Sun Dance
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Sun Dance
In what ways does the Sun Dance include more than just dance? Make sure you consider all the elements present in the video and tell me how they are connected.
Sun dance is more than a dance since it is the way the native Indians whose culture had been lost for thousands of years come together to celebrate and in a special way thank their women. They thank the women for their kindness and their ability to give their blood and flesh for a new person to be born. Therefore sun dance and the manner in which it is conducted can be said to be a culture which once thrived before Christianity and which has been done away by colonial power and the contemporary education systems whereby there was a very big shift done by colonialists through religion. Christianity is a good thing as one of the speaker’s states but it is not for them, rather it is for the Christians and the native Indians believe that mother earth has to be thanked for all the good things that she provides for her children. Therefore sun dance is not just a dance, rather it is a way of expressing the native Indian culture which was lost when the Britons came and colonized America.
What might be some of the difficulties in maintaining this tradition? Consider the discussions we have had in class about the role of technology and contemporary society. Also, consider the history of Native Peoples in the United States and what colonizing practices have done to their way of life.
There are very many difficulties in maintaining this tradition. This ranges from technology, education and the effect of the contemporary society. The fact that what is available today has been passed down by the world of the mouth and just very little is written or known makes it even difficult to know whether for sure what the current generation trying to trace the roots of their forefathers are even doing the correct thing. The other issue is that education has been imparted on most of them and this education came along with the colonizers and the Indians have a better understanding of the world. What this means is that even though there is a desire to do what the forefathers did there are some things which can be questioned or criticized and therefore this might require adjustments to fit into the current time and this makes the whole practice not as pure as it was maybe in the 18th century.
Education as one of the speaker’s states also can break a person or lie to a person that something is superior and better than what a person believes in. for instance when Christianity was introduced whatever the people were told is that their ways were not good and that their worship was very wrong. Some of them believed and changed and followed what the white man was telling them. However others remained firm and they just changed outwardly but their minds never changed and they could not accept the fact that they were being told their belief was not good enough. Therefore these are the people who brought the word down up to the present. However it is true that education did away with a large number of the group and this might be a challenge in the future as people want to question everything these days and the practices might not be able to survive all the issues of the current society.
The way of life in the contemporary world also makes it very difficult for this culture to thrive. It means therefore that it cannot be lived as it was lived in the past. This is because it was not just a dance it was a culture and it had so much more than just the dance. With the current generation there is modernization and that means the lifestyle has changed. Therefore only parts of the culture can be practiced and not the whole of it since not even everything about the culture is available. The books which were written also can be biased and if a person follows them in doing their things they can be misled especially if the books were written by a person who did not know well or was biased about tis group and their way of life.
What might be two hashtags you might use to reflect your thoughts or impressions about the video. Be as descriptive as possible.
In describing this video it would be very important to mention the term Native Americans and therefore #nativeamericans can be a good tag to describe this culture. This is because the culture and the dance were happening among the natives of America who were Indians and who really valued what they believed in. it therefore gives a sense of America before colonization, during colonization and very little of America after colonization. It is a real account of the roots of the americans people and nation.
The other hash tag which would be very good in describing this video would be #indianssundance , this is because the native Americans were Indians and the major topic about eh video is sun dance which was a very central part of the culture of the native Indians who were dispersed by the coming of missionaries and colonizers.
Work Cited
Thereelindian. “The Sundance Ceremony.” YouTube, 14 Sept. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK4fCv5ekzI. Accessed 17 May 2020.
