Cultural Report Blog - Kim Boyer

The group I am considering and have chosen to study for the rest of the semester is Native Americans. As I had mentioned in my cultural identity video is part of my heritage includes some Native American history. I know that I more than likely I will not be in contact with the specific tribe I am from since I am originally from South Dakota and since I'm not familiar with the area and what tribes are present around the UNL campus or in the Lincoln area.

Here the Native American heritage is part of my cultural identity and I want to learn more about it. Native Americans have also been described as having their own culture for thousands of years and I'm also interested in learning more about that as well. 

Background: The culture of Native Americans has always been divided by the tribes the specific Native Americans belonged or the various gender roles. Men were warriors, hunters, chiefs, leaders and providers. The women and young children were often gathers, care takers (of children, elder, animals), farmers and cooks. Many battles took place against Native Americans and the white settlers who began to claim the U.S. lands as their own. Many Native Americans died in battles fighting for their land but also on the great migration of Native Americans which is known as the Trail of Tears, in which the Native American population had suffered severely. 

Some of the tribes that are local to area in the Midwest include: Algonquin, Chippewa, Dakota, Huron, Iroquois, Oneida, Potawatomi, Shawnee and Winnebago. 

I plan on conducting my interviews by interviewing some of the professors around campus who are involved in the Native American Studies program here on campus. I'm hoping that by interviewing them I will find out why they themselves wanted to get into teaching about the Native American histories. I'm hoping their perspective will be helpful since they use intercultural communication everyday teaching their students about the Native American Culture. 

Works Cited

"Intercultural Communication in Contexts [Paperback]." Intercultural Communication in Contexts: Judith Martin, Thomas Nakayama: 9780078036774: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

"Native Americans Tribes." Native American Tribes of the Upper Midwest. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.