[WOH-shkah BAH-kho-jay ah-REETH-too-tah PEE-hee], “Learn about Ioway Culture” – Ioway Cultural Study
Welcome to a cultural study on the Báxoje. On this webpage, we have attempted to consolidate all resources pertaining to Ioway history and culture in the hopes that they are easily accessible and available to tribal members or those interested in learning about woshka dąnra hįntawe [WOH-shkah DAHⁿN-rah HEEⁿN-tah-way], our great culture (lit. translated “culture great ours”). The Báxoje have a proud and rich cultural heritage unlike any other tribe that was curated of thousands of years and taking elements from both Plains culture and Eastern Woodland culture to produce a unique fusion between the two that can’t be found anywhere else. This is highly apparent in Báxoje material and anthropological culture, which have been studied and published on by colonizer ethnographers to tribal members alike. Here, we offer a top-down cultural study, starting with broad-strokes knowledge of woshka Báxoje that becomes progressively more detailed and specific.
INTRODUCTION TO WOSHKA BĄXOJE
- The Iowa Tribal Cultural Institute is a website that was created by Lance Foster that details various aspects of Ioway culture and details some of the stories that make up our great culture. Browse the website to get a general overview of our sacred plants, our language, our stories, and even hair and fashion styles of historical Ioway people!
The Indians of Iowa– Lance Foster
- Published by tribal ancestor Lance Foster (Igroge), this is a great introduction to the Native American Nations whose ancestral lands are what is now the State of Iowa throughout history. You will get the opportunity to learn of many different tribes and their cultures, including the Báxoje. The Indians of Iowa is available for purchase as an eBook or hard copy from various vendors including Amazon, the University of Iowa Press, and more.
- This is the only volume of this work, published by Donald Ricky, who created encyclopedias for the tribes that exist in each state. Similar to Lance’s work, it covers all of the Native American tribes that have resided in the state of Iowa, but offers a bit more detail on each tribe. This publication can be purchased from various vendors including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and eBay, all of which offer different prices
IOWAY-SPECIFIC HISTORY
Building on the introductory history provided by the works listed above, we continue deeper into Báxoje history with the following works:
The Ioway Indians– Martha Royce Blaine
- This book is touted as the first extensive ethnohistory of the Báxoje, beginning with prehistorical beginnings and following them throughout their complex migrations and relationships with other tribes and the United States Government. For anyone interested in learning a detailed history of the Báxoje. This work is available for purchase as an eBook or hard copy from various vendors including Walmart, Amazon, University of Oklahoma Press, Google Books, and more!
The Ioway in Missouri– Greg Olson
- This book is another look at the complex history of the Báxoje as they migrated from their ancestral lands, being pushed closer and closer by settler colonialists to their current-day reservation in Kansas/Nebraska and Oklahoma. This book is available for purchase from several vendors as an eBook or hardcopy. In addition, check out this Book Talk with Greg Olson, hosted and posted by the University of Missouri Press, where he talks more about the Ioway presence in Missouri.
WOSHKA WAXONYITĄ
[WOH-shkah wah-KHOH-nyee-tahⁿ]- “Sacred Culture”
This section will cover works on Báxoje material and spiritual culture. The most comprehensive we have (to our knowledge) can be found here.
Sacred Bundles of the Ioway Indians– Lance Foster
- As a part of his Masters of Anthropology, tribal ancestor Lance Foster did a thorough review of the Sacred Bundles of the Iowa Tribe that are housed in the Milwaukee Public Museum. His thesis culminated in the work linked above. Lance spent years studying the Sacred Bundles and rectifying cataloguing errors that have occurred due to the careless handling of our Sacred Bundles by the museum over the years. Lance builds off Alanson Skinner’s Ethnology of the Iowa Indians (1926), adding important Native American perspective and setting history right where Skinner got it wrong. It is highly recommended that you read Skinner’s ethnology and Lance’s thesis side-by-side so that you can better understand the primary source from which Lance pulled from to do his essential work.
Ethnology of the Iowa Indians– Alanson Skinner
- Alanson Skinner is the colonizer-ethnographer responsible for collecting the Sacred Bundles, which he did over the course of a few years shortly after the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. His findings on Ioway material culture were recorded here as one of the most detailed and comprehensive works we have to date. His ethnology also includes several aspects of immaterial culture, although some of the finer details of these aspects of immaterial culture are actually more fleshed out in his 1918 publication Societies of the Iowa, Kansa, and Ponca Indians (linked below). Keep in mind the context of colonization surrounding the perspective of Skinner’s work: while he was thorough in his ethnography, he failed to remove his own personal biases of white supremacy and western civilization from his work. We can condemn the failures of these colonizers while also recognizing the important role they played in recording Ioway culture for future generations.
- Also note that this PDF includes both an Ethnology of the Sac and Fox and the Ioways, the former of which precedes the latter within the document.
Societies of the Iowa, Kansa, and Ponca Indians– Alanson Skinner
- This is the first of Skinner’s works on the Ioway people, being published in 1916. This work records several of the relationship terms, clans, societies, and dances practiced by the Ioway people. This is an extremely helpful reference for reading Skinner’s Ethnology. We strongly recommend reading this work alongside Ethnology of the Iowa Indians and Sacred Bundles of the Ioway Indians for a comprehensive experience and understanding of Ioway material and immaterial culture and customs.
MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS
Here we provide miscellaneous resources on woshka Báxoje that have either not been categorized yet or don’t fit into any of the other sections.
Jimm Goodtracks Language Resources
- While Jimm Goodtracks is best known for his indigenous language preservation efforts, some of his highest quality work is the preservation of stories told by our elders. Throughout his language’s dictionary and on his website, you can find various stories and myths of the Iowa Tribe.
Iowa Tribe Traditions and Interviews
- This link will take you to a series of interviews conducted by tribal member Rebekka Schlichting, who interviewed several tribal elders about various aspects of Ioway culture. Learn from the elders who came before us by listening to their stories and wisdom about Ioway culture!
- This name is likely something the familiar researcher has been expecting the entire time. Dorsey is always present in conversations surrounding culture and language, and that’s no exception to this page. The link above will take you to what’s available online at the Smithsonian Institute of Dorsey’s notes and work on Ioway culture. Please keep in mind that Dorsey’s work with the Jiwere language was more focused on the Otoe language, not the Ioway language. Take care when utilizing him for language resources (see the language page for more detail). On the other hand, his notes on Iowa culture are useful. We will continue to incorporate his work throughout this page as we digitize and categorize his notes
ITKN Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO)
- THPO is currently operated by tribal elder Allen Kelly, a close friend of the late Lance Foster and inheritor of the responsibilities that come with managing the office. THPO is located on the reservation and is open during business hours. It holds a treasure trove of resources on Native American culture and Iowa culture.
Your Tribal Elders
- While much of Ioway culture has been lost to the ages, a great deal of it lives on, passed down through the generations from elders to the youth. Our elders carry a wealth of knowledge about our people and history and culture and we honor them for their wisdom!
AN IMPORTANT NOTE
While we have worked to compile as many resources as we can here for your learning pleasure, this is undoubtedly far from an exhaustive collection. In addition, it is difficult, if not impossible, to capture the complexity of an entire culture within the confines of a single webpage or even collection of webpages. If you have suggestions or resources that you believe should be included on this webpage, let us know immediately and we will be happy to include them. It takes an entire community to ensure that our culture is preserved for the next generation and we welcome any additions to this collection. Contact communications@iowas.org with suggestions. Hau!
