Blog Post 2!

Week 2 has passed super quick but we got to read some really cool things and explore some Native American Historical sites on Google Earth during Friday’s class! The prompt for this week touches on many elements that we talked about this week, from the creation stories we looked at for Monday’s class, to gender roles and other parts of cultural regions and structures we saw as a part of Wednesday’s class. With the creation stories, we looked at three different cultures and their stories from the past which were all unique and interesting in their own ways. I think it was important to both watch the videos provided to see the people talk about their own cultures and also read some more about the background of their different stories as well. Although some of the ideas might be kind of far stretched, it is what these cultures believed in based on their values and their history from the past. It was super cool to see a Cherokee talk about their culture herself and tell the story she probably has been told hundreds of times over with each other person’s unique quirks and different ways to tell the story. Going more into Wednesday’s class and the structures we talked about as well as the different terms we learned about regions and societies, I thought it was really interesting to explore more of these societies and how different cultures organized themselves in different ways, whether it was more a patriarchal or matriarchal setup and their belief that everyone is related to one another in their own unique ways. The way these people lived really changed over time, sometimes based on what was around them but also taking the initiative themselves and moving somewhere else so they could have a better quality of life as well as a more successful life in regards to finding food and other resources they may need to survive. Digging deeper into the chapters of the book we started reading for Friday, I thought it was really interesting how the author formatted the text, using headings and subheadings within chapters as a way to organize her thoughts and everything was clear and coherent, even if it was a little scattered every now and then. I am excited to continue reading more about the Mandans as well as the readings we are diving into for next week!