By now you know I spent almost 2 years on a research team in the Everglades in the 1960s. We would take off for the Cottonmouth Camp Cabin research station (see the African Queen post) from the Shark Observation Tower on US 41, the Tamiami Trail, near the flood control dams and the 40 Mile Bend. A major Miccosukee Tribe village is there. People call all native peoples in Florida Seminoles, but the Miccosukee are a distinct tribe.
When I was a lad, maybe from the time I was 13 or 14, I had a black Phillips 3 Speed English Racer. We lived on the west side of Miami. It was not too many miles to ride out US 41 into the Everglades. I put my fishing rod across the handlebars, the pack on my back with water and supplies, and spent many a day alone in the Everglades fishing and exploring.
I got to know members of the Miccosukee tribe in those years, so many years later when we needed something for our research, I just can’t remember what, I went to the Miccosukee Village and spoke with one of the tribe members I knew and asked if he had it. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had built these lovely suburban-type frame houses elevated several feet because of potential flooding for the tribe.
The traditional housing of the Miccosukee is called a Chickee. It consists typically of four poles with a thatched roof and an elevated floor. It doesn’t protect from the elements except the rain coming above. Of course during South Florida storms the rain comes almost sideways with the wind blowing. It certainly doesn’t keep mosquitos and other wildlife away from you!
One memory of those days alone in the Everglades: I ran out of drinking water. I went to one of the villages and asked one of the women for some water. She took a pot, dipped it into their cistern and handed it to me. Yes, this was one of my early anthropological experiences, because clearly through the water I could see in the bottom of the pot it had been used to cook fish. Lots of the remains of the cooked fish were stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot. There was no way I was going to be ungracious to my host! I swallowed my reaction along with my drink of water!
So this tribe member took me into one of these suburban-style American middle class frame houses. What was inside? Fishing nets, canoes and equipment. They weren’t living in them. They continued to live in the Chickees. But they really appreciated what the BIA did in providing them with such nice warehouses to keep their valuable equipment protected from the elements!
This is not a comment on government! I just find it a very humorous observation as an anthropologist on cultural misunderstanding. A little bit of research and investigation might have given the Miccosukee what they really needed from the BIA.
Related historical side note: Ruth Benedict, who was Margaret Mead‘s mentor, was hired by the US military to advise on how to make the transition of the Japanese nation from a wartime enemy to an occupied nation. She recommended keeping the Emperor in place. Without an anthropologist guiding our military, the occupation of Japan would have been infinitely more fraught with terrible problems.
