Interview · South Dakota · Lowell Amiotte · OSEU 7
Themes: Land & stewardship, Kinship & family, Values & generosity, Arts & expression, Economy & livelihoods, Listening & observation, Children & young people, Humor & play
Learn About questions
What is a Moccasin Economy?
How does the leasing of land help the economy on the reservations
Lowell talks about 160 acres that were given to families. At what point in history did that happen? Why?
What kinds of resources have been taken from reservation lands? How did those situations where resources were taken settle?
What is a giveaway? In what ways do giveaways demonstrate the different kind of economy that Lowell speaks of?
What is meant by this quote, “The richest man in the village was the one who had the least because he gave it all away.”
Learn From questions
When you think of generosity, what
comes to mind?
In what ways does society seem generous?
In what ways does it seem that society has lost its sense of generosity?
Lowell speaks of two types of economy…the one we see and the one below the surface. How does that play out in your own life?
How do you feel personally about the following quote, “The richest man in the village was the one who had the least because he gave it all away.”
Transcripts
“Moccasin Economy” - Lowell Amiotte - OSEU 7
Watch this interview on YouTubeOn the reservation, there's a whole moccasin economy that is out there where people are making money through exchange of goods or doing things that people don't think they're doing, like ranchers, you know, some big ranchers out there. And land, again, becomes very important then, and resources. So you have this person leasing this person's land, paying them for it. There's not enough of this little parcel because it's been divided up so many times. You know, they were given 160 acres, they have four kids, bam, there goes your 160 acres.
Each of those four kids have four kids, bam, and pretty soon they're so small, those parcels were so small that they were practically useless. But some people are getting little checks because they have some land that the government leases out for them. There was a large settlement recently because the manufacturers or the oil people or whatever was on a certain reservation came in and they were taking natural resources and not really paying for them. And now all of a sudden, people wake up.
And they had a lawsuit, it was won, so there is some money coming in to different people on the reservation who are landowners. So you know, when you talk about the economy, you have to look at the reservation and see that there's a different kind of economy. One thing Native American people have always been very generous, and they've always shared. I think it used to be said that the richest man in the village was the one who had the least because he gave everything away. And I think that still goes on with the giveaways and so on.
You go to a powwow and they have a giveaway and they're giving away blankets and pictures and chairs and, you know, even horse or cow once in a while. And so you look at the economy on the reservation differently. You look, of course, at all these people who are working for the BIE or public health service and so on, but there's also that other economy that's going on below the surface.
Resource text
OSEU 7: INTERVIEW WITH LOWELL AMIOTTE
WoLakota Project
From the current WoLakota source page:
Moccasin Economy
Lowel Amiotte
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, transformation)
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
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Additional source transcripts
Moccasin Economy
“Moccasin Economy” - Lowell Amiotte - OSEU 7
On the reservation, there's a whole moccasin economy that is out there where people
are making money through exchange of goods or doing things that people don't think
they're doing, like ranchers, you know, some big ranchers out there. And land, again,
becomes very important then, and resources. So you have this person leasing this
person's land, paying them for it. There's not enough of this little parcel because it's
been divided up so many times. You know, they were given 160 acres, they have four
kids, bam, there goes your 160 acres.
Each of those four kids have four kids, bam, and pretty soon they're so small, those
parcels were so small that they were practically useless. But some people are getting
little checks because they have some land that the government leases out for them.
There was a large settlement recently because the manufacturers or the oil people or
whatever was on a certain reservation came in and they were taking natural resources
and not really paying for them. And now all of a sudden, people wake up.
And they had a lawsuit, it was won, so there is some money coming in to different
people on the reservation who are landowners. So you know, when you talk about the
economy, you have to look at the reservation and see that there's a different kind of
economy. One thing Native American people have always been very generous, and
they've always shared. I think it used to be said that the richest man in the village was
the one who had the least because he gave everything away. And I think that still goes
on with the giveaways and so on.
You go to a powwow and they have a giveaway and they're giving away blankets and
pictures and chairs and, you know, even horse or cow once in a while. And so you look
at the economy on the reservation differently. You look, of course, at all these people
who are working for the BIE or public health service and so on, but there's also that
other economy that's going on below the surface.