In this section I have a few of my reading logs that were done through out the course! They are reflections on the different readings of the past. The Sources to these can be found in my section labeled sources.
Reading Log #1
Jack Brink, “The Buffalo Jump”
In the chapter “The Buffalo Jump” written by Jack Brink, narrows in on the important roles of the famous Buffalo Jump site “Head-Smashed-In”. The site was very important when it came to the buffalo kill because of how efficiently it was created, its structure and, how it is still looked at today. “Even the killing of a huge bowhead whale by the Inuit of the Arctic, the largest animal ever hunted by the indigenous people would yield less meat and fat than an average Buffalo Jump”(3). This allowed the early Aboriginal inhabitants of the Plains to live comfortably. The structures that were used like jumps, and wooden corrals, came to be one of the most productive food gathering enterprise ever by human beings. This being said Buffalo Jumps were an extraordinary amount of work, they were also “culmination of thousands of years of shared and passed tribal knowledge of the environment, lay of the land”(13). However “Alexander Henry, an otherwise astute observer of Native culture, attributes efforts to drive bison over a cliff to sheer laziness”(13). Therefore This chapter puts all the misconceptions on Buffalo Jumps to rest. Head-Smashed-In is not only a well efficient Buffalo Jump, it is one of the premier bison kill sites.
Head-Smashed-In is a premier site because of the deeply complex nature of the topography of the Porcupine Hills. Compared to other Buffalo Kill sites no cover is offered for hunters to use for manipulating the heard of Buffalos. Some of the sites that were constructed never even saw a single bison fall to its death, unlike Head-Smashed-In that was used hundreds of times. Another interesting fact about this site came from this chapter. Present day archaeological crews and ancient Buffalo hunters occupied the exact same space on earth, just separated by time.
This site presents enormous challenges for archaeologists hence, Head-smashed-In is surely ranked as one of the deepest sites in North America. With it also being a big tourist attraction, archaeologists like to set up their dig cites in the heart of it all so people can approach and ask questions.
In conclusion, in the chapter “The Buffalo Jump” written by James Brink elaborates on many points to why the great Head-smashed-In was such a famous and important buffalo kill site that people still admire to this day.
Acadian Identity
Log #4
In this reading of the “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community” written by Naomi Griffiths, really showed a great understanding how importance of the Acadian identities in the community. The Community of the Acadians was very different because they “kept itself separate from larger community, where religion played an important role in its identity and, further, a community that had been rarely studied” (326). However, when it came to deportation of the Acadians something that you think would tear a community apart, didn’t change much of their identity.
When it came to the deportation people looked at it two ways, one, they thought that it was “in the context of the eighteen century behind the process as “historical development” (328). “Others saw the event as a part of the righteous process of God- fearing, Protestant, English Empire pursuing a manifest destiny to bring order to the universe” (328). People even had another view on it as being the “French and Catholic Empire, working for the good of civilization and morality” (328). But before the deportation began and even though with all these different opinions about why this was happening, the “Acadians were manipulated puppets, caught up into the disputes of the real people fighting the great battles between English and the French” (328). With this being said the Acadian society was thriving and did emerge as a result of the great transatlantic migration of the peoples from Europe, to America. The majority of these people “were migrants from France, but included people from England, Ireland, Scotland” (330). This community soon became booming with many things like, they were demographically self- generating and even economically self- sufficient. It began to build an identity for the Acadians that had a particular social structure, and kinship ties were very strong. Soon “religious and cultural life was thriving” (330) as well. With “this diverse population base meant that the settlements both individually and collectively had a rich heritage of traditions on which to build” (331). The migrants that would travel here to Acadia “were not driven by any particular social, or religious vision but were seeking, quite simply, improved social and economic conditions for themselves and their children” (331). Migrants would come to this community because the Acadians were not controlled by the priests in any political way and, they weren’t obedient to the church in any personal conduct. Acadian identity had this action to it were they “were above all those of a people interested less in demonstrating loyalty to any outside power, than in obtaining the most fortunate living conditions” (333). Then came the time period were the Acadians hit the “Golden Age” (335). This was the time right before the deportation and the foundation of the community memory.
When the “Golden Age “ hit the Acadian community it was the best time to be apart of this community. “Kids were born healthy and lived long” (335), which was so unlike a child to live long and become a grandparent themselves. It was extremely rare for children to be born so healthy. People were “in charge of own political life” (335), there was certainly many lives in the community blessed with considerable good fortune. However, the good for fortune ended abruptly in the mid- summer time. In 1755, “when meeting of the council of the colony decided to send all the French in habitants out of province” (337). When all this was being said and done it signaled the failure of the Acadian policy. “The deportation” “the exile”- by whatever name it was an event that broke apart the first Acadian community, but it did not destroy the Acadian identity. No matter what was thrown as this community they kept their identity alive, and was able to make it thrive. No matter what the circumstance.