Siouan Sociology Part 1

Siouan Sociology.

by James Owen Dorsey.

In 1871, at the age of 23, James Owen Dorsey, previously a student of divinity with a predilection for science, was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal church by the bishop of Virginia; and in May of that year he was sent to Dakota Territory as a missionary among the Ponka Indians. Characterized by an amiability that quickly won the confidence of the Indians, possessed of unbounded enthusiasm, and gifted with remarkable apt.i.tude in discriminating and imitating vocal sounds, he at once took up the study of the native language, and, during the ensuing two years, familiarized himself with the Ponka and cognate dialects; at the same time he obtained a rich fund of information concerning the arts, inst.i.tutions, traditions, and beliefs of the Indians with whom he was brought into daily contact. In August, 1873, his field work was interrupted by illness, and he returned to his home in Maryland and a.s.sumed parish work, meantime continuing his linguistic studies. In July, 1878, he was induced by Major Powell to resume field researches among the aborigines, and repaired to the Omaha reservation, in Nebraska, under the auspices of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, where he greatly increased his stock of linguistic and other material. When the Bureau of Ethnology was inst.i.tuted in 1879, his services were at once enlisted, and the remainder of his life was devoted to the collection and publication of ethnologic material, chiefly linguistic. Although most of his energies were devoted to the Siouan stock, he studied also the Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan stocks; and while his researches were primarily linguistic, his collections relating to other subjects, especially inst.i.tutions and beliefs, were remarkably rich. His publications were many, yet the greater part of the material ama.s.sed during his years of labor remains for elaboration by others. The memoir on "Siouan Sociology," which was substantially ready for the press, is the only one of his many ma.n.u.scripts left in condition for publication. He died in Washington, February 4, 1895, of typhoid fever, at the early age of 47.

WJM.

GENERAL FEATURES OF ORGANIZATION

In the study of the organization of societies, units of different orders are discovered. Among the tribes of the Siouan family the primary unit is the clan or gens, which is composed of a number of consanguinei, claiming descent from a common ancestor and having common taboos; the term clan implying descent in the female line, while gens implies descent in the male line. Among the Dakota, as among the egiha and other groups, the man is the head of the family.

Several of the Siouan tribes are divided into two, and one (the Osage) is divided into three subtribes. Other tribes are composed of phratries, and each subtribe or phratry comprises a number of gentes. In some tribes each gens is made up of subgentes, and these in turn of a lower order of groups, which are provisionally termed sections for want of a better designation. The existence of these minor groups among the Omaha has been disputed by some, though other members of the tribe claim that they are real units of the lowest order. Among the Teton many groups which were originally sections have become gentes, for the marriage laws do not affect the original phratries, gentes, and subgentes.

The state, as existing among the Siouan tribes, may be termed a kinship state, in that the governmental functions are performed by men whose offices are determined by kinship, and in that the rules relating to kinship and reproduction const.i.tute the main body of the recognized law.

By this law marriage and the mutual rights and duties of the several members of each body of kindred are regulated. Individuals are held responsible, chiefly to their kindred; and certain groups of kindred are in some cases held responsible to other groups of kindred. When other conduct, such as the distribution of game taken in the forest or fish from the waters, is regulated, the rules or laws pertaining thereto involve, to a certain extent, the considerations of kinship.

The legislative, executive, and judicative functions have not been differentiated in Indian society as found among the Siouan groups. Two tendencies or processes of opposite character have been observed among the tribes, viz, consolidation and segregation. The effects of consolidation are conspicuous among the Omaha, Kansa, Osage, and Oto, while segregation has affected the social organization among the Kansa, Ponka, and Teton.

There have been instances of emigration from one tribe to another of the same linguistic family; and among the Dakota new gentes have been formed by the adoption into the tribe of foreigners, i.e., those of a different stock.

Two cla.s.ses of organization are found in the const.i.tution of the state, viz, (1) major organizations, which relate directly to government, and (2) minor organizations, which relate only indirectly to government. The former embraces the state functionaries, the latter comprises corporations.

Although the state functionaries are not clearly differentiated, three cla.s.ses of such men have been recognized: chiefs, policemen or soldiers, and young men or "the common people." The chiefs are the civil and religious leaders of the ma.s.ses; the policemen are the servants of the chiefs; the young men are such as have not distinguished themselves in war or in any other way. These last have no voice in the a.s.sembly, which is composed of the chiefs alone. Among the Omaha there is no military cla.s.s, yet there is a war element which is regulated by the Elk gens. The ixida gens and part of the Nika*d*a?na gens of the Ponka tribe are considered to be the warriors of the tribe, though members of other gentes have partic.i.p.ated in war. In the Kansa tribe two gentes, the Large Hanga and the Small Hanga, form the phratry connected with war, though warriors did not necessarily belong to those gentes alone. In the Osage camping circle all the gentes on the right side are war gentes, but the first and second, reckoning from the van, are the soldiers or policemen; while all the gentes camping on the left are a.s.sociated with peace, though their first and second gentes, reckoning from the van, are policemen or soldiers.

