Wolf That I Am (Oklahoma Project for Discourse and Theory

by Fred McTaggart, William T. Hagan

The Mesquakies―popularly known as the Fox, or Sac and Fox, Indians―were a large and powerful people in the Great Lakes region in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Now they live on approximately 3,000 acres of communal property near Tama, Iowa, surrounded by white middle-class farmers. Wolf That I Am is the story of a young white academic’s encounter with the Mesquakies whom he got to know while collecting folklore for his dissertation. Fred McTaggart had expected to find a dying oral culture. Instead, he found a thriving way of life based on families and clans, linking the present-day Mesquakie Indians with previous generations, including ancestors who lived before the world was created in its present form. This encounter with a people who live ideas instead of thinking them inspired McTaggart to unlock secrets within himself.

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Mclintoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a subtle book that warrants rereading and much pondering. I have just finished it but I will be thinking about it for a long time.

[Hazel Parks]

no rating because I read this for class but I’m still counting it

[Ryan Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and odd as a piece (artifact?) of scholarship, but very beautifully written.

[David Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went to the library to get In the Absence of the Sacred by Jerry Mander and saw this book on a shelf nearby. I have a slight fascination with wolves so it caught my eye. It turns out wolves play a small part in this book but I am still glad I read it.

I suppose it is a little different from other studies of various tribes, in this case the Mesquakies, because the author was a literature major rather than an anthropologist. So it may have a slightly less scholarly feel to it. And I guess it does a pretty good job of giving you the feel of this tribe’s views as relates to the non-Indian world.

An oversimplification is,,,

You white guys can’t really understand our ways so revealing our sacred stories would naturally be a sacrilege. See you later.

The odd part for me, as an outsider, is I can totally buy that our modern approach to life is somehow fundamentally flawed, so I kind of agree that a “western” interest in their religion might not really get the real meaning. But it also seems they want it both ways, the world “should” understand and accept their world view and simultaneously the rest of the world can never understand and kinda say “we won’t tell you about it any way”

Some of that may be lit major making a point, so maybe I shouldn’t assume.

"One thing you cannot do is join our religion. Why should you leave the religion you had all your lives? Each individual tribe was given its own particular religion to practice as they saw fit. That is what is most important to us.
We are the more religious than any race I know of, It is not just on Sunday, but we are aware of our religion on every day in everything we do." Pg 191

One odd thing is the author seems to make a point of painting this John Buffalo guy as the villain or at least a man of questionable integrity, and since he is a Christian is not really, really, a real Indian. Maybe it is because it turns out this guy help scholars translate and record stories of his people.

And it seems odd to dump on a guy for doing the exact thing the author is trying to do. Plus when they meet he comes across as a man who loved his people, their stories and many other things. Strange

Quotes

(Religion) I use the word only because that is what you can understand. For us there is no one day of the week, no building for a church. Everything we do is religious. Everything is sacred. Pg 16

When I was young I was brought up very different from what you are used to. I was taught that everything was sacred - the animals, the birds, the trees, even rocks. .. I was taught that all things are related. Pg 18

“The top six inches is for man. That you can plow. The rest belongs to God”

“When we eat foot, we give thanks first to the spirits - give a sacrifice to god” 113

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE: Just finished this, and one aspect of the book I'd forgotten was that McTaggart's writing begins to strongly mirror the structure and progression displayed in many of the Mesquakie stories he presents in this book. The last couple of chapters become a bit convoluted as a result, but not seriously enough to lower my overall impression of the book. Quick, easy read, and an interesting mix of academic and personal work.


I read this as a part of my History of Native Americans II course at IU. I liked the book a lot back then, and have decided to re-read it.

So far, I've found McTaggart awkward and bumbling - as any 23-year-old immersing himself in a culture that doesn't feel like it should be alien, yet completely is should feel.

I'll post more as I get further into this book.