AmericanA NATIONAL MUSEUM of the Indian-|i- -ti# Summer 2001 Celebrating Native Traditions & Communities

^ ^ Smithsonian ^ National Museum of the American Indian K

My IndianName is “Shining Shield,” my story is alive.

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Chris Simon (Shining Shield), age 29, Professional Hockey Player for the NHL’s Washington Capitals, Ojibwa, knows the importance of keeping the story alive. He is one of the many people the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian ; can call friend and supporter. He knows that he is helping to preserve the rich culture of. his people. Preservation for generation. He knows that someday his great-grand­ daughter will thank him. The stories are about me and they are about you. The NMAI is working to make sure that the tradition is continued. The museum in collaboration with Native peoples is dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, history, and arts of the Americas. Currently the NMAI is building a museum in Washington, D.C., next to the U.S. Capitol, where these powerful stories will be kept alive.

/fo''Great if AWAMERICAN Spirit

Help Keep the Stories Alive: For as little as $20 join the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian P.O. Box 23473 Washington, D.C. 20026 Call today: (202) 357-3164 or 800-242-6624 www.nmai.si.edu

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian ® CONTENTS

Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 2001 FEATURES

Cover: Guadalupe Alvarez de Callanaupa The Return of the Bison photographed by JJ Foxx/NYC Richard Peterson (Assiniboine/Sioux) writes about tribal efforts to restore vital populations of bison to reservation land. The Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative in Rapid City, S.D., reports that about 50 tribes in the U.S. have collectively re-introduced approximately eight to nine thousand bison in 16 states. Ken Blackbird (Assiniboine) takes us to Crow country on top of the Big Horn Mountains to marvel at the landscape on which about 1,500 head of bison thrive.

PERSPECTIVES...... 5 MUSEUM NEWS...... 6 COLLECTIONS...... 20 COYOTE’S PLACE...... 22 CALENDAR OF EVENTS...... 25 DID YOU KNOW?...... 29 A View of Mayan Life GUEST ESSAY...... 30 Maruch Santiz Gomez (Tzotzil Maya) allows us to see contemporary Mayan life in Mexico through her photographs. Shown around the world in museums, galleries, and magazines like Aperture, Santiz’s work records the cultural changes that affect Mayan traditions today. K. Mitchell Snow writes about Santiz and her black-and-white photography which appears in this issue. Smithsonian Institution 3 American Indian Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 2001 Celebrating Native Traditions eb Communities

Editorial Board Editoriai. Committee Tim Johnson (Mohawk) James May Thomas W. Sweeney Ramiro Matos (Quechua) Karen Lincoln Michel (Keetoowah Band of (Citizen Potawatomi) Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway) (Ho-Chunk) Cherokee) Millie Knapp Marty Kreipe de Montano José Barreiro (Taino) Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) (Kitigan Zibi Anishnabe) (Prairie Band Potawatomi) Charlotte Heth (Cherokee) Mark Trahant Terence Winch Russ Tall Chief (Osage) Leslie Logan (Seneca) (Shoshone-Bannock) Bruce Bernstein Edison R. Wato, Jr. (Zuni) Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe)

Board of Trustees Phyllis Young Chair Vine Deloria, Jr. George Gund Mari Carmen Serra Puche (Standing Rock Sioux) (Standing Rock Sioux) Lawrence M. Small Hon. Ted Stevens James A. Block Charles M. Diker Hon. Daniel K. Inouye Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) Ellsworth Brown Jorge A. Flores Ochoa Peter J. Johnson Rosita Worl (Tlingit) Sheila P. Burke (Quechua) Loretta E. Kaufman Ofelia Zepeda Director: Duane Champagne Catherine S. Fowler Hartman Lomawaima (Hopi) (Tohono O'odham) W. Richard West (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Doug George-Kanentiio Henrietta Mann (Southern Cheyenne) Elouise Cobell (Blackfeet) (Mohawk) (Southern Cheyenne) Publisher: Elizabeth Duggal

Editor in Chief: International Founders Council Thomas W. Sweeney Gene A. Keluche (Wintun) Charles M. Diker Peter J. Johnson Lewis S. Ranieri (Citizen Potawatomi) Co-Chair Valerie T. Diker Loretta E. Kaufman David Rockefeller I. Michael Heyman Joan C. Donner Victor A. Kaufman Ellen Napiura Taubman Managing Editor: Co-Chair John L. Ernst Mrs. Seymour H. Knox III William S. Taubman Millie Knapp (Kitigan Zibi Robert McC. Adams Margot P. Ernst Gerald M. Levin R. E. Turner Anishnabe) Ann Simmons Alspaugh Jane Fonda Ivan Makil (Pima) Thomas W. Weisel Coyote’s Place Editors: Barbara H. Block George Gund Nancy Fields O'Connor Peterson Zah (Navajo) Shawn Termin (Lakota) and James A. Block Brian C. McK. Henderson (Shawnee/Crow) Rosalind Begay Zah (Navajo) Johanna Gorelick Barber B. Conable, Jr. Eugene Mercy

Calendar Editor: George Gustav Heye Center Board of Directors Russ Tall Chief (Osage) Barbara H. Block John L. Ernst Janet C. Krissel Ann R. Roberts Art Director: James A. Block Margot P. Ernst Barbara Riley Levin Jane F. Safer David Beyer (Cree) Wahleah Faulkner Davis Brian C. McK. Henderson Ellen Liman Ellen Napiura Taubman X2idea Inc., Toronto (Cherokee) Alan J. Hirschfield Nancy Fields O'Connor Ann G. Tenenbaum david@x2idea. com Charles M. Diker Loretta E. Kaufman (Shawnee/Crow) Valerie T Diker Francesca Kress William A. Potter Membership/Circulation Manager:

Edison R. Wato, Jr. (Zunt) National Campaign Honorary Committee Advertising Manager: The Rt. Rev. Ralph T. Coe Paul Newman Sargent Shriver Carol Grace Hicks Robert M. Anderson Kevin Costner Arnold Palmer Martin Sullivan (202) 357-3164 ext. 179 Mr. and Mrs. President Gerald R. Ford Janine Pease-Windy Boy Maria Tallchief (Osage) Robert O. Anderson and Mrs. Ford (Crow) Stewart L. Udall Production Management. Willard L. Boyd R. C. Gorman (Navajo) President and Mrs. James D. Wolfensohn Richard Kirk (Tuscaror a!Onondaga) President George Bush LaDonna Harris (Comanche) Ronald Reagan Kirk/Marsland Advertising, Inc. Ben Nighthorse Campbell James A. Joseph Robert Redford (Northern Cheyenne), Chair George F. MacDonald W. Ann Reynolds Administrative Coordinator: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee) Rabbi A. James Rudin Leonda Levchuk (Navajo) President Bill Clinton José Matos Mar Douglas W. Schwartz

American Indian (ISSN 1528-0640, USPS 019-246) is published quarterly by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), 470 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Suite 7103, Washington, D.C. 20560-0934. Periodical Postage paid at Washington, D.C.. American Indian is a benefit of NMAI membership and constitutes $8 of an individual’s annual membership. Basic membership is $20. Articles may be reprinted at no charge provided that by-lines are retained and the name “Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian” is fully credited. Letters to the Editor are welcome. Write to us at: NMAI, Office of Public Affairs, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, D.C., 20026-3473, telephone: (202) 357-3164 or e-mail letters to the editor to [email protected]. To become a NMAI Charter Member, call 1-800-242-NMAI (6624) or write NMAI, Member Services Department, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, D.C., 20026-3473, or visit NMAI’s Web site at www.si.edu/nmai. For change of address requests for Charter Members, please call 1-800-242-NMAI (6624) or e-mail us at [email protected]. Postmaster send change of addresses to American Indian, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, D.C. 20026-3473.

4 American Indian ® PERSPECTIVES Many Reasons to Feel Proud As the Mall Museum begins to rise, we pause to share our pride and give thanks

by Elizabeth Duggal progress possible over more than a decade. We take have been a wonderful way to meet Museum pride in the fact that for as little as $20 per year you members and hear why you care so much about atching the Mohegan Indian can become a Museum member, receive this pub­ seeing the completion of our Museum in three i | ' . Tribe of Connecticut being lication, and know that your contribution is mak­ places - New York City, Suitland, and honored at a ceremony at the ing a major difference. Washington, D.C. ! 1 U.S. Senate in June was an How has your support helped? Since die On a personal note, I want to say that meeting occasion that made us both Museum was chartered by Congress in 1989, the NMAI Director Rick West at the British Museum proud and joyful here at the National Museum of NMAI has established our permanent New York several years ago has changed my life and that of the American Indian (NMAI). As you will read in museum, the George Gustav Heye Center; opened my family in many wonderful and expansive ways. the Museum News section of this issue of our stunning Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in As the chairman of the International Friends of American Indian, the Connecticut tribe’s extreme­ Suitland, Md.; and completed the site work for the the British Museum, 1 met Rick West a number of ly generous $10 million contribution toward the Mall Museum in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, we times and was most impressed with his articulate ongoing construction of our Museum on the Mall are moving our world-renowned collection of and evocative speeches about the work of the demonstrated the firm commitment that Native more than 800,000 Native objects from New York NMAI. When Rick offered me the job as head of communities have toward our Museum and its City to the CRC and have opened to the public the the NMAI’s development and external affairs, I mission. Mark Brown, Mohegan tribal chairman, Welcome Center on our Mall construction site. was thrilled with the opportunity to be involved summed it all up in his comments about the You are most welcome to visit the Center when with such an internationally admired institution. importance of this prominent museum now in the you are next in Washington (details can be found And as a native Coloradan, I am happy to be back making. Chairman Brown told the assembled in Museum News). in the United States and to be able to learn so audience of legislators, museum officials, This year the Mall Museum’s concrete frame­ much about the Native communities of our nation reporters, and others that this extraordinary gift work will begin to rise in front of the Capitol, as and hemisphere. represents an important opportunity for we anticipate our public opening in 2004. You, While our National Mall Museum now rises, American Indians to tell their own stories and for our valued members, have made this all happen and as we launch more new and exciting exhibi­ millions of Museum visitors to learn about the and we are most grateful and appreciative. And tions, such as Spirit Capture at the Heye Center in essential contributions made over many centuries we look forward to your continued involvement, New York, I hope that you will be as proud of our by Native communities. membership, and support. In my job as director progress as we all were during our recent celebra­ As Charter Members of the NMAI, you too of external affairs and development, I have had tion with the Mohegans. ■ have made valuable contributions to the Museum the privilege of meeting many of you as I travel Elizabeth Duggal is the director of external affairs through your ongoing support. More than throughout the nation. Our city tours in Los and development of the National Museum of the 250,000 individuals like you have made our Angeles, Denver, Santa Fe, and Oklahoma City American Indian.

