Lesson 3: Cultural Encounter and Contrasting Concepts of Land

Class Comments: This lesson will examine how conflict between European Americans and Native Americans was a result of different cultural and social values and how each of these societies placed different values on the ideas of land use and land ownership.

One such contrasting view of land is the following Kiowa story:

The Kiowa's believed that there was a duality between the events on earth and the events in the sky "As above, so below." The story of the boy who turned into a bear is a good example of this.

"Eight children were at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified; they ran, and the bear after them. They came to the stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were beyond its reach. It reared against the trunk and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper." Kiowa story of Tsoai (Momaday, The Ancient Child, prologue)