Dawes Allotment Report

Far from being genetic, being Indigenous is linked to a particular place. As time moves forward, many Indigenous people find themselves separated from the territories traditionally occupied by their ancestors and living in multicultural settings, thus bringing new ingredients to a contemporary Indigenous identity. (Weaver 2014:1)
One’s land is a base for one’s identity. They earn their livelihood from their land. Their cultural memory is engraved in their physical landscape. Their belief is that everything originates in their motherland. That is why their motherland is more sacred to them than anything else. For them, their motherland is something that is very close to their heart worthy of their worship. “For a colonized people the most essential

These acts and government policies make “it relatively easy to divide up land formerly held communally on reservations and to allot it to individual Indians” (Peterson 181). The agenda behind the implementation of such acts is to civilize the natives and create an affinity with them towards the so-called civilized life. However, the legislation shatters the community life of the Ojibwa and confines them to an individualistic society. The Dawes Allotment Act divided the native land and gave an individual share to the natives. It also stresses that they should pay taxes for that land. During the initial twenty-five years of the trust period, the act allowed the Native owners of the allotted land to use their property without any taxation. The land could not be sold for twenty-five years. According to the Dawes Act of 1887, the initial twenty-five years trust period ended in 1912. Indian Allotment Act defined how much land the native people could have. William Bevis in his essay “Native American Novels: Homing- In” stresses the significance of home to the Native American. He notes: “The home we leave . . . is not only a place; it is a past, a set of values and parents, an “ancient regime” ” (581). Now many indigenous people are forced to move from the community life. The indigenous people lost their original selves.

“To Indians tribe means family, not just bloodlines but extended family, clan, community, ceremonial exchanges with nature, and an animate regard for all creation as sensible and powerful” (Lincoln 1983:8). The author understands the loss of the Ojibwa’s strength who is continuously victimized to physical and spiritual loss. Fleur Pillager and Nanapush lose their land due to her inability to pay taxes. Both acts make the Native Americans leave their traditional hunting and gathering practices. It is a reason for the loss of traditional ways of life. Bruchac remarks that “The native people of North America speak of their relationship to the Earth in terms of family. The Earth is not something to be bought and sold, something to be used and mistreated. It is, quite simply, the source of our lives- our Mother. The rest of Creation, all around us, shares in that family relationship”