History of the Proto-Historic Period
Lance Foster's new book is called The Indians of Iowa, and it is an outgrowth of his long-admired and now defunct web project called "Native Nations of Iowa". This current work pulls together Native American history and archaeology to profile ten Native American groups who are known historically to have resided in what is today the midwestern US state of Iowa: the Ioway, Meskwaki, Sauk, Omaha and Ponca, Otoe and Missouria, Pawnee and Arikara, Potowatomi, Santee and Yankton Sioux, and Winnebago. Foster also includes discussion of the history of some tribes who stayed only briefly in Iowa: Mascouten, Kansa, Kickapoo, Delaware, Miami and others.
Each profile includes a tantalizing taste of the history, culture, archaeology and famous people associated with the tribe. The profiles are interleaved with sidebars on topics such as traditional life, Indian history, Native spirituality, and Native place-names. Throughout are examples of Foster's unique art work, a blend of Native American ledger art and the modern graphic novel.
A Dreamy Landscape
The Indians of Iowa is a dreamy book—images and ideas slip and slide as Foster describes how each of the groups moved in and around Iowa from neighboring regions along the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers during what archaeologists call the "proto-historic period". Although written records are absent prior to the coming of the Europeans, tribal histories for the 17th and 18th centuries are extant, kept by tribal elders and then written down by tribal historians. Foster's book includes information from several of these historians, as well as the records of the Euro-Americans and archaeological data.
The tribes' histories tell us that over the past three or four hundred years each tribe repeatedly split and united, in part as a reaction to the conflict and disease brought by Euro-American colonization. The restless forced wanderings of the tribes are communicated to the reader in Foster's sparse prose.
The climate and character of the midwestern United States—Iowa caught in the middle between the plains of the Dakotas and Nebraska and the woodlands of Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, are an understated but important element of this story. The reader is sharply reminded that modern state borders are artificial, and that we moderns live almost above and outside of what is the natural landscape. At the same time, we are reminded that historic borders and places in Iowa are reflections of an earlier time, really not all that long ago.
Bottom Line on The Indians of Iowa
My only complaint about the book is it is too short, especially when it covers famous Native Americans mentioned in the book. Some I recognize as having amazing stories which are not told here—Francis LaFlesche, Jim Thorpe, Johnny Green, Bloody Knife—some I never heard of but am now compelled to find out more. You will be, too. Fortunately, Foster includes several ways to do that, including websites, books, and tribal contacts. Several appendices include a list of Native American sites to visit, very useful to people who want to know more about the Native Americans who lived (and some who still live) in Iowa.
The Indians of Iowa is not just for Iowans, but for anyone with an interest in the recent history of the land and indigenous people residing near the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It blends Foster's art, history from the tribes and a touch of archaeological data to create a picture of what this part of the country was like only a few hundred years ago.
Foster is a member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and teaches at the University of Montana-Helena College of Technology. In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that Lance Foster has been a colleague and acquaintance of mine for something approaching fifteen years.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
