About
We began this project during an Introduction to Digital Humanities course (ENG 587) at NC State University in Fall 2015.
Dr. Stinson provided many opportunities in ENG 587 for us to learn about how to use digital tools in our research interests.
The NCSU Libraries also provided wonderful resources in the form of access, materials, Makerspace, and staff support. Special thanks to Markus Wust, Adam Rogers, and Lauren Di Monte for the workshops they gave the class involving data visualization, data encoding, 3D modelling, and Arduino processing.
We have tried to apply what we learned in ENG 587 to compile this website as a comprehensive pedagogical resource for looking at the food, clothing, and shelter of three Native American tribes using the lens of historical change over time.
We welcome any questions, comments, and feedback, which can be given at the Contact Us page.
Research Process
There is such a rich cultural history of the many Native American tribes that it was difficult to know where to begin researching! The historical context of food, clothing, and shelter helped us to refine our search focus, and we further chose to narrow the tribes studied to three: Cherokee, Sioux, and Navajo. We had two main reasons for doing so:
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These three are the most populous tribes as of the 2010 Census, and
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These three tribes also represent each of the major geographical divisions of Native American tribes: Eastern (Cherokee), Central (Sioux), and Western (Navajo).
As such, we thought they would serve well as a representative sample that would yield interesting parallels and differences amongst each other.
We searched the NCSU Library databases for relevant articles related to each of the tribes and the three facets of study: food, clothing, and shelter. Sample search queries include “Cherokee AND Food”. The research articles have been used to support critical analysis and visualization rendering. We also performed Google searches for images labelled for reuse and noncommercial reuse to add pictures to the site. A description of the digital humanities tools used, such as Voyant, can be found under the Visualizations subpages. Finally, a list of references, including research articles, websites, and tools, can be found here.
