(Editor’s note: In Vol. 5 No. 2 of the Tribal College Journal, James Shanley, president of Fort Peck Community College, interviewed Kenneth Ryan about traditional Assiniboine concepts of leadership. Ryan’s Assiniboine name is Tashunga Saba, which means His Black Horse. Their conversation has continued since then and recently focused on the traditional Assiniboine view of the family. An edited transcript follows. This topic was chosen because of a grant awarded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to several tribal colleges in Montana to develop a model of family services that will help Native American students succeed in higher education and in life. Fort Peck Community College directs the project, which is based on the premise that an individual cannot seek self-improvement without family support and total family improvement; colleges can increase the chance of success by helping the student strengthen family support. This is the first of several monographs on traditional family life in the various tribes included in the Kellogg collaborative project.)

Kenneth Ryan’s Assiniboine name is Tashunga Saba, which means His Black Horse.

James Shanley: How important was the role of family in traditional Assiniboine life?

Tashunga Saba: The role of the family amongst traditional Assiniboine was extremely important. First you received your life and protection from your family. As you grew up, you received your name from the family. It was from your family that you learned your language, history, culture, religion, and social values. Being human, you received your entire belief system from your family. As you grew up, it was your aunties, uncles, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and other relatives who taught all that you knew and came to believe. In traditional Assiniboine life, your aunts and uncles were your principal teachers. Your parents did not mete out punishment. Traditional Assiniboine parents did not strike their young. Discipline was left to aunts and uncles. They were very important in the lives of the children. Who and what I am today results from the teachings of my grandfather (paternal), my father, and all of my uncles. My uncles were the greatest teachers that any person anywhere could ever have. Their knowledge, teaching methods, and their course content were priceless.

James Shanley: How was a traditional Assiniboine family structured?

Tashunga Saba: A traditional Assiniboine family extended beyond what we now know in America as a basic family. The traditional Assiniboine family included all of your father’s and mother’s siblings (brothers and sisters). By analyzing the traditional Assiniboine family model, we can find that the Assiniboine at Fort Peck adhered to what was known anthropologically as the Iroquois Model.

Under the Assiniboine family model, your father’s brothers are called Father. Your mother’s sisters are called Mother. Under this structure a person always has more than one father and mother. It is not unusual to have a number of fathers and mothers. Father’s sisters are called Auntie, and mother’s brothers are called Uncle. To go laterally in this model, all of your mother’s children and your father’s children are your brothers and sisters. Your auntie’s and uncle’s children are all called your cousins.

Prior to the coming of the Europeans there was no such a thing as foster care, foster parents, child welfare offices or programs, juvenile codes, guardian ad litems, child courts, or juvenile detention centers among the Assiniboine. Child abuse was very rare or unheard of.

The parents of your mother or father, their siblings, and the parents of their cousins are all called Grandmother and Grandfather. You received your tribal identity from your father. (Assiniboine family is based upon patrilineage) If your father (like in my case) was a Wadopana (Canoe Paddler), it didn’t make a difference what you did, who adopted you, where you moved to, you would be Wadopana.

Your father and mother, their parents, all of your mothers and fathers, all of your aunties and uncles, all of your brothers and sisters, and all of your cousins comprised the traditional Assiniboine family. The Assiniboine Family is called Tadaguyebi. The Assiniboine word translated to mean, “All of those who are related to each other.” Whatever band or band lineage your Assiniboine family belonged to determined what type of Assiniboine you were.

My mother was from the Iya tuwambi (Those Who Dwell in Rock Village) Band of Assiniboine. She was also closely related through her mother (my maternal grandmother) to the Hudeshabi (Red Root or Red Bottom) Band of Assiniboine. Under the Assiniboine tribal rules of family, no matter how much I wanted to be a Iya tuwambi or Hudeshabi, I couldn’t be a member of either of these bands because my father, his father, his grandfather, on back into the mists of time were Wadopana or Canoe Paddler Assiniboine. The tribal view is that the creator placed me in the Canoe Paddler Tribe of Assiniboine, and that is what I am. I will be a member of that tribe forever.

James Shanley: So, this family structure provided a sort of social insurance in case a child lost a parent or another relative that could help the child. How strong were the obligations upon the individual in this type of kinship structure?

Tashunga Saba: As you grew up, you would accompany your parents when they made their way around your community. If your parents didn’t move around your community, relatives would come and visit you. Your mother’s sisters, your father’s brothers, your parents’ cousins would come to your house to visit, your parents’ mothers and fathers would come to your house.

