| This dissertation looks at how and why American Indians developed veteran traditions integrating elements of their traditional cultures. Most previous studies of Native experiences in the armed forces focused on general studies on one particular war or centered on elite Native units such as the Code Talkers or Indian scouts. This study took a cultural or social history approach by describing specific elements of Native traditions adapted to military service in a syncretic manner, warrior societies, ceremonies for healing, protection, and honoring, personal medicine, and flag and war songs. After dissecting other works on Native veterans, the study moves on to examine how Native and non-native fiction writers depicted Native veterans and what this says about dramatically different ways people interpret Native veteran experience. Next examined are the influence of the example of American Indians upon the military through the adoption of American Indian tactics, the use of Native and pseudo-Indian symbols and names for military units and weapons, how this compares to sports mascots, and how this affected Native servicemen. This dissertation then traces how these traditions developed over time from Iroquois experience in the War of 1812, Indian scouts, to the beginnings of Native veteran traditions in Oklahoma and the Northeast in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Filipino Insurrection, through assimilationism in World War I, to dramatic widespread adoption and cultural explosion in World War II, to responses to Termination after the Korean War, to the final rejection of assimilation and integration of militancy from the Vietnam War, ending with Native veteran traditions' current status in the Second Iraq War. Special attention is given to how distinct tribal identities overcame assimilation and how Native patriotism is different from Anglo-American patriotism. |
