Social Problems among Cherokee Females: A Study of Cultural Ambivalence and Role Identity*

Social problems among female Cherokees pose perplexing questions concerning both the extent of aboriginal behavioral survival and the nature of accommodative adaptation to the larger white culture. These questions aside, the fact that certain comtemporary behavioral patterns among the Qualla Cherokees are problematic is a reality to both the tribe and to the larger white society. The nature of these problems increasingly involves deviant, defined, overt aggressive behavior, a trend indicative of anomie resulting from both tribal and white cultural normlessness.

A plausible perspective applicable to this phenomenon is the cultural ambivalence framework. Here the dilemma of limited accommodation is viewed as a consequence of the Cherokees’ loss of their traditional heritage, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of their inaccessibility to the substitute white culture. This, in turn, leads to cultural and social normlessness and confused role identities.

While the Eastern Cherokee are by no means the only Indian group to suffer from cultural marginality, they offer a unique cultural environment for a study of this prevalent social problem. The Eastern Band (Qualla Cherokees) were part of the once proud “Cherokee Nation,” which not only represented the highest level of cultural adaptation of any Native American group, but also equaled the cultural lifestyle of the dominant white culture. In addition, they are the only Cherokees presently occupying land which once belonged to their traditional “Nation.” Today, they still remain unique, representing the largest organized tribe of American Indians east of the Mississippi River and, more interestingly, being the most-visited American Indian group in the country (about 8,000,000 tourists each season). Thus, their distinctive past coupled with their unique present situation provides an ideal social environment for an inquiry into the relationship between social (structural) and cultural (value) factors and emerging social p