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Native Americans: Nature, Culture, or Both?

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Native Americans: Nature, Culture, or Both?

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This midterm project serves as a direct comparison between Ortiz’s The San Francisco Indians and Kimmerer’s Skywoman Falling. I aimed to highlight how vastly different literary styles can convey similar messages and underlying themes. I structured this project into six distinct subcategories, four of which emphasize direct comparisons between Ortiz’s and Kimmerer’s stylistic choices or perspectives, and two that highlight their similarities. While both authors work to illustrate the importance of respecting and understanding Native American heritage to progress toward a future of sustainability and respect, Ortiz and Kimmerer employ different literary techniques, write in different genres, and hold differing views on the relationship between nature and culture.

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In Skywoman Falling, Kimmerer takes an opposing stance, arguing that indeed Native Americans are closer to nature due to their education and passed-down “Original Instructions” (Kimmerer, Skywoman Falling, 2002). Through the story of the Skywoman, she emphasizes that Native Americans are raised from birth with an understanding of their responsibilities to care for and maintain their environment through respectful hunting, ceremonies, and family teachings. As we learned in lecture, the Ecological Indian stereotype portrays Indigenous people as more connected to nature, and Kimmer upholds this idea, though not in a way that diminishes the importance of Native culture. Rather, Kimmer takes pride in the stewardship and understanding in Indigenous heritage and believes that all people should grow up knowing the story of the Skywoman as a guide for living in harmony with the natural environment.

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Ortiz, in The San Francisco Indians, fights against the notion that Native Americans are inherently ‘closer’ to nature and rather emphasizes the importance of cultural identity and critiquing the commodification of Indigenous heritage. Through his story, he argues that reducing Native identity to romanticized stereotypes overlooks the diversity and complexity of Indigenous heritage, especially in the face of forced assimilation. As discussed in lecture, following the forced sale of their lands, many Native Americans were forced to relocate to more populous areas, such as emerging cities, where they faced pressure to conform to the public’s idea of “an Indian” (Ortiz, The San Francisco Indian, 1974). Through this, Ortiz places Native Americans in a sphere of culture, highlighting the consequences of forced assimilation and the perception that Indigenous heritage is not ‘real Indian’ simply because their personal experience does not align with traditional stereotypes.

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Nature and Culture: Two Separate Spheres?

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Nature and Culture: Two Separate Spheres?

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Kimmerer, working alongside Ortiz in the Ecology paradigm, also views nature and culture as interconnected, however, she sees them as more of a single, unified sphere. She emphasizes the idea that Indigenous identity is inseparable from the environment, illustrating how traditional stories, kinship structures, and cultural ceremonies are all rooted heavily in nature. In Skywoman Falling, Kimmerer highlights how the land, animals, and plants are not just resources but also family, reinforcing that human existence and culture are tied to the environment. Unlike Ortiz who emphasizes Native American history and social pressures, Kimmerer focuses more on the responsibility to care for nature as an extension of your culture. For her, Native identity and environmental stewardship are inseparable.

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Ortiz, working within the Ecology paradigm, views nature and culture as interconnected but more distinct than Kimmerer. He rejects the idea of the Ecological Indian and instead emphasizes the complexities of Indigenous heritage, history, and forced adaptation. He acknowledges that the environment plays a role in shaping cultural identity, however, in The San Francisco Indians he chooses to focus more on how Native American culture is more about a sense of community and ceremonies than just connection with the land. Ortiz sees nature and culture as influencing each other, but ultimately views Native identity as shaped by more than just the environment with historical displacement, urbanization, and social pressures all playing a key role.

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By working in fiction, Ortiz is able to explore Native American identity in a broader context and emphasize his opinions through symbolism and storytelling. Fiction allows him to build characters facing general struggles between their heritage and society’s opinion of it. Ortiz illustrates a “girl with blond hair who wore a colorful Indian necklace” (Ortiz, The San Francisco Indians, 1974) as a representation of modern-day commodification of Native culture. This character symbolizes how Native American identity has been distorted and stereotyped, exploring the tensions between authenticity and social expectations. Through this symbolism, Ortiz critiques the way native culture has been appropriated in mainstream society and creates a fictional situation to explore the complexities of cultural identity and social pressures on Native Americans.

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Kimmerer, similar to Ortiz, utilizes a storytelling style of writing, however, Kimmerer does so within the genre of nonfiction. She draws from her personal experiences and stories from her Potowatami heritage as a way to explore the importance of Native American ecological insight. Kimmerer tells the story of a woman who “through her actions of reciprocity, the give and take with the land…became Indigenous” (Kimmerer, Skywoman Falling, 2002) as a way to reinforce the idea that Indigenous identity is deeply connected to the land and principles of reciprocity. By utilizing non-fiction, Kimmerer offers a real-life example of how Indigenous values can positively influence our impact on the environment. Different from Ortiz, Kimmerer utilizes personal experience and stories to convey her complex view of the environment-human relationship and the importance of preserving Native American teachings.

