When man first emerged from the womb of the earth, he was very close to the Great Spirit. He had no voice to use. Man made only two sounds. One was the rhythmic sound of breathing; the other, the pulsating of the human heart. These two sounds put man in synchronization with the entire universe.
There was an opening on the top of man's head, a soft spot. And through this soft spot he could communicate with all of nature--the trees, birds, beasts, men, everything. When a child is born, he or she still has that soft spot. It is only as the child matures, becoming more man-like, that the soft spot closes up.
Eventually, man became sinful and chose to follow his own path, his own rabbit trail. He was not satisfied with what the Great Spirit had given him. Thus man fell from grace, and the opening on his head closed. Man had become more solid. So the Great Spirit was forced to give man a voice.
---Indian legend recited at Nanticoke Indian Powwow, September 6-7, 1986.
Today the Nanticoke Indians find themselves the ironic victims of this hardening of man's head. Cross-cultural ignorance, confused communication, and the resulting misunderstandings brought about the original conflicts between the Nanticoke Indians--the "tidewater people" of Maryland's Eastern Shore--and the Euro-American colonists. Today, this same ignorance overshadows the descendants of the Nanticokes, who live in Indian River, Delaware.
Attempting to describe present-day perceptions of his people, Charles C. Clark IV, son of Chief Red Deer (Kenneth S. Clark, Sr.), reflects, "The biggest problem facing Indian people today is the lack of communication that exists between the races. The purpose of powwows, as public events, is to make a bridge between the races. If there's one difference between the Indian peoples and non-Indians, it's that for all the answers to life, we turn to nature because she gives up everything. This faith in nature is part of a giant webwork that unites all Indian peoples."
The constant necessity to define themselves has become a strong component of "Indianism" in the Nanticoke lifestyle. In many ways, this identity crisis is intracultural as well as intercultural. Most unique qualities of Nanticoke life (the language, religion, customs, and arts) have long been irrevocably lost. Today, the very knowledge of Indian descent must be preserved by new and creative methods. And in their view, the surrounding non-Indian community must be brought finally to recognize the Indians among them.
Clark's reflections are an attempt to verbalize what some social scientists have come to call cultural themes. These themes in turn form a system or complex that encompasses the technology, economy, social organization, and worldview of a distinctive people.
Edward McM. Larrabee presented to the American Philosophical Society in 1976 a model of Euro-American culture contact with North American societies that provides a helpful visualization of the interactions that occurred between the two cultural complexes. The culture contact sequence is divided into three main phases: 1) nondirected culture contact, 2) overt culture conflict, ended by surrender of sovereignty, and 3) directed culture
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