essay

The Cherokee Ghost Dance movement of 1811-1813

Cherokee ghost dance : essays on the Southeastern Indians, 1789-1861[macon, Ga.]Published In 1984 • Pages: 111-151

By: McLoughlin, William Gerald, Conser, Walter H., McLoughlin, Virginia Duffy.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This essay attempts to coordinate the few documentary accounts that are available concerning the Cherokee movement known as the 'Ghost Dance' and to match them with models that A .F .C. Wallace, Peter Worsley, and Kenelm Burridge have devised to delineate such movements. The accounts presented here vary greatly both in their details and in the interpretations they place on the movement. Although the Cherokee Ghost Dance movement was clearly a traditionalist revival resulting from the grave psychosocial stress of the years 1789-1810, it can also be seen as a celebration of the Cherokee victory over the efforts to remove them from their homeland in 1808-1810. From this victory they achieved a new sense of unity and national pride. In addition the rumors of war in the West, natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and the wondrous sign of the comet of 1811, all contributed to this many-sided movement (pp. 111-112).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Political movements
Revelation and divination
Prophets and ascetics
Missions
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Cherokee
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Eastern Woodlands
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Historian
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 2006
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1811-1813
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
North Carolina, United States
NotesAdditional notes
by William G. McLoughlin with Walter H. Conser, Jr. and Virginia Duffy McLoughlin
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
84014880
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Cherokee Indians