Week 25: The Lost Universe: The Way of Life of the Pawnee by Gene Weltfish (Ballantine, 1965, paperback)

This is the fourth book I am reading for a National Endowment for the Humanities workshop on the Plains Indians. This book provides a thick ethnography on the Pawnee Indians of Nebraska in 1867, just before reservation period. Weltfish covers an example year in the Pawnee world, from their agricultural spring and fall and their buffalo hunting summer and winter

The goal of a thick ethnography is about provide a depth of detail, and Weltfish fully meets this goal. This book is dense with detail, covering nearly every conceivable aspect of Pawnee life. She provides step by step descriptions of how they created their earth lodges, their clothing, their tipis (for their hunting periods); how they planted and harvested their crops; their spiritual and cultural activities; their family and societal structures. Weltfish presents all these detail through specific characters and incidents, thus avoiding abstraction. Covering a “year in the life” gives her an engaging narrative structure.

Beyond the depth of detail and specifics, Weltfish’s book makes this tribe real and human. She shows us how individuals broke from or challenged cultural expectations; the rivalries and disagreements that took place; and the humor and fun that this tribe shared. Weltfish makes this tribe real and not just another stereotype. I won’t remember all the detail here, but I know that I have a much better understanding of the Pawnee as they experienced life.

Next week . . . Greatest Team Ever by Ron St. Angelo and Norm Hitzges.