Smithsonian Institution 5 ® MUSEUM NEWS Mohegan Tribe Donates $10 Million

; H he Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut objects, and knowledge. We are announced a $10 million contribution for proud to join this project.” the construction of the National Museum of Brown stated that a museum the American Indian (NMAI) on June 5, 2001, in on the National Mall will go a Washington, D.C. The donation moves the NMAI long way toward providing forward a large step toward the goal of raising accurate information about approximately $90 million needed to complete the Native Americans. “It’s not that Museum. The Mohegan donation matches what people don’t have enough infor­ was previously the largest single cash donation in mation, it’s that they don’t have the history of the Smithsonian Institution - the the proper information,” he said. Pequot donation of 1994. The tribal chairman reported The donation was formalized at a signing cer­ that a letter was sent to the 1,450 emony in the hearing room of the Senate Mohegan tribal members to Committee on Indian Affairs. Sen. Daniel K. explain why the tribe should Inouye (D-Hawaii), a long-time NMAI supporter, make the donation. The hosted the ceremony. “This generous gift signals Mohegan tribe operates the Native communities’ commitment and substantial Mohegan Sun Casino near support for the Museum,” he said. “The Mohegans Uncasville, Conn., one of the are helping to build a place of learning and most successful Indian casinos reconciliation.” Members of the Mohegan tribal in the U.S. “By doing this, we council, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), think we can help other Native Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), Rep. American nations.” Robert Simons (R-Connecticut), Smithsonian “We realize we have a fiduci­ Secretary Lawrence Small, and NMAI Director W. ary responsibility to pay down Mark Brown, Mohegan Tribal Chairman with W. Richard West, Richard West (Southern Cheyenne) attended the our debt and a responsibility to Director, National Museum of the American Indian. ceremony. our membership. But for too The nine-member Mohegan tribal council had long, Hollywood executives have portrayed our As well as contributing significantly to the con­ unanimously approved the donation. “There is no people falsely, and this interpretation has created a struction, the Mohegans’ gift will be used for exhi­ greater way for Indian people to tell our story to false impression,” he related. Brown remarked that bitions and public programs. “The magnitude of the world than through this monument located in tribal members find they often have to explain this donation cannot be overstated,” said NMAI the U.S. capital,” said Mark Brown, chairman of who they are as a people. “We spend countless Director West. “The National Museum of the | the Mohegan tribal council. “Our fellow Indian hours educating people about our true history American Indian is extremely grateful to the = nations are answering the call and giving all they and our inherent rights. It’s amazing what we are Mohegan tribe for their commitment to the s can with monetary contributions as well as stories, faced with.” Museum’s development.” - André Morriseau Rockefeller Gives Additional $1 Million Philanthropist Cites the NMAI’s “Enormous Progress”

nternationally-known philanthropist David bility of using the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Rockefeller has made a second gift of $1 mil- Custom House in lower Manhattan as a home JL lion to the National Museum of the for cultural institutions, including the former Commemorative Coin American Indian for construction of the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Sells Out in 2 Weeks, Museum on the National Mall. The recent con­ Foundation. As a result, the Custom House was tribution is in addition to a $1 million gift made designated as the site for the Museum’s New York Raises $5 Million in 1994. City facility in the 1989 legislation that trans­ “This generous gift from David Rockefeller is ferred the Heye collection to the Smithsonian The National Museum of the American only the most recent example of his extraordi­ and established the National Museum of the Indian (NMAI) is pleased to announce the nary commitment to the National Museum of American Indian. entire run of 500,00 American Buffalo com­ the American Indian as one of this country’s In making his most recent gift, Rockefeller memorative coins sold within two weeks of most important cultural initiatives,” said NMAI cited the “enormous progress” that the Museum release - a record for the United States Mint. Director W. Richard West (Southern Cheyenne). has made since its inception, including the reno­ A $ 10 surcharge per coin raised $5 million for “For his support, we are deeply grateful.” vation and opening of the George Gustav Heye Rockefeller, a former trustee of the Museum, Center, the creation of the Cultural Resources the NMAI to use toward opening events and is one of the institution’s most ardent advocates. Center, and the Museum's extensive outreach to public programs for the Mall Museum. In 1987, he funded a study examining the feasi­ Indian tribes and others.

6 American Indian Sacred Objects and Sacred Places

Sacred Objects and Sacred Places ndrew Gulliford’s new book, Sacred Objects Sacred Objects and Sacred Places takes us to the and Sacred Places, provides an overview of center of the Navajo universe, Canyon de Chelly, to Aithe ways Native Americans try to preserve the Black Hills, the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, tribal traditions and their sense of identity after Pipestone National Monument, Kaho’olawe Island decades of federal attempts to assimilate more than in Hawaii, and the Wintu people’s sacred Mt. Shasta 550 tribes into mainstream American culture. “I - among other places. This varied journey helps '<#r-*■'**&*%&»* ' have tried to make complex information accessible readers to cultivate an understanding of why it is so that general readers may begin to understand important for Native peoples to retain their lan­ ' . why tribal peoples are so passionate to defend their guages, songs, dances, and use of sacred natural sacred objects and sacred places,” says Gulliford, medicines and why human remains and ceremonial ^ ... t/'X % professor of Southwest Studies and History and objects must be repatriated to tribes. Director of the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Gulliford honors the Native tradition of giving •. fv Lewis College in Durango, Colo. “We have much to back by donating half of the proceeds from the sale learn from Native peoples about the land and land­ of his book to the National Museum of the j** -A' . scape - if only we will listen.” American Indian and to the Keepers of the Gulliford observes that although historic preser­ Treasures, an organization that works to preserve vation often focuses on buildings, Native people Native languages and lifeways as well as to protect look at culture and landscape in terms of spiritual places sacred to indigenous peoples. Sacred Objects ties to the land, where origin stories and important and Sacred Places was published by University Press cultural events took place. of Colorado. - Valerie Taliman

Welcome Center Opens its Doors he National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Welcome Center officially opened its doors to the public at the opening ceremony on June 26, 2001. At the future site of the Mall Museum in Washington, D.C., the Welcome Center offers visitors the opportunity to view the construction’s progress while learning about the Museum’s design. “This Center marks a significant step closer to the Museum’s completion in 2004,” said W. Richard West (Southern Cheyenne), NMAI director. “It is a privilege for me to be associated with the Museum at this early stage. Nestled between the U.S. Capitol Museum’s 1999 groundbreaking, The Welcome Center lets everyone witness the Museum’s birth and growth," and the National Air and Space and a full-scale model of the copper said Clayton Old Elk (pictured above with his wife Georgianna and his Museum, the Welcome Center is a screen wall that will adorn the daughters Dora and Anna). temporary structure. “It is a privi­ Potomac, the central welcoming lege for me to be associated with the area, in the Mall Museum. Visitors Museum at this early stage. The can also learn about future Welcome Center lets everyone wit­ exhibitions and programs slated for ness the Museum’s birth and the Museum’s opening. At the growth,” said Clayton Old Elk rear of the Welcome Center, a (Crow), who performed the blessing window provides a view of the con­ at the opening ceremony attended struction site. by Lawrence M. Small, secretary of The fully accessible Center is the Smithsonian Institution, and open to the public from 10 a.m. Sheila Burke, under secretary for to 4 p.m., Monday through American museums and national Saturday, excluding Federal holi­ programs. days, until December 2003. The The Welcome Center features an entrance is on Independence Avenue exhibition of architectural models, a between 3rd and 4th Streets ceremonial shovel from the Southwest. - Jason Ryle

Smithsonian Institution 7 ® MUSEUM NEWS

American person was taken. “This exhibition explores these photographs from the perspec­ tives of the photographer, subject, and viewer. It also invites Native American photographers and artists, inheritors of this legacy of image-mak­ ing, to offer their responses to the photographs and the ideas they represent,” said exhibition curators Richard W. Hill Sr. (Tuscarora) and Natasha Bonnilla-Martinez. Many early photographs of Native Americans were taken by ethnologists, anthro­ pologists, and social workers to document North America’s “vanishing” indigenous peoples. These images, along with romanticized images of the “Hollywood Indian,” are juxtaposed with i' pirit Capture: Native Americans and the photographs of living communities and people. , Photographic Image, an exhibit featuring Approximately 20 objects and artworks con­ 200 photographs from the National vey Native perspectives of cultural and social Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)’s history. Spirit Capture also features a multimedia archives, opened at the George Gustav Heye component including Web-based interactive Center (GGHC) on July 22, 2001. From exhibits, one of which features a conversation daguerreotypes to color prints, Spirit Capture between Onondaga photographer Jeff Thomas displays the history of Native American life over and late-nineteenth century photographer the past 150 years. “The NMATs incredible pho­ Edward S. Curtis. tographic archive is the one dimension of the The presence of George Gustav Heye Museum’s vast collection that brings Native ( 1874-1957), the collector for and founder of the American history into focus and helps us under­ Museum of the American Indian, is felt stand who we are,” said W. Richard West throughout Spirit Capture. Heye commissioned (Southern Cheyenne), director of the NMAI. or acquired most of the Museum’s 125,000 Representations and interpretations of images. Native peoples evolved to reveal a greater under­ Spirit Capture continues until July 21, 2002, standing of the lives documented since 1845, at the GGHC in lower Manhattan. Admission to when one of the first photographs of a Native the exhibit is free. - Jason Ryle

8 American Indian Wampanoag Artist Takes Part in Designing Elements of Mall Museum

hile construction begins on the National Museum of the American Indian’s (NMAI) Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C, artist Berta Welch is busy collecting quahog shells. Welch is one of dozens of Native American artists who will take part in designing elements of the new Mall Museum. Though the Museum is several years away from opening, many indigenous artists are already working on designs for the Museum.