Among the Omaha both officers and warriors must be taken from the cla.s.s of "young men," as the chiefs are afraid to act as leaders in war; and among both the Omaha and the Ponka the chiefs, being the civil and religious leaders of the people, can not serve as captains, or even as members, of an ordinary war party, though they may fight when the whole tribe engages in war. Among the Dakota, however, chiefs have led in time of war.

Corporations among the Siouan tribes are minor organizations, indirectly related to the government, though they do not const.i.tute a part of it. The Omaha, for instance, and perhaps other tribes of the family, are organized into certain societies for religious, industrial, and other ends. There are two kinds of societies, the brotherhoods and the feasting organizations. The former are the dancing societies, to some of which the physicians belong.

Social cla.s.ses are undifferentiated. Any man can win a name and rank in the section, gens, phratry, tribe, or nation by bravery in war or by generosity in the bestowal of presents and the frequent giving of feasts.

While there are no slaves among the Siouan tribes, there are several kinds of servants in civil, military, and religious affairs.

THE DAKOTA TRIBES

DESIGNATION AND MODE OF CAMPING

The Dakota call themselves Otceti cakowin (Oceti sakowi?(1)), The Seven Fireplaces or Council-fires. This designation refers to their original gentes, the Mdewakantonwan (Mdewaka?-to?wa?), Waqpekute (Wa?pe-kute), Waqpe-tonwan (Wa?peto?wa?), Sisitonwan (Sisito?wa?), Ihank-tonwan (Iha?kto?wa?), Ihank-tonwanna (Iha?kto?wa?na), and t.i.tonwan (t.i.to?wa?).

They camped in two sets of concentric circles, one of four circles, consisting probably of the Mdewakantonwan, Waqpe-kute, Waqpe-tonwan and Sisitonwan; and the other of three circles, including the Ihanktonwan, Ihanktonwanna, and t.i.tonwan, as shown by the dialectal resemblances and variations as well as by the relative positions of their former habitats.

THE MDEWAKANTONWAN

The Mdewakantonwan were so called from their former habitat, Mdewakan, or Mysterious lake, commonly called Spirit lake, one of the Mille Lacs in Minnesota. The whole name means Mysterious Lake village, and the term was used by De l'Isle as early as 1703. The Mdewakantonwan were the original Santee, but the white people, following the usage of the Ihanktonwan, Ihanktonwanna, and t.i.tonwan, now extend that name to the Waqpekute, Waqpetonwan, and Sisitonwan. The gentes of the Mdewakantonwan are as follows:(2)

1. Kiyuksa, Breakers (of the law or custom); so called because members of this gens disregarded the marriage law by taking wives within the gens.

2. Qe-mini-tcan (?e-mini-ca?) or Qemnitca (?emnica), literally, "Mountain-water-wood;" so called from a hill covered with timber that appears to rise out of the water. This was the gens of Red Wing, whose village was a short distance from Lake Pepin, Minnesota.

3. Kap'oja (Kap?oza), Not enc.u.mbered-with-much-baggage; "Light Infantry."

"Kaposia, or Little Crow's village," in Minnesota, in 1852.

4. Maxa-yute-cni (Maga-yute-'sni), Eats-no-geese.

5. Qeyata-otonwe (?eyata-oto?we), of-its-chief-Hake-wacte (Hake wa?te); Qeyata-tonwan (?eyata-to?wa?) of Reverend A.L. Riggs, Village-back-from-the-river.

6. Oyate-citca (Oyate ?ica), Bad nation.

7. Tinta-otonwe (Ti?ta-otor?we), of Hake-wacte, or Tinta tonwan (Ti?tato?wa?) of A.L. Riggs, Village on-the-prairie (ti?ta).

These seven gentes still exist, or did exist as late as 1880.

THE WAQPE-KUTE

The name waqpe-kute is derived from waqpe (wa?pe), leaf, and kute, to shoot at, and signifies Shooters-among-the-leaves, i.e., among the deciduous trees, as distinguished from Wazi-kute, Shooters-at-or-among-the-pines. The gentes exist, but their names have not been recorded.

THE WAQPE-TONWAN OR WAHPETON

The name of this people signifies Yillage-among-the-leaves (of deciduous trees), the gens being known to the whites as Leaf Village or Wahpeton.

The gentes of this people, as given in 1884 by Reverend Edward Ashley, are the following:

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30.-Sisseton and Wahpeton camping circle.]

FIG. 30.-Sisseton and Wahpeton camping circle.

13. Inyan-tceyaka-atonwan (I?ya?-ceyaka-ato?wa?), Village-at-the-dam-or-rapids.

14. Takapsin-tonwanna (Takapsin-to?wa?na), Village-at-the-shinny-ground.

15. Wiyaka-otina, Dwellers-on-the-sand (wiyaka).