Vietnam Akíčita: Lakota And Dakota Military Tradition In The Twentieth Century

Abstract

This dissertation examines the impact of military tradition among Native Americans, embracing many of the twentieth-century wars but with particular emphasis on Vietnam. In total over 42,000 Native Americans served in Vietnam. For the majority of this dissertation, I have centered the experiences of Lakota and Dakota veterans. In using the Lakota and Dakota as a microcosm, I demonstrate how military service has innovated throughout the twentieth-century but also how Indigenous people have strategically used it to continue culture, language, and traditions in everyday life. A variety of factors influenced the high per capita rates of Native service in the twentieth century. For some Native soldiers, military service provided the opportunity to continue and connect with earlier warrior traditions. Those connections included the protection of traditional homelands, their People, and their communities as well as for the survival of their cultural traditions. Other Native veterans turned to the military as an opportunity to leave their isolated and impoverished reservations communities. This dissertation combines oral interviews, autobiographies, Native literature, vinyl records, and powwow music to demonstrate the complexities of Native military service and move beyond stereotypical assumptions.