Social
A kinship system where lineage and inheritance are traced solely through the mother's.
What is matrilineal?
The belief that all things, both living and non-living, contain a distinct spiritual essence or soul.
What is animism?
A regional political structure in which multiple communities are united under a permanent, usually hereditary, centralized leader, usually a chief.
What is a chiefdom?
A narrow boat equipped with a double-sided paddle, traditionally used for hunting and speedily travelling on water, originating from the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut tribes.
What is a kayak?
What was the Trail of Tears?
Militant Native American civil rights organization founded in 1968, fighting for sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and protection of legal rights.
What is the American Indian Movement (AIM)?
A social gathering and cultural celebration held by many Native American and First Nation communities to sing, dance, socialize, and pass on traditions and cultures to new generations.
What is a powwow?
The political principle that people and nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty, political status, and develop themselves without external interference.
What is self-determination?
Ancient "floating gardens" created by the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico.
What are chinampas?
The 1890 Massacre of Lakota men, women, and children. Believed to have been caused by the Ghost Dance movement.
What was the Wounded Knee Massacre?
A coalition of indigenous, grass-roots, environmental justice advocates.
What is the Indigenous Environmental Network?
A contemporary umbrella term used to refer to an Indigenous person who has both a masculine and feminine spirit, often defining themselves outside of the traditional Western gender binary.
What is Two-Spirit?
One of the oldest participatory democracies in the world. A sovereign functional alliance between Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes, and were a dominant power in the fur trade of 17th and 18th century North America.
What is the Haudenosaunee Confederacy(League) /Iroquois Confederacy(League)/Six Nations?
Knot string devices used for record-keeping in Andean societies.
Shoshone girl, aided and led Lewis and Clark during their expedition through the Louisiana territory, all while carrying a baby on her back.
Who was Sacagawea?
A social organization and kinship system adopted by many indigenous groups that says that everything, including people and the environment, is split into mirrored halves, which must come together in order for both to understand the universe.
What is moiety?
The oldest game in North America, played by Haudenosaunee/Iroquois people since the 11th century.
What is lacrosse?
Largest Native Nation in the US
What is the Navajo Nation (Diné)?
Relatively advanced mathematical concept invented independently by the Mayans, represented by a shell or flower.
Hunkpapa Lakota holy man and chief, who led from the mid-1860s to 1890. Known for resisting relocation to reservations and unifying the Sioux tribes in order to defend against US expansion.
Who was Sitting Bull?
An ongoing protest movement that began in Canada 2012, advocating for indigenous sovereignty and environmental protection.
What is the Idle No More (INM) movement?
A spiritual belief system among Australian Aboriginals, based on the inter-relation of all people and things in the past, present, and future, acting as a way to explain abstract concepts of the universe and nature, and teach the younger generation the cumulative knowledge of their ancestors.
What is Dreaming/Dreamtime?
Organization of indigenous people fighting for sovereignty and self-determination of indigenous groups, and the recognition and protection of indigenous rights, cultures, and lands.
What is the International Indian Treaty Council?
Traditional eyewear used by Inuit and Yupik peoples in the Arctic to prevent snow-blindness.
What are snow goggles/illgak/iggaak/nigaugek/nigauget?
1540 uprising by the Caxcan people against Spanish conquistadors invading northwestern Mexico. Lasted about a year before the Caxcans were defeated.
What was the Mixtón War?