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Paper Abstract: Discusses changes in the kinship system. Traditional community. Matrilineal social structure. Underlying causes of transformation of the values and practices of kinship system from the end of the 19th Century. Role of Europeans and the federal government. Rise of economic inequality. Policies that led to disintegration of Cherokee kinship system. Paper Introduction: The topic of this paper is the changes in the kinship system of the Cherokee community. In order to understand the significance of the status of the kinship system of the Cherokee Indian tribe during the period from the end of the 19th century to today, it is important to know about their traditional kinship system. In the traditional Cherokee community, the lives of the Cherokee Indians revolved around their kinship affiliation to one of the seven clans that constituted the Cherokee Nation. Based on a matrilineal social structure, Cherokees belonged to the clan of their mother and traced their lineage through her. When a Cherokee man got married, he moved in with the Cherokee woman’s family. For Cherokee Indians, clan membership in this kinship structure lay at the heart of their identities because their kinship determined their social Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 2 2 Perdue, Theda. Known as the "Trail of Tears," nearly 14, Cherokees wereforcibly removed from their homes to embark on a six-month journey toOklahoma and Arkansas. Instead of working forthe collective well-being of the clan, Cherokee Indians were engaged inindividual pursuits of wealth (Purdue; Hill 96) Even more significantly, the assimilation process also exerted adramatic impact on the clanship system through intermarriages betweenCherokee Indians and whites. Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 17 -1835. For CherokeeIndians, clan membership in this kinship structure lay at the heart oftheir identities because their kinship determined their socialrelationships, their relatives, friends, enemies and even their marriagepartners. Instead of establishing their lineage through their mothers aswas the traditional Cherokee custom, the children in these marriagesassumed their white fathers' lineages and wealth (Hill 96). The changes in the kinship system of the Cherokee Indian Tribe can betraced back to the 18th century with the extensive contact between theCherokee Indians and the European traders and the government. By then, CherokeeIndians living in Oklahoma no longer practiced any of their traditionalpractices. "When Cherokees Were Cherokees." 28 Aug. Morespecifically, the underlying causes for the transformation will beexplored. Based on this matrilinealand matrilocal structure, the Cherokee women were primarily responsible forthe property and the economic structure. Douglas. American Indians and Christian Missions. As with their white counterparts, these Cherokee Indianlandowners also used slaves to work on their plantations (McLoughlin 71).Contrary to the egalitarian nature of the Cherokee society, economicinequality was now a part of the Cherokee society. Although there are different perspectives on the status of theCherokees' kinship system today, the overall picture is bleak. Although the Cherokee Nation was a highly decentralized entityduring the 18th century, Cherokees traveling to other villages could relyon the members of their clan to provide them with room and board (Purdue 41-2; Allen 1 7). University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976."The Seven Clans of the Cherokee." 12 Dec. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.Oukah and MacDonald, Lee Ross. Only a fewCherokees living on the Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina stillknow their clan affiliation. The topic of this paper is the changes in the kinship system of theCherokee community. The good scholarsfrom the best Cherokee families were even sent to boarding schools inCornwall, Connecticut to further their education (Berkhofer 73-74; Bowden174-6). Boston: Beacon Press, 1991.Berkhofer, Robert. Works CitedAllen, Paula Gunn. With thegrowing deer and slave trade, as well as the warfare with the Europeans,the Cherokee men who were primarily responsible for hunting and warfarewere thrust into prominence, thus overturning the traditional matrilinealorder. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.Prucha, Francis Paul. However, OuKah and MacDonald argued that thekinship system had largely disintegrated by 188 . The CherokeeIndian men were given plows, livestock and gristmills, while the women wereprovided with cloth and spinning tools. Documents of United States Indian Policy. With the help of the missionaries whose mission was to civilize andChristianize the Cherokee Indians, the government agents started byexposing the Indians to European agricultural practices. Following the same lifestyles of their white neighbors, theseCherokee Indians did not have clans, nor did they hold council meetings.In fact, most of them were unaware of the traditional teachings of theCherokee Indian tribe (1). Just as importantly, the federal government under the guidance ofHenry Knox formulated and implemented a policy with the objective of"civilizing" the Cherokee Indians by imposing the European lifestyles onthe social, political and economic systems of the Cherokee Indian tribe.According to Thomas Jefferson, the federal policy of Indian acculturationwould teach the Cherokees to adopt the European agricultural practices, theeconomic philosophy of private ownership, European laws and government. 