Post by Okwes on Nov 13, 2006 11:55:38 GMT -5
PBS film to explore Cherokee vitality in the 21st century
SMN
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A one-hour social and cultural documentary on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians called "Spiral of Fire" will air on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m on PBS and on local stations such as UNC-TV.
Part of the Indian Country Diaries series, the film explores how the fusion of tourism, cultural preservation, and spirituality is working to insure the tribe's vitality in the 21st century.
Indian County Diaries uses Cherokee as a lense to epxlroe pressing questions facing all Native American tribes. How has new-found casino wealth changed the fortunes of Native Americans? How are tribes coping with the influx of Indian wannabes, eager for a piece of the pie? How can Native American parents teach their children their tribal history when they were not taught it themselves? Can Christianity and traditional Native American beliefs co-exist? Is there any perfect middle ground between assimilation and isolation?
The story is told by author LeAnne Howe, a Choctaw, who goes on a journey to Western North Carolina where Cherokees, living on lands they've inhabited for 10,000 years, manage their own schools, hospitals, cable company, tourist attractions and multi-million dollar casino. Yet, despite these successes, diabetes threatens 40 percent of the population, racism undermines self-confidence, and greed threatens to divide the community. "Spiral of Fire" reveals the forces at work to restore health, prosperity and sovereignty to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
"There's been criticism of Indians and casinos. I think when Congress passed the law to allow this they just never in their wildest dreams envisioned what has happened with Indian gaming," Joyce Dugan, the only woman elected principal chief and now a casino executive, says in the film. "Whether anyone likes gambling, whether they despise it, whether they agree with it or not, because of it we're finally seeing a sense of independence that we have not seen in over two hundred years."
Casino profits have swelled the tribal budget to $150 million dollars and made the community more self-sustaining. But it's also raised some very contentious issues. To answer this, Howe delves into the complicated arena of tribal politics, where issues of absentee voting, blood quantum, and what it really means to be a Cherokee are being hashed out.
Howe sees first-hand many of the advances that tribal money is paying for, including not only new schools but much-needed education about health, diet, alcoholism, domestic violence, and parenting, and mentoring programs to try to break negative behavioral cycles while children are still young. For more information, go to www.indiancountrydiaries.org.
The film will also be shown at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 in the A.K. Hinds University Center at Western Carolina University.
www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/11_06/11_01_06/fr_pbs_film.html
SMN
----------------------------------------------------------
A one-hour social and cultural documentary on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians called "Spiral of Fire" will air on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m on PBS and on local stations such as UNC-TV.
Part of the Indian Country Diaries series, the film explores how the fusion of tourism, cultural preservation, and spirituality is working to insure the tribe's vitality in the 21st century.
Indian County Diaries uses Cherokee as a lense to epxlroe pressing questions facing all Native American tribes. How has new-found casino wealth changed the fortunes of Native Americans? How are tribes coping with the influx of Indian wannabes, eager for a piece of the pie? How can Native American parents teach their children their tribal history when they were not taught it themselves? Can Christianity and traditional Native American beliefs co-exist? Is there any perfect middle ground between assimilation and isolation?
The story is told by author LeAnne Howe, a Choctaw, who goes on a journey to Western North Carolina where Cherokees, living on lands they've inhabited for 10,000 years, manage their own schools, hospitals, cable company, tourist attractions and multi-million dollar casino. Yet, despite these successes, diabetes threatens 40 percent of the population, racism undermines self-confidence, and greed threatens to divide the community. "Spiral of Fire" reveals the forces at work to restore health, prosperity and sovereignty to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
"There's been criticism of Indians and casinos. I think when Congress passed the law to allow this they just never in their wildest dreams envisioned what has happened with Indian gaming," Joyce Dugan, the only woman elected principal chief and now a casino executive, says in the film. "Whether anyone likes gambling, whether they despise it, whether they agree with it or not, because of it we're finally seeing a sense of independence that we have not seen in over two hundred years."
Casino profits have swelled the tribal budget to $150 million dollars and made the community more self-sustaining. But it's also raised some very contentious issues. To answer this, Howe delves into the complicated arena of tribal politics, where issues of absentee voting, blood quantum, and what it really means to be a Cherokee are being hashed out.
Howe sees first-hand many of the advances that tribal money is paying for, including not only new schools but much-needed education about health, diet, alcoholism, domestic violence, and parenting, and mentoring programs to try to break negative behavioral cycles while children are still young. For more information, go to www.indiancountrydiaries.org.
The film will also be shown at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 in the A.K. Hinds University Center at Western Carolina University.
www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/11_06/11_01_06/fr_pbs_film.html