All My Relatives: Exploring Nineteenth-Century Lakota Ontology and Belief

This article is a reinterpretation of the ethnohistorical literature on the Lakota or Western (Teton) Sioux from a Descolian animist perspective. Applying key insights from what has been called the “ontological turn,” in particular, the dual notions of interiority and physicality and an extended notion of personhood that includes nonhumans as well as humans, this article demonstrates how a new animist framework can connect and articulate otherwise disparate and obscure elements of Lakota ethnography, offering new and exciting insights, along with the potential for a deeper understanding of traditional Lakota culture.