Assiniboine (and many oilier Northern Plains Tribes) are grouped by anthropologists in the Iroquois kinship classification system. In the Iroquois system, ego distinguishes between relatives on his mother’s side of the family and those on his father’s side. The person merges father with father’s brother and mother wiili mother’s sister.

As your family visited people or your relatives visited you, you would be specifically instructed as to who was who. When you are a small child, it doesn’t seem to make much difference who you are related to. You are taught who your relatives are. Relatives don’t have a first name. All of your relatives have a title attached to their name. The formal titles are: Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Grandfather, Grandmother, Relative, and Friend. Your older brother has a different title than your younger brother. Your older sister has a different title than your younger sister.

I know that anthropology has a classification of society wherein they speak of age-graded societies. Having grown up in one, I have never considered this age graded. To me, those older than me are different than those who are younger than me. Whether they are older or younger, this determines how I will act towards them. An individual whose tribe of people lives within the Assiniboine or Iroquois family system is raised with the idea and knowledge that you have very strong obligations to your Tadaguyebi (Family).

When you scientifically study tribal family structures, we are provided with schemata and/or diagrams. When we chart these out, we feel great accomplishment. We are overlooking the rules which accompany the family structure. I have yet to find a list of such important family rules. I will present here a list of rules which accompany the Assiniboine tribal or family structure. I have studied our people for the past 40 plus years, and these are the most important rules that I know of. These are not mine. I have not made them up. They come to us as a Wadopana Nakona (Canoe Paddler Assiniboine).

ASSINIBOINE RULES OF FAMILY

1. Know your relatives.
2. Share what you have.
3. Always help your relatives.
4. Don’t bother your relatives.
5. Be kind to and respect your elders.
6. Respect all women. If it wasn’t for a woman, none of us would be here.
7. Worship the creator.
8. Don’t lie. Always speak the truth.
9. Don’t steal.
10. Don’t live with animals.
11. You can’t marry your relatives.
12. Do what you say.
13. Don’t repeat meaningless gossip.
14. You cannot look at or speak to your mother-in-law or father-in-law.
15. Do your best to always help people.
16. Take care of and respect those who cannot care for themselves.
17. Take care of, protect, love, and respect little children.

James Shanley: What would happen to individuals if they did not honor their obligations to their relatives?

Tashunga Saba: If an individual did not honor his/her obligations to relatives, that person would have sinned. The Assiniboine term is “Awainch?ixdaga.” The cross tribal translation means “He/she has sinned against herself!” The term “sin” is not the sin that is related to daily Western civilized religion. It is something far more serious. Tribally, you can commit two or three of these types of errors. If you persist, you would be disowned. In the olden days, you would be informed that you were no longer part of the camp circle and that you must move your tipi away from the camp circle.

This is akin to death. No one would claim you, and you would not belong anywhere. You would be out alone in the big, wide world. No one would come to help you, and no one would take care of you if you truly needed help.

James Shanley: Was the knowledge of this family structure and the attendant roles and responsibilities passed on formally and if so by whom, the grandparents? Or was the system passed on by gender, such as father to son, mother to daughter?

Tashunga Saba: It was the entire family’s responsibility to convey this knowledge to the growing children. As a growing child in a traditional Assiniboine family, your mother would be your first teacher. From her you would receive your nourishment. As you grew she would speak to you and teach you how to talk. From your mother you picked up your identity. From the other ladies in or near your lodge, you would learn other important rules and information.

When you could walk around on your own, you would learn who your other mothers were, who your Grandmothers were, and who your siblings were. Your aunts and uncles would pay attention to you, and they would become important teachers in your life. At some point, when you could understand, your parents and grandparents would sit you down and fully describe your family for you. Everyone–their relationship and their role–would be reviewed. This would happen in the evening as you were readied for bed. During the years that you grew up, you would be reminded about your relationships endlessly, until you learned who you were and who you were related to.

James Shanley: What was the role of the in-laws in this family structure?

Tashunga Saba: To whichever parent they were related, the in-laws would be important. To your children, your in-laws would be their other mothers, other fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents. The rule was that you could not speak directly to your father-in-law or mother-in-law, nor could they speak to you. They would also have no say in how you ran your household. Your in-laws could not even speak your name in public. If you publicly spoke their name, you would be committing a tribal sin.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

James Shanley: The concept of relatives or being related is one of the central themes of Assiniboine philosophy and religion. How are family and relatedness expressed in our mythology?

