UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE MATERIALITY AND MEANING AT AN ANNUAL HARVEST GATHERING A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By DEBORAH L. COLBERT Norman, Oklahoma 2012 MATERIALITY AND MEANING AT AN ANNUAL HARVEST GATHERING A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY BY ______________________________ Dr. Morris W. Foster, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Gus Palmer ______________________________ Dr. Sean O’Neill ______________________________ Dr. Katherine Hirschfeld ______________________________ Dr. Clemencia Rodriguez © Copyright by DEBORAH L. COLBERT 2012 All Rights Reserved. To Our Ancestors. Acknowledgements The journey through graduate school and to the completion of a dissertation project is a team effort. The landscape is woven with excitement, anxiety, insight and flat out fatigue. I could never have done it without a long list of people who contributed with their emotional, spiritual, intellectual and material support. Some of them now live in my somewhat distant past and although I no longer recall their names, their contributions are nonetheless appreciated. There are also many who cheered me on throughout the years and who now share my celebration of completion. I start with a huge shout-out to the participants in the Harvest Gathering who allowed me to follow them around asking questions, visiting their homes and recording hours of interviews and gathering the information I needed in order to conduct my research. It is beyond words to express my love and gratitude to the Henries family who have stood by me, helping me to sort out what direction to go in and how to go about it, and facilitated my work on every level over the course of these many years. I look forward to many more years of work together in the future, doing our part to support stronger relationships between peoples from different ways of life. Without the phenomenal support of people at the University of Oklahoma, this project would never have been realized. My committee is peopled with wonderful scholars and, in some cases, cheerleaders extraordinaire: Gus Palmer’s support, humor and deep commitment to healing the relationship between iv anthropologists and indigenous peoples; Sean O’Neill’s luminous brilliance and enthusiasm for music and language and compassion; Tassie Hirschfeld’s insights and wonderful, thought-provoking questions; and Clemencia Rodriguez’ brief but incredibly helpful input. Most especially I want to thank Morris Foster, my committee Chair, for sticking by me through thick and thin, and for the sometimes profound insights and guidance that will shape the rest of my life’s work. Truly, I could not say “thank you” enough to match the depth of my gratitude to Morris. The folks in the department of anthropology provided an environment of support on many levels. I also want to thank the myriad of people at the graduate college who have answered one dumb question after another with patience and helpful advice, and who have gifted me with grants and other forms of financial support over the years. I also want to thank graduate student senate for extra financial support that facilitated my trips to Maine for research. Finally, a special thanks to Kate in the bursar’s office who walked me through the confusion of student loans and who has become my friend. Perhaps most importantly, I owe a debt of gratitude to my family and friends whose unflagging support and belief in my work formed the ship that bore me across the seas of life-changing transformation. This project belongs as much to them as it does to me. My parents, Brian, Mark, Chuck, and Michele, Royce and her family, Rhonda and Amy, Paul and Joyce, as well as a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear friends fed me with kindness and in some cases made extraordinary sacrifices in order to help me bring this phase of my own growth to v fruition. Not only did they provide financial and other material support, but they relieved me of day-to-day responsibilities when needed and put up with fatigue, stress, and the occasional outburst of anxiety during the wee hours when deadlines loomed. I am truly blessed by them all. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................... x Abstract ...................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Gathering ..................................................................................................... 1 To Gather ......................................................................................................... 4 Gathering Theoretical Perspectives................................................................. 11 ANT ........................................................................................................... 15 Indexicality .................................................................................................... 22 Topologies and Touchstones .......................................................................... 30 Gathering Our Stories: Indexing Distant Spaces, Tracing Mobile Materialities ........................................................................................................... 33 Gathering Diversity ........................................................................................ 39 The Harvest Gathering Event ......................................................................... 50 Gathering Information .................................................................................... 63 Chapter 2: Origins of the Gathering............................................................................. 72 Indigenous Geographies ............................................................................... 108 Ninnimissinuok ............................................................................................ 115 Cosmologic Space ........................................................................................ 123 Wealth as Relationship, Value as Action ...................................................... 126 Into the Future .............................................................................................. 143 Rocks ......................................................................................................... 143 vii Recognition .................................................................................................. 145 Chapter 3: The Spaces of the Gathering .................................................................... 157 Flute & Tradition ......................................................................................... 176 The Henries’ House...................................................................................... 188 Stone ......................................................................................................... 204 Sweetgrass ................................................................................................... 206 Altar and Medicine Bundle: Themes in Place-making .................................. 212 Chapter 4: Continuity and Change at the Gathering - Events and Spaces ................... 216 Calendrical Cycle ......................................................................................... 218 The Gathering Preparations .......................................................................... 223 The Day-to-Day life of the Gathering – Day One. ........................................ 227 To Smore or Not to Smore: Paragraph from fieldnotes ................................. 241 Gathering – Day Two ................................................................................... 242 Sweatlodge ................................................................................................... 242 Saturday Dinner ........................................................................................... 249 Medicine Wheel ........................................................................................... 250 Saturday evening – Social Space .................................................................. 252 Humor ......................................................................................................... 254 Silence ......................................................................................................... 255 Gathering – Day Three ................................................................................. 260 Gathering – Day Four ................................................................................... 266 Post-Circle and Post-Gathering Meetings ..................................................... 269 viii The Annual Faces of the Gathering .............................................................. 272 2006: The Lion Pendant ............................................................................... 277 The Lion Pendant ......................................................................................... 281 2007: The “Buddhist” Year. ......................................................................... 287 2008: The Native (or not) Year ..................................................................... 297 2009 The Death Year ..................................................................................