Study Guide for John Loftin’s Religion and Hopi Life and the film Hopi, Songs of the Fourth World

1. What does Loftin mean when he states that Hopi think that religion is practical and that the practical is religious?

2. What ways is Hopi religion tied to horticulture?

a. sacredness of the earth
            b. importance of rain to growth of the crops
            c. Horticulture was given to the Hopi by god.
            d. Hopi enact the beginnings of the world whenever they grow their crops.
            e. Human life is symbolized in the growth of crops, esp. corn.

3. What impact has the Euro-American world had on the Hopi and on their religion?

a. conversion to Mormonism.
            b. Tribal council diminishes power of village chiefs and religious leaders.
            c. loss of land and sacred places
            d. capitalist economic practices and ideas
            e. syncretism

4. How do the values of contemporary Euro-American life come into conflict with Hopi religion?

a. short term gain
b. takes them away from Hopi land
c. takes them away from horticulture and the sacredness of earth and crops.

5. According to Loftin, what are the central tenets of Hopi religion?

a. that religion maintains the world in harmony and keeps the people alive and well.
b. that the land is sacred.
c. that the world here is a repetition of prophecy and everything occurred before in a previous world.
d. that the attitudes one brings to ceremonies affect the outcome of the ceremonies for good or for bad.
e. that rain, fog, breath and moisture are the sacred essence of life.
f. that the kachinas influence life in this world

           6. What were the sources of change in Hopi life and culture?

a. Formal schooling in federal government schools
b. New technology, connected to market economy
c. Economic development
d. Loss of land, e.g., Dawes or General Allotment Act
e. Loss of degrees of sovereignty
f.  Mass media
g. Missionaries
h. Tribal constitution and government

7. The Hopi were forced to send their children to non-Hopi schools? What were the impacts on Hopi life of this forced assimilation?

8. What strategies and bases do the Hopi use to maintain their culture and identity and how effective are these strategies? 

a. Compartmentalization
b. Syncretism
c. Prophecies
d. Gradual incorporation

9. p. 103 Why do the Hopi object to the use of their artifacts in museums?