Tashunga Saba: The first story in Assiniboine mythology tells of a person who is called Inkdomi. At the beginning of the origin of people, we are told of this person floating on a raft when the whole world is nothing but water. Along with four other beings, Inkdomi finds out that beneath the water is land. Inkdomi takes this mud, and from it he makes the land and man. From the man’s leg appears the first woman. It is this first woman that Inkdomi marries, and it is from this union that all Assiniboine are descended. From that point in time, all Assiniboine are related to each other. At this point, enter the rules of family.

James Shanley: What role did religion play in family life?

Tashunga Saba: The role of religion in traditional Assiniboine life began at the very beginning. When a child was delivered, one of the first duties of the parents was to have a tribal name bestowed upon the infant. The naming was carried out or performed by someone who was a pipe carrier. The name was given to the infant by a relative who was a successful warrior. Each traditional Assiniboine family had important names that only belonged to the family. Once an infant received a name, the belief was that the Creator and all of the Spirits would then know the individual. Once that was achieved, the child would then receive protection throughout life.

The first name that a child received was considered a childhood name. When a young girl reached adolescence, a sacred ceremony was held and she was given a woman’s name by a warrior relative. After reaching that milestone, a maternal aunt taught the woman all of the tribal rules and roles of how to be a woman.

When a young man reached adolescence, there were three or four tests that had to be passed in order to be considered for manhood. It was imperative that every Assiniboine young man pass these tests. Once these tests were passed, the adolescent male embarked upon the path of war. Either before, during, or after embarking upon the path of war, an Assiniboine adolescent male was required to go out on a religious fast. Once a young man was successful in war, had fasted, and had completed all of the religious rituals of the Wotijaga or Medicine Lodge, the family, the tribe, or his society would bestow upon him a man’s name. You would not be considered for tribal leadership positions until you had satisfactorily fulfilled all Assiniboine tribal manhood requirements.

Each family participated in traditional religious ceremonies. Religion was interwoven throughout the fabric of tribal identity. It was and is a daily occurrence. As a child grew up, he/she would learn the family’s ways and religious practices. The child would then continue the tradition. All major activities or events, such as birth, death, moving camp, suffering through hard times, achieving great personal achievement, warfare, disease, marriages, peace making, and hunting were marked with religious ceremony. Religion was very important to traditional Assiniboine families.

ECONOMICS

James Shanley: Was there economic interdependence within Assiniboine family structure?

Tashunga Saba: In the days when the Assiniboine roamed the plains and hunted buffalo, family was the most important institution of the tribe. Hunting buffalo prior to the arrival of the horse and firearm was far different from today. Buffalo was the principal economic currency of the time. Buffalo were at the core of tribal society. Almost everything– homes, bedding, clothes, tools, food, rope, and religious implements –came from the buffalo. The harvesting of buffalo was a very serious activity.

The principal means of harvesting buffalo was by the use of the buffalo pound or the surround. Another method was by driving a herd of buffalo over a cliff. Among the Assiniboine, the construction and use of the buffalo pound took all adults of your family and in some cases all adults of your tribe to participate. A wooden corral would be constructed. Herd-driving lines of rocks would be constructed. When the structure was complete, a buffalo caller would leave camp, and that individual would lead the buffalo herd towards the lines leading to the surround or buffalo pound. As the herd entered the surround, the opening would be closed, and the herd would then be slaughtered. It must have been successful because we are still here. From this time, there developed rules regarding food. Some of these rules are:

1. Never be stingy with food. No matter what you eat, you know what it turns to. If you’re stingy with food, that’s what you are being stingy with.
2. Always feed whoever comes to your lodge. Share your food. Even lice can be broken in half with a fingernail. If you divide something that small, you can divide food.
3. A hunter never eats what he kills. He can drink the soup, but he can’t eat what he kills.

James Shanley: Does economic interdependence exists today?

Tashunga Saba: As people we have always been economically interdependent upon each other. All you need to do is look at our families today. It is not unusual to have two, three, four, and more family units living in a structure designed for one family. It is not unusual to have grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, children, cousins, and just plain friends all eating at one table. A pot of soup, tea or coffee, and a tribal bread will go a long ways towards feeding scores of people.

Among the Assiniboine, a feed or feast was held with every important religious/cultural ceremony. From other Native peoples you hear of similar tribal ceremonies, such as potlatch, the green corn ceremony, corn gathering ceremonies, clam bakes, maple syrup and sugar making, rabbit drives, salmon feasts, wild rice harvesting, and acorn gathering. Every ceremony began with prayer. At all of these gatherings, there was sharing, visiting, bonding, helping, group identification, and the repair and re-cementing of the bonds of family and tribe. These ceremonies were very important to all.

