1a. What happened to Ishi during his first encounter with the "civilized world"?
2a. What does the word siwini mean?
3a. What was the first question Ishi asked Waterman? How did Waterman respond?
4a. Where did Ishi end up going?
1b. Why do you think Ishi made no move to resist capture?
2b. Why did this word mean so much to Ishi? to Waterman?
3b. Why did Ishi ask Waterman this question? Why did Waterman respond the way he did?
4b. Why was this decision made?
5a. In what ways does Ishi reveal his thoughts and feelings? What clues does he give about his past experiences with Anglo Americans?
5b. In what ways might Ishi's experiences in Oroville and in San Francisco at the university have reinforced his thoughts and feelings about Anglo Americans?
6a. Evaluate the ways in which the author describes Ishi and the events surrounding his capture and move. What words and phrases reveal her attitude toward Ishi? Evaluate the ways in which society in 1911 thought about and behaved toward Ishi. What actions reveal their attitudes? Judge whether the anthropologists did the right thing in bringing Ishi to the university.
6b. Compare the attitudes revealed in Kroeber's biography with those you see in the related reading, "Yana People to Receive Ishi's Brain." What do you think of the policy described in the article and the way the Smithsonian Institution abided by the policy?
Biography. In what ways was the author of this biography an authoritative source of information about Ishi? What about Ishi's life was she unable to tell?
Stereotype. What examples of stereotype did you encounter in this selection? Describe how people's actions, beliefs, and words revealed their stereotypes. What kind of generalization can you make about people's stereotypes in the early 1900s? In what ways have stereotypes changed in the past century? In what ways do they remain similar?
1. Write a list of biographical information about a friend or family member.
2. Write a telegram informing a distant person about a discovery you have made. Remember, telegrams often abbreviate words and omit words not essential to the meaning.
3. Write a hypothesis, or theory, about why Ishi might have ventured into the town of Oroville.
Using Context Clues. One way to build language is to understand new words through context clues. Review the Language Arts Survey 1.16, "Using Context Clues to Estimate Word Meaning." You may also need to refer to a dictionary. Then write the meaning of each of the underlined words in these sentences.
1. The Yana people are Ishi's closest living descendants.
2. Members of the Redding Rancheria and Pit River tribe asked the Smithsonian to repatriate Ishi's remains to the Yana people.
3. The Smithsonian adhered to the National Museum of the American Indian Act of 1989, which required it to return the remains.
4. The laws are based on the idea that Native Americans have the right to determine the destiny of ancestral remains.
5. The law reflects the moral principle that American Indians should be able to conserve their own cultural artifacts.
Interrupters. Review the Language Arts Survey 3.72, "Interrupters." Then identify each interrupter as an interjection, an appositive, a noun of direct address, or a parenthetical expression.
1. Debbie, run this over to Pete's house.
2. Ouch! I stubbed my toe.
3. I'm going to study for the exam tonight; however, I'll take a short break around ten if you want to call.
4. I have to leave, Matt, but I'll talk to you tomorrow.
5. My oldest sister, Trish, saw a movie last night.
6. Oh dear, I lost my glasses.
7. No, I can't wait any longer.
8. Tamara, sit down for a minute.
9. I would love to go to Europe; however, I'm afraid of flying.
10. My neighbor, Chloe, broke her leg.
Internet Research. Do a search on the Internet to find more information about Ishi. Try to answer the following questions.
When was Ishi born?
What caused Ishi's death?
What did Ishi do while living at the university museum in San Francisco?
What does Ishi's name mean?
How long did it take the Smithsonian Institution to return Ishi's brain to the Yana people? What prompted the Smithsonian's action?
Who else has studied the story of Ishi, and what theories do they have about him?
Group Discussion. People called Ishi a "wild man" who suddenly found himself thrust into "civilization." Hold a group discussion in which you address the following idea: Native Americans believed in respecting the earth and not being wasteful. Keeping this in mind, answer the following questions:
What aspects of modern society are not terribly "civilized?"
What aspects of modern society might seem strange or frightening to Ishi?
Writing a Memo. Imagine that you are the chief anthropologist in charge of the study of Ishi in his new world. You have several concerns about protecting Ishi's privacy and respecting his individuality. Before you bring Ishi to the museum, use the space below to write a memo to your staff that describes Ishi and the measures that should be taken to address your concerns.