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Ortiz makes use of symbolism and a first-person perspective to emphasize the commodification Native heritage has experienced and the modern-day struggles of Indigenous people. He describes San Francisco as a place where Native identity has been generalized and commodified by “the blonde girl who wanted to be a member of the Tribe” (Ortiz, The San Francisco Indians, 1974). Utilizing “the blonde girl” as a symbol for Non-native city dwellers, Ortiz highlights how Indigenous culture is often stripped of its true meaning and has been commercialized in urban settings. Ortiz also utilizes first-person narration to create a personal connection to the struggles of Indigenous displacement as he describes a man that said “I came to ask the Indians if they know my grandchild. Perhaps they will know where she lives.” (Ortiz, The San Francisco Indians, 1974). Here, Ortiz highlights the man’s sense of disconnection from his family and heritage, emphasizing how forced assimilation and urbanization have impacted Native communities and severed families.

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Kimmerer utilizes rich imagery and personification in order to immerse readers into this peaceful, nurturing world where animals are relatives rather than resources. She sets the scene of the skyworld, a place where “Wild grasses, flowers, trees, and medicines spread everywhere…that the animals, too, had plenty to eat” (Kimmerer, Skywoman Falling, 2002). This vivid description of the environment highlights how respect for the earth results in peace and prosperity and how the earth is more than just humans. Kimmerer also personifies the Earth itself, illustrating how the turtle offered help to the other animals, “sa[ying] “Here, put [the mud] on my back and I will hold it” (Kimmerer, Skywoman Falling, 2002). Here Kimmer emphasizes that nature is not just a resource to humans, and that other species have complex social structures as well. This personification encourages the readers to view nature as a partner rather than something to be exploited.

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How Both: Highlight the Ecological Paradigm

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How Both: Highlight the Ecological Paradigm

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Though Ortiz and Kimmerer approach the topic differently, both The San Francisco Indians and Skywoman Falling emphasize the Ecology paradigm by highlighting the interconnections between Indigenous culture and their environment. Ortiz illustrates how stereotyped Native identity is inherently tied to the land, emphasizing the struggles of Indigenous communities to maintain their individual cultural traditions through displacement and forced urbanization. Similarly, Kimmerer draws from her Potawatomi heritage to emphasize the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature, advocating for respect and environmental stewardship. Both authors use storytelling to reinforce the idea that ecosystems thrive through balance and cooperation, urging their readers to adopt Indigenous principles as a foundation for sustainable living and harmony with the environment.

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How Both: Emphasize the Importance of Understanding Native Heritage and Culture

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How Both: Emphasize the Importance of Understanding Native Heritage and Culture

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Ortiz and Kimmerer both emphasize the importance of understanding Native heritage and culture, though they approach it from different angles. While Ortiz focuses his writing on challenging the Ecological Indian stereotype, critiquing the romanticized idea that Native Americans are inherently closer to nature, he highlights the general struggles of Indigenous people having to navigate forced relocation and assimilation, illustrating how their identity is often misrepresented in modern society. Kimmerer, however, focuses on reinforcing the significance of Indigenous kinship structures, highlighting a reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. She frames land, animals, and plants as relatives, fostering a sense of responsibility and care for the environment. Together, both authors urge a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives, rejecting commodification and stereotypes, and advocating for respect for the environment.

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Kimmerer, Robin. “Skywoman Falling.” Braiding Sweetgrass, Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, MN, 2024.

Ortiz, Simon J. “The San Francisco Indians.” Men on the Moon.

Hilleary, Cecily. A non-Native person wearing a Native American war bonnet as a “fashion accessory” is commonly cited as an example of cultural appropriation. Citizens of the three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes decry the growing numbers of “wannabe” Cherokee. 23 July 2018. Going “Native”: Why Are Americans Hijacking Cherokee Identity?, , https://www.voanews.com/a/going-native-why-are-americans-hiijacking-cherokee-identity/4495119.html.

Fountain, Henry. How The Times Covered the First Earth Day, 50 Years Ago. 21 Apr. 2020. Https://Www.Google.Com/Url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.Nytimes.com%2F2020%2F04%2F21%2Fclimate%2FNYT-First-Earth-Day.html&psig=AOvVaw08SOq8v0Ug_HuTkPooF-fd&ust=1741400522286000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqFwoTCIiwps709osDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/climate/NYT-first-earth-day.html.

McBryant, Carol, et al. A government poster advertises “Indian Land for Sale” after the passage of the Dawes Act. Primary sources like this one inform our understanding of history. 2017. Https://Www.Nps.Gov/Articles/Teaching-the-Truth-about-Native-North-America.Htm.