Originally published in 1911 by the Bureau of American Ethnology, The Omaha Tribe is an irreplaceable classic, the collaboration of a pioneering anthropologist and a prominent Omaha ethnologist. Volume II takes up the language, social life, music, religion, warfare, healing practices, and death and burial customs of the Omahas. The first volume covered tribal origins and early history, organization and government, various beliefs and rites, and food gathering.

Robin Ridington and Dennis Hastings ingeniously adopt the conventions of Omaha oral narratives to tell the story and convey the significance of the Sacred Pole. Portions of classic anthropological texts (particularly Fletcher and La Flesche?s The Omaha Tribe), Omaha narratives, and other historical and contemporary accounts are repeated?each time in a different, more enlightening context?in a circle of stories seamlessly woven around Umon?hon?ti. The result is an innovative account that effortlessly glides between past and present. This unique blend of Omaha poetics, ethnography, and ethnohistory is a significant contribution to our understanding of the religious life of Native Americans.

Traces the history of the Omaha Indians from 1790, through the years under Chief Black Bird, to their confinement to a reservation in the 1850s and the loss of most of their land in 1916

The 1,836 annotated entries describe the contents and assess the strengths and weakness of books, scholarly articles, popular articles, governmental documents, newspaper columns, major archival collections, and even works of fiction. Coverage ranges beyond the frontier era to the lives of contemporary Omahas--both reservation and urban dwellers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Omaha Language and the Omaha Way provides a comprehensive textbook for students, scholars, and laypersons to learn to speak and understand the language of the Omaha Nation. Mark Awakuni-Swetland, Vida Woodhull Stabler, Aubrey Streit Krug, Loren Frerichs, and Rory Larson have collaborated with elder speakers, including Alberta Grant Canby, Emmaline Walker Sanchez, Marcella Woodhull Cavou, and Donna Morris Parker, to write this book. The original and creative pedagogical method used in this textbook--teaching the Omaha language through Omaha culture--consists of a structured series of lesson plans. It is the result of a generous collaboration between the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Umóⁿhoⁿ Language and Culture Center at Umóⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School in Macy, Nebraska. The method draws on the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Awakuni-Swetland to illustrate the Omaha values of balance and integration. The contents are shaped into two parts, each of which complements the other--just as the Earth and Sky do. This textbook features an introduction by Awakuni-Swetland on the history and phonology of the Omaha language; lessons from the Umóⁿhoⁿ Language and Culture Center at Macy, with a writing system quick sheet; situation quick sheets; lessons on games; lessons on spring, summer, fall, and winter; an Omaha language resource list; and a glossary in the standard Macy orthography of the Omaha language. The textbook also includes cultural lessons in the language by Awakuni-Swetland and lessons from the Omaha language class at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Omaha Language and the Omaha Way offers a linguistic foundation for tribal members, students, scholars, and laypersons, featuring Omaha community lessons, the standard Macy orthography, and UNL orthography all under one cover.