dwellings final paper

8/2/2019 Dwellings Final Paper

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Spencer Lane

Sal2232261238

AIS1110

A Deeper Look

Dwellings by Linda Hogan

Many Native Americans are firm believers in the idea that the most important

relationship in life is the bond human beings share with the land they reside on. Traditionally the

natural environment provided them with a means for survival along with a ubiquitous connection

to their ancestors who also lived on these same lands. In her book, Dwellings, Linda Hogan

emphasizes and breaks down the fundamental nature of this relationship indigenous people have

with their homelands. Hogan encourages her readers to look into themselves and discover the

reasons why we many people in western civilization have lost their connection to nature. The

book doesnt divulge into deep scientific knowledge, but rather it is the voice of one person who

brings her knowledge of nature that she has gained through experience to a wider audience. She

writes that out of [her] native understanding there is a terrestrial intelligence that lies beyond

our human knowing and grasping (Hogan 11). This line alone sets the tone for her entire book,

and the points that she attempts to make throughout. Hogan narrates stories and shares

experiences she has had with the natural world that remind us, that as humans we are merely just

a small part of the earth, just like plants and animals, and therefore everything that transpires on

this land is connected to our well being.

A major topic of discussion that is reiterated throughout the novel is knowledge. Our

westernized society promotes people to gain knowledge through science, mathematics, and other

concrete ways of thinking that can logically be explained. On the contrary, Native people gain

knowledge through experience and knowing, and they except abstract ideas as real ideas.

Hogan disputes the western definition of knowledge and instead shebelieves, knowledge comes


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from, and is shaped by, observations and knowledge of the natural world and natural cycles

(Hogan 85). Conversely, science and technology is what America prides itself on, as it has

propelled our nation to new heights above all other countries. Yet, through her words the reader

can see that science has also bred evil amongst humans and isolated us from everything we once

knew. Humans have become so smart and unwilling to except the things they cannot explain that

they have now separated themselves as superior to the natural world. Hogan tells the story of

experiments done with chimpanzees, where researchers taught them how to communicate with

humans and other chimpanzees through sign language. Eventually they were able to answer

questions, joke, and express their thoughts and feelings through their signs. Hogan writes, From

these studies, we learned that primates have a capacity for love and resistance (Hogan 112), she

goes on to say that these particular chimpanzees are also able to express their pain and anguish

(Hogan 112). As astonishing and groundbreaking as this is, this is the exact opposite of what

humans wish to hear. If human beings begin to acknowledge the similarities between themselves

and primates, they must then acknowledge their worth in society and treat them with the same

care and tenderness (Hogan 112) that they would treat another human being. Instead of

expanding on this research, scientists searched for new definitions of language and intelligence,

ones that would exclude apes from our own way of speaking and thinking. They searched for a

new division, another wall between life and life (Hogan 112). Western society would rather be

separated from nature in order to remain superior to it than to live amongst it, and explore its true

connection with the human race. Westernized society has come to the consensus that unless

nature can speak, think, and act exactly as humans do then there is no place for nature in the

realm of knowledge.


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In opposition, Native knowledge reflects many generations of experience, and it explores

the deep connection between humans and their environment. Since European settlers arrived in

this country and took over its lands, they have persisted on promoting their ways of thinking over

the indigenous peoples. The Native American ways of learning through nature, history, language,

and cultural traditions has been denied here in the United States. The western educational system

was immediately imposed on natives in order to force cultural assimilation, and few attempts

have been made to understand Native Americans styles of learning ever since. Knowledge is an

integral part of our ability to understand what surrounds us and generate a better life, and there

are a number of different ways of knowingwho is to say one is more superior to the other. The

'knowing' that Hogan speaks of is not a scientific knowing that can be hypothesized and proven

through experimentation. In Professor Kassams bookThe Weather is Going Underhe elaborates

on the Natives ways of thinking. He brings up the concept of phronesis and defines it as

knowledge of the proper ends of life (Kassam). He writes, phronesis is not a state of knowledge,

but a dynamic process within a framework of human ecological relations(Kassam 186). He

breaks knowledge down into a particular order of business: first one must know how, and then

learn how, in order to know that (Kassam). He agrees with Hogans idea that knowledge stems

from direct experience, and that knowing is therefore synonymous with humans experience

with the earth. Native American knowledge stems from an understanding of the natural world,

and it incorporates the importance of a relationship with it. Hogan pleads with the reader to

understand that, It is certain that centuries of habitation on this land yielded more knowledge

about the earth and its cycles than has been newly understood and recovered in the brief,

troubled years that have since followed (Hogan 86). Intellectually, Natives do not seek to

understand in rational terms, but rather they believe in a higher power that underlies our physical


