Something of Value: The last 400 Years of the Abenaki Experience
First Thursday of the Month
$20 per Session, $60 for the Whole Series, No Charge for Indigenous Citizens
First Thursday of Every Month 6:00-9:00 PM
The last 400 years have witnessed a cultural, political and sometimes military conflict between the Abenakis and their allies and the Euroamerican colonial system. However, this complex time offered opportunities for cultural growth, adaptation and even a measure of serenity. We examine the intricate interplay of forces that ultimately led to the vibrant Abenaki Renaissance of today.
Syllabus
Session 1. First Contact, Catholicism, Indigenous Warfare and the Fur Trade
September 5
We begin with the nature of Native American Identity and the unique culture and language of the Wabanaki peoples. We then learn about the huge political and ecological upheavals caused by the arrival of European diseases, artifacts and that forever changed the ways that the Abenakis related to each other, to the spirit world and their plant and animal relations. The French and the English explorers, traders and colonists all had different motives in contacting and working with or exploiting the Abenakis and the Abenakis in turn exploited the newcomers. We explore the latest thinking on how this "First Contact" system worked that have replaced old racist conquest or assimilationist concepts.
Session 2. The Great Council Fire, the Great Peace and the Wampum Laws.
October 3
We hear much too much about the Indian Wars of the 1600's and 1700's, but there were also may non-lethal cultural, historical and geographic things going on, such as the rise of the "Last Alliance" -- the Great Council Fire, and the wampum laws that held it all together in the rapidly evolving world of conflict and accommodation of the Colonial period. We will see how alliances with the French, British and Americans worked to and against the Abenakis' best interests.
Session 3. Dealing with Vermont: Basket-makers, Pirates, Gypsies, River Rats and Eugenics
November 7
As Indian-despising settlers poured into Vermont from Southern New England, and Quebec Abenakis were concentrated on Reservations; whole new systems of cultural survival were brought into play, such as converting Indigenous ceremony into public entertainment, transferring one's identity from "Indian" to "French" or more specialized character such as "Pirate," Gypsy" and "River-rat." This process culminated with the attempted Vermont Genocide of the late 1920s, the Vermont Eugenics Survey."
Session 4. The Abenaki Renaissance, Recognition and Ethnocide 1970-2010
December 5
In 1970 the Missisquoi community decided to "come out of the closet," and reassert their Abenaki identity. We discuss the almost impossible burdens of cultural revitalization and the opportunity and threat that Indian Identity posed to late 20th century Vermont government and the public. But in 1995, Governor Howard Dean declared a war of ethnocide on the Vermont Abenakis, claiming that the Vermont Abenakis were cultural, political and genealogical frauds. Against this darkness, the four Abenaki bands united as the Vermont indigenous Alliance and did the hard political and academic work necessary to counter this racist narrative.