Wampum as Law/Wampum as Meaning

Long before Europeans arrived on indigenous shores, there existed along the eastern seaboard and all around the Great Lakes, an ancient law of international diplomacy.  Treaties were understood to be relationships, and these relationships required annual renewal.   Treaties were sacred, and part of their sacred nature was evidenced by First Nations’ use of wampum shells to encode the general contours of political agreements in long ‘belts’ or stings.  Traditionally, only two kinds of shells were used: white whelk shells, and purple quahog shells.  Pre-contact belts are thus encoded in binary fashion. 

Europeans learned how to engage in wampum diplomacy because without this knowledge, they could not communicate their honest intentions or interests to indigenous allies.  Diplomatic protocol required wampum stings, beads, belts, collars and shells not only to encode the agreements, but also to emphasize and underscore meaning in treaty negotiations.  As an example, at the 1764 Treaty of Niagara, the British produced two belts:  a 24 Nations Belt, and the great belt of the Covenant Chain.   Only though the creation and deployment of these belts could the British convey their political intentions within indigenous diplomatic protocols.

Wampum as Law; Wampum as Meaning will explore the wampum tradition. Readings will focus on the historic record to illuminate the ways in which belts were used inter alia, in treaty negotiations, and the meaning of some historic belts.  Students will be required to design and produce a belt using a wampum loom and bead work.   The course requires regular attendance in class – to learn how to use the looms and bead work - and also to discuss the readings.   The sole assignment for the class, and the basis for evaluation, will be the student’s production of, and presentation about, a wampum belt designed and encoded by the students themselves.