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reality. Nature, just like humans, is a spiritual being with feelings, and since we live amongst

nature we are not above it, but merely equal to it. European settlers wished to experiment with

nature, as you can see through the testing of the chimpanzees, whereas Natives allow for

ceremonies and rituals to take the place of experimentation. Native culture promotes that humans

establish personal relationships with nature to gain knowledge. Along those lines Hogan tells the

story of an elderly women who sought out knowledge by isolating herself in a cave and living

amongst nature, What she knew she had learned from the cave, heard spoken by it, she had seen

in the darkness (Hogan 34). This woman did not turn to books or to science, but instead she

turned to nature. European scientific culture seeks to control, define, and rationalize nature rather

than to develop a relationship with it and learn from it. As a nation we must begin to learn how

to be a guest here (Hogan 46), and move past this false belief that humans are superior to land

or it will not support us, will not be hospitable, [and] it will turn on us (Hogan 46). Natives

bring traditional knowledge that is rooted in their culture to the table, while Americans bring

forth learned modernistic skills, and both deserve equal recognition.

Dwellings, is filled with stories that Linda Hogan uses to express the give and take

relationship Natives have with one another, other animals, and the land. Indigenous societies

have a spiritual, cultural, social, political, and economic connection with the land and resources

they live off of, since it is this very land that continues their survival and vitality. Hogan writes in

regards to Western culture, There is a separation that has taken place between us and nature.

Something has broken deep in the core of ourselves (Hogan 52). She further explains that in the

Native community it is difficult to separate their culture and values from their land and resources

because nature is at the core of the indigenous society. European Americans often fail to see the

connection between nature and culture because the concept of manifest destiny is embedded in


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their minds, and therefore they see nature as a separate entity from culture when really culture is

an extension of it. Hogan writes,

We have been split from what we could nurture, what could fill us. And we

have been wounded by a dominating culture that has feared and hated the

natural world, has not listened to the voice of the land, has not believed in the

inner worlds of human dreaming and intuition, all things that have guided

indigenous people since time up in the east and walked this world into

existence, split from the connection between self and land. (Hogan 82)

For Nativepeople it is difficult to separate the concept of indigenous peoples relationship with

their lands, territories and resources from that of their cultural differences and values. The notion

of self does not end with ones self, but it continues beyond their bodies and into the land. As

professor Kassam so perfectly put it in lecture, land is not a commodity but an extension of

oneself (Class Lecture #6). Humans, animals, and the earth are all connected in one way or

another. The earth is made up of every single molecule in the air, every raindrop that falls, every

human being that ever lived, every animal, and every plant. Westernized civilization has

forgotten about the beauty of nature and allowed for society to grow apart from the earth and its

non-human counter parts.

Western influence has created the belief that humans are meant to have dominance over

nature. European settlers focused on individuals owning and cultivating the land in order to

profit off of it. They broke up Indian reservations, and justified themselves by deeming Natives

unfit to care for and make good use of the land. Westerners like John Locke thought that

property should belong to those who can put it to best use (Class Discussion #3). Locke in

particular argued that property is a natural right, and in the case of Native Americans they didnt


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cultivate or farm on their land, and therefore they were being wasteful (Class Discussion #3).

The United States defended the genocide and removal of Native People from their lands because

they believed that they were destined to expand across the North American continent (Class

Lecture #4), and therefore they had a God given right to take over the lands, prosper off of it and

progress their nation. White Americans stereotyped Indians and viewed them as savages that

needed to be tamed and put under their supervision. Andrea Smith speaks of the injustices Native

Americans faced at the hands of the European settlers in her bookConquest. She explains how

the government put racist and harmful policies in place, so that they could take over their lands

and show their superiority. The United States allowed for nuclear testing to be done on or near

Native American reservations, and basically used Natives as guinea pigs for pharmaceutical

companies to test their new drugs (Smith). The testing led to reproductive health problems and

babies born with health problems (Smith). In order to progress their society, European settlers

forced Native Americans to assimilate into their westernized society, and leave the life they

established here in America behind.

Unlike their European counterparts, the Native culture stressed and appreciation for the

land and they gave back to the land what it gave to them. In their mind, the land is alive and it

deserves prayers, rituals, and thanks for what all that it provides to human beings. This

understanding contradicted the non-Native view that land was an entity that should provide and

yield profit to humans. Natives are taught that the land they live on is just as alive as human

beings. Every aspect of nature and every creature gives life to the land, but no one creature rules

over itrather, they are the land. Land is filled with living beings, and Native American culture

teaches that a meaningful life revolves around a relationship with land and all its beings. There is

no difference between humans and animals, living and non-living, or natural and unnatural.


