{"id":216,"date":"2022-05-29T21:15:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T19:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.urz.uni-halle.de\/travelingwomen\/?p=216"},"modified":"2022-05-29T21:15:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T19:15:33","slug":"sarah-f-wakefield-six-weeks-in-the-sioux-tepees-a-narrative-of-indian-captivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.urz.uni-halle.de\/travelingwomen\/2022\/05\/sarah-f-wakefield-six-weeks-in-the-sioux-tepees-a-narrative-of-indian-captivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah F. Wakefield\u2014“Six Weeks In The Sioux Tepees: A Narrative Of Indian Captivity“"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In August of 1862, Sarah Wakefield and her two children were captured by a group of Dakotas, members of the Indigenous Sioux nation residing along the Minnesota river, as part of the Sioux\u2019 resistance against the United States\u2019 ongoing dispossession of their land and violence against their people. For several years prior to her captivity, Wakefield had been accompanying her husband John in Minnesota, where he worked as a physician for the Sioux. Wakefield\u2019s \u201cSix Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity\u201d shows not only the unique way in which she perceived the Indigenous people she lived among, but also what those depictions reveal about her own identity as a white Christian woman of the 19th century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE CAPTIVITY TALE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Territory of the Sioux before white settlers (green)
vs. Sioux reservation today (orange)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Typically, captivity narratives were used to defame Native Americans, largely portraying them as \u201csavages\u201d who pose a threat to the expanding Western civilization and especially to the White Woman representing purity and fertility. This caricature of Indigenous people served as a means to justify their elimination to the public, ridding them of any empathy towards people who allegedly rape their women and endanger their future (Kolodny 192). The Sioux tribes, for instance, had been expelled from their land and starved out by white settlers long before the \u201cwar\u201d of 1862, all under the guise of protecting proper Christian values, the necessity of which was propagated in various captivity tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HYPOTHESIS<\/strong>
During her time spent as a captive of the Sioux, Sarah Wakefield learned to develop an understanding and empathy for a select few of them, which ultimately led her to question her world view and advocate for them. However, her narrative still reveals truths about her identity that are built upon Christianity and white supremacy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Wakefield\u2019s perspective differs somewhat from the established perception of Native Americans as usually depicted in captivity tales. Unlike the majority of white Americans in the 19th century, she engages with some\u00a0of the Sioux on a level that is equal to her interactions with other white people, stating that they were \u201cvery kind, good people\u201d (Wakefield 61). After being protected and aided by quite a few of the Natives during the six weeks of her captivity, she expresses her gratitude, pointing out that she believed to be \u201cindebted to those friendly Indians for [her] life and honor\u201d (81). Especially Chaska, one member of the Dakota tribe who had first saved her from death and then proceeded to support her, is mentioned a number of times, emphasizing Wakefield’s gratitude and the special bond she had with him. Her reaction to him being imprisoned after the white settlers defeated the Sioux shows her deep appreciation for him and his kind acts: \u201cI know that I did what was right, that my feelings were only those of gratitude toward my preserver,\u201d (123) she offers as an explanation for the lengths she went to defend him in court. Moreover, she finds herself realizing that some of the Natives do show good, Christian morals, unlike some of the white people she would have associated herself with without question before\u2014namely those who wrongfully executed Chaska despite assuring Wakefield he would be spared after the Sioux‘ imprisonment. This leads to her questioning the authorities and further alienates her from her own people. She clearly distances herself from the government, and ultimately her own American identity is questioned: \u201cIt has caused me to feel very unkindly towards my own people\u201d (123). Thus, it is evident that Wakefield ends up prioritizing Christian morals, making them a major part of her identity construction.
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Sarah F. Wakefield (1829-99)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yet all of this is not to say that Wakefield did not adhere to prejudiced beliefs about Native Americans and notions of her own people\u2019s superiority. On the contrary\u2014it is clear that her support for the Sioux is deeply conditional. In the beginning of her stay with them, she refers to them by various derogatory terms that do not need to be repeated, expecting them all to be violent towards her and other white people, and being surprised when many of them are kind to her. She believes the several acts of kindness that the Sioux show her to stem from an unexpected subscription to Christianity on their part, and it is only then that Wakefield learns to respect them \u201cas if they were whites\u201d (61). At one point she states, \u201cMany persons say the Indian cannot be civilized. I think they can, but did not know it until I lived among them.\u201d (57), which shows her belief that there is a need <\/em>for Indigenous people to be \u2018civilized\u2019 in the first place, that their Westernization is a right and just cause. She pushes the dichotomy of \u2018civilized\u2019 versus \u201cwild man\u201d (64), ultimately proving that her upbringing as a rich, white Christian woman instilled some sense of superiority over others into her. What is remarkable about Wakefield, however, is that she does not use her immense privilege over the Sioux against them, instead making great efforts to save Chaska from execution despite that putting her own reputation at risk. She explains, \u201cI never could love a savage, although I could respect any or all that might befriend me, and I would willingly do everything in my power to benefit those that were so kind to me in my hour of need.\u201d (117) Coming from a woman in her position, these actions can in no way be taken for granted and show that perhaps her journey has altered some aspects of her identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In conclusion, Wakefield\u2019s accounts of the Sioux as well as her own identity constructions appear to be profoundly contradictory. While she cherishes the graciousness and humanity of those that treat her kindly, at the same time she looks down upon others who do not appear \u2018civilized\u2019 and Christian enough to her. It is these same Christian standards, however, that she holds her government to as well, causing her to distance herself from her own people\u2019s lack of morality, which is a decidedly rare voice for the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akers, Donna L. \u201cIndigenous Nations and the United States.\u201d The Cambridge History of America and the World: Volume 2: 1812\u20131900<\/em>, edited by Jay Sexton and Kristin Hoganson, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2022, pp. 60\u201379.\u00a0 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/9781108297479.004.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u2192 explains settler colonialism, dispossession and subjugation of Native peoples\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ciani, Kyle E. Ethnohistory<\/em>, vol. 46, no. 1, 1999, pp. 192\u201395. JSTOR<\/em>, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/483442. Accessed 28 May 2022
\u2192 analysis of how Wakefield defies the idea of \u201ctrue womanhood\u201d and typical captivity narratives by portraying some of her captors in a positive light and holding her government accountable<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiorentino, Daniele. The Journal of American History<\/em>, vol. 86, no. 4, 2000, pp. 1787\u2013 89. JSTOR<\/em>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/2567640. Accessed 28 May 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kolodny, Annette. \u201cAmong the Indians: The Uses of Captivity.\u201d Women\u2019s Studies Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 21, no. 3\/4, 1993, pp. 184\u201395. JSTOR<\/em>, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40022022. Accessed 28 May 2022.\u00a0
\u00a0 \u2192 information on captivity tales and how they propagated negative notions of Indigenous peoples<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wakefield, Sarah F., and June Namias. Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity. <\/em>University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
\u00a0\u00a0 \u2192 Editor\u2019s introduction provides insights into the Dakota War of 1862 and Sarah Wakefield\u2019s life<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictures: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover image: https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1449655197l\/28151679.SY475<\/em>.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah F. Wakefield: https:\/\/www.womenhistoryblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/sarahwakefield.jpg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sioux territory: https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sioux#\/media\/Datei:Sioux01.png<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August of 1862, Sarah Wakefield and her two children were captured by a group of Dakotas, members of the Indigenous Sioux nation residing along the Minnesota river, as part of the Sioux\u2019 resistance against the United States\u2019 ongoing dispossession of their land and violence against … <\/p>\n

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