Indian Women as Cultural Mediators

This reading really goes in depth and shows how much Native women have impacted our world today. They were clearly not given the credit they deserved. Native women were very important in every major encounter between the Europeans and Indinas in the New World. They were there as wives, mistresses, or slaves and were able to translate, counsel, and guide the white men trough new territory. The Native women lived with white men and were there to care for their children as well as translate words. The voices and actions of Native women were never heard and never went down in the history books but they were nevertheless, important women of history that were percieved as powerless by European men but very powerful in the roles that they played in their own cultures and even more powerful in the impact that they have on thier own husbands and children. Some historic Native women such as La Malinche was remembered as an essential intermediary between Spainards and native communities. Pocahontas was in important intermediary between her own people and the English. Sacagawea is described as a heroine in American history. She was brought foward to interpret on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She recognized many landmarks along the way and became an importnat leader in that expedition. Her rold may be symbolic of westward expansion but her presence was most important for what it told Indian people. She was a sign that Lewis and Clark came in peace and they needed her as a translator. Nancy Ward among the Choctaws were important participants in cultural change. My response to this reading is a great understanding how truly important Native women were to the white men. I got a really good understanding how important native women were as laborers and as intermediaries between their own people and the white men. Without these historic women today we may not be able to understand how cultures meet, how they change, and the improtant role that women play in that process.