Many different Indian tribes have lived in Iowa, each existing as an independent nation with its own history, culture, language, and traditions. Some were residents before recorded time; some lived in Iowa for relatively short periods but played memorable roles in the state’s history; others visited Iowa mostly during hunting trips or times of war. Stimulating and informative, Lance Foster’s The Indians of Iowa is the only book for the general reader that covers the archaeology, history, and culture of all the different native nations that have called Iowa home from prehistory to the present.
Foster begins with a history of Lewis and Clark’s travels along the Missouri River adjacent to western Iowa. Next, he focuses on the tribes most connected to Iowa from prehistoric times to the present day: the Ioway, Meskwaki, Sauk, Omaha and Ponca, Otoe and Missouria, Pawnee and Arikara, Potawatomi, Illinois Confederacy, Santee and Yankton Sioux, and Winnebago. In between each tribal account, “closer look” essays provide details on Indian women in Iowa, traditional ways of life, Indian history and spirituality, languages and place-names, archaeology, arts and crafts, and houses and landscapes. Finally, Foster brings readers into the present with chapters called “Going to a Powwow,” “Do You Have Indian Blood?” and “Indians in Iowa Today.” The book ends with information about visiting Native American museums, historic sites, and communities in Iowa as well as tribal contacts and a selection of published and online resources.
The story of the Indians of Iowa is long and complicated. Illustrated with maps and stunning original art, Lance Foster’s absorbing, accessible overview of Iowa’s Indian tribes celebrates the rich native legacy of the Hawkeye State. It is essential reading for students, teachers, and everyone who calls Iowa home.
“For the past several decades I have received many questions from people seeking information on the tribes who lived in Iowa. Until now there has been no single source to answer those questions. Lance Foster’s work will be the source of first reference. It should be on the shelf of every library in the state.”—Jerome Thompson, state curator and interim administrator, State Historical Society of Iowa
“A landmark overview of American Indians in Iowa and a valuable ‘must-have’ source for school, university, and city libraries as well as professional anthropologists and historians, The Indians of Iowa combines Lance Foster’s skills as an indigenous scholar, research specialist, straightforward writer, and artist par excellence.”—David Mayer Gradwohl, professor emeritus and founding director, Iowa State University Archaeological Laboratory
About the Author
Lance Foster received a B.A. in anthropology and Native American studies from the University of Montana as well as an M.A. in anthropology and an M.L.A. in landscape architecture from Iowa State University; he is an alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts. He has been director in the Native Rights, Land and Culture division for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; a historical landscape architect for the National Park Service; and an archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service. A member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, he currently teaches at the University of Montana–Helena College of Technology.
Product Details
Paperback: 162 pages
Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1st Edition edition (October 1, 2009)
I am an enrolled member of the federally-recognized tribe, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. White Cloud (Ioway) and Black Hawk (Sauk) are among my ancestors. My grandparents moved to California, and my parents met and married there. I was born in 1960. We moved to Helena, Montana in 1966. I was raised and schooled in Helena, where I currently live. I have always been into writing and art.
I attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1980-81) and graduated from UM-Missoula with a B.A. in Anthropology and Native American Studies, and as an alumni of the UM Wilderness Institute.
I got my M.A. in Anthropology and M.L.A. in Landscape Architecture (Landscape History) from Iowa State University. My theses were on NAGPRA as applied to our Ioway sacred bundle system, and on the Ioway traditional landscape system. I also spent a summer in Africa on a project researching the indigenous knowledge systems of the Yoruba people of Nigeria.
I worked on heritage management for the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service in Montana, the southwest, and Alaska, working with many Indian tribes and Native Alaskan groups.
I was Director of Native Rights, Land and Culture for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) from 2003-2006 before returning home, supervising such advocacy efforts as protecting Pacific fisheries, Native Hawaiian resource rights, countering resort development on Hawaiian lands, and protecting Hawaiian burials and sacred sites. This required working with various stakeholders: Native Hawaiian groups, federal and state government, and business in controversial issues such as the reburial of the Forbes Cave artifacts.
I returned with my wife to Helena in 2006 to be with my grandmother who was dying, and to be with my parents as they are growing older.
I have been also involved in language revitalization and cultural preservation efforts in my tribe, the Ioway/Iowa. That has been the focus of much of my time for many years, and it is the main route for my communication work through the Internet.
I first created a website while at ISU back in 1996-97, called "Native Nations of Iowa," to counter the misinformation on the Ioway that was then prevalent. That website, as it continually developed and evolved, was the origin of my book _The Indians of Iowa_.
