Sharing Traditional Knowledge Through Landforms 11Th Annual Cultural Resources Protection Summit, Suquamish May 23-24, 2018
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Sharing Traditional Knowledge Through Landforms 11th Annual Cultural Resources Protection Summit, Suquamish May 23-24, 2018 MARGO HILL, JD, MURP EWU TRIBAL PLANNING PROGRAM [email protected] Why is important to protect cultural resources? What you do a Archaeologists, Anthropologists, Ethnographers and Historians is so important. Natural Resources are not Commodities Define Landforms Tribal Sovereignty Why teach a “connection to place?” Mind Numbing Sameness Passing traditional knowledge to future generations Traditional Indian View Traditional native view is that the landforms and the Indian people are connected. Indians are connected to nature and we believe we are related in many ways. My Colville Indian buddy Deb Louie: he talked about walking in the mountains. Indians have a oneness with the land. Even during Vietnam (war), Natives were put on point because they could feel (the land) and feel the enemy. Kettle Falls – Ceremony of Tears What are landforms? “Landscapes are extensive tracts of land and all that is on them – trees, rivers, beaches, mountains, crops, wildlife, buildings, roads and people.” (Robinson/Green p. 37) In the case of Native peoples, landscapes would also include camp sites, traditional hunting and fishing grounds, berry picking patches and sacred sites. Places that associated with stories and legends. I will discuss these landforms as traditional cultural places and their importance to native community development (Tribal Planning). Spokane River at Sunset Sacred sites used today The Spokane Tribe of Indians has sacred locations that they still used today in coming of age ceremonies for their young people. There is a mountain along the Spokane River toward the West End of the reservation that young Spokane’s would embark on their vision quest. The Tribe and Social and Health Services program use this location for a young men and women’s gathering campout. Young girls carry large rocks up the hillside to illustrate both that it is difficult to pack a young child and that they are capable of overcoming obstacles. “They (landforms) take on meaning as people interact with them, and that meaning becomes part of how people see themselves, as attached to and shaped by a particular place (Robinson/Green p. 37).” By interacting with the natural landforms young people learn valuable lessons and become young adults. Sacred sites on Spokane River Yap keen um – Gathering Place The Salish language we say “Yap keen um” – which means Gathering Place. Some areas were known for social gathering places. The “c’ec’c’ap” meaning “Granite” in Spokane salish was a location that Spokanes and Colvilles use to gather during the fishing season, engaging in sports and gambling. The name of Hawk’s Nest Hill located east of the National Park Service subdistrict headquarters on the east side of Lake Roosevelt is also called m’ekwal’ meaning “Big Hill”. During In fishing season when great numbers of people were at the Falls, the Indian people held foot races that circled around the base of big hill. “As humans interact, they assign social meaning to places and use these meanings as symbolic markers that facilitate mutual understanding through shared interpretation of worldly settings and events.” Contamination of a Sacred Site- Grave Digger Following the routes of our ancestors Today, tribal elders like Jim Sijohn tells us “We fish the places where our grandparents took us.” Along the Spokane River, near Blue Creek, there was what Indian referred to as the CCC camp. The Civilian Conservation Corps – public work relief program (1922- 1943) by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The was a traditional spiritual spot where Spokane Tribal people would go to sweat and pray. They would “finish off” (immerse in the water) in Blue Creek. People came from all over to go to medicine dances at this sacred location. Now uranium contaminates this spot. Midnite Uranium Mine Social gatherings become ingrained and take on their own meaning Anglo society has family or class reunions. Tribal peoples have pow-wows, feasts and ceremonies that they have carried on for hundreds of years at the same locations. Over time, these social meanings become ingrained and take on their own independent form. Jim Boyd sings a song about sticks and bones at Twin Lakes: hidden beach “Sticks and Bones until daybreak.” For tribes across the country we have enjoyed traditional gambling games for thousands of years. For the Colville Tribe playing stickgame at Hidden Beach until the early morning hours brings a shared experience. For the Yakama Nation simply mention Parker Dam and we have memories of Selams playing stickgame. College Students/Alumni have homecoming events. Why teach the meanings of landforms today? Why have meaning? Native to Nowhere? If our younger generations have no concept of traditional values for our homelands why would they protect