Iroquois Indians: World views and Stereotypes

A detailed Summary of Iroquois Indians: World views and Stereotypes

Iroquois Indians: World views and Stereotypes

The Iroquois Indians have a commitment to collective responsibility and also have related attitudes towards property ownership. These concepts have had great meaning to the Iroquois and have shaped and influenced their society greatly. It has shaped they way the Seneca formed their economic systems, political systems, social relationships, and ideology and religion. This has led to many stereotypes and many different worldviews about the Iroquois Indians.

The Iroquois believed and were committed to collective responsibility. Meaning the whole tribe took on responsibilities and knew what they had to do. Each individual in the tribe acted for the tribe but did it independently and on their own. They had individual responsibilities and carried them through with no problems. Each person grew up with the ideal of autonomous responsibility and being independent. " The cultivation of the ideal of autonomous responsibility - and the suppression of its antinomy, dependency -- began early in life. Iroquois children were carefully trained to think for themselves but to act for others." In order for them to survive as a community they need to get the work done, and they only

The Iroquois Indians had an ideal that was known by everyone in the tribe and was taken very seriously. The Seneca were intolerant to external restraint and stressed individual independent and were indifferent to pain, hardship, and loneliness. They had a policy of no guilt, they acknowledged the responsibility for their actions and did the correct thing because things were expected to get done. One way the Iroquois could vent their feelings of anger, frustration, and hate was through rituals. Many of the rituals were from a religious background and had many spiritual meanings attached to them. For example dreams were thought to be a gateway to the mind and soul. So when an individual dreamt they needed to take care of what ever the dream had said or they could be in danger. '"The Iroquois have, properly speaking, only a single Divinity,' wrote Father Fremin' - the dream. Ti it they render their submission and follow all its orders with the utmost exactness." This was a ritual of tradition and both a religious ritual too. Religion was taken very seriously, the Seneca did not joke around when it came down to it. Their religion was called the Handsome Lake religion, which was founded by the prophet Handsome Lake. Handsome Lake founded the religion; his followers organized its practice. The Handsome Lake religion is "not Christian, although it includes some element s borrowed from Christianity; it is essentially an amalgam of ancient tradition and the innovations of the Seneca prophet named Handsome Lake." Each individual of the Handsome Lake religion prayed individually and for and with the village. They felt it necessary to pray by themselves and the again with the group. They prayed for themselves s as individuals and for the group, their selves included.

The concept of collective responsibility affected the Iroquois' political system also. The Seneca men and women shared political power, with, men exerting influence in certain ways and women exerting it in others. "The political organization of the Iroquois - the system by which decisions were made about problems affecting village, tribe, or confederacy-had three levels" . At the base of the political structure there is the Village Chiefs Council, they are in charge of local issues, and make sure the tribe is cooperating and running smoothly. In the middle is the Seneca National Council or the Seneca Tribal Council; they take care of major policies and keep alliances with other villages, current and in good standing. At the top of the polit

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Approximate Word count = 1710
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History