RELS 221 Western Religion Paper 1

 Celeste Jackson 9/19/22

RELS 221 Western Religion 

1. What parallels can you draw between Native American and African religious resistance movements?

There are many similarities and parallels between Native American and African Religions. Both groups view the spiritual world and everyday life as one and the same with no separation between them. Both believe in a high God that is mostly removed from daily life and they instead interact with spirits, or ancestors for direct help. They both also viewed the earth as a resource to use respectfully and not to abuse. Native Americans and Africans both faced colonial development and encroachment in their respective regions. The Native American lands in the West were being colonized by European-Americans and in Africa, where Tanzania is located today, the land was being controlled by the Germans.

 In response to the encroachment and abuse of the people and the land, resistance movements began to form. A popular resistance movement among Native Americans was the Ghost Dance. It started in the mid-nineteenth century and ended with the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. Among Africans a popular resistance movement was the Maji Maji rebellion that began in 1905 and lasted for two years. Unfortunately, both resulted in mass casualties for the native people. Striking similarities between these two movements was a belief that they had the ability to become impervious to bullets and that by defeating the colonists their dead ancestors would return and their lands would be restored. 

2. What motivated these movements, and how were they carried out?

Both movements were responding to colonial encroachment that was disturbing and changing the people's way of life and access to resources they depended on. They were both also going against forces with more powerful weapons. In America, the Ghost Dance was started by a religious Paiute leader “who claimed to have had a vision that taught him that the white occupiers would leave if the Indians performed a special dance described by the spirits. This event was called the Ghost Dance because of the belief that it would usher in the destruction and rebirth of the world and that dead ancestors would return'' (Brodd 45-46). Later in Nevada in 1890, Jack Wilson, another Paiute man, also known as Wovoka, had a vision while working in the mountains. In his vision he was also given the dance and the ethical code for Natives to live by. His vision emphasized performing the Ghost Dance and instructed people to not lie, or steal, work hard, and be kind. If they did this it would bring about the new earth sooner” (Warren). The Ghost Dance movement began to spread and was adapted by various Native American tribes. 

The Ghost Dance movement moved across reservations in 1889 and 1890, especially to the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and many other Plains tribes. Special decorative shirts and dresses were created by Native artisans and word during the dances. The shirts were said to embody supernatural powers and were considered sacred. The dancers believed their garments were like a layer of protective skin, garnering all the power of Nature and its creatures, and that the wearers would be protected against white soldiers. One chief rallied the dancers, saying the blue soldiers would become weak and powerless and that their bullets would be unavailing against the sacred ghost shirts. (Ghost Dance Shirts) When the Lakota Sioux began to adopt the dance local American authorities began to worry that the Sioux were potentially planning an uprising. On December 29th, 1890 the U.S. army instructed the Sioux to stop the dance and  meet at a location on the Pine Ridge reservation for food. Instead of being met with food, they were searched for weapons. Eventually a scuffle began between a soldier and an Indian man. A gun went off and the American soldiers fired indiscriminately. When it eventually ended, over 100 Native men, women, and children were dead. 

In Africa, the region of Tanganyika, which later became Tanzania, was controlled by the Germans. They made treaties with various tribes and imposed forced labor and taxation on the people. The men were removed from the villages and forced to build roads and tend cotton fields. The Aftricans were also ordered to grow cotton on their own lands, which left less space for food. The harsh treatment under the Germans resulted in a food shortage (Tongafa). Under this oppression a spiritual leader, Kinjiketele or Bokero, had a vision that showed him that their dead ancestors would return and that special holy water called Maji Maji would make them bulletproof.  “Armed with arrows, spears, and covered with Maji Maji water, the first warriors of the rebellion began to move against the Germans, attacking at first only small German outposts and destroying cotton crops. The rebellion spread throughout the colony, eventually involving 20 different ethnic groups” (Beverton). Bokero was eventually captured and hung but the rebellion continued although the leader was gone and they saw that the holy water did not stop bullets. The war against German forces and the African tribes lasted until 1907. The rebellion ended with Germans winning and ushering in a famine. 

 We can see how the visions and instructions given by the spiritual leaders of these movements spoke to the current experiences of the people at the time. Both the Native American and Africans saw their lands being stripped of resources they depended on and the threat of an enemy with powerful weapons. Both believed that their lands could be restored and their dead ancestors would return by removing the invaders. They both also had ways in which they thought they could resist bullets. Within these resistance movements we can see how the spiritual beliefs in ancestors and the power of their resources played a role in how the movements were formed and how religion played a crucial role.

Works Cited

Beverton, Alys. “Maji Maji Uprising (1905-1907) •.” Blackpast, 21 June 2009, https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/maji-maji-uprising-1905-1907/. Accessed 18 September 2022.

Brodd, Jeffrey. Invitation to Western Religions. Oxford University Press USA, 2016.

“Ghost Dance Shirts: A Spectacular & Heartbreaking Art.” Notes From the Frontier, 23 January 2021, https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/the-spectacular-and-heartbreaking-art-of-ghost-dance-shirts. Accessed 17 September 2022.

“Tongafa History - The Maji Maji Rebellion (German East Africa part 3).” YouTube, 10 February 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0PvT6VPSR8. Accessed 18 September 2022.

Warren, Dr. Louis. “Prof. Dr. Louis Warren on "The Ghost Dance Movement."” YouTube, 22 April 2014, https://youtu.be/c8mEa3Vo5W0. Accessed 17 September 2022.