2 2 http://www.angelfire.com/bc/bchurch/sevenclans.htm.Strickland, Rennard. Based on amatrilineal social structure, Cherokees belonged to the clan of theirmother and traced their lineage through her. The analysis of the transformation of the kinship system of theCherokee Indians has captured the devastating impact of the invasion of thewhite settlers on the traditional ways of the Cherokee tribe. The First American Frontier: Transition and Capitalism in South Appalachia, 17 -186 . Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1965.Bowden, Henry Warner. At the same time,the Cherokee Indian children were educated by the missionaries who taughtthem about the social structure of European society. 12 Dec. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.Hunt, R. Accordingto the website, "The Seven Clans of the Cherokee," the kinship system haddecreased dramatically during the 194 to 1969 period. Thispaper will discuss the transformation of the values and practices of thekinship systems of the Cherokee Indian tribe from the traditional ways tothe more recent status dating from the end of the 19th century. Essentially, the Cherokee Indians' traditionaleconomic society that was based on community and equality was now replacedby the rise of an elite of landowners, as well as entrepreneurs andshopkeepers. Many of them died during the traumatic journey(Thornton 289-3 ). When the Europeans designated certain Cherokee men to be the"leaders" of their tribe, these Cherokee leaders began to drift away fromthe traditional ways and followed the governmental and legal systems of theEuropeans (Strickland 316-27; Dunaway 49-5 ). Through theintroduction of commerce, the implementation of the civilization processand the brutal removal of the Cherokees from their homelands, the whitesettlers and the government were successful in destroying the Cherokeecommunities and their way of life. In the traditional Cherokee community, thelives of the Cherokee Indians revolved around their kinship affiliation toone of the seven clans that constituted the Cherokee Nation. 2nd ed. When a Cherokee man gotmarried, he moved in with the Cherokee woman's family. Weaving New Worlds: Southeastern Cherokee Women and their Basketry. Because of the collective unity of the clan,every Cherokee adult was considered an equal in political issues.Leadership titles were not common and when decisions needed to be made,each clan was involved in the discussion to ensure that the decisions wereattained by consensus (Reid 4 ). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.Hill, Sarah. The substitution of the Cherokees'traditional values and practices in the economic and political arenas withEuropean ones and the imposition of European force were thus instrumentalin undermining the traditional Cherokee kinship system today. Essentially, these CherokeeIndian men and "leaders" made changes to the political and economic systemsof the Cherokee Indian tribe through their interaction with the Europeans,thus contributing to the erosion of the traditional kinship system. Another instrumental policy that led to the disintegration of theCherokee kinship system was the federal government's policy of removingCherokee Indians from their homeland in a concerted effort to confiscatetheir lands. Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman's Sourcebook. 2 1. Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. Apart from offering them theimplements, the missionaries also provided instruction to the men and womenin agricultural practices and homemaking respectively. The effectiveness of the government policy was reflected in thereligious conversions of the Cherokee Indians to Christianity, thetransformation of farms into plantations and the increased wealth ofcertain Cherokee families. With many Cherokee men marrying white wives,the matrilineal structure of the Cherokee kinship system was adverselyaffected. Inshort, the purpose of the "civilization program" was to assimilate theCherokee Indians into European society (Berkhofer 73-74; Bowden 174-6). "Cherokee Population Losses during the Trail of Tears: A New Perspective and a New Estimate." Ethnohistory 31.4 (1984): 289- 3 . "From Clan to Court: Development of Cherokee Law." Tennessee Historical Quarterly 31.4 (1972): 316-327.Thornton, Russell. However, the Cherokees' contact with the European people at the end ofthe 18th century that involved the implementation of policies such as the"civilization" programs, European commerce and physical removal woulddestroy the traditional Cherokee kinship system (Prucha 19; Perdue). A Better Kind of Hatchet: Law, Trade and Diplomacy in the Cherokee Nation during the Early Years of European Contact. In order to understand the significance of the statusof the kinship system of the Cherokee Indian tribe during the period fromthe end of the 19th century to today, it is important to know about theirtraditional kinship system. Indian Agriculture in America (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1987.McLoughlin, William G. Salvation and the Savage: An Analysis of Protestant Missions and American Indian Response 1787-1862. Working in collaboration withother clan members, they ensured the collective well-being of the clans andtheir members (Hunt 33). At the same time, when Cherokee women married white men, theyalso went against the traditional practice by moving into the homes of thewhite men. Therefore, through this kinship system, the Cherokee Indians were ahighly interdependent people whose sense of community also influenced theeconomic and political spheres of their society. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 199 .Reid, John Phillip. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.Dunaway, Wilma. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.