North American Native Treaties as Cultural Hybrids

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  • ハイブリッド(複合)文化としての北米先住民族の条約 : イロクォイ連合国とカナダ平原地帯諸民族の事例からのアプローチ
  • ハイブリッド フクゴウ ブンカ ト シテ ノ ホクベイ センジュウ ミンゾク ノ ジョウヤク イロクォイ レンゴウコク ト カナダ ヘイゲン チタイ ショ ミンゾク ノ ジレイ カラ ノ アプローチ

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In North America, over the last 400 years, Native peoples and European nations, along with Canada and the United States, have made more than 500 treaties. In that long treaty-making history, there emerged a history and culture that are distinctive from those of European nations or elsewhere. This paper attempts to locate the historical process of making Native treaties, before and after signing them, within the context of studies of hybrid culture, and argues that the notion of hybridity can shed important light on a better understanding of Native treaties in North America. In particular, this paper discusses the establishment of treaty-making and treaty-renewal protocols that were exemplified in the intricate use of wampum belts, treaty medals and symbolic objects/expressions. Those protocols developed at different times in history, largely because of cross-cultural interactions between Native peoples and European traders. Whereas many previous studies of Native treaties have discussed the legal and political implications of Native treaties, this paper adopts an ethno-historical approach, which provides a more flexible context in highlighting the hybrid cultural and historical elements of Native treaties. In short, this paper intends to demonstrate that Native treaties are not legal documents intended to extinguish or destroy Native rights and traditions; but are rather cultural constructs that reflect a diverse and regionally distinctive history and culture in North America.

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