whatever object they revere has a deep symbolic meaning to them. He refers to them as the “sacred symbols that function to synthesize a people’s ethos-the tone, character, and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood… (Geertz, 89). The symbols, thus, are an impression of deep moral seriousness.

Whatever the form the object is presented, it is symbolic of that which the followers are committed to and have critical implications on the path of human conduct. Religion has a moral vivacity whose basis is the expression of the basis nature of reality, as conceived by those who subscribe to the religious beliefs. The moral element of the culture within which the people exist is founded on the ethos and the cognitive elements designated by the ‘world-view.’
One of the ideas that Geertz presents is the ethos as relates to religion. The author suggests that the ethos is the fundamental attitudes towards themselves and their world. It is the “picture that the people have of the way things in sheer actuality are, their most comprehensive ideas of order” (Geertz, 89). The idea presents the way things ought to be in reality, as the religious teachings imply. A quote from the Black Elk speaks can be used to illustrate this: “Take courage, younger brother,” he said; “on earth, a nation you shall make life, for yours shall be the power of the white giant’s wing, the cleansing wind” (Neihardt, 3). Religion, hence, is used by those who subscribe to it in designing a way of life; a system of conduct. It is the actual state of affairs, modeling the real world as it should be. From the ideas presented by Geertz and the quote from the Black Elk speaks, it is not about how things are at the presented, but the way they should be in an ideal form. It is the basis for the understanding of how the world should be like.
Geertz further argues for the idea of the world view, an emotionally acceptable state of the world. He demonstrates an association between the values held by the people and the existential order which is evident in all religious teachings. He further adds that the meaning of religion is inherent in the symbols: “a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic” (Geertz, 89). These are the religious symbols that are characterized by such things as rituals practiced by those who exercise the religion. The quote: “Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky a sacred voice is calling” is representative of the sacred symbol represented by the sky (Neihardt, 10). From the perspective of the religion that the Black Elk speaks about, these are among the sacred symbols that they believed in. These are the symbols that revealed to the people the way they are expected to live and conduct themselves.
Geertz argues that that the symbols are also a representation of the quality of the emotional life of the people who follow the religion. It also portrays the expectations of behavior directed by the religion. The symbols are an indication of the morality with which the people should comply. Such symbols are inherent in the culture, and they are the dictates of the value system held by the people. A good example is a belief by the Oglala Sioux religion in the sacredness of the circle because everything in nature is caused to be round. The circle is evident in many objects that are sacred from the religious point of view, including the sky, sun, earth, and the moon. The Great Spirit, who is the most revered being within the religion, is said to have considered everything circular to be sanctified. The symbol is indicative of everything that exists in nature. Symbols are evident in indicating what the people following the religion should believe in.
The symbols, as Geertz indicates, are the indicator of the way of life of the followers of the religion. It is about how these people are expected to behave and conduct themselves. The “culture patterns are viewed as systems or complexes of symbols” (Geertz, 92). At the same time, culture is the way of life of the people. Hence, the symbols are the means through which the people know how to act or behave. A good indication from the Sioux is the tendency to construct their tipis circularly. It is also the reason they sit in a circle during all their rituals: “and in the center, they built the bower of branches in a circle for the dancers, with the opening of it to the east whence comes the light” (Neihardt, 45). The symbol holds significant meaning to the followers of the religion. The tendency is not merely an indication of a routine; it is the dictation of the way of life for the people who follow such rituals.
The religious symbols and symbol patterns communicate a lot about the morality and virtues of the people subscribing to the culture. The argument is clear in the statement: “so far as religious symbol and symbol patterns are concerned this intertranslatability is clear. The endurance, courage, independence, perseverance, and passionate willfulness in which the vision quest practices the Plains Indian are the same flamboyant virtues by which he attempts to live” (Geertz, 94-95). The very nature of the reality is the basis for the determination of the good versus evil. When the person can interpret the symbols, it becomes possible to understand what the good is and live according to the dictates of ethics. For the followers of the Oglala Sioux religion, the circle is this symbol which is a natural object with moral import. “Behold the circle of the nation’s hoop, for it is holy, being endless, and thus all powers shall be one power in the people without end” (Neihardt, 68). The circle is a representation of what is holy, hence, good and moral.
