Please keep in mind that these links were active at the time of publication, but websites change. Contact us for updates.

Location

Circle for the Earth takes place in an actual location in South Dakota, on the Lower Brule Reservation. The area transported back in time starts in the center of a loop of the Missouri River and extends in a thirty-mile circle. This includes the towns of Chamberlain, Presho, and other small towns. The towns and businesses included exist, with some names changed. The loop of the river is the size and shape described. Currently inside the loop is farmland. The entire casino and resort inside are fictional. There is a Lower Brule Casino in a different location. There is a hospital in Chamberlain owned by an out-of-state corporation.

Lakota/Nakota/Dakota Reservations

Lower Brule and Crow Creek Reservations

• The Lower Brule Tribe has its own buffalo herd, a meatpacking plant, and an electric school bus. They do not own their own electric company, but they are working on it. They own their own wireless phone company. The community college has a teacher training program.
• Crow Creek Hunkpati Oyate Tribe is in Fort Townsend and in the surrounding area. They operate a boarding school.
• The Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations are food deserts with no large, lower-cost grocery stores within twenty miles.

Lakota Reservations in North and South Dakota

• While substance abuse, crime, suicide rates, unemployment, and poverty are very real for Lakota Reservations in the Dakotas, none are specific to Lower Brule or Crow Creek alone. Significant disparities exist between life in the United States and on the reservations. Crime is between six and twenty times the national average, depending on the reservation. Poverty is the highest on Lakota reservations than any other place in the US. Drop-out rates for high school, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, diabetes, obesity, and other health problems are higher. Every metric that measures the health and well-being of society is significantly worse on these reservations. (see citations in references).
• All the Lakota reservations have suffered from a loss of language. Lower Brule has about 14% native speakers. The local schools are teaching Lakota, as there is a growing interest in language restoration.
• Everything about the protests at the NoDapl protests at Standing Rock was real, including the author’s participation.
• While some drug cartels have been found nationally on reservations, cartels have been found operating in all 50 states.

The Oceti Sakowin — Seven Council Fires — made up of seven allied bands that speak one of three dialects: Dakota, Lakota or Nakota. Brulé, Oglala, Itazipco, Hunkpapa, Mnikoju, Blackfoot, and Two Kettle

Lakota/Nakota/Dakota Tribes

Cheyenne River Reservation

BANDS: Mnicoujou (Planters by the Water), Oohenumpa (Two Kettle), Itazipco (Sans Arc or Without Bows) and Siha Sapa (Blackfoot)

Crow Creek Reservation

BANDS: Mdewakanton (People of Spirit Lake) and Ihanktonwan (Dwellers at the End of the Village)

Flandreau Santee Sioux Reservation

BANDS: Mdewakantonwan (People of Spirit Lake) and Wahpekute (Leaf Shooters)

Lower Brule Reservation

BANDS: Sicangu (Burnt Thigh or Brule)

Pine Ridge Reservation

BANDS: Oglala (Scatter Their Own)

Rosebud Reservation

BANDS: Sicangu (Burnt Thigh or Brule)

Lake Traverse Reservation

BANDS: Sisseton (Fish Dwellers), Wahpeton (Forest Dwellers)

Standing Rock Reservation

BANDS: Hunkpapa (Campers at the Horn) Siha Sapa (Blackfoot), Ihantonwanna (Little Dwellers at the End of the Village) Ihanktonwan (Dwellers at the End of the Village)

Yankton Reservation

BANDS: Ihanktonwan (Dwellers at the End of the Village)

Lakota Language and Culture

For cultural accuracy, go directly to the tribal websites linked above. For language, there is controversy around the Lakota Language Consortium, the largest organization, because of concerns about ownership and how outsiders are profiting. Additional resources:

• Othokahe: An online hub for Dakota/Lakota language  courses taught across Standing Rock and beyond.
• Lakota Language Learning Dakota Texts and White Hat  Orthography
• Facebook has a number of active Lakota Language groups.

Fact or Fiction?

Alternative Energy

• There are no geothermal plants in the area, however, the benefits of geothermal energy are not fictional.
• The two wind farms in the area both sell power outside the area, including to Walmart and Boston University.
• Triple H Wind project is in Hyde County, South Dakota.
• NextEra Energy Resources located outside of Stephens, South Dakota.
• Solar energy is a renewable and clean energy source that doesn’t produce harmful emissions or greenhouse gases. Solar energy systems are generally low maintenance, requiring only occasional cleaning.

Boarding Schools

• Indian Boarding Schools historically were designed to convert natives to Christianity and take away children’s culture and identity. These schools traumatized generations of Indigenous people. National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is working to address some of these issues.
• St Joseph Indian School is real. They have had a boarding school since 1927, now they operate a museum, and a group home style of boarding school. Unlike historical Catholic boarding schools, St. Joseph’s has embraced Lakota culture and teaches the language in its schools.

Books

• The 1632 series by Eric Flint is real, and you can download a free copy here.
• Starhawk writes both fiction and nonfiction, the quote is from the Fifth Sacred Thing.
• Hesperian Foundation is a nonprofit which provides books, apps, and other health and medical materials like Where There is No Doctor and Where There is No Dentist.

Communication and Emergency Preparedness

• goTenna is a real mesh phone that works off grid without cell towers.
• Baofeng radios is one brand of handheld ham radios anyone can buy, but you need a license to transmit.
• There are two radio stations in the area, one Christian, and one NPR affiliate.
• Internet in a Box is real. So are Raspberry Pi computers.
• Khan Academy is a real preK-12, online school.
• The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a FEMA program that educates volunteers to help in natural disasters and other emergencies.
• AT Microfiche Reference Library by Volunteers in Asia, has 1050 PDFs of books and resources on all areas of self-reliance and do-it-yourself technology. It is available to purchase from Village Earth.