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Hogan urges humans to stop taking what we need from land and not giving it back or else there

will come a point in time where there is nothing left for the taking. If our relationship with the

land becomes mutual and we take care of the land, then in turn it will forever take care of us. In

the chapter that we read in the bookInuit, Whaling, and Sustainabilty, we are introduced to an

Inuit tribe that is influenced socially, economically, spiritually, nutritionally, and culturally by

nature, in particularly by whales. Whale hunting is a tradition that is deeply rooted in their

history, and throughout history it serves to continually reinforce significant culturally

established collective rights and social relationships, responsibilities, and obligations (Freeman

30). The book discusses how strongly the Inuit community depends on whales, and their tribe

truly encompasses the belief that nature provides humans with the necessities of life in this

world (Freeman 40), and humans through conservation and experience of nature ensure that

animal populations will remain healthy and ever-present (Freeman 40). In the chapter Salmon

Nation; Climate Change and Tribal Sovereignty in Benedict Colombis piece we see a similar

relationship between a different aspect of nature and another Native tribe. Colombi introduces us

to the Nez Perce tribe, and their reliance on salmon.

He writes, Nez Perce have fished for salmon for at least five thousand years, and salmon

deliver power and energy that has improved the every day lives and well-being of this

indigenous people (Colombi 186). These Native people rely on salmon and the other resources

their land provides and without these ideological and material foundations, Nez Perce creation

is nonexistent (Colombi 187). That is how important nature is to this community; this land

defines their way of life and it is apart of them just as they are apart of it. It is impossible to

separate the Inuits from the whales, or the Nez Perce tribe from the salmon. There is a bond that

exists between them that is rooted in their ancestry and is essential to their survival. A co-


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existence was achieved between these two life forms within an interconnected earth filled with

other living creatures. These Native communities, like many others, are centered on developing

and expanding their relationship with nature.

Such a relationship manifests itself in the elements of indigenous peoples cultures, such as

language. Linda Hogan makes it a point to stress the importance of language, as it is humans sole

source of communication. However, when she speaks of language she isnt just speaking of

human language. All of earths creatures have the ability to communicate; they just all do so in

different ways. She writes, we cant say what language is much beyond saying that it is a set of

signs and symbols that communicates meaning (Hogan 57) and she goes onto say that, without

language, we humans have no way of knowing what lies beneath the surface of one another

(Hogan 57). Hogan explains that language allows for humans to communicate with one another

but that we have an even deeper language within us that allows us to communicate and relate to

nature. This communication wont be the same as the way in which we communicate with other

humans but rather at night, in the cornfields, when there is no more mask of daylight, we will

hear the plants talking among themselves. The wind passes through. Its all there, the languages,

the voices of wind, dove, corn, stones (Hogan 62). Humans have to change the way in which we

listen to nature, and stop trying to communicate with it the way we communicate amongst

ourselves.

Hogans chapter All My Relations tells the story of a sweat lodge ceremony intended on

reestablishing human connections with the environment in order for them to remember that all

things are connected (Hogan 40). In this ceremony all the Natives gather together within a cave

and reconnect themselves with the nature that is all around them. There are stones, water,

animals, trees, and air within the cave and by the end of the ceremony, the animals and


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ancestors move into the human body, into skin and blood. The land merges with [them]. The

stones come to dwell inside the person (Hogan 41). As we studied in class the idea of all our

relations encompasses not only human relations, but also the spirits of animals, plants, rocks and

even natural forces (Class Lecture #12). Likewise, we share between 90-95% of our genetic

make up with mice and chimpanzees, and anywhere between 40-50% with bananas and cabbage

(Class Lecture #12). Nature is something we live within and as a part of it. Hogan writes, The

face of the land is our face, and that of all its creatures. To see whole is to see all the parts of the

puzzlewhat grows here and whatgrows within us is the same (Hogan 97). There should be no

essential separation, and there is no need for fear because fear, bereavement, and denial keep us

in the state of estrangement from our natural connection with land (Hogan 94). Instead we need

to emphasize sustainability, balance, and harmony with nature because its value calls for

reverence in our relationship with it. In our class discussions, we asked the questionwhat is

wilderness? During European settlement the wilderness was seen as something to be feared

instead of gravitating towards nature for protection like indigenous people did in the past (Class

Discussion #3). The land was unknown to them; therefore they feared its existence and separated

themselves from it. The purpose of the sweat lodge ceremony Hogan speaks of is to overcome

this fear and mend the broken connection between us and the rest (Hogan 40). Once humans

accept nature as a part of them this separation that they feel will be replaced by a sense of

belonging to nature.