The symbol is also representative of rituals held dear by the followers of the religion. They were the means upon which the people obtained the meaning for their lives and upon which the members of the culture were able to live together. The human body has a common roundness, and so is the stem of a plant. The mutual element has been used for ritual purposes, such as the movement of the pipe in a circle during a peace ceremony. The pipe is the symbol of solidarity: “To all of you I offer this pipe that my people may live!” (Neihardt, 81). It is used as a means of evoking the spirits such that they are in oneness with the people to fulfill their desire for peace and harmony. The religious system is founded upon a form of morality, and the inherent symbols are a clear communication of the same.
Geertz communicates the reality that the religious system is made up of a cluster of sacred symbols which are tied together in some way to generate a united whole: “that the symbols or symbol systems which induce and define dispositions we set off as religious…” (Geertz, 98). For the people who subscribe to the religious pattern, the symbols are the means through which real knowledge is mediated. This is the kind of knowledge that teaches the essentials of life that are expected of the followers. It is the structure of reality which dictates the behavior and conduct of the followers. It is the means by which the people can avoid dissonance and live in peace and harmony with each other. However, it should be noted that the symbols are an indicator of the values, which could be positive or negative, that the people of the culture are expected to uphold. This explains the tendency to wage war, as it was the case during the early days of the Black Elk.
The symbols point to the existence of the good and the evil in society. However, they direct the people on how to choose the good over the evil. Everything lies in the ability to form the word view and operate according to those dictates. They also explain the actual nature of existence upon which humanity exists. Religion is the basis for upholding the social values given that the symbols generate the world which is characterized by them. The values become the basis for which the events in life come into being; they are constructed around those symbols which form the basis of the religion. Events do not just occur by chance in life; they are a construction of the value system which is at the core of human imagination. Humans, through religion, construct their reality of life.
With colonization parts of the Lakota, religion was destroyed especially for the women. First, Christianity impacted the women’s ability to love themselves, their children and their family. The Sioux religion did not provide a platform for the people to express their feelings for one another and thus women nurturing their children in this way a huge loss to the children since they lacked the parental love. According to a study done by Bowker, half of the women interviewed wished they could have a second chance to raise their children so that they could show them love through hugging them and sharing their love for them verbally (90). On the other hand, through education and setting up of boarding schools by the colonialists, the traditional role of women under the Lakota traditions was also destroyed, since the students were expected to learn the colonialist’s way of education and family duties. Further, the alienation of those who went to the boarding schools from their family members caused mental disturbance resulting from despair which made them feel abandoned. Bowker shows the kind of psychological damage that the boarding schools caused while in her research she identified that those who attended the boarding schools showed signs of loneliness several years after leaving boarding school.
For most people who adopted the ways of the colonialists, i.e., they attended the boarding schools and learned about Christianity, the acknowledged that these teachings enabled them to live a civilized life, but came at the expense of their culture and beliefs. These people have therefore had a hard time ironing out the good and the bad of what they got from the colonialist and most of them have had to revert to their Sioux traditional practices. As discussed earlier, the colonialists adversely affected the role of women in the society and their contribution to governance and treaties. Through education, women have been empowered to take on leadership roles both in church and in the political arena.
Conclusion
Geertz is one of the anthropologists who have explained the real meaning of religion. He explained religion from the perspective of ethos and world-view. As a collection of symbols that have a meaning to the people who practice the religion. Religious patterns are the basis for which the people tend to construct the meaning of the world in which they live. From the perspective of the Black Elk, religious symbols are also the foundation of the value system; the basis for which the people can make out the good from the evil. The moral actions of the actors within the religion are founded on that which the people tend to believe in based on the symbolic patterns inherent in the religion as a culture. It is based on what people believe that their world should look like.
Work Cited
Geertz, Clifford. The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays, Basic Books Inc. Publishers
Neihardt John G. Black Elk Speaks, available at http://www.firstpeople.us/articles/Black-Elk-Speaks/Black-Elk-Speaks-Index.html
Bowker, Kathie M. “The Boarding School Legacy: Ten Contemporary Lakota Women Tell Their Stories.” 2009. Montana State University, PhD Dissertation.