Hemp

• Hemp is environmentally beneficial (for the soil, air, and water) It can regenerate and replenish the environment it grows in, is incredibly resilient and can flourish no matter the soil or air quality, or with limited rainfall. It takes less water to grow compared to cotton and trees. Hemp cleans the air, producing oxygen during their growth cycle. Growing hemp also reduces soil toxins and improves soil quality by removing nitrogen from the atmosphere and absorbing toxins from the ground.
• Hemp grows grows in just about any condition without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. It is resistant to disease and pests.
• Hemp is bee-friendly. Many beekeepers use hemp plants as an alternative when other flower sources are not as abundant.
• Hemp improves soil quality and purifies water. It can soak up to three times its own weight in water, improving dry climates and farms with moderate or low rainfall. It only uses about 37% of the amount that cotton does per acre cultivated.
• Hemp actually cleanses the soil it’s growing in, preventing erosion and acidity issues, and leaves the soil rich in nitrogen.
• Hemp production preserves wild animal habitats
• Hemp is stronger than cotton and other natural fibers; it’s literally stronger than steel! Since hemp fiber is stronger than cotton and naturally UV resistant, it makes the ideal material to manufacture durable fabrics for clothing, shoes, and backpacks.
• Hemp is stronger than wood fiber and create almost anything—from hempcrete for construction materials, furniture and as a wood substitute.
• Hemp has the potential to be transformed into plastic materials that are 100% biodegradable and recyclable, yet they have many of the same uses as petroleum-based plastics.
• Hemp can be used in the production of biofuels
• Hemp can produce paper and packaging products that surpass the eco-friendliness of wood-based papers and can be recycled multiple times.

Midwifery

• Certified Professional Midwives are direct-entry midwives who train without becoming an RN first.
• Information from the Network for Public Health Law about Direct Entry Midwives.
• Daphne Singingtree is the author of a midwifery coloring book and other midwifery publications.

Permaculture and Farming

• Permaculture or permanent agriculture, is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature, looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system.
• White River Farm is fictional, based on a similar place, OLCERI on the Pine Ridge Reservation that hosts permaculture gatherings.
• The Dakota Lakes Farm is an actual place who teaches sustainable farming practices.
• All the benefits of hemp are true, more links are in the bibliography.
• Dakota Grain and Mill buys and sells the many tons of grain grown in the area, and yes, they really don’t have a mill.

Police and Military

• The South Dakota Highway Patrol has an office at the location in the book, near the I-90 rest stop. However, it does not have a police armory full of riot and military gear (as far we know).
• Tribal Police in Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations are both under-funded, with very few officers. Having three on duty at a time is overstated and fictional.
• South Dakota police have a plane, just not a new Cessna 206, although that is a plane used by police forces.
• Martial law can suspend civil liberties, such as the right to free speech, free movement, and protection from unreasonable searches. Martial law can also suspend habeas corpus laws.
• The Chamberlain Armory exists and is home to the 200th Engineering Brigade of the National Guard, who served in Iraq in 2017.

References & Bibliography

Bucko, R. A. (2003). Turtle Lung Woman’s Granddaughter (review). Ethnohistory, 50(2), 401-402. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://muse. jhu.edu/article/43360/pdf

Brennan Center for Justice. (n.d.). Martial Law Explained. Brennan Center for Justice. Retrieved from https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research- reports/martial-law-explained

Electronics Weekly. (2023, June). Raspberry Pi Powers MIPI Rural Emergency Response System. Retrieved from https://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/ gadget-master/raspberry-pi-gadget-master/raspberry-pi-powers-mipi-rural- emergency-response-system-2023-06/

Erdoes, R., & Lame Deer, J. (1994). Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions (Enriched Classics).

Grobsmith, E. S. (1991). Review of The Medicine Men: Oglala Sioux Ceremony and Healing, by Thomas H. Lewis. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1033&context=greatplainsresearch

Hare, J. (n.d.). Native American Religions. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from ISTA: http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/index.htm

HBC Heritage. (n.d.). Life of a Voyageur. Retrieved from https://www. hbcheritage.ca/classroom/virtual-museum/fur-trade-nation/life-of-a-voyageur

Marquette University. (n.d.). Surname Index to the Native American Collection. Marquette University Libraries. Retrieved from https://www. marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/BCIM/BCIM-SC1-NAsurnames.pdf

Neihardt, J. G. (1985). The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. University of Nebraska Press. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://books.google.com/books?id=bXElCJTANaoC&pg=PA274

Neihardt, J. G. (n.d.). Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. SUNY Press. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://books. google.com/books?id=7p9VqRLiKqcC

New Orleans.” (n.d.). In History.com. Retrieved from https://www.history. com/topics/us-states/new-orleans

Onda Wellness. (n.d.). 12 reasons why hemp is good for the planet. Onda Wellness. https://ondawellness.com/journal/-12-reasons-why-hemp-is-good- for-the-planet/

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). (n.d.). Hemp’s Versatility and Sustainability Offer Huge Opportunities for Developing Countries. UNCTAD. Retrieved from https://unctad.org/news/ hemps-versatility-and-sustainability-offer-huge-opportunities-developing- countries

Walker, J. R. (1991). Lakota belief and ritual. University of Nebraska Press..

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, March 24). Native Americans and reservation inequality. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_and_reservation_inequality

Yano, H., & Fu, W. (2023). Hemp: A Sustainable Plant with High Industrial Value in Food Processing. Foods, 12(3), 651. doi: 10.3390/foods12030651