Shakoka and Mi-neek-ee-sunk-te-ka

Mi-neek-ee-sunk-te-ka

Shakoka

Shakoka and Mi-neek-ee-sunk-te-ka were from the Mandan Indian tribe, a group living on the banks of the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Catlin, who visited the Mandan several times between the years 1832-7, was amazed by physical traits he believed to be unique to this particular group of people. Prichard quotes Catlin’s account when writing: “There is one more strange and unaccountable peculiarity, which probably can be seen nowhere else on earth; nor on any national grounds accounted for, other than it is a freak or order of nature, for which she has not seen fit to assign a reason. There are many, of both sexes, and of every age, from infancy to manhood and old age, with hair of a bright silvery grey; and in some instances almost perfectly white.”

Prichard included the portraits of Shakoka and Mi-neek-ee-sunk-te-ka alongside a portrait of Mahtotohpa, a Mandan chief. While Prichard writes that Catlin noted Mahtotohpa’s strengths as a leader and a warrior, he singles out Shakoka and Mi-neek-ee-sunk-te-ka, who remain nameless in the text, exclusively for their physical attributes; as a result of this recording (or lack thereof), little is known about either of woman. These two people were reduced to their bodies, which were constructed as abnormal through the anthropological gaze.