Gender and Plains Indian Warfare

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The Plains Indians

Ecology, Warfare and Gender

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Plains Indian warfare has frequently been portrayed as a contest among men to gain prestige rather than as a system of deadly combat in which men were brutally killed and through which groups of people competed over resources.

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"Plains Indians fought not for territorial aggrandizement, nor for the victor's spoils, but above all because fighting was a game worth while because of the social recognition it brought when played according to the rules.“

--Robert Lowie (1920)

"Plains warfare was almost as stylized as a medieval tournament, and was seen by its participants not so much as a way to kill enemies as a means of demonstrating personal skill and bravery…."

--J. Donald Hughes (1983)

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However

Plains Indian warfare evolved as a predictable outcome of increasing population growth and resource competition.

The evolution of Plains Indian ecology and warfare constituted a positive-feedback system resulting from the infusion of new subsistence technologies and a new productive relationship between Indians and resources.

The changing Population/Resource relationships on the plains also resulted in fundamental changes in gender roles and in gender-related behavior.

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Native American Culture Areas

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Principal Natural Communities

Prairie vs. Plains

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Cold Wet

Cold Dry

Warm Dry

Warm Wet

Climatic Regions on the Great Plains

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Principal Food Sources

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Pre-Horse Northwest Plains - (Blackfoot & Crow)

Subsistence economy - hunting and gathering

Surround-type hunting (impounding and cliff stampedes)

Labor intensive

Extensive preparation

Required considerable cooperation and organization

Hunting was difficult, unpredictable, precarious and required great skill

Important role of women in subsistence