Linda Hogans titleDwellings ties right into this sense of belonging. The term Dwelling

is representative of our home and where we live. Hogan explains that our dwellings reach

beyond our individual homes and habitats. This earth is our dwellingit is our home, and it is

home for every creature and every plant that is also here. The dwellings that humans have


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created have tried to separate them from the outside natural world, but in reality they cannot

separate themselves from it. Hogan writes,

We are of the animal world. We are part of the cycles of growth and decay.

Even having tried so hard to see ourselves apart, and so often without a love

for even our own biology, we are in a relationship with the rest of the planet,

and that connectedness tells us we must reconsider the way we see ourselves

and the rest of nature. (Hogan 115)

In Claudia Notzkes piece inAboriginal Peoples and Natural Resources in Canada she writes

that within western society there is a sense of superiority over nature and a sense of apartness

from it (Notzke 2). When Native Americans were in control of the land they sought to live

amongst the lands resources, and make use of them now and in the future. They were dependent

on the land because not only did it allow for them to survive but it was also there home. This

land that non-Natives have tried so hard to escape is just as much a part of them as their

heartbeat. This land is their home, it is here to protect them and bring them together with it. In

Linda Hogans chapter, Storiesof Water, she reminds the reader we are water people. Our

salt bodies, like the great round of ocean, are pulled and held by the moon. We are creatures that

belong here. This world is in our blood and bones, and ourblood and bones are the earth

(Hogan 108). The human body is made of mainly water, and to return to water is to return to the

bodies natural dwelling, itshome. The dark inner seas seek us out like the song of an ocean in

a shell, she writes, and we turn back toward them, to our origins, our waters of birth (Hogan

104). Hogan tells the story of a couple who chose to live in a cave, and explains how after a

while of living there the wife wanted to build a door to the cave so that she could keep out the

bats, mice, and other creatures that were coming in and out of it. However as soon as they built


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the door, the temperature changed. They had to put in heat. Then the inner moisture of earth

warped the door, so they had to have air-conditioning, and after that the earth wanted to go about

life in its own way and it didnt give to the people (Hogan 120). Humans are not superior to the

earth, and the more they alter its natural state the less it provides for them. The stories that Linda

Hogan tells advise humans to return to their home and reconnect with the land because in the end

humans have an inevitable fate of all our returns home to the deeper, wider nest of earth that

houses us all (Hogan 123).

Linda Hogan presents the reality of the distorted perceptions western civilization has

developed in regards to nature, and the other living species on this earth. A change is required

of us, a healing of the betrayed trust between humans and earth," (Hogan 112) urges Hogan. In

order to repair the physical damage that has been done to the earth at our expense, we need to

start by repairing ourselves because there is a spiritual fragmentation that has accompanied our

ecological destruction (Hogan 52). This false belief that we can control nature, and manipulate

it without hurting it is has been one of our nations downfalls. As Hogan recounts many stories

and personal observations of the natural world, she explains that humans must listen, watch and

learn from the land instead of trying to control it. In modern day society many people take

advantage of nature, and show no respect or give thanks to it for all that it has done for the

human race.Dwellings serves as a reminder that the earth is living and breathing, just as we are

and that instead of acknowledging this we are slowly destroying it. Much of the natural world

has been torn apart to make room for the industrial, modernized world, and as a result many

humans have forgotten about the beauty ofnature. Hogans words encourage readers to view the

world from the perspective of traditional Native ways of thinking. She intersects her stories with

Native peoples experiences in the world, environmental matters, and the historical and ongoing


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poor treatment of Native Indians in America. Native Americans have been mistreated by

European settlers since they stepped foot in this country, and their culture was destroyed by an

American culture that valued the earth in a different way. As we have been studying throughout

this course, Native Americans are still being taken advantage to this day and the issues Hogan

brings up within her text are still relevant. The little bit of land that Natives have been awarded

by our government is often used as toxic waste-testing sites. Many Native Americans

communities are poverty stricken, and therefore they dont have the power and influence they

need to change the problems western society has placed upon them. Natives have a better

understanding on how to treat the land we live on with respect, by not polluting it, wasting its

resources, or dramatically altering it. Much can be learned from their way of life, and we cannot

afford to let their communities be raped of their land and culture. This book reaches beyond the

injustices faced by Native Americans, and alludes to the problems that will arise if any

community or race of people is discriminated against. Injustice breeds separation, and if our

country allows for any group of people to be separated from the majority than the knowledge

they stand to bring to the table is then lost.

dwellings final paper

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