Sophia Eagle's Blog

Plains Native Woman (tribe unknown) carrying traditional  beaded cradle board (this is one of my favorite pictures)  Every day, I am struck in some way by the beauty that is my culture. Odds are, if you have visited my blog before, you can sense my intense pride in my culture, and this stems in no small way from the stories of endurance and strength I have heard from my family. For my final post, I want to share with you some stories of my family, and why beadwork, quillwork and leather work are such important art forms for me.  (left) Mabel Eagle, early 1980's, with her  granddaughter, my auntie  To start at the tail-end of my family's very sad   history, I will start with my paternal great-     grandmother. Mabel Eagle, who is the first member   of my family to be put on a reservation. Before she   came to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, she and her family lived at a concentration camp in Minnesota. Here, her mother and older sisters starved to death, and her father a

  Sometimes, the ability to follow the principles of one's culture comes in surprising forms. For example, in my case, I can follow old principles of my culture through the use of the Realeather Scrap Bag.  Something that is very important to the Lakota people is the idea of minimizing waste. In our ways, to take from the environment must be meaningful in order for one's life to be worthy and honorable in existence. In the old days, before colonization and reservation life, the Lakota hunted the buffalo across the northern plains region of North America. To us, these animals were some of the most sacred because they allowed us to live, and we were thankful to them before all else. We understood that without their continued existence, we too would cease to exist.  These beliefs of the duality of our existences resulted in deep parts of our spiritual beliefs. We understood the necessity of preserving the species that were so sacred and important to us. To kill a pregnant buffalo

 In the reclamation of Indigenous Identity, names are of the utmost importance. Notes about my culture: names hold a level of sacredness and are part of your holy identity, whether it be your traditional name, your personal name, the names of your pets, your businesses, your cars, etc. To the Lakota and other tribes of the Oceti Sakowin, names are given periodically through one's life, with tremendous weight and ceremony, which were kept close to our chests. Traditional names are not used as one would use a given name, and this extends to the names of our tribes and families. Sicangu Oyate and the Wanbli Tiospaye are examples of this, of sacred names that mean something, that is common across many cultures.  Now, it is necessary to discuss the rampant use of traditional names in branding. There are a huge amount of brands that get their names from either existing names, or stereotypes across the nation. This goes further than brands, including schools and of course mascots that hav