Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 1997
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 17, No. 1, Winter 1997, pp. 70.
Abstract
They Call Me Agnes tells the life story of Agnes Yellowtail as narrated to anthropologist Fred Yoget and assisted in his work by Mary K. Mee. Yoget also includes information from other Crow informants and presents a chapter on Crow reservation culture based on Robert Lowie's classical ethnographical data. The last chapter discusses Crow traditional ceremonies and how they have changed during Agnes's life. In his introduction, Yoget gives details about where he has added material to each chapter and where it is Agnes's voice we are hearing.
Agnes Yellowtail was born in a tent during the Crow Indian Fair of 1908. In her childhood many pre-reservation traditions were still followed, but growing up she witnessed the development of a reservation culture. She narrates how every generation adapts to new situations while still remaining essentially Crow. Her own lifeway was a combination of Crow and Baptist values.
Agnes's story covers nearly ninety years of reservation history. She talks about issues of factionalism, caused in part by building Yellowtail Dam, and the difficulty of making a living on the reservation. She and her second husband, Donny Deernose, become involved with American Indian Days and tribal politics. She visited other Indian reservations around the United States and once traveled to Europe.
Though Yoget seems to devalue women's contributions to Crow life slightly, Agnes's narrative shows that in addition to helping her husband in his work, she fulfills the traditional roles of wife, mother to three adopted children, and clan aunt, as well as keeper of women's traditions in the community through dancing and ceremonies.
With the help of the additional material and the orality of the text, readers are offered a vivid sense of Crow culture.
Comments
Copyright 1997 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln