A groundbreaking blend of ethnographic fieldwork and American Indian oral history by a pioneering female anthropologist. Anthropologist Ruth M. Underhill (1883 1984), a widely acknowledged expert on Native American life, published The Autobiography of a Papago Woman in 1936, the first-known oral history of an American Indian woman. The story of Maria Chona, a Papago (Tohono O'odham) woman, is a sequence of intimate episodes and crises from her traditional and nontraditional life, including childbearing, marriages, family and reservation life, song making, and knowledge of practical medicine. The strong Papago fear of women's impurity restricted her, and all females, from having an active role in ceremonial life, yet her independent spirit and dynamic personality led her to challenge tribal taboos. The rare autobiography of Chona, which forms the core of this historically significant case study, appears in Part II of Papago Woman. Underhill adds interpretive analysis, historical background, and absorbing ethnological descriptions in Part I as well as commentary on Papago views on child training, women, love, and the continuing effects of Roosevelt's New Deal in Part III. Useful student study questions (by Catherine Lavender) are included. Visit waveland.com for a complete list of modern and classic ethnographies on Apache, Navajo, Pueblo, Papago, Shoshone, Comanche, Crow, and other American Indian cultures.

Papago woman (Case studies in cultural anthropology)

Politics & Social Sciences

Underhill, Ruth Murray

Anthropology

HOLT. RINEHART AND WINSTON

a comprehensive study of Indian societies from the first Stone Age hunters to the Indians of today. Beginning with the first migrations of primitive man from Siberia in the Old World to Alaska in the New, during the latter part of the Pleistocene glaciations, and subsequent migration southward and eastward, the tribes and cultures of the various regions of North America.

Red Man's America: A History of the Indians in the United States

History

Americas

University of Chicago

Red Man's America meets the great need for a comprehensive study of Indian societies from the first Stone Age hunters to the American citizens of today. Beginning with the first migrations of primitive man from Siberia in the Old World to Alaska in the New, probably during the latter part of the Pleistocene glaciations, and his subsequent migration southward and eastward, the author takes up in turn the tribes and cultures of the various regions of North America. The material Professor Underhill has gathered from the fields of archaeology, ethnology, and history, together with that drawn from her own experience in the United States Indian Service, produces a fascinating narrative. Red Man's America is an important contribution to our heritage of Indian life and lore. "A work for which both sociologist and historian will be forever grateful. The author has combined a long period of study with actual field work in the service of the Indian to produce a work that gives a brief, but well written and accurate, sketch of the origins, backgrounds, and customs of the various North American tribes. . . . There is no other modern single volume that contains as much information on the subject."—E.R. Vollmar, The Historical Bulletin "Liveliness in style and illustration, together with perspicacity in content, makes this book a useful introduction to the civilization of the original inhabitants of the land."—Pacific Historical Review

Red Man's America: A History of Indians in the United States

University of Chicago Press

Among the topics considered in this classic study are world origins and supernatural powers, attitudes toward the dead, the medicine man and shaman, hunting and gathering rituals, war and planting ceremonies, and newer religions, such as the Ghost Dance and the Peyote Religion. "The distinctive contribution of [Red Man's Religion] is the treatment of topics, the insight and the perspective of the author, and her ability to transmit these to the reader. . . . Trais and aspects of religion are not treated as abstract entitites, to be enumerated and summated, assigned a geographic distribution, and then abandoned. No page is a dry recital; each is an illumination. Insight and wisdom are framed in poetic prose. An offering of information in such a medium merits gratitude."—American Anthropologist

Red Man's Religion: Beliefs and Practices of the Indians North of Mexico

Singing for Power

Ballantine Books

Indians of the Pacific Northwest

Ams Pr Inc

Papago Indians of Arizona and Their Relatives the Pima

Ruth Underhill published the songs she heard sung by Tohono O'odham [Papago] elders more than half a century ago, and Singing for Power has since become a classic of Native American literature.

Singing for Power: The Song Magic of the Papago Indians of Southern Arizona (California Library Reprint Series)

Religion & Spirituality

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Univ. Of California Pr.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1938.

Singing for Power: The Song Magic of the Papago Indians of Southern Arizona

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

University of California Press

Newspaper accounts of the Navajos in recent years have prompted widespread interest in the tribe, its history, and its present condition. In this volume Ruth Underhill presents the absorbing and authoritative account of the Navajos, from the time of their myth-shrouded appearance in the Southwest to their present-day position as America's largest Indian tribe, with a population of 100,000 occupying a reservation of fifteen million acres.
The Navajos, blood relations of the Apaches, once virtually ruled the area now known as Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, which they robbed with impunity. Unable to tolerate their depredations any longer, Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, and other Indians rose up in protest, demanding the subjugation of the Navajos, who were accused of every crime and held responsible for almost every Indian attack in the area. The job was given to Colonel Kit Carson, who defeated the Navajos in 1864 and moved them to a small reservation at Fort Sumner, where they remained for nearly four years before being returned to their original home.
It was upon their agriculture, sheepherding, and artistry in blanket weaving and silversmithing that the Navajos, now unable to continue their profitable raiding, became dependent during the early, trying days of reservation life. Miss Underhill's careful examination of the complex mythical aura that surrounds the early Navajos offers an interesting insight into their colorful history and rich cultural background, but it is her sensitive portrayal of their adjustment to a new way of life that distinguishes her account of this great tribe. For this printing, the final chapter, "Fourth Beginning," has been rewritten to bring the story of the Navajos up to 1967.

The Navajos

Social Sciences

University of Oklahoma Press

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