Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Description based on contents viewed Oct. 6, 2008; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-174).

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography": p. 70-73.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography": p. 70-73.

Issued also as Thesis (Ph. D.) Columbia University. / "Centennial anniversary publication, the American ethnological society, 1842-1942." "Selected bibliography" : p. 70-73.

No abstract available / xi, 248 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cm.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2008. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 21, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-50).

The past is the prologue. We must understand where we have been before we can understand where we are going. To understand the Blackfoot Nation and how we have come to where we are today, this thesis examines our history through Indian eyes from time immemorial to the present, using traditional narratives, writings of early European explorers and personal experience. The oral tradition of the First Nations people was a multi-media means of communication. Similarly, this thesis uses the media of the written word and a series of paintings to convey the story of the Blackfoot people. This thesis provides background and support, from the artist’s perspective, for the paintings that tell the story of the Blackfoot people and the events that contributed to the downfall of the once-powerful Nation. With the knowledge of where we have been, we can learn how to move forward. / x, 153 leaves : col. ill. ; 29 cm

This research is focused on the teachings of the First Nations people which are grounded sacred stories and which continue to be recalled and recited through oral tradition. The teachings and lessons derived from the sacred stories can be described as ways of knowing. The study explores the persistence of the traditional ways of knowing as a source for influencing First Nations individuals toward greater cultural identity and strength in their present lives. The thesis addresses the value of Peigan ways of knowing as a tool for creating greater meaning in life; for enhancing spiritual wisdom; and for developing insight into and appreciation of First Nation oral traditions. As well, the thesis explores Peigan ways of knowing as an available resource for empowering present day Peigan youth. In researching the First Nations ways of knowing, one Plains Indian group, the Peigan, of which the writer is a member, was used as reference source. The Peigan First Nation belongs to the Blackfoot Confederacy and presenlty resides in southern Alberta on the Peigan Indian Reserve. All participants of the research are members of the Peigan First Nation. The research will begin with an overview of the writer's personal experiences as a student in on-reserve and off-reserve school settings, and later as a worker in the counselling profession. The purpose and significance of the study will be presented as well as the research design within the qualitative methodology. Four individuals were selected as interview participants who were born and raised on the Peigan Reserve. The literature review will reflect current research on the significance of story in the First Nations culture and conclude with the presentation of the recent history of the North Peigan people. The interview data will then be presented with emphasis on the themes that surfaced. Six major themes arouse, which included, renewal and transformation, significance of sacred stories, transmitting culture through story, path of life, the teacher and learner relationship, and finally, the vision for Peigan-Blackfoot youth. The final chapter of the study begins with a summary of the findings and an overview of the themes that details finer points making up the major themes. The implications of and recommendations following the study precede the study's conclusion. / viii, 112 leaves ; 28 cm.

This dissertation examines the uses, functions, and meaningfulness of traditional personal names and naming practices in Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Indian) culture. The current study indicates that Niitsitapi personal names appear to play a major role in capturing and conveying various aspects of traditional Niitsitapi sociocultural knowledge. Niitsitapi personal names thus appear to form an integral part of Niitsitapi oral tradition, and also seem to play a powerful role in establishing and maintaining Niitsitapi conceptualisations of individual, as well as social and cultural, identity. This dissertation supports the position that, in addition to their nominative function, names contain and communicate sociocultural meaning, based on their associations with a wide range of non-linguistic factors which form part of the sociocultural environment within which they are used. The methodological approach stresses the importance of studying personal names in cultural context and strongly emphasises the use of indigenous knowledge as a means of explaining personal naming phenomena from a native cultural perspective. / Linguistics / M. A. (Sociolinguistics)

The radical transformations attendant upon the imposition of colonial rule on the Siksikaitsitapi or Blackfoot of northern Alberta and southern Montana are examined in this dissertation in order to emphasise the threads of continuity within a tapestry of cultural change c.1870-1920. The dissertation traces cultural persistence through the analysis of texts of history and literature that constructed Blackfoot subjectivity in the half-century following the end of traditional lifeways and settlement on three reserves in Canada and one reservation in the United States of America. This interdisciplinary thesis has been undertaken jointly in the School of History and Philosophy, and the School of English, Media and Performance Studies. It combines the tools of historical research and literary criticism to analyse the discourses and counter-discourses that served to construct Blackfoot subjectivity in colonial texts. It engages with the ways in which the Blackfoot navigated colonisation and resisted forced acculturation while adopting strategies of accommodation to ensure social reproduction and even physical survival in this period. To this end, it presents four case studies, each focusing on a discrete process of Blackfoot cultural transformation: a) the resistance to acculturation and cultural revitalisation as it relates to the practice of Ookaan (Sun Dance); b) the power shifts ushered in by European contact and the intersection between power and Blackfoot dress practices; c) the participation of Blackfoot "organic intellectuals" in the construction of Blackfoot history through the transformation of oral stories into text via the ethnographic encounter; and d) the continuing links between Blackfoot history and literature, and contemporary fictional representations of Blackfoot subjectivity by First Nations authors. This thesis acknowledges that Blackfoot history and literature have been constructed through a complex matrix of textual representations from their earliest contacts with Europeans. This dissertation is a study of the intersection between textual representations of the Blackfoot, and resistance, persistence and cultural revitalisation 1870-1920. It seeks to contribute to debates on the capacity of the colonised Other to exercise agency. It engages with views articulated by organic intellectuals, and Blackfoot and other First Nations scholars, in order to foster a dialogue between Blackfoot and non-Blackfoot scholarship.