Watch the following YouTube Video

Iroquois Confederacy: First Democracy of the Americas (22:20) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4_vwKyeG58

Assignment

Write a 3-to-4-page reflective paper on the question, “Is democracy the best to govern?” Include supporting information from the video.

Use these questions and statements below as some guidelines for the reflective paper:

Give a brief history of the Iroquois confederacy. Explain what you think made it work.

 

Demonstrate how important it is to use holism when trying to set up a society and the way that society will be governed.

 

Discuss why the long house is such an important concept. What does it symbolize?

 

In addition, discuss what was so significant about the way they planted their main crops and what does that represent metaphorically?

 

Explain how the Iroquois passed down history and learning about their culture? Include why it is so important to hear this emic view and why language is important to this way of transmitting history.

 

Retell when the way of life for the Iroquois began to change and what type of changes this brought. Explore if you think language also changed as these changes occurred. Why would that be important?

 

Illustrate ways in which more gender equality might influence the decisions about conflict resolution. Discuss how gender roles were divided.

 

Examine how the Iroquois were treated during the negotiation process. Were they treated fairly? Explain how this goes against the concept of democracy. When was it recognized that the Iroquois contributed to the founding of democracy? Discuss problems that still exist.

 

In the video a point about conflict resolution comes about when they mention Lacrosse. Explain what significance that would have?

 

Describe the concept of “everyone has a gift” mentioned in the video.

 

Explore situations you see today that might benefit from these concepts being applied today.