Self-Directed Institutional Change for the Oneida of Wisconsin - Essay Example

Self-directed al change for the Oneida of Wisconsin Self-directed al change for the Oneida of Wisconsin Introduction There are a number of changes that take place in various places due to varied regions. This is also the case in most of the institutions. Most states and nations experience differences in activities and actions with time. Besides, the natives and other residents within the areas are also faced with several transformations that result from extensive practices. This idea is discussed in the article where the Oneida in Wisconsin experience a number of changes in their lifestyle. In particular, a lot of changes can be observed in the form of the patterns that are exhibited to reflect the self directed institutional change for the Oneida in Wisconsin. This is significant in the sense that it provides a proper explanation of the events that led to the significant differences that are experienced and can be observed among the Oneidas of Wisconsin today in comparison to the past. This was caused by a number of factors. Some of these included the political factors, tribal relations, economic factors and the various agreements that were formed among the different members. There are several arguments that explain the rise of the self government, the tribal capitalism and economy as well as the form of consensus formation in addition to the continuity of cultural relations among the contemporary people of the Oneida in Wisconsin. In this case, seven arguments will be used to explain these patterns. Analysis of the Self-directed institutional change for the Oneida of Wisconsin using seven arguments The contemporary people of Oneida in Wisconsin experienced a variety of factors that included the tribal capitalism and economy Constitutional self government that experienced a major change was in the form of self government that witnessed the change from clan and nation and confederacy. Moreover, there was also the general council committee and the government that contributed to the institutional differentiation argument. Cultural recovery and change was brought about by the cultural conservatism which was based upon the view of the world. In relation to this view, there were a number of ideas that were used. They were based on the sacredness of the world and were accompanied by the varied religious ceremonies that involved thanksgiving. These created an emphasis on the harmony and peace of the confederacy. During the period of 1722, the Oneidas became a very strong and flourishing nation. This resulted from the traditional native society and the strong kinship ties that were present between them. Consensual community organization. The contemporary people made a lot of efforts to mobilize themselves through family based community consensus for the government and for the tribal capitalism within the legal and bureaucratic constraints laid by the US government policy and administration. In this respect, there was the tribal capitalism that was based on the focus on collective property. These included land and other economic assets. They improved on the tribal values that were not so central. Therefore, they brought about the cultural colonialism and the conservatism argument. Throughout a larger part of the 20th century, the Oneida of Wisconsin have lobbied with the federal government to fight the legal battles in the effort to regain the land that they had lost in the previous centuries due to land allotment. They also did this to prevent the loss of land through allotment. It was also caused by several assimilation policies. One of the significant blows that they had in relation to the tribal prosperity in Wisconsin was the allotment of the reservation of lands under authority. Before contact There was a unique world view held by the Oneidas. The Oneida people of Wisconsin engraved the cyclic forms of world view where they made use of the cultural symbols to communicate and relate with each other. Mainly, they were in the form of an arched dome formed by a series of semi circles to represent the Sky world which served as the residence for the sky Woman. Besides this, there were many other symbols and artifacts that represented a large number of ideas. These formed the basis of the customs and practices within which this people took part in. As such, it created a strong form of unity which led to the active participation of each individual. The Oneida of Wisconsin only knew of their cultures and practices that made them stronger together. However, coming into contact with other people and cultures led to the assimilation that finally led to the dissolution of some of these practices. In turn, the contemporary Oneida of Wisconsin exhibit a lot of different traits from the ones of the initial people (Hoeft 174). Cultural differentiation involved the presence of varied cultures among the people. They took part in a broad range of different activities. For instance, there was the presence of shamanism, healing, and the false face societies among other kinds of healing societies. Most of them practiced this because they needed to maintain their community identity. This resulted in a strong sense of identity and community. It was mainly done in the effort to ensure cultural continuity since they made efforts to recover the language, ceremonies as well as pow wows (Champagne 55). Institutional differentiation took place among the people. The self directed institutional changes among the Oneida in Wisconsin were greatly a consequence of the different structures and approaches that were used in the various institutions. Some of the factors that led to this included the confederacy, the ceremonies that were based on kinship ties, the government community, the use of land and the economy, which was based on the clan. As such, they were all dependent on the Oneida clan as well as the government. After western contact A lot of changes took place after the Oneidas of Wiscosin came into contact with people from other countries and cultures. They include political colonialism. The Oneida people of Wisconsin who initially lived in a single principle village later got into contact with the European people in the seventeenth century. It is at that time that they started to engage in fur trade with an aim of obtaining European goods. As a result, it led to the abandonment and loss of the skills that they held