Analysis of the Ghost Dance
Through her book, ‘The Ghost Dance,’ Kehoe presents a rich political, cultural, and social history of the Indians in the 19th Century. The religious beliefs and practices of the Indians living in the Western part of the United States are well illustrated in this book. Through the book, readers are introduced to the spiritual shift that existed as a result of the contact between the indigenous Indians and the white colonizers. When the White settlers arrived in the country, nearly every aspect of life changed; key among them is the cultural, political, and economic aspects of life. We are introduced to the Lakota and the Paiute society, which mainly inhabited Mason valley. These are people who believe in the traditional myths and any attempt geared towards disrupting that belief is met with resistance. The whites were against the religious practices of the Indians during the 19th Century. It is their spiritual leader Jack Wilson, otherwise known as Wovoka, who would deliver them from these shackles of spiritual and physical struggle with the whites (Mooney 2001: 367). The plain Indians were traumatized by the white expansion, which ideally disrupted both their traditional and independent life. Their traditional land was taken away from them as the whites established big ranches leaving Indians to survive on subsistence farming, hunting, offering labor in the white ranches, among other menial jobs. Indeed, people like Wovoka made good fortunes providing their labor in the white ranches. This paper explores why Wovoka was a charismatic prophet and had immense personal appeal among the Indians in the Western part of the United States. This paper will also examine the similarities and differences between Wovoka and the prophet described in Anthony Wallace’s ‘Revitalization Movements.’
The influence of Wovoka as a spiritual leader is explored, how and why he became the darling of the Indians in the United States. However, there is a sense that the message of this prophet must be appreciated and credited, especially taking into consideration the religious beliefs of the indigenous Indians in the 19th Century. Indians were indeed feeling oppressed by the expansion of the white settlement. Things were made worse when the US government decided to divide the South Dakota’s great Sioux Reservations into smaller units to accommodate the white settlement from the Eastern side. And so, the Indians from South Dakota wanted to use a religious means to fight the whites’ supposed assimilation. This explains why messages from Wovoka was welcome by many Indians. In fact, there was a belief that the ‘ghost shirts’ would repel the bullets from the government’s soldiers who were suppressing their rebellion against assimilation. The Paiute were not happy that their land was being taken over by the whites. So they believed that being a spiritual leader and having participated in the ‘ghost dance’ ritual, Wovoka could support them spiritually against the white man’s invasion. But there are many reasons why Wovoka was being admired in the entire Paiute community. The first description of Wovoka alone made him endear himself to the Indians. Wovoka was a “young man, a dark full-blood, compactly built, and a taller than the Paiute generally, being nearly six feet in height. He was dressed in white man’s clothes, with the broad-brimmed white felt hat common in the West, secured on his head using beaded ribbon under the chin. He wore a good pair of boots. His hair was cut off square on the line below the base of ears, after the manner of his tribe.” (Kehoe 2006: 3) From this vivid description used on Wovoka, it is clear that his physical posture and the way he dressed was appealing to many of his tribe men. It is also reported that Wovoka was also open and expressive of firmness in his decision-making. The way Wovoka was groomed alone made his message to appeal to many people from his tribe. For an individual in leadership to endear his message to the people, one must be well-groomed. Kehoe recounts that much as Wovoka was dressed in Whiteman’s clothes, he never forgot about the Paiute community’s traditional practices. Indeed, he was an active enabler of the ‘ghost dance’ ritual-which he actively presided over. This made his tribe’s men love him even more and harken to his messages of hope.
In as much as Wovoka had amassed enough fortunes as a result of working in the ranch to enable him to buy or enjoy some Whiteman’s fancies, he chose to stick by the traditional practices and way of life of the Paiute. This is regarding the observation that was made by Mooney-the guy who interviewed Wovoka to understand more insights into the prophetic life of Wovoka. Mooney noticed that even though the Paiutes were dressed in Whiteman’s clothes, they preferred to live in their traditional wikiups. This is the life which was led by Wovoka. Wovoka had nothing of alien manufacture-no tanks, pans, beds, storage tanks, and pots, among others (Kehoe 2006: 4). The objects mentioned above were associated with white people. And so it was deliberate that Wovoka chose not to buy those clothes because he never wanted to irritate his people. As was observed by Moony, the Paiutes preferred to stick to their traditional practices. Having money to buy Whiteman’s things and luxuries would have alienated Wovoka from his tribe-something that he was not prepared for. He wanted a huge following who would listen to his message and what way he would achieve that if not understanding what was appealing to his tribe. Had he chosen to lead the Whiteman’s way of life, chances are very high that he would not have the Indians’ darling. It is not lost on many readers and observers that the Indians from Paiute society were opposed to the whites’ invasion because it was disrupting their cultural practices and set-up. Any leader who would be seen to be promoting the Paiute’s cultural traditions would be their darling. This is where Wovoka scored highly. This is why his prophetic message was received with a lot of excitement.
