Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians

In Erdrich’s Tracks, the novel tells a story of a Chippewa tribe that is forced to adapt to colonizers in the post-colonization state of America. Through the eyes of two distinct narrators, Nanapush and Pauline, the reader gets an inside view of the perspective of a Native-American tribe in post-colonial America. At the very beginning of the novel, Nanapush describes Native Americans dying from the spotted fever (or yellow fever) due to the colonizers bringing disease as they intermingle with the tribe. This is just the first of many references to disease throughout the story as Erdrich formulates her narrative with the use of symbolism of disease to describe the effects of colonization on the Chippewa tribe. This colonization forces the tribe to change and adapt as they are forced to interact with their colonizers, and while at times these interactions can be beneficial, more often than not, they result negatively for the Chippewa tribe. The first lines of the novel are narrated by Nanapush, an elder tribal leader, whom members of the tribe look up to: “We started dying before the snow, and like snow, we continued to fall “(1). This shows the state of peril of the tribe as a result of disease. Nanapush then goes on to describe how the spotted sickness and tuberculosis have killed off much of the tribe, these sicknesses being foreign to the Native Americans, as the colonizers had brought over the sickness. Because the…

The Impact of the Wiindigoo in The Round House Louise Erdrich was born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, and identifies as Turtle Mountain Chippewa. Due to Erdrich’s Native American background, she has written many novels centered around Native American themes. Erdrich’s novel, The Round House, is told from Joe, a thirteen-year-old boy’s, point of view, showing how he copes with the event of his mother’s rape. Joe is outraged that the authorities are not doing more to help find the man…

The Tale of the Magic Drumstick Once there was a Chippewa Elder named Francis and he loved music. Music was everything to him. He even made traditional Native American musical instruments. The sound of a drumstick hitting against a hand drum would remind him of his own heart beating. Not to mention how music brings people together. So one night while Francis was sleeping. The creator sent Francis a dream of choke cherry bushes swaying in the wind and elks running through the forest. In the…

It is the story of the life Chippewa’s struggle to preserve their culture and land. It resembles the life and people of Turtle mountain reservation in North Dakota. The novel is a true window to the cultural life of Chippewa tribe. It is set during the historical period of the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. The novel is presented in nine chapters. It narrates the life of Chippewa community living in North Dakota between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1924. Each chapter is identified by year…

Dr. Misty Wilke came as a speaker in our transcultural class to spread some light on the Native American Culture and their practices. While doing this she hoped to clear out any stereotyping and assumptions the students already have made about the Native American culture. As a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, Dr. Wilke had some great stories and explanations to how and why the Native American culture practices certain things that others find odd.…

[…] Contemporary political movements like the Society American Indians, The National Congress of American Indians, the American Indian Movement[…] centered to the tribes having a common cause usually political and usually as a response of the oppressive policies of BIA. […]There are different definitions of pan Indianism I think Pan Indian can have a positive connotation. […] Pan-Indian term arose from anthropology, is not an indigenous term, no indigenous groups use the word to describe…