Like other tribal people, the Assiniboine have come through some very hard times. Hundreds of our people were starved to death during the 1880s. Those who survived relied upon their families and relatives. They were economically interdependent, and we still are to this day.

James Shanley: Could the traditional Assiniboine family be considered a political unit?

Tashunga Saba: Yes. The traditional Assiniboine family was a strong, firmly built political unit. Politics exist because as a rule, there are never enough resources to meet everyone’s needs. Be it buffalo, gold, meat, food, money, hides–whatever the currency, someone will always have a surplus, and some will be without. Someone will always want more than what they have, and there will always be someone in a system who has a surplus. Politics addresses the distribution of goods, resources, and services.

In the buffalo hunting days, buffalo hunting was a traditional family effort. Every member of the family took part in the harvesting of buffalo. Everyone also received a share of the buffalo. From other harvested goods such as berries, fish, traditional vegetables, and medicines, every member of the family received a share. Everyone had a role. In the maintenance and support of tribal leadership, religion, ceremony, and social function, the family played an important role.

Whenever there is a great disparity between the haves and the have nots, conflicts result. Leadership came to those who could provide a lot of goods, services, and protection against the elements. Traditional tribal leadership developed to provide, protect, and defend the family, home, tribe, and its resources.

DESTRUCTION OF THE FAMILY

James Shanley: Does the traditional Assiniboine family still exist today?

Tashunga Saba: No. Most of the Assiniboine family structure has disintegrated.

James Shanley: What were the key factors that led to the disintegration?

Tashunga Saba: In the late 1870s, Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt devised an education program for the young of all Indian Tribes. From correspondence that we have found between Richard Pratt and U.S. Sen. Henry Dawes, an educational philosophy was developed and implemented which called for the destruction of Indian family. Pratt wrote, “We must destroy the Indian family, his language, his culture, his religion, and all aspects of what makes the Indian an Indian…. The sooner all tribal relations are broken up; the sooner the Indian loses all his Indian ways, even his language, the better it will be for both him and the government.” He said in effect, we must destroy the Indian in order to save the man.2

The process of destruction began upon the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in 1878. We were able to find a picture of that first class of Sioux Indian girls who were taken from their families and sent to school. From 1878 to the 1930s, every school-aged Indian was removed from home at Fort Peck and sent to boarding schools in such places as Carlisle, Penn.; Riverside, Calif.; Chemawa, Ore.; Anadarko, Okla.; Flandreau, S.D.; Marty, S.D.; and Lawrence, Kan.

Imagine being a six year old shipped 1,500 miles from home, being beaten for speaking your native language, being abused and preyed upon by people older than you. Punishment for not attending European church services included beatings, being forced to kneel for hours on broom handles, being forced to pull down your pants to be paddled publicly. If you were caught speaking your native language, you would not be permitted to go home for the summer. How does Mommy and Daddy tell you that you’re a good girl or good boy and that they love you? My paternal grandfather was kept from 1890 to 1896, a period of seven years. My paternal grandmother was sent to Carlisle, Penn., and kept from 1890 to 1900, a period of 10 years. My father was kept for five years.

After 52 years, it is a wonder that we have any tribal languages left. That is where a majority of our traditional tribal knowledge went to. It was not until 1978 that we could once again “practice” our traditional Indian religions again. In that year the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act was passed.

James Shanley: What about the impact of relocation and alcohol?

Tashunga Saba: Relocation is a Social Services Program which was provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after World War II. Relocation moved participating American Indians and their families to urban areas like Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Dallas, and Minneapolis. This program removed American Indians from their homelands, families, and tribes. It was well intended. The purpose was vocational training and access to jobs. Some families have very successfully taken the tribe and reservation with them as they moved to the large urban areas of this country. Many of these families have flourished. Many families have returned home, and some have moved away to never come home again. Others come home occasionally.

To gain something, these families who have moved away have lost some things that are very important. They have lost their ties to their aboriginal lands, their families, and their very identities. On the other hand, they have good lives, they have meaningful employment, they have the opportunity to earn their retirement, and they have many more opportunities for self-advancement than most of their fellow tribal people.

Turning to the impact of alcohol upon our tribal people, it has been in a word, “devastating!” Our mortality rates have been horrifying . By watching cowboy movies we have been raised with the attitude that this is a “Real Man’s Drink” or “Only Real Men Drink.” Speaking for myself, I quit drinking 19 years ago. I drank for 18 years. Each day that I quit and don’t drink is a blessing for me, my family, and those who are related to me.

