Gealtinneas

Publication Instance Details #2411

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Genocide Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language)
War / Genocide Referenced	Genocide: Genocide of indigenous people in USA (pre 20th century)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	Poem describing the duplicity of the white man's dealings with Native peoples in America: the breaking of the treaties, ethnic cleansing, the taking of everything dear to the Native peoples. The speaker focuses here on the Sioux tribe's attachment to the religious leader, Wovoka, who initiated the second 'Ghost Dance'. The 'Ghost Dance' phenomena were believed to hasten the restoration of the Native American lands and the ousting of the white man. Significantly, these 'Ghost Dance' beliefs led to the massacre at Wounded Knee (also referenced in the poem) as the 'ghost shirts' failed to protect the Native American fighters from death, as had been promised by Wovoka. The speaker of the poem describes these events, acknowledging the the Sioux fooled themselves into believing the 'Ghost Dance'. However, the strongest criticism is reserved for the white settlers, who have committed ethnic cleansing.