initially. In this respect, the warfare resulted into the generation of two competing trade networks with the Oneidas forming one of the teams. The two teams were engaged in a war until the end of the eighteenth century. They resulted in numerous colonial arguments. Some of these included the administrative colonialism. This was attributed to the fact that between 1870 and 1960s, there were few opportunities due to administrative colonialism. However, during the self determination, there were more opportunities that included gaming, IRA government and legislation among others (Champagne 187). Economic market incorporation. It led to the economic colonization since there was economic marginalization during the period of 1775 and 1970s in the US. At this time, the region experienced a great decline in fur trade, the loss of allotments in relation to land issues. Moreover, the fur trade contributed greatly to the loss and decrease of population among the Oneida who were involved in the warfare over the fur trade territories. In turn, the individual workers and farmers experienced very extensive losses. However, by 1980, there was an improvement that was felt by the BINGO opportunity. They took advantage of their economic opportunity and engaged in hunting and gathering activities as well as farming as part of their tradition. There was also the fur trade and marginalization, which led to the loss of land by allotment. As a result, it led to the working class at margins of the economy. There were also very few opportunities until the BINGO (Hoeft 160). The participation in the fur trade made the contemporary Oneida of Wisconsin to abandon most of the other activities that included farming. It is this that contributed to the massive loss of their lands. The population of the Oneidas was later rebounded in the 1990s. During the American Revolutionary War, the Oneidas of Wisconsin were involved in the war against the British. The US rewarded them by creating the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. It was off great significance to the Oneidas since it ensured that they would be secured in the possession of the lands that they had settled on before and which had been taken away from them. Nonetheless, there was the formation of many other treaties in this regard. They led to the massive loss of the ancestral land belonging to the Oneidas and intensely reducing their territorial lands (Hoeft 60). Cultural exchange was brought about by the integration of different cultures. Varied religious and social cultures came together and got involved in a number of activities. They intermingled and were able to take up a portion of each of the other peoples’ cultural practices and aspects. It was made possible by the emphasis made by the contemporary Oneida in Wisconsin regarding the need to have collective property and tribal capitalism (Hoeft 26). For instance, there were the Episcopalian and Methodist churches. They made a strong emphasis on assimilation. Moreover, they rejected termination but took the BINGO-CASINO market from the US. This was only possible through the collective tribal capitalism. Nonetheless, there still lacked strong capitalist values. However, by the year 1908, the entire reserved land had been divided up between all the other tribal members. After the tribal government ceased to be in operation, a large number of the Oneidas moved to the urban areas in search of wage employment in factories. This move led to the purchase of most of their lands by the federal government after a new government was formed by the tribe. They engaged in community consensus in support of institutional change and continuity. In relation to this, there was the general council and the community of families, which was once based on the clans and the confederacy. However, more recently, it came to be based on a community of families through which the varied members agree on the most appropriate actions to take in relation to the land issues as well as many other related aspects. Besides this, the patterns of self directed institutional changes for the Oneida in Wisconsin were a result of a number of arguments. Some of these include the colonial arguments. According to Hoeft (99), they led to the administrative and economic colonialism that led to the exposure and introduction of the Oneidas of Wisconsin to different concepts that they adopted leading to the weakening of the ties between them among other institutionalized changes. There are also the natural calamities, which indicate that during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, the Oneidas in Wisconsin suffered a great deal of loss that was contributed by the presence of an epidemic of small pox. The population of the group was largely reduced by this state. Despite these challenges, the Oneidas of Wisconsin made a great deal of struggles amidst their poverty and oppression in addition to the interference by the government and the presence of assimilations, the Wisconsin Oneidas managed to maintain the level of connectivity that they had as a community. They also remained true to their Iroquois roots. Besides, they remained adamant on the idea to relinquish their dreams to reclaim their land. In the recent years, they had only managed to stop the land loss but had now started to reverse it (Hoeft 34). Furthermore, the need to be self determining among the Oneidas contributed to the form of constitutional-business committee self government, that was contributed by the government, the ceremonies, the land holdings, the economic exchanges thro9ugh the community consensus and organization. In addition to this, there was also the strong continuity of power of the general council and the community in the present day government as well as the Casino ownership and management (Hoeft 110). Conclusion The contemporary Oneida of Wisconsin had numerous self directed institutionalized changes that were brought about by a number of factors. These have been explained in different ways. For instance, there are seven major arguments that attempt to make an explanation of these institutionalized relations among the people. However, there are still elements that they do not explain. With this, they do not describe accurately what the different life between the contemporary and the initial Oneidas of Wisconsin resulted from. A number of factors such as the urban migration need to be researched and explained in detail. Read More