Dakota philosopher
Subtitle: Charles Eastman and American Indian thought
By: David Martínez.
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: St. Paul, MN
Language: eng
Number of pages: 185
ISBN-13: 9780873516297
Subjects: Eastman, Charles Alexander, -- 1858-1939; Santee Indians -- Biography; Dakota philosophy; Dakota Indians -- Religion; Dakota Indians -- Social life and customs; American literature -- Indian authors; Indians in literature
Genres: Biography.
Description: A Santee Dakota, Charles Eastman straddled two worlds in his life and writing. The author of Indian Boyhood was raised in the traditional way after the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War. His father later persuaded him to study Christianity and attend medical school. But when Eastman served as a government doctor during the Wounded Knee massacre, he became disillusioned about Americans' capacity to live up to their own ideals. While Eastman's contemporaries viewed him as "a great American and a true philosopher," Indian scholars have long dismissed Eastman's work as assimilationist. Now, for the first time, his philosophy as manifested in his writing is examined in detail. David Martinez explores Eastman's views on the U.S.-Dakota War, Dakota and Ojibwe relations, Dakota sacred history, and citizenship in the Progressive Era, claiming for him a place in America's intellectual pantheon.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "The greatest Sioux of the century" : Eastman and the pursuit of an indigenous philosophy; title: The traditions of their fathers : Eastman and Dakota sacred history; title: From enemies to pan-Indian allies : Eastman on Dakota-Ojibwe relations; title: "For the honor of the race and the good of the country" : the Society of American Indians, citizenship, and the progressive era; title: Exile from Mnisota Makoce : Eastman and the 1862 U.S.-Dakota conflict; title: Epilogue: Return to Minnesota : Eastman's legacy.