The Plains Vision Experience: A Study of Power and Privilege

Although the vision experience was institutionalized among American Indian societies on the Plains and in peripheral areas, it displayed considerable variation in both form and function. Aside from Benedict's early study of the vision, which detailed its numerous variations, most accounts speculate about its assumed universal psychological functions for the individual. An interest in the social functions of this institution suggested that it might be useful to examine differences in the vision in the light of ecological and evolutionary theory. The assumption was made that ecological differences are associated systematically with differences in social organization. It was further assumed that cultural phenomena, such as the vision experience, can be viewed as adaptations which support and facilitate the operation of the social structure. An examination of the ethnographic data indicated that the vision, as an adaptive mechanism, changed its form and function in accord with changes in social structure. Mor...