Cherokee, Native American social dances : the ghost dance

Abstract

Statement of research question: This Dissertation was started with the question: Did the Ghost Dance Movement affect the present day culture of the Cherokee Indians, and if so how? The aim of this research is to provide an argument for how the Ghost Dance Movement did, or did not, in fact change, or affect, the culture of the present day Cherokee Indians. In order to prepare to make this argument a few things need to be touched on. Approach: The Approach taken was to lay out all the questions which needed to be answered before an argument could be presented. They are the following: What are some of the basic characteristics of Native American Culture? What was the Ghost Dance Movement? What caused the Ghost Dance Movement to take place? How did the Ghost Dance Movement impact Native Americans as a whole? There were originally many more questions, but as the research progressed what needed to be asked and what could reasonably be answered with the research cut them down to these four stepping stones.