Exploring the Lakota Native American Tribe

1. What is the significance of local stories in socializing children in Lakota culture?

The significance of local stories in socializing children in Lakota culture was the fact that these local stories took the place of books. Children were not scolded by their parents but were told stories. “Mom-mah said in the old days that instead of scolding their children if they were misbehaving, mothers told them stories about Aunk Ite Wi, the Wiva Nupa or “Double Woman.” (page 20) “I grew up, not with books written in a language foreign to me, to Mom-mah, and to my maternal grandfather Kah-ka, but with people around me: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, grandmothers, great aunts, and great uncles. They were my books”. 

The Lakota culture regarded children as a high priority. “In our culture, children are the most precious of all beings.” (page 23) Lakota children learned to listen as a result of being told these stories. “When children like us were told stories, we learned to listen. We learned to obey and to respect the spoken word.” (page 27) 

One of the most important reasons that children were socialized through stories is so they would understand both the old and new ways of the Lakota culture. Stories kept the Lakota culture alive despite how the government tried to take land away from the Lakotas. “In earlier times, before it was against the law to practice our old rituals, it was common to perform a Keeping-of-the-Soul ceremony when someone died. “ (page 46)

2. Are there similarities between Red Shirt and Basso’s understanding of identity and the landscape?

Basso believed that one’s identity was tied to the land and that when Native Americans lose their land they loose their identity. Many stories told to children involved ancestral land.