Tohono O'odham Basketry: An Enduring Tradition Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Watkinson, Gina Marie Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 01:44:00 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/312501 TOHONO O’ODHAM BASKETRY: AN ENDURING TRADITION by Gina Marie Watkinson ____________________________ A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2013 - 1 - STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Gina Marie Watkinson APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: November 25, 2013 Dr. Nancy J. Parezo Date Professor of American Indian Studies - 2 - Acknowledgements This thesis would not be complete without giving full credit to those who assisted in the process. I would like to first thank my committee members: Dr. Nancy J. Parezo, Dr. Benedict Colombi, and Dr. Nancy Odegaard for their time, valuable suggestions, energy, and guidance. I am also grateful to the Arizona State Museum, Preservation Division for providing me with employment during my graduate school career and all the opportunities it has afforded me. My sincere thanks to the staff at the museums, repositories, and archives I visited during the course of my research. This includes the Arizona State Museum, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Museum of Native American Indian, and the Arizona Historical Society. The staff at these institutions graciously attended to my research needs during my visits. In addition, I would also like to acknowledge the following people that gave me words of encouragement and help during this educational experience: Mike Jacobs, Andrew Higgins, Diane Dittemore, Teresa Moreno, Marilen Pool, Greg Farneth and Jannelle Weakly. Finally, I would like to thank all the weavers for their perseverance and for their willingness to share their gifts with others. - 3 - Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my grandmother, Jean Temple. - 4 - TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................9 1.1 Native Basketry a Contemporary Tradition .......................................................................9 1.2 Adaptive Capacity ............................................................................................................16 1.3 Significance ......................................................................................................................17 1.4 Methodology.....................................................................................................................19 1.5 Terms and Thesis Organization ........................................................................................22 CHAPTER 2: LITERTURE REVIEW ....................................................................................24 2.2 Review of Basketry Literature .......................................................................................24 2.3 Early Research on Tohono O’odham Basketry .............................................................42 CHAPTER 3: TOHONO O’ODHAM BASKETRY ...............................................................46 3.1 Native Baskets ..............................................................................................................46 3.2 Yucca Coiled Basketry .................................................................................................47 3.3 Willow Coiled Basketry ................................................................................................49 CHAPTER 4: TRANSFORMATION OF THE ENVIORNMENT 1865-1920 .....................51 4.1 Environmental Change in Southwest Arizona ................................................................51 4.2 New Arrivals .................................................................................................................53 4.3 The Gila River and the Akimel O’odham .....................................................................53 4.4 Santa Cruz River ............................................................................................................58 4.5 San Xavier Reservation ..................................................................................................61 4.6 Cattle .............................................................................................................................64 4.7 Tohono O’odham Plant Management ...........................................................................65 CHAPTER 5: CONTEMPORARY NATIVE BASKETRY ISSUES ....................................70 5.1 Contemporary Issues .......................................................................................................70 - 5 - 5.2 Myth of Wilderness ........................................................................................................71 5.3 Restriction ......................................................................................................................72 5.4 Tohono O’odham Access to Basketry Material ..............................................................74 5.5 Basketry Plant Loss ........................................................................................................75 5.6 Pesticides ........................................................................................................................77 CHAPTER 6: Enduring Traditions, Resiliency, and Revitalization .......................81 6.1 Native Basketry Organization .........................................................................................81 6.2 Education of Collectors and the Public ...........................................................................83 6.3 Tohono O’odham Basketry Organization .......................................................................84 6.4 Leadership and Vision ....................................................................................................85 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................88 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................91 - 6 - Abstract This thesis will examine the environmental and sociocultural changes that have affected Tohono O’odham basketry and the reasons how these traditions, although altered, persist today. Early literature on Native American Indian basketry of the 19th and 20th century commonly focuses on the loss of “traditional” and “authentic” basketry and predicts the demise and eminent cultural assimilation of Native people. This perspective and conclusion is also true of scholarship concentrated on Tohono O’odham basketry. One problem with this approach is that it freezes Tohono O’odham artists in time and space and negates historic and current creativity. In this thesis I make the alternate assumption. Tohono O’odham basketry is an enduring tradition that, like culture, is not static and in order to persist has changed due to new challenges and historical contexts. In particular, this thesis will discuss the altered natural resource base and changes in how basketmakers can use the land and obtain their raw materials. Prior to the 1900s, Tohono O’odham coiled basketry was primarily composed of willow stems but after the 1900s basket weavers regularly utilized yucca leaves. Most researchers attribute this modification to assimilation pressures and to the commercialization of basketry for sale to non-native consumers. Margaret Shreve’s University of Arizona master’s thesis entitled Modern Papago Basketry written in 1943 was the first document to argue this conclusion. However, I argue that the explanation for this change is more complex and that environmental causes have not been explored and discussed fully. I challenge the notion that the sale of Tohono O’odham basketry was an indication of assimilation and cultural loss. Instead the changes that occurred to Tohono O’odham basketry should be seen as undeniable evidence that Tohono O’odham culture was not destroyed upon Anglo-American encroachment. The Tohono O’odham basket weavers responded to drastic - 7 - environmental and social changes and created