Welch (Wampanoag) lives in Aquinnah, Mass, where she owns a souvenir and gift shop called Stony Creek. While visiting Aquinnah, Johnpaul Jones, an architect affiliated with the NMAI, met Welch and her family. He saw them making jewelry with quahog shells and was impressed, not only with the beauty of the pieces but also with the historical significance of the shells. The Wampanoag people have been making wampum with quahog “Initially, it was shells for hundreds of scary because it’s years. Jones wanted to include wampum designs such a large for jewelry display cases in the Museum Shop of the project, but I’m Mall Museum. very pleased to be “It was a way to honor the people of the area, and this part of something work will set the quality and tone of the space,” says so important and Jones. Welch says she is look­ flattered that my ing forward to the chal­ work is being lenge of working with a team to design display honored.” cases and other elements that will eventually be seen in the Museum Shop. “Initially, it was scary because it’s such a large project, but I’m very pleased to be part of something so impor­ tant and flattered that my work is being honored,” says Welch. - Jennifer David

n! fcvwrwv ’ ' '•i&T'vV L- ' kS 'JfâSiv ^ ** SM 1TMSONI AN INST1TUTJ ON 9 «1 ‘ “ Beliefs of Our Ancestors Maruch Santiz Gomez opens a window into contemporary Mayan life

by k. Mitchell Snow her a camera for the weekend. Her efforts to visu­ and the Reykjavik Arts Festival in Iceland (1998). ally document rapidly disappearing oral tradi­ Less than a decade after her project began, she has ortillas over an open fire, a weaver’s tions bore fruit almost immediately. “A few days published a trilingual edition of Creencias. She yarn, a stone threshold - these are later, when she had processed the film and has earned the attention of magazines like the foundations of everyday life in showed me the contact sheet, I was deeply moved Aperture, ArtForum, and Flash Art, and her work rural Chiapas. Tzotzil Maya pho­ by her vision and her ideas,” Duarte recalls. is represented by Galeria OMR, a prestigious tographer Maruch Santiz Gomez Since that time, Santiz has been employing her Mexico City art gallery. photographs these images against a simple earth­ eye as well as her ear to keep Mayan cultural tra- “Her simple images are extraordinarily beau­ en background and opens a window tiful, conceptually powerful, and iconically into contemporary Mayan life. persuasive,” Peruvian critic and historian Her project, Creendas de Nuestros Fernando Castro wrote of Santiz’s partici­ Antepasados (Beliefs of Our Ancestors), pation in Houston’s 1998 Fotofest. Mexican began in 1993 as a collection of beliefs. poet and journalist Hermann Santiz interviewed the elders of her Bellinghausen says that Santiz “is not the community about traditional admo­ first to photograph things, but she does so nitions of the community. She was as if she were.” working at Sna Jtz’ibajom (House of Regardless of their impressions of the Writer) in San Cristobal de Las Santiz’s work, viewers agree that her com­ Casas, Chiapas. The other members of pelling images provide intriguing insights Sna Jtz’ibajom shared her interests in into the world of the Maya. Although she maintaining their people’s traditions. sees her first obligation as recording the “Everyone was surprised to see men, traditions of her people, she is pleased with women, and children fine up to take the widespread interest in her work. Sna’s Native language literacy courses, Outsiders “say that they too have words of since the ability to read and write in their ancestors and that they still want to their mother tongue offered virtually recover them. My work helps awaken no job opportunities,” notes Robert them,” she says. M. Laughlin, Smithsonian researcher A photograph of handmade corn tor­ and literary coordinator for Sna tillas cooking over an open fire, on the Jtz’ibajom. For the participants at Sna, recycled steel lid of a 55-gallon oil drum “the principal value of literacy, they instead of the traditional clay griddle used state unanimously, is to enable them by her ancestors, conveys volumes about » to record faithfully the words of their the cultural changes that already mark her ° parents and grandparents.” community. Santiz’s combinations of text | At Sna, 17-year-old Santiz discov- and images warn, for example, against eat­ s ered photography as another way of ing the first tortilla that comes off the grid­ S capturing and expressing the beliefs of dle (lest you become a gossip) or eating the | her people. When Mexican-American remains of burnt tortillas (so that others | photographer Carlota Duarte came to don’t gossip about you). Not all the

San Cristobal in 1992 to offer photog­ Maruch Santiz Gomez and her daughter Maria proverbs focus on the necessary tasks of raphy workshops for indigenous peo- ___ providing corn and tortillas for daily meals. ple, she found a receptive home at Sna Jtz’ibajom. ditions alive. Within two years, her texts and pho­ Santiz offers hints on everything from cures for Its determination to let indigenous people speak tographs began appearing on the walls of muse­ snoring to retrieving lost dogs to detecting mur­ in their own voices coincided with Duarte’s phi­ ums and galleries in the United States and derers - all of them specific to her people s way of losophy. She intentionally resisted introducing Mexico. She worked with Duarte in the creation life. Viewers everywhere will recognize the mes­ “established Western traditions of seeing.” After of the Indigenous Photography Archive and is sage of the half-full clay pot Santiz has titled Bin: teaching basic camera and darkroom techniques, one of its best-known members. Her fist of “If you drink directly from the pot, you can she left the participants “free to make whatever accomplishments soon grew to encompass become a glutton.” sort of images they wish.” Santiz was a member of Decolonizing Our Minds, the Johannesburg Santiz says that the combination of text and Sna and a participant in the workshop. (South Africa) Biennial (1995), where a selection image is one of the best ways to transmit from In January 1993, Santiz asked Duarte to lend from Creencias was first presented to the public, one generation to the next the full meaning of the

10 American Indian Regardless of their impressions of Santiz’s work, viewers agree that her compelling images provide intriguing insights into the world of the Maya.

lore she documents. She believes that “these tographs themselves,” says anthropologist photographs can be read, and it is easier than Gabriela Vargas Cetina, who helped establish understanding the texts because many peo­ the archive at CIESAS. The archive’s recently ple do not know how to read words.” released Camaristas, Mayan Photographers of Although Santiz and her companions at Chiapas, a full-color collection of more than Sna Jtz’ibajom helped to lay the foundations 80 photographs, represents the contributions for the Indigenous Photography Archive, of photographers from five different Maya 5 other groups contributed as well. In 1995, groups. This book, like Santiz’s Creencias, | the National Center for Advanced Research offers an unparalleled look at contemporary | in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) invited indigenous life in Chiapas. J Duarte to create the archive under its spon­ Whether their photographs spring 1 sorship and to invite more participants. from an urge to preserve what remains of the ^ Duarte now serves as director of the archive, with tradition, the returned cameras aren’t thrown past or to comment on the concerns of the pres­ a Tzeltal- and Tzotzil-speaking staff of three men away - the archive staff reconditions them and ent, participants in the Chiapas Photography and three women. puts them back into circulation. Project share the conviction that their work has The idea that resulted in the archive was born Since the archive began, fire staff has trained value for the future. Though they have lived a decade earlier, when Duarte began work on a more than 200 men and women representing 10 through revolutionary change in Chiapas, they project collecting data about images in Mexican different indigenous groups in the basics of pho­ are concerned that even greater challenges face collections for historical researchers. “I learned tography. Participants sign a contract giving the the region’s children. “They are the ones who suf­ that much of the depiction of indigenous life was archive permission to use their photographs in fer most from the cultural changes of our peo­ not by indigenous people,” she said, and she exhibitions and publications and to keep the neg­ ple,” says Santiz. resolved to do something about it. In 1992, with atives for the photographers. In exchange, the Now married and mother to a son and a support from family and friends, she found the archive covers all the costs of film and processing, daughter, Santiz lives in Romerillo, a tiny village necessary funding and started the Chiapas which is done by local photo labs. The photogra­ near her hometown of Cruzton, where she began Photography Project. The collaboration of phers receive all their photos as well as a small work as a shepherdess at the age of five. Today she CIESAS, grants from the Ford Foundation, film grant. Archive photographers are delighted to works at the archive, headquartered at the south­ and black-and-white photo paper from AGFA, share their experience with other indigenous east branch of CIESAS. Her husband holds a tra­ and money from individual donors help main­ people in Mexico. In the fall of 1997 and spring of ditional leadership post in her community. The tain the Indigenous Photography Archive, which 1998, they began encouraging budding photog­ birth of her children has only reinforced the goal became the principal activity of the Chiapas raphers in Yucatecan and Oaxacan villages to she had when the project started: preserving the Photography Project. record the elements of their community life as traditions of her people in a rapidly changing The archive’s professional staff works with they see them. Even though the archive’s high­ world for the benefit of future generations. When 35-millimeter manual cameras, using color as land Maya were working in climates and cultures her first child was born, she said, “Now I have a well as black-and-white film, which they develop radically different from their own, photography baby; I know that this will be for him.” ■ and print themselves. The affiliated photogra­ served as a bridge to help them share their expe­ K. Mitchell Snow writes about Latin American phers, whom they train, begin with simple dis­ riences. “Their desire to document and leave a photography for publications in North anil South posable cameras and color film. In the best local record with the camera is as eloquent as the pho­ America.

