Reciprocity Inside and Outside Iroquois

Reciprocity Inside and Outside Iroquois Confederacy

How does Fixico's explanation of "reciprocity" in his book, the American Indian Mind in a Linear World, apply to the world of the Iroquois as explained in Daniel K. Richter's book, the Ordeal of the Longhouse: The peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization, in their relations inside and outside of the Iroquois confederacy? Be sure to evaluate reciprocity's outcome by the early 1800's.

In his book the American Indian Mind, Native American author Donald Lee Fixico paints an inspiring but generalized portrait of the idea of reciprocity between fellow Indians, and the ways that Indians conceptualize the past and future as a continuum. However, in many arenas of Native American history, such as that of the Iroquois League, while common ritualistic understanding of time may have united the different clans, economic and political interests could also divide tribes internally as well as create antagonistic relationships with other tribes. The Iroquois were best known "for their ferocity in war; power more than peace characterized their dealings with outsiders" (Richter 31). There was a paradox amongst the Iroquois in particular: a cultural ideal of internal peace and mutual reciprocity combined with the actual practice of seemingly incessant war against outsiders.

The sense of what Fixico might call "reciprocity" that kept the Iroquois League together was mapped even onto the physical space of the tribe: "the organization of physical space...embodied an ethic of sharing and reciprocity between kin groups" (Richter 21). This stood in profound conflict with European proprietary notions of space. The Iroquois "possess hardly anything except in common," a French missionary marveled, based upon his observations of the tribe (Richter 22). Even meals amongst many of the tribes and clans were regularly eaten in common. "Relationships among people rested on the alliances of spiritual power that came from reciprocity" (Richter 29). The principles of inter-clan reciprocity even "required members of another kin group to 'cover' the grief of the bereaved by conducting funeral rituals, providing feasts" and any potential leader had to build his influence both outside and inside village councils through "the mechanisms of kinship obligations, personal persuasion, and reciprocity for gifts and favors bestowed. Even within his own lineage, a headman had to lead primarily by example" (Richter 33; 44)

Yet the Five Iroquois nations as conglomerate of clans with a common culture were eventually torn apart by rivalries when they came in contact with European nations. Despite the formation of the Iroquois League, and this apparent early bonding because of antagonism to the Europeans, rivalries over trade, relations with European traders, as well as exposure to European diseases formed the League's undoing. The Iroquois were able to maintain their confederacy for only a relatively brief time, although this did enable them to function as power brokers in the region in a significant fashion. Europeans brought goods that made war more deadly, as well as enhanced the quality of the Indian's life only momentarily with new types of pleasures like alcohol.

Over the course of his text the Ordeal of the Longhouse: The peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization Donald Richter attempts to piece together what remains of the Iroquoian oral tradition, to understand the cultural as well as the political motivations behind different actions of the League. Richter would likely agree with Fixico that understanding the role of Iroquois mythology is vital to understanding how the tribes expressed themselves within the League. The ritual responsibilities towards the village, tribe, family of the Iroquois does show what Fixico calls a "visual and circular" orientation, rather than a linear and verbal tradition, and all tribes' interpretations of history eschewed easy linear interpretations of the relationship of the past to the present (Fixico xii). "Clans had reciprocal obligations centering on ceremonial gift giving and mutual ritual duties" (Richter 21). The League's conflicts with its Indian and new European neighbors, were marked with conflict because of perceived a lack of reciprocity regarding trade (Richter 52). Yet this increase in trade came at a heavy price -- a fragmentation of the alliances of the League, the internal culture of reciprocity, and more conflicts between the Iroquois and neighboring tribes.