I have created several online communities, most notably Ioways Online, providing a forum for tribal members scattered across the U.S., many of whom had been lost to their families back on the reservation. This has continued, with an additional site called the Ioway Cultural Institute (http://ioway.nativeweb.org/).
I have lots of different Internet stuff up: Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/lancemfoster) YouTube (several Ioway language lessons and other videos there at http://www.youtube.com/user/lancemfoster Redroom for authors, with a novel in progress I've been tinkering on (http://www.redroom.com/author/lance-m-foster) Livejournal (personal stuff on nature spirituality, folklore, beliefs, and assorted weirdness: http://hengruh.livejournal.com) I have a blog on my art (http://lancemfosterstudio.blogspot.com) My blog on exploring folklore and ghosts in Montana (http://paranormalmontana.blogspot.com)
I have had several publications, the latest my book _The Indians of Iowa_ from the University of Iowa Press (http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/foster-indians.htm), and a chapter called "Native American Perspectives on Forts" in William Whittaker's _Frontier Forts of Iowa_. My publications:
1992 The Ophir Creek Historic Mining District: A Contextual Study (Helena National Forest, Region 1, USFS, USDA) 1994 "Iowa", in Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia, by Mary Davis. New York: Garland Press. 1999 "Tanji na Che: Recovering the Landscape of the Ioway," in Recovering the Prairie, Robert F. Sayre, ed. (University of Wisconsin Press) 2001 "A Closing Circle: Musings on the Ioway Indians in Iowa," in The Worlds Between Two Rivers: Perspectives on American Indians in Iowa, Gretchen Bataille, David Gradwohl, Charles Silet, ed. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. 2003 "Archaeology's Influence on Contemporary Native American Art: Perspectives from a Monster", in Ancient Muses: Archaeology and the Arts, John Jameson, Christine Finn, and John Ehrenhard, ed. University of Alabama Press. 2008 "Blood Run National Historic Landmark," in American Indian Places, Frances H. Kennedy, ed. Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009 The Indians of Iowa. University of Iowa Press. 2009 "Native American Perspectives on Forts," in Frontier Forts of Iowa, William Whittaker, ed. University of Iowa Press.
I have worked as an advisor and as an interviewee on two documentaries which have received national awards, America's Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie (2005) (http://www.lostlandscapefilm.com/) and Lost Nation: The Ioway (2007) (http://www.IowayMovie.com/). I have copies to lend if you would like to see them. I have also done a presentation on my tribe for Iowa Public Television; you can see my presentation online at http://www.iptv.org/series.cfm/15841/intelligent_talk_television/ep:131
Currently I am adjunct professor at UM-Helena, teaching courses in Environmental Ethics (Nature and Society), Sociology, Fine Arts (Drawing and Painting), and Archaeology.
This review is from: The Indians of Iowa (Bur Oak Book) (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the fact that it was short AND Comprehensive. It's a good companion and reference. Thanks to this book I have a good orientation of the many American Indian tribes that ever set foot in the Euro-American boundaries we currently call Iowa. I wished I would've had this book prior to searching out old Annals of Iowa, Palimpsests, and Iowa Journals of History and Politics for information about American Indians in Iowa. The many Iowa periodicals tend to be a bit contradictory and, of course, written from a Euro-American point of view. Foster's book clears up the confusion and whets my appetite to learn more.
I'm glad, for once, that a book about American Indians is written by an American Indian. I think this has been long overdue and I applaud Foster's contribution to the state where I live. The reference in the back gives me plenty of stuff for further reading.
I can't help but mention the sadness I feel when I learn about my white fathers who removed the American Indians from their land, and proceeded to desecrate it in the name of progress by draining the wetlands, cutting the forests, straightening the streams, and plowing the prairies. How does one reconcile the past? It's hard for me to take pride in our past when we know the truth.
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This review is from: The Indians of Iowa (Bur Oak Book) (Paperback)
Lance Foster has an unconvoluted way of writing that has the ring of truth. The book contains a lot of good regional history that may be known orally to Indians, but needed to be preserved in print, as well. Some potentially sensitive social issues were treated without talking down to anyone. Controversial topics are presented objectively and without bias. This is the kind of book that promotes understanding and will become more valuable (as a resource) as time passes.
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This review is from: The Indians of Iowa (Bur Oak Book) (Paperback)
As a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and a student of Iowa history I found the book well documented and written. I espessially like the chapter on the Iowas. The illistrations are done well and also by the author.
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