Smithsonian Institution 11 For American Indians, the return of the buffalo brings healing to both the body and the spirit.

or many Indian tribes, the sight of an eagle is a sign of good luck, or approval from the Creator above. So when an eagle soared in the sky above a buffalo herd being unloaded at a ranch on the Fort Peck Reservation in January, it signaled a day that’s been a long time coming on the prairie in northeastern Montana.

“This is a new day, a new hope,” says Assiniboine animal is “bison,” but most Americans refer to it spiritual leader Larry Wetsit. “More so for our as “buffalo”) were put out to pasture in June on children and grandchildren. They’re the ones the reservation's 5,800-acre game reserve, 25 who really need help.” miles north of Poplar. The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes About 50 other tribes in the United States have been working to obtain a herd for the past have been just as busy setting up or expanding decade; bison disappeared from the reservation their own herds. According to the Inter-Tribal more than a century ago. But an unexpected Bison Cooperative (ITBC), a national agency opportunity arose this year, when the neighbor­ based in Rapid City, S.D., the tribes have a col­ ing Fort Belknap Reservation wanted to sell a lective herd of 8,000 to 9,000 bison, located in 16 portion of its herd because of severe drought states across the country from California to conditions. With the help of some grants, Fort Michigan. Peck was able to purchase the herd of 100 at $300 The animals, which numbered 60 million in a head. The buffalo (the proper name for the the early 1800s, were hunted and killed nearly to

Story by Richard Peterson | Photos by Ken Blackbird

12 American Indian “We recognize the bison is a symbol of our strength and unity, and that as we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our nennle hack to health ”

Top, l-r: Crow cowboys, Terrance Covers Up, Isaac Yarhtt and Arron Yarlott, get ready to ride into a head of bison to round them up into a loading chute for health checks and calf counts. Bottom: Crow riders separate some bison from the main herd to ease the loading of bison cows and calfs into a loading chute.

Smithsonian Institution 13 Five of Montana’s seven Indian reservations now operate buffalo herds. The Crow Northern Cheyenne, Blackfeet, and Salish-Kootanai also have herds of their own.

Above: Isaac Yarlott (Crow) rides in the bison herd to act as the in-between for the cowboys working on the ground and the bison. Right: Cowboys drive three to four hours in four-wheel drive vehicles to reach this cabin and pasture in front of the Pryor Mountain Range. It takes several days for Crow cowboys to fill the corrals with 1200 head of bison that roam free on a 24,000 acre range on top of the Big Horn Mountains. extinction during the settling of the West in the tribes met later that year to plan their efforts to and heart disease among its tribal members. In mid-to-late 1800s. By the beginning of the 20th improve and expand existing herds or develop fact, the Winnebago are getting an early start - century, that number had dwindled to 1,500, say new ones. “We recognize the bison is a symbol of the meat is also served at a children’s nutritional some historians. our strength and unity, and that as we bring our lunch program on the reservation in an effort to oday hundreds of thousands of herds back to health, we will also bring our peo­ encourage younger people to form better eating bison roam in refuges and on ple back to health,” says Fred DuBray, ITBC habits, says LaRose, known as the “buffalo man” reservations. The mission of ITBC board member and Cheyenne River Sioux tribal to local schoolchildren. is simple, say its leaders: to heal the member. According to the U.S. Department of spirits of both the Indian people One of the oldest and largest herds in Indian Agriculture, a 3.5-ounce serving of bison steak and the buffalo. “Bringing them back allows a Country resides on the Crow Reservation in has 2.4 grams of fat and 116 calories. The same tribe to develop a whole new learning experience southeastern Montana. The Crow were given amount of beef carries about 8 grams of fat and and thought pattern,” says Louis LaRose, past Bi’Shee, or buffalo, from the Yellowstone Park 161 calories. “We managed to reduce the rate of president of the ITBC and volunteer manager of herd but had to kill the animals in 1964 after diabetes and we believe we’re beginning to the Winnebago tribe’s herd of 72 bison in most tested positive for brucellosis. The tribe reverse the onset of diabetes,” LaRose says, point­ Nebraska. “Each year we learn more about them reintroduced the buffalo to its reservation in ing out the elimination of diabetes-related eye and learn more about ourselves. We’re restoring 1971 and now has more than 1,500 head roam­ surgeries and limb amputations as evidence. Mother Earth the way our grandfathers meant it ing in the Big Horn Mountains. The Crow have “Now we’re starting to realize the spiritual to be.” helped other tribes to start or expand their herds. impact.” The cooperative was formed in 1990 to coor­ For most of the tribes the return of the buf­ The Nebraska herd, which resides on the dinate and assist tribes in returning buffalo to falo is needed for spiritual growth and also for reservation near the Missouri River, has also their lands. The following year, Congress appro­ health reasons. The Winnebago use buffalo meat made the tribe more conscious about caring for priated funds for tribal bison programs, and to curb the rise of Type II (adult onset) diabetes its land. To have a healthy herd, a healthy diet is

14 American Indian a must. The tribe encourages the growth of wild It’s also easier and cheaper to raise bison, last documented buffalo hunt on the reservation prairie grasses so familiar to the buffalo hun­ according to Val Smith, the Fort Peck tribes’ buf­ was in 1873. Shortly thereafter, hunters, soldiers, dreds of years ago. “We’ve sort of rebuilt the falo herd manager. “Cattle are so expensive to and ranchers wiped out buffalo throughout the prairie,” says LaRose. raise, and I think that buffalo have less overhead, reservation as part of a government plan to elim­ The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in South are cleaner, and can forage for themselves.” Like inate the Indians’ food supply during the west­ Dakota has conducted a restoration project Pte most other tribes, Fort Peck has developed a busi­ ward expansion. Hca Ka that was recognized by Harvard ness plan, which includes marketing and tourism The tribes recently set aside as a game pre­ University’s John R Kennedy School of possibilities. The arrival of tatanka (the Lakota serve the pastureland used specifically for the Government as an original and effective pro­ word for bison) also fills a cultural and spiritual 100 buffalo at Fort Peck. Tribal members cele­ gram. The Innovations in American void that has been missing since the late 1800s. brated the herd’s arrival with a powwow and Government award was given because Pte Hca The return of the buffalo, however, has raised other ceremonies as the animals were released Ka combines environmental and ecological concern from cattle ranchers across the country into a pasture of rolling hills and badlands. restoration, cultural preservation, and spiritual who worry that some of the animals may be Assiniboine and Sioux spiritual leaders and revitalization in the tribe’s effort to restore its afflicted with brucellosis, a disease that causes tribal officials held a pipe ceremony. Several longtime relationship with the buffalo. cattle to abort their calves. But Robbie Magnan, female elders served a traditional meal of corn During a traditional youth campout 10 years tribal fish and game director, says the herd at soup, berry pudding, and frybread in a nearby ago at Fort Peck, tribal members became interest­ Fort Peck has been tested and is free of the dis­ barn on the ranch. Busloads of tribal leaders and ed in obtaining a herd when they noticed there ease. In the 1990s, Montana state livestock schoolchildren watched as the buffalo charged was no buffalo on the camp menu, says tribal inspectors shot hundreds of the Yellowstone from the livestock trailers and into a huge corral, planning director Abby Ogle. “We started asking Park herd when the buffalo migrated north out where fresh hay and water awaited them. ourselves, ‘How come we can’t have them?”’ In a of the park and onto state lands. Today, Montana “I’m glad they’re back,” said Brockton coordinated effort, the tribes began working with has declared itself brucellosis-free. elementary student Trent Spotted Bird as the the ITBC to bring back the buffalo. Five of “There may be some opposition to this but it buffalo rushed off a livestock truck. “They make Montana’s seven Indian reservations now operate is part of our culture that was lost, and now it’s us stronger.” ■ buffalo herds. The Crow, Northern Cheyenne, back,” Ogle says. Before the animal disappeared, Richard Peterson (Assiniboine/Sioux) is a freelance Blackfeet, and Salish-Kootanai also have herds of it was a primary food source for Plains tribes as writer and former newspaper, magazine, and tele­ their own. well as a material for clothing and shelter. The vision reporter.

Smithsonian Institution 15 Story by Nilda Callanaupa I Photos by Jeffrey Jay Foxx Shopping at the Top of the eople trade and conduct business at 12,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, like countless generations before them. Guadalupe Alvarez de Callanaupa, a 74-year-old trader and mother of eight who grew up in the moun­ tain village of Chinchero, has heard it said many times, “I cannot sell for money, because my family and I are not going to eat money. I came for food and I need food.” Though money is slowly being incorpo­ rated into trade at the Chinchero marketplace, one of the oldest markets in Peru, barter still reigns supreme. Barter has served its practitioners well for a long time; there is no need to rush into the intricacies of a currency economy. Such a hearty simplicity determines most daily living in the land of the Incas.

Chinchero sits in a beautiful place, near the Sacred Valley of the Incas in a high plateau surrounded by snow-capped mountains of the Urubamba and Vilcabamba ranges. The village is 17 miles from Cusco, As they have done for untold generations, the villagers oj former capital of the Incas, and literally just up the road from Machu Chinchero gather in the market each Sunday to trade, Picchu. The great Incan ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui built his royal celebrate, eat, and visit their neighbors. palace at Chinchero in the late 1400s. The Incas called Chinchero the “town of the rainbow” before the Spanish came. The Spanish used some of the town’s ruins as a foundation on which to build a large church, and a church still stands on the spot. Modern Chinchero is home to 11,000 people, who are divided into 12 allyus or communities. It is mainly a farmers’ village, well known for its potato production.

