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Becoming and Remaining a People: Native American Religions on the Northern Plains (Studies in Anglican History)

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Howard Harrod's Becoming and Remaining a People: Native American Religions on the Northern Plains argues that the changing of rituals and other aspects of religious practice played a pivotal role in the transformation of the formerly agricultural culture of the Northern Plains into a buffalo culture.

Harrod agrees that the white person's contact with the Native American's had a substantial impact on Native society. He is contending that an exclusive emphasis on contact with the whites can obscure the actions of the Native. Native Americans were not passive spectators to the influx of Europeans; in fact, the Natives actively responded to their changing circumstances ritually as well as politically. This means, that their religious system underwent change that in turn impacted the social structures of Northern Plain culture.

This active change on the part of the Northern Indians is a point of incredible importance. Harrod notes that many of the religious innovations were not seen as a break with tradition. Instead, they were perceived as a development of already existing religious and cultural practices and, thus, continuous with the Northern Plain Native American's social existence. Specifically, these changes could be legitimized by the peoples' visions and dreams. Harrod argues, moreover, that these changes are a testimony to the sheer capability of the Native Americans.