We begin with a description of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy as well as a discussion of the Hiawatha Belt. Both images are on Blackboard. We then move into the text itself, focusing first on the notable similarities between the Peacemaker and Christ. We use this as a springboard to a wider discussion about how to understand Christian influences in Native literatures--an important point for next week's reading. We then considered how this text is invested in the material/physical manifestations of "words," and we wonder how this comports with our expectation of Native societies as "oral." We close with short discussions about the Haudenosaunee's influence on the U. S. Constitution and the role of women in Haudenosaunee governance.