16 American Indian At the Chinchero market. Fram iso, 12, holds his three week old nephew in front of the ( enter foi Traditional Textiles of Cusco, an adobe building.

Smithsonian Institution 17 She tradesfora little of everything at the market: fruits, coca leaves, cheese, spices, vegetables, corn, and beans. “This market has always been. And my grandmother told me that, too. So I guess our system of marketing and trading food in this market comes from Incan or even pre lncan times.”

Top: Alejandro, a local farmer, carries cornstalks back to his farm to store as feed for the dry season. Left: Guadalupe Alvarez leaves her house to walk to the market about an eighth of a mile away. Right: Guadalupe barters for produce at the market and stores her purchases in a q’epi, a traditional woven bag.

18 American Indian Far left: Reyna Fernandez weaves an alpaca manta (shawl) to sell at market.

Left: Guadalupe’s husband, Vincente Callanaupa, 76, a potato farmer, returns from the field with green oats for his farm animals.

Below left: Guadalupe speaks Quechua with her friend. Dona d’Amiana Quispe, in front of a vendor’s display of prickly pears and peaches.

Below center: Guadalupe wears tradition­ al Quechua clothes some days and mesti­ zo clothes on others. Some market goers wear blends of both.

Below right: Guadalupe pauses in her courtyard as she carries peaches and pears brought from the market.

Smithsonian Institution 19

Facing page: A young girl wears a traditional manta (shawl) and ojotas, sandals made from old tires. Incan people can buy American clothing in most small city markets.

This page: A young girl helps her mother sell green spices and medicinal herbs at the market.

Born of an Inca mother and mestizo father, Guadalupe Alvarez is a weaver and farmer. She goes to the Chinchero market every Sunday - an exciting day for her. She picks up her mantas (shawls) and goes to the storeroom to pack potatoes, barley, oats, or dried fava beans, depending on the season. Usually she goes in the early morning before she attends Mass, often even before the soup is ready from the fireplace. Like most farmers, she has tea first thing in the morning and then soup by 7 a.m., before people start going to the fields or taking the animals to the countryside. Chinchero residents don’t have refrigerators, but they don’t feel they need them because the high altitude func­ tions like a natural preservative for some foods. Foods that won’t keep are cooked the same day. At the Sunday market, Chinchero women barter high-altitude foods such as chutw, or dehydrated potatoes, and moraya, made of pota­ toes freeze-dried in the permafrost, as well as lupine beans, coca leaves, barley, oats, fava beans, bananas, mandarins, papayas, avocados, green vegetables, corn, and oranges. “When my children were younger and 1 needed some­ thing urgently, I used to cook food to trade with. 1 used to bring good food. Sunday market is for active and smart ladies. If you don’t have products to trade, you make drinks or food and trade with them and make your family happy,” says Alvarez. She trades for a little of everything at the market: fruits, coca leaves, cheese, spices, vegetables, corn, and beans. “This market has always been. And my grand­ mother told me that, too. So I guess our system of market­ ■ tl: I ( ) residents ing and trading food in this market comes from Incan or even pre-Incan times.” don’t have refrigerators, but they Market day is a big event for everyone, waited for all week by all of Chinchero and the surrounding villages. don’t feel they need them because During the week when people see each other briefly they say, “We will see each other next Sunday where we can chat the high altitude functions like a and have chicha" On Sunday, families from different com­ munities socialize and share food, soft drinks, and chicha, natural preservative for some the traditional drink of the area. It is made from corn and prepared and fermented the day before. Usually chicha foods. Foods that won’t keep are doesn't have high quantities of alcohol, and even young kids drink it. cooked the same day. Some families have little celebrations and make it a fiesta day. Alvarez says, “Sunday market is for chatting with friends and neighbors and to sweeten your eyes with beau­ tiful textiles and clothes.” And she wouldn’t miss it for the world. ■

Nilda Callanaupa was born and raised in Chinchero, a vil­ lage in the Cusco region. She is recognized as a master imiv- er who learned her skills from her grandmothers and mother.

Smithsonian Institution 21 Coyote's u.. mPlace ai*/m rrn»*iM o iouamma rnDCi in by SHAWN TERMIN & JOHANNA GORELICK I love music.

Music is a language everyone understands. As I travel around Indian Country, I hear all kinds of music. At powwows, i my heart beats to the sound of the k drums played by drum groups. In South America, I dance to the melodies played on panpipes, also called sikus. Many Native people in North and South America play wood flutes. The first time I heard the sound of the flute was at night in the Great Plains. The \ beautiful, clear sound of the flute came floating to my ears. Traditional wooden flutes are used throughout Indian Country.

Recently James Greeley (Wasco/Hopi),from the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, played his flutes at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). His presentation was part of a program called The Art of Storytelling. He delighted audiences by telling stories with his flutes. Meet My Friend, José Montano liï^; ' •' ' ? ‘IIm I osé Montano (Aymara) is from Bolivia.The Aymara and Quechua Indians are from the Ï - - 'Æ _. IBI | Andes Mountains of South America. They tend flocks of llamas and sheep as they have 1 for centuries. They weave their own clothes and grow their own food. They cooperate to ' plant their crops, to care for their animals, and to celebrate holidays with music and - 1 dance. Handed down from generation to generation, musical traditions are an important part of giving thanks for everything the people have. José plays different instruments, including the flute, drums, and charangos. José learned to f « make instruments and to play music from his elders. Some of the flutes he plays are called "panpipes." He led panpipe workshops with children at the NMAI in New York City. In these workshops, participants made panpipes out of plastic straws. See if you can make one.

22 Ami* ru an Indian Make a Siku (panpipe) From Plastic Straws Scotch tape Each siku has two parts - an arka and an ira.The arka has Materials needed seven notes; the ira has six. In this activity you will make an arka. 1. MEASURE the first straw, using the drawing below. 2. CUT seven straws to match the lengths shown below. 3. TAPE the straws to match the design below. Scissors

*The Charango

José also plays the charango. The charango looks like a small guitar, except that it has a different number of strings. Usually the sound box of a charango is made from an armadillo shell. José told a story about the charango and how the armadillo learned to sing: TheToad and the Armadillo • here was once a lake called Green Lake where many toads lived. All The armadillo cried, "I just want to sing! I want to sing beautifully! ; around Green Lake were many armadillos.. There was one toad that "Well," the toad asked, "Are you willing to give up your life to learn to sing?" | used to sing all night long. An armadillo thought she sounded Nodding his head, the armadillo replied, "I am. I am." 1 beautiful. From the shore he called to the toad, "Jiska Imilita The toad said, "Very well. I will teach you to sing. In the future, rich (Little Sister), come here. Teach me to sing. Teach me to dance." and poor alike will dance to your music." Saying that, the toad The toad paid no attention as the armadillo pleaded as though flipped the armadillo over on his back. The armadillo was helpless his heart would break. Finally the toad answered, "Go around the and couldn't get up. He had no food, and he wasted away and died. hill named Hill of Sand three times. When you have finished, stop One day, a man walked past the dead armadillo's empty shell. He and look at me. If I wave a white handkerchief, you can rest. If I do picked up the shell and took it with him. He put strings on the armadillo not wave a white handkerchief, you must do another lap." and it looked like a small guitar. When he played it, it made beautiful music. The armadillo was not used to walking fast; he usually walked very slowly. And so it was that the armadillo became THE FIRST CHARANGO. After three laps, he was very tired. He stopped and looked down at his feet. His This story was told by Bertha Villanueva A., an Aymara woman from Ch'axu P'uju in toenails were COMPLETELY WORN AWAY! San Pedro de Tiquina, province of Manco Kapac, department of La Paz, Bolivia. It was The toad appeared at his side and said, "Oh, armadillo, you are trying to recorded and translated into Spanish and English by Juan de Dios Yapita and Lucy Briggs. outdo me. I remember when you used to go out walking, you would turn me on It was first published by Latin American Indian Literatures in 1980 and was adapted for my back with my belly up. Now I am going to do the same thing to you." student performances by José Montano and Marty Kreipe de Montano.

Smithsonian Institution 23 COLLECTIONS Beauty, Honor, and Tradition Exhibition of beadwork masterpieces will grace Museum opening

By Mary Jane Benz beauty of the NMAI collections by showing The second is a beaded collar from western familiar objects in a vast array of tribal varia­ Canada, which uses a combination of glass v hen the National Museum of the tions. As we planned the beads and the dentalium shell beads that j American Indian (NMAI) opens on exhibitions and thought have been harvested along the Mall, visitors stepping off the about the best ways to ( . the coast of Vancouver elevator on the fourth floor will see a wall of share the collections Island for millennia. exhibit cases filled with brilliantly beaded with our Mall visitors, Dentalium beads were clothing, ornaments, household goods, and we kept coming back popular trade goods x horse gear, many of them on view for the first to beads and bead- among Native people as far time. Pull-out drawers will allow viewers to work as an important ' east as the Great Lakes. study, up dose, thousand-year-old carved jade focus. In my own cura And, finally, a brightly beads from the Mayan sacred cenote at Chichen torial file of “Frequently beaded tipi bag depicts Itza; carnelian and crystal beads from an ancient Asked Questions,” the ones White Swan, a Minneconjou factory in Montserrat, West Indies; 18th-century most often asked are about Lakota 19th-century warrior- Chinese glass trade beads brought to Alaska by beads - where did they come from; chief, as he tells the stories of his battle exploits fur traders and fashioned into what are they made of; how to an enthralled audience. earrings and lip ornaments; ______long have they been used? I’ve often thought of the joy Native women and a spectacular The display seemed a must have felt when they first encountered Northwest Coast good opportunity traders with their packages of brightly colored tunic made from to answer these glass beads, ready for instant use. I imagine that hundreds of questions and after generations of learning the laborious and cobalt blue faceted provide a visually time-consuming ways to prepare porcupine and “Russian beads” sur­ compelling experience. bird quills for decorative use, they were incredi­ rounding a beaded image of a 2 We show here three exam­ bly energized and inspired to create new designs whale. ples of the beadwork that will be on view when not only for clothing but for cradleboards, bags, The bead display is one of several exhibition the Museum on the Mall opens. The first, an Oto horse gear, and all kinds of regalia. Some of that areas intended to highlight the richness and ( Jiwere) shirt from Oklahoma, can be previewed delight and creativity will be shared with our vis­ right now at the George Gustav Heye itors when the new Museum opens and will per­ Center in New York City, in the haps be a source of inspiration for a new gener­ exhibition Beauty, Honor, and ation of artists. ■ Tradition: The Legacy of Plains Indian Shirts. Mary Jane Lenz is a museum specialist in the (The exhibition curatorial department at the National Museum of doses November the American Indian. 4,2001.) 1. Man’s shirt, Jiwere (Oto), Oklahoma, ca 1900. Photograph by Katherine Fogden

