Gender Roles In Robbie Ethridge's 'Creek Country'

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Creek Indians, also known as the Muscogee, were one of the most powerful and influential indigenous nations in what is now considered the southeastern United States. Creek Country, a book written by Robbie Ethridge, describes the different traditions, economics, and interactions with different countries that the Creek Indians participated in. The main aspects that will be discussed throughout this essay is the involvement of the Creek Indians with their relationship to the land, their economic activities, and how they displayed their gender roles. All of these different things that the Creek Indians exhibited in their lifestyles can be viewed to see how they thrived and also failed throughout

In chapter two of the book, the text discusses how the women primarily held the role of cultivating crops and taking care of the house, while the men were primarily responsible for hunting and gathering, trade, and reparation of buildings for their village. The text supports these statements about the women by saying, “The women of a huti tended their fields in the morning…”, and “In the afternoon they would gather at one of their compounds to sew, cook, and make pottery…” (Ethridge, 99). The text also supports the statements about the men by stating, “The men…spent much of their time…to repair or rebuild the public buildings or work on their own homes or those of their kinspeople” (Ethridge, 99). Another thing that is noted in chapter two is that the gender roles were not completely fixed. Additionally, it is described how women approached diplomacy and resistance when their ancestral land was being stripped from them by the white

The usage of the land was important for the Creek people, and within this importance was political, commercial, and combative power. The text illustrates this in chapter four by saying, “They also had equally strong practical bonds to the land formed by their subsistence and commercial needs and certain political imperatives” (Ethridge, 54). The Creek Indians lived in river valleys, and therefore forged their towns and villages to make the most out of the natural resources that were available in that kind of landscape. An image of this kind of landscape may be seen by reading the text, “The land rises from the river with sublime magnificence…present to view a delightful varied landscape…” (Ethridge, 55). All of these descriptions are viewed as intriguing when it comes to traditional farming and gathering, and the usage of the rivers also aided with transportation for the