From Wovoka to Wounded Knee: deprivation of Sioux traditional life and the massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
Religious Studies
First Advisor's Name
James Huchingson
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Lesley A. Northup
Third Advisor's Name
William Walker III
Date of Defense
6-17-2002
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to explore deprivation experienced by the nineteenth century Sioux who suffered the loss of traditional lands, economic independence, buffalo, tribal customs, and religion. After years of reservation life, starvation, and deprivation at the hands of the U.S. government, white settlers, and reservation agents, the Sioux anxiously sought out a Paiute Indian Messiah named Wovoka whose message of a new Indian world spread rapidly throughout the Dakotas. The use of extensive historical and religious documents, as well as primary sources, will argue that the extent of desperation experienced by the Sioux drove them to accept the Ghost Dance as a substitute for the Sun Dance, the center of their traditional religious complex. With its hope of the resurrection of dead Indians, return of the buffalo, and renewal of the earth, it was immediately adopted leading ultimately to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 and the passing of Wovoka's religion into history.
Identifier
FI14051867
Recommended Citation
Buch, Mariangela, "From Wovoka to Wounded Knee: deprivation of Sioux traditional life and the massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890" (2002). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1881.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1881
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