2. Beaded collar, western Athapaskan, Canada, ca 1890. Photograph by Gina Puentes

3. Tipi bag, Minneconjou Lakota, ca 1885. Photograph by Katherine Fogden Experience the soul of the National Museum Through first-person narratives, illustrated by -X y mimiHV wv v \/ u of the American Indian through the words historical photographs and stunning color of 23 accomplished Native artists, elders, images of a broad array of indigenous arts storytellers, singers, and scholars. These lead­ and crafts, All Roads Are Good: Native Voices ing figures from Native North and South on Life and Culture brings to your home the America were invited to select significant essential voices of Native peoples, interpret­ objects from the Museum collections and ing their traditions, contemporary experi­ IJII Ijjÿ'ÆiliJJW HDm to reflect on their cultural importance. ences, and hopes for the future. i “I look at these things as sacred objects. I don’t look at NO POSTAGE NECESSARY them as just things—a legging, IF MAILED IN THE or shirt, or shield__ It was a UNITED STATES „ good feeling to know that I f\7V Si was able to see and touch V L- BUSINESS REPLY MAIL something that some of our FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 1237 WASHINGTON DC POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE Hf I elders had touched long ago.”

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — ABE CONKLIN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN (PONCA-OSAGE) PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT SPECIAL POSTER OFFER PO BOX 23020 Artist Gerald McMaster (Plains Cree) arranged WASHINGTON DC 20078-0836 moccasins in a dance circle, creating one of the museum's most popular images ever. 4-color poster. 24 x 36 inches. Suitable for framing. YES—please send me AH Roads Are Good. Bill me the special member price of $44.00 (hardcover) or $23.95 (softcover) plus 20% Savings shipping and handling ($6.95). If I am not satisfied, I may for Members return the book(s) within 30 days without payment.

Hardcover* editions: $44.00 each (non-member price, sss.oo) * Limited number available. Softcover will be shipped when hardcover is sold out.

Softcover editions: $23.95 each (non-member price, S29.95)

Moccasin poster: $12.00 each (includes shipping)

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001

EXHIBITIONS THROUGH NOV. 4

THROUGH IULY 21, 2002 BEAUTY, HONOR, AND TRADE TION: THE LEGACY OF PLAINS SPIRIT CAPTURE: NATIVE AMERI­ INDIAN SHIRTS CANS AND THE PHOTOGRAPHIC Featuring 50 visually stunning and IMAGE spiritually powerful Plains Indian This exhibition explores the weaning of shirts, the show explores the beauty, photographic images of anil by Native power, history, iconography, construc­ Americans in order to communicate tion, and materials of Plains Indian Native perspectives on the cultural his­ shirts from the 19th and 20th centuries. tory and experiences of Native peoples Curated by George Horse Capture during the past 150 years. (A'aninin), the NMAI’s deputy Photographer, subject, and viewer are assistant director of cultural resources, considered as the exhibition seeks to and his son, Joe Horse Capture, assistant curator of Africa, Oceania, and experience the fun as Native privilege the understandings of the SEPT. 21 people in the photographs, while and the Americas at the Minneapolis comedian Drew LaCapa leads a examining the roles and motives of Institute of Arts, a collaborator in this fun-filled evening of music and dance. GERALD DAWAVENDEWA those who created the images. Drawing exhibition. A catalog is available in the 1 - 10 p.m. (Hopi/Cherokee), author and illustra­ upon the National Museum of the Museum shop for $39.95. Rotunda tor of The Butterfly Dance, reads from American Indian’s Photo Archive of the book and leads an illustration approximately 125,000 images, the THROUGH 2001 SEPT. 6 - 8 workshop. exhibition was curated by Richard W. ALL ROADS ARE GOOD: NATIVE WEAVING ARTIST GREGORIO Hill Sr. (Tuscarora) and Natasha SEPT. 22 VOICES ON LIFE AND CULTURE SULCA CHAVEZ Bonilla-Martinez. A catalog is available Twenty-three Native American selectors Gregorio Sulca Chavez (Quechua), MARIA WILLIAMS (Tlingit), author in the Museum shop for $29.95. from throughout the Western an artist-weaver from Ayacucho, Peru, of How Raven Stole the Sun, reads Hemisphere chose more than 300 demonstrates how he incorporates from the book, and Felix Vigil (Jicarilla THROUGH OCT. 7 objects from the Museum’s collection to traditional designs into contemporary Apache/Jemez Pueblo) leads an SETH EASTMAN WATERCOLORS: display for their artistic, spiritual, and Peruvian music presentations. illustration workshop. A SOLDIER ARTIST AMONG THE personal significance. A catalog is 10 a.m., 11a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. DAKOTA available in the Museum shop for Exhibition Pause Area Orientation Room and Education Featuring 56 watercolor paintings from $29.95. Classroom the W. Duncan MacMillan collection - SEPT. 19-22 some never before on public display - QUEBEC NEW YORK 2001 PUBLIC PROGRAMS NEW YORK IS BOOK COUNTRY the works are considered some of the AND THE NMAI PRESENT The NMAI celebrates the 23rd anniver­ most important visual records of NATIVE SOUNDS DOWNTOWN A CELEBRATION OF FIRST sary of New York Is Book Country everyday Dakota life in Minnesota NATIONS OF QUEBEC with the Tales of the People series. during the mid-19th century. Eastman AUG. 16 Native authors and illustrators will OCT. 6 was the leading 19th-century pictorial LITEFOOT IN CONCERT lead workshops, read, and sign books historian of Native Americans and a SANDOKWA TRADITIONAL Cherokee rap artist-actor Litefoot from this four-volume series, published career army officer assigned to frontier DANCERS (HURON-WENDAT) brings hiphop to the NMAI with a by the NMAI with Abbeville Press. duty at Fort SneUing. The exhibition positive message of empowerment. NUNAVIK THROAT SINGERS has been organized by the National SONGS WITH GILLES SIOUI 7 p.m. SEPT. 19 Museum of the American Indian and Auditorium (HURON-WENDAT) Afton Historical Society Press, in LINDA MARTIN (Navajo), illustrator 2-4 p.m. cooperation with the Minneapolis AUG. 23 ti/Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird, Auditorium Institute of Arts. Financial support for reads from the book and leads an illus­ the exhibition has been provided by CHICKEN SCRATCH WITH CISCO tration workshop. OCT. 7 Afton Historical Society Press. (EMCEED BY NATIVE COMEDIAN FLORENT VOULANT (Innu) A catalog is available in the Museum DREW LaCAPA) SEPT. 20 presents modern songs in the shop for $14.95. Dance the evening away to the sound of chicken scratch, social dance music also MARTY KREIPE DE MONTANO Montagnais language. known as waila, played by the (Prairie Band Potawatomi), author of LUCIEN GABRIEL JOURDAIN O’odham in Arizona. Learn the steps Coyote in Love with a Star, reads from (Innu) performs traditional songs on the book. the tewegen.