Alcohol has destroyed and continues to destroy our people. Alcoholism has wreaked havoc upon our families. We hear of cirrhosis of the liver, end stage renal disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke, heart attacks, hypertension, and accidents which are caused by alcohol abuse. It has also caused child abandonment, child abuse, spouse abuse, death from vehicular accidents, and death from accidents. We have frozen to death, drowned, and accidentally killed and maimed ourselves and each other. We have created a legion of orphans and single parent households. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism has caused us to lose our sacred languages, sacred teachings, sacred woman, sacred families, and sacred tribes.

We now have the specter of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effect visiting our young. Who is going to take care of these people when they become adults? What will be the genetic effects and defects following these generations? Will there be any aboriginal American Indians left?

James Shanley: What about welfare, AFDC (Aid for Dependent Children), which went into effect in the 1960s? What about welfare reform now?

Tashunga Saba: The concept of welfare as a whole has been good –it saved many Indian families from starvation and deprivation. However, Aid for Dependent Children helped to drive the males out of the families and created such cultural anomalies as “mothers’ day”– the first of the month when AFDC payments were made. This has also taught us that we don’t need to go to school, and we don’t need to work. We have learned to think that there will always be someone who will provide for us.

Welfare as we know it is supposed to change in the next three years. There are revolutionary changes coming to all our people who now draw welfare payments and utilize other social services.

James Shanley: How has this disintegration of family structure impacted tribal governments?

Tashunga Saba: The disintegration of family structure has had a significant impact upon tribal governments. With the disintegration of our families, a number of unique, one-of-a- kind needs have arisen which never existed before: child services, foster care, child adoption, and child care oversight. Tribal governments have to develop tribal legal codes and administrative and judicial agencies to deal with these family services. There all types of services which tribal governments are forced to provide because of the traditional tribal family structure’s disintegration. At this time we seem to be not considering children as humans or as our relations. We are thinking of “them” as statistics, or we are not thinking of them at all.

Additionally, the old time spokesperson for the large extended family has disappeared. Everyone expresses his/her own opinion instead of developing ideas through the wisdom of the family structure.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FAMILY

James Shanley: Do you see any way the traditional family structure can be reconstructed in this time of the nuclear family?

Tashunga Saba: As I was growing up in the late 1950s, both my mother and paternal grandmother insisted that I go to college and get a college degree. These two people were two traditional Assiniboine women. As I said, my paternal grandmother was kept at Carlisle Indian School for 10 years. My mother was a traditional, Assiniboine-speaking woman who only went up to the fifth grade. Both of these ladies were advocates for formal education. I learned from my mother and grandmother that once you received an education, there aren’t too many things you can’t do.

As people we have an almost unlimited capacity to learn. We can teach students, and our students can learn about traditional family structures. We need to learn and know our traditional tribal histories. Once we come to fully understand what has happened to us, we then need to look at all that we had. We need to pick up those wonderful things from our past that worked so well for us and stood us in good stead with each other.

A tribal elder and mentor of mine used to say, “My nephew, you have a mind, use it.” I have also learned that there is nothing more powerful than prayer. With good intentions, a well laid out plan, good education, respect for each other, and prayer, there aren’t too many things that we cannot accomplish together. Let us re-construct our traditional families. Let us bring back something that is beautiful, durable, and so very important to us. I sincerely believe that the family can and must be maintained and developed.

James Shanley has been conducting a series of interviews on Assiniboine traditions with Kenneth Ryan. Photo by Kyle Brehm

Tashunga Saba (Kenneth Ryan) is the Native American Studies curriculum developer at Fort Peck Community College and formerly chairman of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. He earned his masters in human services in 1998 and  received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Montana. James Shanley (Assiniboine) has been with the tribal college movement for 27 years, including 17 years as president of Fort Peck Community College. He earned his doctorate in education administration from the University of North Dakota.

Notes:

1. Almost every culture has constructed a system of terms that conforms to one of six widely occurring basic patterns, according to anthropologists. The patterns are: 1) Sudanese, 2) Hawaiian, 3) Eskimo, 4) Iroquois, 5) Omaha, and 6) Crow. Assiniboine (and many other Northern Plains tribes) are grouped in the Iroquois kinship classification system, which distinguishes between relatives on the mother’s side and those on the father’s side. From Schusky, Ernest L.  (1972). Manual for kinship analysis. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

2. Pratt, Richard (reprinted 1964). Battlefield and classroom: Four decades with American Indians, 1867-1904. New Haven: Yale University Press.