Being Lakota: Identity and Tradition on Pine Ridge Reservation

US Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local > North Dakota

Being Lakota explores contemporary Lakota identity and tradition through the life-story narratives of Melda and Lupe Trejo. Melda Trejo, née Red Bear (1939–), is an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Reservation, while Lupe Trejo (1938–99) is Mexican and a long-time resident at Pine Ridge. In their forty years together, the Trejos raised eleven children, supported themselves as migrant workers, and celebrated their lives and cultural heritage.

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Conversations between this Lakota/Mexican couple and scholar Larissa Petrillo convey key aspects of the couple’s everyday life: what it means to be an Indian and Lakota; how they negotiate their different ethnic identities; their feelings about recent concerns with appropriating Lakota religious practices and beliefs; and the tenets of Lakota spirituality that shape their perceptions and actions. These issues are highlighted as they talk about their experiences setting up a Sundance ceremony. In the late 1980s they began holding a Sundance on the Red Bear family’s land near Allen, South Dakota, and the ceremony was dedicated to Lupe after his death.

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Being Lakota deepens our understanding of modern Lakota life and affords a memorable glimpse of the choices and paths taken by individuals in a Native community. It also serves to explore new approaches to collaborative ethnography, with reflections on learning to work well in a Native community.