^ ^ Smithsonian 4i National Museum of the American Indian (Lakota). A history of Sioux resistance, SEPT. 15 focused on the turbulent 1970s, is 21 DAYS documented with interviews and 3 p.m. extensive newsreel footage. (2000, 35 min.) Gary Farmer No screening Thursday, Aug. 2 at (Cayuga). The Aboriginal Voices 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, Aug. 4. See At Celebration Tour crossed Ontario and the Movies. brought to Native communities 21 days of rock’n'roll with Derek Miller AUG. 27 - SEPT. 16 and Universal Light, Moontee Sinquah, Lucie Idlout, and Keith CONTRARY WARRIORS: A STORY Secola and Wild Band of Indians. New OF THE CROW TRIBE Director Randy Redroad’s (Cherokee) The Doe Boy. York City premiere. Introduced by (1985, 58 min.) Connie Poten and Gary Farmer. Pamela Roberts. The story of long-time MATEN, a group of hum performers, JULY 19 AND 21 tribal leader Robert Yellowtail, 97 present modern hunt music. OCT. 18 AND 29 years old when the film was made, is a 2-4 p.m. DOE BOY focus for Crow history and present-day Auditorium July 19,6 p.m. CHRISTMAS IN THE CLOUDS life. July 21,2 p.m. Oct. 18, 6 p.m. OCT. 20 (2001, 83 min.) Randy Redroad Oct. 20,2p.m. CROW INDIANS OF MONTANA (Cherokee). Set in the heart of the (2001, 90 min.) Kate Montgomery. Set (1927,25 min. together) William THE DE-BA-JEH-MU-JIG Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, Doe at a struggling ski resort during the Wildschut, for the Museum of the THEATER GROUP Boy tells the story of blunter, a young holiday season, the film is a light and American Indian/Heye Foundation. THE DREADING BEAUTY man of mixed heritage who is never original comedy of mistaken identity, Two documentaries made by an ethno­ The renowned De-Bn-Jeh-Mu-Jig quite at home in the complicated cir­ tribal enterprise, bingo, and would-be grapher and photographer in the 1920s Tlteater Group performs an interactive cumstances of his life. He must find a love. New York City premiere. show Crow-tanning processes and play based on traditional Anishinabe way to become a man who faces love, Introduced by Kate Montgomery and sweat-lodge construction and practices. stories that is fun for audiences of all death, and hemophilia. New York City Sheila Tousey (Menominee). ages. “De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig" means premiere. Introduced by the director. No screening Thursday, Sept. 13 at “storytellers" in the Anishinabe FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS: 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, Sept. 15. See language, ne theater group is based AUG. 2 AND 4 A FILM SERIES FROM THE At the Movies. on the Wikwemikong Reserve in GREAT PLAINS Ontario. IN THE LIGHT OF REVERENCE Special screening daily at 3 p.m. SEPT. 17-OCT. 15 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Aug. 2,6 p.m. Video Viewing Room, 2nd Floor Auditorium Aug. 4,2 p.m. HAND GAME (2000, 72 min.) Christopher Mcleod ( 1999, 60 min.) Lawrence Johnson. A AUG. 1 - OCT. 31 SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER and Malinda M. Maynor (Lumbee). journey across the Plains and the The struggle to preserve lands of ON THE PLAINS American Northwest goes to eight 'EDUCATION WORKSHOPS spiritual significance to Native peoples (2001, 10 min.) Archival black and Indian communities to look at the The NMAI Education Department many contemporary meanings of the is told by members of the Hopi, white footage, powtvow images, and offers workshops inspired by the Lakota, and Wintu communities who interviews with Plains Indian elders ancient hand game - also called bone, exhibition Spirit Capture and grass, or stick game - as it is played face intrusion by outsiders on their and shirt makers are woven into an workshops that explore Iroipwis sacred lands. Presented in cooperation impressionistic montage. This video­ today. cultures. For a schedule and further with P.O.V. and Thirteen-WNET. New tape was produced by the NMAI to information, call 212-514-3714. This film will be repeated at 2 p.m. York City premiere. Introduced by the provide a connection between the producers and members of the Native original shirt wearers and the shirts on OCT. 16 - NOV. 5 FILM/VIDEO communities shown. display in the exhibition Beauty, Honor, and Tradition: The Legacy of HOLY DOG AT THE MOVIES SEPT. 13 AND 15 Plains Indian Shirts. (1999, 9 min.) Judith Norris (Cree). Auditorium Poetry, traditional song, and the A monthly screening series presents DEAD MAN Daily at 1 p.m. Program is repeated Blackfoot language pay tribute to the New York City premieres of feature Sept. 13,6 p.m. on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. horse, as a Native rider and her horse films, documentaries, and a modern Sept. 15,1 p.m. circle metaphorically around the film classic to celebrate the work of (1995, 95 min.) Jim Jarmusch. A man AUG. 7 - AUG. 26 medicine wheel on the land of the Native American directors, actors, and journeys into the Western frontiers of Similkameen Reserve in Canada. community activists. For reservations late 19th- century America and meets SACRED BUFFALO PEOPLE for Thursday night screenings, call an odd, outcast American Indian who (1991, 58 min.) Deb Wallworkfor THE DRUM IS THE HEART 212-514-3737. believes him to be the dead English Prairie Public TV. US. A look at the (1982, 29 min.) Randy Croce. nis series is made possible with public poet William Blake. Introduced by the sacred and historical relationship of Photographs and narratives from funds from the New York State Council Jim Jarmusch and by actor, director, Native Americans to the buffalo and Blackfeet and Blackfoot [Why both?] on the Arts. and radio activist Gary Farmer the effort Plains Indian nations are powwows in Montana and in Alberta, (Cayuga). making to bring back the herds. Canada, provide a window to enduring cultural values. THE SPIRIT OF CRAZY HORSE (1990, 58 min.) James Locker for Frondine. Host: Milo Yellowhair BACKBONE OF THE WORLD: THE LAKOTA QUILLWORK focuses on the experiences of Ni’bthaska, OCT. 16 - NOV. 5 BLACKFEET (1985, 27 min.) H. Jane Nauman. a 13-year-old boy, and the rites of pas­ (1997,57 min.) GeorgeBurdeau A video explores the mythic origins of sage in his journey to manhood. MEN AND WOMEN ARE GOOD (Blackfoot). Turning the camera on quillwork and documents contempo­ DANCERS IRON NATION himself, the director documents coming rary quillworkers Flossie New Holy (1994, 6 min.) Arlene Bowman (1997, 12 min.) Alfred Beartrack home to his Blackfoot tribe, focusing on Bear and Alice New Holy Blue Legs. (Navajo). Men and women perform a (Lower Brule Sioux). A tribute to community filmmaking and on the traditional grass-dance song, popular at BUFFALO BONE CHINA Solomon Iron Nation ( 1814 - 1894), a people's varying views about the use of Northern Plains powwows. (1997, 12 min.) Dana Claxton head chief of the Lower Brule band of nearby traditional lands. HOLY DOG (Lakota). An experimental video Sioux, during a diffiadt time of change. (1999, 9 min.) Judith Norris (Cree). No screening Thursday, Oct. 18 at metaphorically explores Canada’s First WE'LL STILL BE DANCING A Native woman pays tribute to the 5:30 p.m. or Saturday, Oct. 20. See At Nations peoples' loss of the buffalo and (1992, 3 min.) Dan Jones (Ponca). Horse Nation and her own horse the Movies. the use of buffalo bone to make fine Children of the Ponca tribe of through poetry, song, and video. china. Oklahoma are shown getting ready to THE TURNING OF THE CHILD ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS dance. Shown with permission of (1987,30 min.) Produced by the A fdm and video series for all ages. AUG. 27 - SEPT. 16 Sesame Street. Nebraska ETV Netivork. A dramatiza­ Daily at 11 a.m. and noon MEN AND WOMEN ARE GOOD tion of Omaha Indian life in 1800 Video Viewing Room, 2nd Floor DANCERS SEPT. 17 - OCT. 15 focuses on the experiences of Ni’bthaska, (1994, 6 min.) Arlene Bowman a 13-year-old boy, and the rites of pas­ AUG. 5 - 26 THE DRUM IS THE HEART (Navajo). Men and women perform a sage in his journey to manhood. ( 1982, 29 min. ) Randy Croce. INTO THE CIRCLE: AN INTRO­ traditional grass dance song, popular at IRON NATION Photographs and narratives from DUCTION TO OKLAHOMA POW­ Northern Plains powwows. (1997,12 min.) Alfred Beartrack Blackfeet and Blackfoot powwows in WOWS AND CELEBRATIONS (Lower Brule Sioux). A tribute to HOLY DOG Montana and in Alberta, Canada, (1992, 58 min.) Scott Swearingen. As Solomon Iron Nation (1814 - 1894), a (1999, 9 min.) Judith Norris (Cree). A provide a window to enduring cultural elders and dancers trace the history of head chief of the Lower Brule band of Native woman pays tribute to the values. the powwow, this production looks at Sioux, during a difficult time of change. Horse Nation and her own horse the dances, regalia, and etiquette of THE BUFFALO HUNT WE’LL STILL BE DANCING through poetry, song, and video. powwows. (1987, 30 min.) Produced by the (1992,3 min.) Dan Jones (Ponca). THE TURNING OF THE CHILD Nebraska ETV Network. This episode Children of the Ponca tribe of MEN AND WOMEN ARE GOOD (1987,30 min.) Produced by the .from a series that dramatizes Omaha Oklahoma are shown getting ready to DANCERS Nebraska ETV Network. A dramatiza­ Indian life in 1800, focuses on the expe­ dance. Shown with permission of (1994, 6 min.) Arlene Bowman tion of Omaha Indian life in 1800 riences of the community’s children. Sesame Street. (Navajo). Men and women perform a traditional grassdance song, popular at Northern Plains powwows.

STUMBLINGBEAR (1993, 3 min.) Dan Bigbee (Comanche). A puppet made by acclaimed Native puppeteer Buddy Big Mountain wears authentic Plains-style dance regalia and performs a powwow fancy dance.

ADDRESS: ■ trinity National Museum of the American ■ (.HIRCH Indian Smithsonian Institution, George Gustav Heye Center '*

jewelry by Native artists, books, and HOWLING GREEN children's gifts are available in the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE Museum shops located on the Si7 AMERICAN INDIAN gallery and ground floor. Open daily 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. For BATTERY PARK 3 information, call 212-514-3767. WEB SITE: Have you visited the NMAI Web site? Location: The NMAI Heye Center is located at One Bowling Green in lower Manhattan. Subway: 4 & 5 to Bowling Green, N &R to Whitehall Street, http://www.si.edu/nmai and 1 & 9 to South Ferry. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, except December 25. Thursdays to 8 p.m., made possible by grants from the Booth Ferris Foundation. Admission to the museum and all public programs is free. To become an NMAI Charter Member, call 1-800-242-NMA1 (6624).

The George Gustav Heye Center is located at One Bowling Green, New York, N. Y, and is open daily, except December 25, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and, through the generosity of the Booth Ferris Foundation, Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is free. All programs are subject to change. For membership information, call (800) 242-NMAI. For program updates, call (212) 514-3888. Produced by NMAI, One Bowling Green, New York, N.Y. Russ Tall Chief and Tara O’Keefe, Calendar Editors. Onondaga woman and child. Onondaga reservation. New York, 1888. Photo by THIS WALL WILL TELL DeCost Smith. (N22322) A STORY Your Voice Can Help Keep the Story Alive

he Smithsonian’s NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN invites you to be among the first to inscribe your name, or the name of someone -JL you wish to honor, permanently on the Museum’s Honor Wall. For a modest contribution ot $150, you can commemorate your family or other loved ones for posterity on the stone Honor Wall circling the Potomac, the Museums soaring central welcoming space. Imagine the emotions you and your family will feel when the Museum opens on !► the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2004, knowing that, through your generosity, you helped to fulfill the dreams of millions of Americans—young and old. Native and non-Native alike.

