>>Dr. Swan: You know, we've had an opportunity
through the films, and the readings, and the
exercises to sample an incredible range of
religious pursuits among the Native peoples
of Oklahoma. One thing that we haven't really
talked about is I've I've noticed that there's
this capacity for for communities and their
religious beliefs, their religious systems,
to pull people back into the fold, if you
will. So people have become disassociated
for a variety of reasons, but it seems like
that's an important aspect of Native religion.
>>Dr. Nelson: Yeah, yeah, I think you're absolutely
right. And it's increasingly an aspect of
Native religion, I think. At least that's
been my general sense, running around in Indian
country, that people are working harder and
harder to confront the challenges that they're
facing and integrating their traditions into
mainstream life, right. And people move away,
like you've said, for a variety of reasons,
and sometimes it's not always easy, as David
Comingdeer talked about, to keep people coming
back to their traditions. So you know, one
of the things I'm always sort of interested
in as a scholar of English and literature
is, you know, just words. And there are some
words that I think we hear over and over again
that are getting a little threadbare. It seems
like nowadays that when we hear people talk
about Native traditions, they talk about "clinging"
to traditions. It's always "clinging to traditions."
Like Indian people have been dropped on a
very tall tree, right? [Both laugh.] You know,
they're desperately holding on or they're
getting, you know, rushed along in a current
that's going to sweep them into oblivion.
Well, you know, they've been in that current
with everybody else, that current of history
forever, right? And the traditions that we've
seen, written about, and and talked about
are not dying traditions, right? They're vibrant,
ongoing, living traditions. And in confronting
those challenges, in keeping them healthy,
or recovering them, I think that we've seen
people are using mediums like this one to
do that work. I wondered when we started this
how many people would want to talk to us,
and for the most part, we haven't had to twist
anybody's arm, right? We mention it, and they
say, "When can you be here?" Because I think
they see this kind of information as part
of what it is that they're doing.
>>Dr. Swan: Yeah, I think people forget that
change and and adaptation are critical elements
of traditions. If they don't, they go away.
>>Dr. Nelson: Right.
>> Dr. Swan: And the fact that they've not
only persevered but flourished and undergone
revival, I think is a real testament to the
strength and the endurance. These aren't desperate
acts of of of culture here--
>>Dr. Nelson: [laughing] Right.
>>Dr. Swan: --we have to remember that these
religious pursuits and the traditions that
accompany them have great temporal duration,
and more importantly, that they still work
today, that they've adapted and they provide
meaningful lives for people in contemporary
society.