it? *It is important to create a meaning for location. We must get back to our traditional values of being connected to place! If we begin to treat our land simply as a commodity we are like that of the purely capitalistic society. Native to Nowhere In the book titled “Native to Nowhere” the author Timothy Beatley discussed the alarming trend of “mind-numbing sameness.” “As the march of globalization continues, it manifests across the continent in places that look and feel alike. In shopping malls that carry the same stores, and in commercial strip that have the same fast-food franchises, there is a stifling sense of sameness to the new suburban and exurban landscapes we inhabit (Beatley p.2).” All communities Native and Mainstream America need to protect the historical and uniqueness of the places where they live. Humans are changing the planet – Great Acceleration We’ve stripped the original forests from much of North America and Europe; We’ve helped push tens of thousands of species into extinction; Our presence has been felt in the Oceans by overfishing and marine pollution; Artificial fertilizers have increased food production and, with it, human population; An article in Time Magazine the human change to the planet so rapid that last 50 yrs = Acceleration. Understand the history of the landscape This goes for tribal managers who have live on the reservation all their lives. Do they know and understand the historical conditions of the landscapes they manage? A good manager must know their history and traditional tribal knowledge of an area. Knowing the history of a land base is important and beneficial to the tribe. It can help with the fee to trust process. (Today’s Battle! 19 steps) In one case the Spokane Tribe used a tribal tradition story to get land into trust. The “Elk Site Story” tells of how the Spokane people almost starved to death but one chief and his wife saved the people by finding an Elk at a particular site. It is a story of survival and respect. Sharing Traditional Knowledge through landforms! Indian people were driven out of their traditional territory by turmoil and conflict with settlers and miners. One Spokane tribal cultural leader referred to our reservations as “Concentration Camps.” When reservations were established Indian people were told they would be shot if they left the reservation. So they pushed us up on Mountain Rocks, or desolate areas that they (settlers) had no use for. They devoured all the fertile farmland and besting grazing land. (Arlee SKC elder told of removal 22 million acres to 1 million) Even though the reservations that were established were but a small part of our aboriginal territories we have cherished them. We need to continue to care for them and teach our next generation about the importance of our homelands! Indians were Engineers and Scientists! Some of the information I will be sharing is based on a projected completed by the Colville Tribes under a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) contract. This project utilized many tribal elders from the Colville Tribes and Spokane Tribe. They have the full report on the Colville Confederated Tribes website. This Tradition Cultural Property study provides an initial inventory of significant place names, and to present maps of places with Indian names. (Look for your tribe’s TCP study) Traditional Cultural Places and our spiritual connection to the land. Traditional Cultural Places deal directly with the Tribal community, our tribal heritage and the spiritual connection to the land. We must make Traditional Cultural places important to our communities today! Traditional Cultural Places bring tribal people and the preservation of our traditions into the forefront. “Traditional Cultural Places are important to a community in the preservation and continuation of the community’s traditional lifestyle. (p.6) Is the traditional site located off reservation? Sometimes these locations are now located off reservation. When tribal members were restricted to the reservation for years, they may have lost the use or control of a traditional place and later were unable to obtain access to traditional places. Now the Spokane people obtain permission from BLM to travel to traditional root digging location “Coffee Pot Lake.” Treaty rights? Indians were Smart and resourceful Ce Ce use (capable) “Wakmtusm” “Get a Glimpse” Our elders knew our traditional areas. They could tell you where there were herds of wild horses. They knew point locations that could be used for protection. A trail to the mouth of the Sanpoil River has a spot called “wakmtusm” meaning “get a glimpse”. Thus, the spot allowed the Indian people to see or glimpse travelers on the trail. Name derived from the root work “wik” which refers to the trail. Harvesting materials for ceremonies Our people knew where to harvest the materials we needed for ceremonies. How we prepared can be learned by the name of the site. The name of a mountain southwest of Keller is “?akltulmn” meaning “Ochre paint place” which is now anglicized (Suyapee) as Tolman.