Wovoka’s vision during the eclipse of 1889 made his message to be taken with seriousness by many people. He told Mooney that he was taken to heaven where he saw God and that God said that he should come back to the world and proclaim to the Paiutes to stop those traditional practices that savored war. He was also commanded by God to admonish his people against hating the Whites-they should live in harmony and shun evil things if they wished to see their old land and their kin once again (Kehoe 2006: 6). The Paiutes interpreted this that they would only get their land back if they obeyed and practiced the contents of Wovoka’s message. God accorded Wovoka to have power over nature and could make rain, snow, or make it dry, at will. These forces of nature were dear to the Paiutes as they could significantly influence the people’s agricultural produce. Agriculture was once of the dominant economic practice by the Paiutes. So the fact that Wovoka could control the weather, which had a significant influence on their agriculture-their source of livelihood, made the people to respect him and also increased their desire to listen to his messages of hope. Indeed to prove that he had seen God, he performed some miracles to prove that he had the power to control nature.
In Kehoe’s ‘ghost dance,’ it is apparent that one can become a prophet after undergoing a form of transformation through sickness that leads to hospitalization. In Kehoe’s book, Wovoka was very sick during that fateful day of the eclipse. Indeed he received the vision when he was sick laid in the bed. When he was ill, he was lying in the bed that he saw God and had the revelation that would thoroughly equip him with the prophetic powers. The same can be seen when it comes to the prophet described in Wallace’s ‘Revitalization Movement.’ According to Wallace, “there are in this institution several persons who were hospitalized during the course of an experience which resembles in many respects the process of becoming a prophet.”(272) Equally, in this text, it is clear that the transformation into becoming a prophet must pass through the phase of a person being hospitalized, and it is while in a coma that he receives the vision from God that eventually and forthwith transforms him into a prophet. So, it could be true, as in the case of Wovoka. As Wallace puts it, a prophetic vision is a therapeutic process performed under an extreme process by individuals already sick (Wallace 2013: 273). However, there is a sense in which Wovoka and the prophet in Wallace’s book differ. From Kehoe’s book, it is clear that Wovoka’s transformation did not cut him off from the community’s practices like the ‘ghost dance.’ In fact, he was claiming that God had sent him back with a new dance. This dance, for all intense and purposes, a ritual. So the prophetic transformation did not alienate Wovoka from his tribe’s cultural practices-he even came with a more revamped cultural practice. This is in complete contrast to the prophet in Wallace’s book. “Such frustrated prophets, being unable any longer to satisfy important human needs and suffering the obvious disapproval of the community, may also lose confidence in their relationship to the supernatural pseudo-community.” (Wallace 2013: 273)
From the community perspective, similarities and differences can be easily de discerned from the two texts. Among the Indian tribes in the US, there was a dire need for the redemption of their cultural identity. People of Indian origin wanted somebody who could lead them to regain their lost identity, I would say. The Paiute community saw Wovoka’s message as that of hope and that that would deliver them from the Whiteman’s yoke. The community was conscious of the fact that they would benefit immensely if they listened and practiced the contents of the prophet’s words. “it was a marvelous message for people suffering, as the Indians of West were in 1889, terrible epidemics, loss of their lands, their economic resources, and their political autonomy; malnourishment and wretched housing, and a campaign of cultural genocide aimed at eradicating their languages, their customs, and their beliefs.” (Kehoe 2006: 8) From this, it is clear what the Indian community would get in return if they welcomed the prophet’s message.
Similarly, Wallace’s message would be preached to the community that wanted societal protection in return. “…that the convert will come under the care and protection of certain supernatural beings; and that both he and his society will benefit materially from an identification with some definable new cultural system. “ (Wallace 2013: 273) The two books present a different societal organization. We are told that Jack Wilson’s religion was not an organized one. As the message was being spread by independent converts from California, though to Oklahoma (Kehoe 2006: 8). This was different from the societal organization described by Wallace in which a small clique of people would gravitate around the prophet and help spread the good word. The latter society decided to take a different approach in which a small group calling themselves disciples would help the prophet in spreading the message.
References Cited
Kehoe, Alice Beck (2006). The Ghost Dance: Ethnohistory & Revitalization, second edition. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Mooney, J. (2001). The ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Wallace, Anthony F. (2013). Revitalization Movements. Willy and American Anthropolical Association.