Blackfeet Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The last fifty years of history on the Blackfeet Rez have been neglected, crowded by the exciting war stories of the 19th century and the recent political battles. These are stories and bibliography about being there.

BY JAY H. BUCKLEY N ext to grizzly bears and Mother Nature, the most feared enemy of American fur trappers traveling along the upper Missouri River were the Niitsitapi or Blackfeet, the "Original People" or "Prairie People."' The... more

BY JAY H. BUCKLEY N ext to grizzly bears and Mother Nature, the most feared enemy of American fur trappers traveling along the upper Missouri River were the Niitsitapi or Blackfeet, the "Original People" or "Prairie People."' The Blackfeet Confederacy comprised the dominant military power on the northwestern plains. Blackfeet sought to maintain their hegemony by preventing American traders and trappers from trading with and strengthening the Shoshones, Crows, Flatheads (Salish), and Nez Perces. They accomplished this by harassing and attacking American trappers and stealing their horses and furs.
Buckley, Jay H. “Short Tempers and Long Knives: Hostilities between the Blackfeet Confederacy and American Fur Trappers from 1806 to 1840.” We Proceeded On 39, no. 2 (May 2013): 8-18.

Blackfoot people claim they have always resided in their defined traditional territory on the Northwestern Plains of North America since time began. Today their treaty reserves and reservation remain as fragments within that defined... more

Blackfoot people claim they have always resided in their defined traditional territory on the Northwestern Plains of North America since time began. Today their treaty reserves and reservation remain as fragments within that defined territory. When the primary Blackfoot subsistence economy of buffalo hunting vanished in the late 19th century, various efforts were made by Blackfoot chiefs and White recorders to document Blackfoot culture and oral stories, many of which described the creation of the Blackfoot people and their traditional landscape. Various academic opinions subsequently emerged about these traditional stories to interpret how the Blackfoot came to be where they are. This essay reexamines those recorded traditional oral stories, subsequent academic opinions and collateral research.

The early period of the fur trade in the northern Rocky Mountains has been an understudied time and place in archaeological research. This study focuses on two early nineteenth century trading posts in the northern Rockies, Rocky Mountain... more

The early period of the fur trade in the northern Rocky Mountains has been an understudied time and place in archaeological research. This study focuses on two early nineteenth century trading posts in the northern Rockies, Rocky Mountain House and Kootenae House, where the North West Company traded with the Niitsitapi and Ktunaxa respectively. A world-systems framework is used to explore the diverse array of negotiative processes between different parties as Native groups shaped their incorporation into an expanding world-system. Native and Euroamerican parties mutually constructed a “middle ground” of trading conditions based on a changing array of real and perceived needs over time. Two material expressions of negotiation can be seen during the early nineteenth century fur trade: the phenomena of the “travelling trading post,” i.e. the (often rapid) movement of trading posts across the landscape, and patterns in the trade of provisions and furs based on the preferences of particular tribes. My research finds that while Native groups were at times shaped by the world-system, they also renegotiated their participation in the fur trade according to their own cultural logics through a process of active decision-making and compromise. While recognizing that in the long run, the consequences of incorporation into the capitalist European world-economy were swayed against Native interests, negotiating the “middle ground” of early fur trade relations in the northern Rocky Mountains was often significantly influenced by Native agendas.

The international US-Canada border divides and dissects the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi Indigenous nations. This thesis examines Siksikaitsitapi experiences of the border as a settler-colonial method of containment and... more

The international US-Canada border divides and dissects the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi Indigenous nations. This thesis examines Siksikaitsitapi experiences of the border as a settler-colonial method of containment and their resistance to these processes through the reintroduction of the buffalo. The reintroduction of the buffalo to Siksikaitsitapi territory represents Siksikaitsitapi worldviews and relationship to the lands which extend across and beyond the imposed border. The buffalo are powerful within Siksikaitsitapi ways of knowing, and their return signifies a resilience in a host of sacred, social, cultural, and traditional principles that underpin Siksikaitsitapi life. This study shows that through the cross-border movement of the free-roaming buffalo, the Siksikaitsitapi are asserting their ongoing presence, relationship to the land, and sovereignty by using Indigenous-led conservation to challenge the divisive nature of the border. This research highlights ...