This is no ordinary gift we invite you to make. It is a gift of reconciliation to which you can add your name with great pride. By doing so, you will ensure the long-overdue creation of ' 3 . - ♦-N V * a home for one of the world's magnificent cultural treasures. To receive information about the Honor Wall, simply fill out the coupon below and mail it to: NMAI, Honor Wall Project, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, DC 20026-3473. Or visit our Website at www.nmai.si.edu. ¥ When we receive your coupon we will send you information on how ^ to register for a place on the Honor Wall. •%

I WANT TO HELP KEEP THE STORY ALIVE. NMAI, Honor Wall Project, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, DC 20026-3473 M# Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

CITY/STATE/ZIP HONOR WALL THE GIFT OF RECONCILIATION ® DID YOU KNOW? The Birth of Tribal Newspapers

By Debra V Crain

hen the Cherokee leader ' Sequoyah took part in the War of 1812, he realized that Tsalagi (Cherokee) soldiers could not write letters home or receive letters from family mem­ bers because they couldn’t read or write. As a result, Sequoyah worked harder to finish developing a Cherokee alphabet that he had begun four years before. His alphabet was adopted as the official written language of the Cherokee in 1821. Anyone who could speak Cherokee could learn to read and write in approximately two weeks, so nearly the entire nation became literate in little more than a year. The everyday use of the Cherokee alphabet gave rise to the first trib­ al newspaper in Indian country, the Cherokee Phoenix (Tsa La Gi lehisanunhi). The Cherokee Phoenix, funded by the Cherokee Council, was established in 1827. Published in New Echota, Ga., the capital of the Cherokee Nation, the first issue was printed on February 21, 1828, in both Cherokee and English. Elias Boudinot believed that the Cherokee had no viable devastated but not broken. (Buck Oowatie), leader of the Treaty Party, options left, so he changed his views and The Cherokee Nation was established in was the first editor, and the Rev. Samuel openly advocated removal of Cherokees Park Hill, Okla., near Tahlequah. In Worcester, a missionary, was the first direc­ from their Georgia homeland to Indian September 1844, the Cherokee Advocate was tor. Boudinot’s articles covered topics rang­ Territory in what is now Oklahoma. When published and became the nation’s official ing from the settlers’ greed for land and Ross no longer allowed the Cherokee newspaper and voice. The weekly was pub­ gold to the evils of alcohol. Phoenix to print Boudinot’s views, lished until 1851. It resurfaced in 1870 and As time passed, Boudinot’s editorials Boudinot resigned as editor. was published until 1906. The Advocate became more radical. He supported the The Phoenix was published until 1834, wasn’t seen again until 1977, after Cherokee idea of working toward a united Cherokee when Ross decided to move the press to the voters ratified a new constitution, uniting Nation, as did Principal Chief John Ross, old council grounds in Tennessee. He must the Cherokee into a strong nation like the publisher of the Phoenix. Boudinot wrote have known that the Cherokee were going one Ross envisioned more than 100 years against the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the to lose their land even though he was work­ before. encroachment of settlers, and the unwill­ ing diligently to prevent it. While he was in The Advocate is now published monthly ingness of white courts to accept sworn tes­ Washington, D.C., lobbying against the sell­ as the Cherokee Phoenix and Indian timony from Cherokee witnesses because ing of Cherokee land, his land was taken Advocate in Tahlequah, Okla., with Dan they weren’t recognized as U.S. citizens. It and granted to a Georgian by lottery. The Agent as editor. The paper, usually 28 pages was not uncommon for Boudinot to be Georgia militia removed the press from the long, covers tribal events and can be viewed called to the paper’s front office to defend Phoenix office and burned the building, on-line by going to the Cherokee Nation’s his editorials to angry Georgia militiamen. silencing the voice of the Cherokee Nation. Web site at www.cherokee.org. Boudinot stood firm against removal Four years later, in 1838, the U.S. Army Tribal newspapers began in 1827 with until August 1,1832. He became convinced forcibly removed the Cherokee to the invention of an alphabet, and continue that removal was inevitable when the gov­ Oklahoma. This became known as the to this day to grow throughout the United ernment failed to enforce its own Supreme Trail of Tears or Nunna-da-ul-tsun-yi, States and Canada. Court decision that the Cherokee Nation “Trail where they cried,” on which could maintain its own territory and gov­ 4,000 Cherokee lost their lives during Debra A. Crain (Blackfoot) is a freelance ernment (Worcester v. Georgia). Boudinot removal. The Cherokee spirit was writer who lives in Missouri.

Smithsonian Institution 29 ® GUEST ESSAY

Video Fuels a Cultural Revolution Making video has become a routine part of indigenous community life in southern Mexico

by Alexandra Malkin

f' ¥ / hen the Zapatista Army of National U / / Liberation (EZLN) began their rebel­ * * lion on January 1, 1994, Zapatista communities in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas announced their resistance to the Mexican government. This resistance meant self­ determination, the creation of autonomous proj­ ects, and the refusal of aid from the government. The Chiapas Media Project (CMP) began in this spirit. In 1995, while working on a documentary about a U.S.-Mexican humanitarian aid caravan, I noticed how the indigenous communities organ­ ized, how their clarity of vision remained strong in the midst of a low-intensity war, and how they were media savvy. They asked how they could get their own video and computer equipment to doc­ ument the effects of the war. I looked for resources to buy the equipment and to begin the work­ shops. This all led to the Chiapas Media Project, a binational collaboration that provides video and computer equipment and training to indigenous and campesino communities in Chiapas and Guerrero, Mexico. I work with three full-time Mexican staff and many freelancers and interns that come to work with us on a short-term basis. In February 1998, a grant from the U.S.- Mexico Fund for Culture allowed a few cachlanes (a Mayan word for anyone who doesn’t speak a local indigenous language) including myself to begin video and computer workshops in Zapatista communities. In the beginning, the These communities are part of the most docu­ during a New Year’s celebration. community leaders attended the workshops to mented indigenous movement in the history of More than three years later, video making is check us out. The CMP utilizes existing commu­ the world. In another workshop for women only, part of community life. When there is a special nity governance structures where decisions are none of the seven women had ever seen a video or ceremony, birthday, or protest, the indigenous made by consensus. The leaders agreed that our TV. Most didn’t speak Spanish. We showed a video video makers shoot and distribute the video. project should continue. Since our first video of their last New Year’s Eve celebration. The Other projects include instructional videos about workshop three years ago, more than 150 indige­ women studied the video. At the end, they all burst building water systems and latrines, or documen­ nous men and women have been trained in basic into conversation in their native languages which taries about their agricultural collectives and video production. The people edit their videos in we couldn’t understand. We stood there listening other autonomous projects. Three teams of a media center in San Cristobal de las Casas that and wondering until we couldn’t take the suspense indigenous video makers are now producing a distributes their videos worldwide. anymore. Zorida, one of the women who spoke video about the Zapatista march to Mexico City in Twenty-five people attended the first work­ Spanish, said their husbands had told them that no February and March 2001. shop in the town of La Realidad. One of the par­ women were attending and there would be no These last three years have changed my life. I ticipants, Bernal, asked if he needed special music or dancing at the New Year’s celebration. feel honored to work with such organized, cre­ authorization to use the camera. (People do not Only speeches would be allowed. In the video, the ative, and visionary people who have taught me use last names in the communities because of the women saw their husbands dancing and having a how powerful a new technology can be. ■ low-intensity war.) Surprised, I said no. “All the great time. Zorida said, “Our husbands are just like Alexandra Halkin is the founder and director of the people I have ever seen with cameras have these the bad government; they lie.” Everybody cracked Chiapas Media Project and has been working as a special badges hanging around their necks,” he up. Now they understood the power of video. The documentary producer throughout Latin America said. I realized he was referring to press credentials. women said they were never again staying home for the past 20 years.

30 American Indian A LEGACY 0/SUPPORT

One womans generous gift will forever change the way millions of people view “First Americans”

he Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American

^ H ■ Indian has lost a special friend; Ru Lennox Lang,

journalist, author, and playwright. As a Charter

Member, Ms. Lang was a strong supporter of the

NMAI, and through her bequest, her impact on the

NMAI continues today. Deeply concerned about the culture, spirit, and

art of American Indian peoples, Ms. Lang believed the Smithsonian

was the ideal place to keep their histories alive. Because of Ms. Lang’s

foresight in establishing a bequest for young Native American interns at

the NMAI, her legacy will live in perpetuity. It remains a fitting

testimony to her remarkable life.

For confidential, no obligation information, call or write today: “J hope and pray that National Museum of the American Indian, Attn: The Planned Giving others, observing the Office, P.O. Box 23473, Washington D.C. 20026-3473 Phone: 202-357-3164, Fax: 202-357-3369 steadily growing number E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.si.edu/nmai of supporters and the j □ Send me information on how to include the NMAI in my will generous donations of so ! or living trust. many, will be inspired j □ I have already included the NMAI in my estate plans.

to make contributions.'' j Name:______- Ru Lang I Address:______I City:______; State:______Zip:______! Daytime phone number:______GA4

j? x" Smithsonian

■A A è 3 Smithsonian ^ National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian Office of Public Affairs 470 L’Enfant Plaza, Suite 7103 Washington, D.C. 20560-0934