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Article ID: CBB331362667

“The Whirlwind Is Coming to Destroy My People!”: Symbolic Representations of Epidemics in Arikara Oral Tradition (2015)

Mark Van De Logt (Author)

American Indian Quarterly
Volume: 39
Issue: 1
Pages: 52-72

DOI: 10.5250/amerindiquar.39.1.0052

URI: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/amerindiquar.39.1.0052

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Oral tradition; oral lore Nature and its relationship to culture; human-nature relationships Folklore Native American civilization and culture Oral history Cosmology Smallpox Epidemics Traditional knowledge 18th century

The article discusses the symbolic representation of epidemic diseases in Arikara oral tradition. It is suggested that cosmological symbols such as whirlwinds, snakes, and bears may have been used to represent the epidemics which affected the Arikara during the 18th century. Particular focus is given to the smallpox epidemic of 1780-1781. It is suggested that the severity and historical contexts of these epidemics led to their being perceived as having cosmological significance.

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