One potential topic I’d like to explore is the role of women in Lenape culture. I’m currently in a course called Found Philadelphia and we’ve been learning a bit about the Lenape people who inhabited this land before the settlers arrived. I’ve been particularly drawn to the role of women because we learned that life was far more egalitarian between the sexes in Lenape society than in colonial society. For example, the creation story puts women at the center of it all and marriage was matrilineal. I’ve been very interested in learning about matriarchal and even societies that are more egalitarian compared to the patriarchal societies we tend to learn about in the United States and Europe. I hope from this research topic I can learn more about why and how the Lenape were comparatively more equal between the sexes.
I’ve also been thinking about looking into Lenape mythology. I was thinking of examining how these legends influenced their ways of life and understanding of the world around them. Additionally, I wanted to look at how the myth may have changed with the introduction of Christianity once the colonists arrived. I was drawn to this idea because I’ve been learning a lot about how people used religion or spirituality to make sense of life in my class African Civilization. In my research, I hope to uncover how certain stories are created to explain nature and human behavior as well as uncover how legends influenced Lenape culture.
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