Zuni Cosmology and Aesthetics: Color Terms, Part III

Native American arts daily news, presented by
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Nome Cult Trail walk will be remembered September 17

USDA AWARDS $9 MILLION TO PROMOTE FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION IN SCHOOLS
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced $9 million will go to 225 schools in eight states and three Indian Tribal Organizations to encourage increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

American Indian research on agenda

NCAA Approves Utah's Use Of American Indian Nickname

Band's new name, album reflect American Indian link

NICKNAME: Tribal chair: UND has done 'a good job'

Indian activist takes up Los Fresnos students’ cause

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"Offerings from the Heart," exhibition of works by 26 American Indian artists, Tuesday through Sept. 17, Cando (N.D.) Arts Center, includes works by internationally known artist Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith; along with Joni Murphy, a doctoral candidate in art history at the University of Kansas; Peg Furshong, visual arts and gallery coordinator at the UND Memorial Union Gallery; as well as Monty Yellow Bird and Marla Quincy Yellow Bird, both Fargo; and Nelda Schrupp, Lakota, N.D. Gallery hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

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Hybrid Harvest: Six Contemporary Native American Artists

Cal State Fullerton Main Art Gallery, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton - "Hybrid Harvest: Six Contemporary Native American Artists" - The exhibition explores the cross-pollination of Euro-American and Native-American worlds. Sept. 6 through Oct. 7. Tue.-Fri., noon-4 p.m.; Sat., noon-2 p.m. Admission: free. (714) 278-3262. www.arts.fullerton.edu/events/

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Native American Heritage Day , 1-5 p.m. Sept. 10. A special Social Gathering includes a drumming circle, dancers and singers. The day also includes American-Indian artisans, their wares, and food. Nankin Mills, Hines Drive, just east of Ann Arbor Trail, Westland. Wayne County Parks, (734) 261-1990.

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Snohomish Co., WA The Depot Arts Center: Seventh and R Streets, Anacortes; 360-293-3663. "The Other Side of the Mountain," through Sept. Native American arts, Oct. 7 through 31.

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National Indian Gaming Association to Host Two Evenings of Native American Music and Dance

Contact: Suzette Brewer of the National Indian Gaming Association, 202-546-7711

National Indian Gaming Association to Host Two Evenings of Native American Music and Dance

Programs Celebrate 'National American Indian Heritage Month'

In celebration of National American Indian Heritage Month, the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) will host two evenings of Native American music and dance on Monday, Nov. 28, and Tuesday, Nov. 29, 7:30-10 p.m., at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The programs will take place in the Terrace Theater.

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) will host the programs, which will include Native performers from the Northeast, Northern Plains, Southwest and Northwest Coast regions. All proceeds will benefit the American Indian College Fund.

Tickets are $25 and are available at the Kennedy Center box office or by phone at 202-467-4600. Order online at http://www.kennedy-center.org.

The National Indian Gaming Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit trade association comprised of 184 American Indian Nations and other non-voting associate members. The mission of NIGA is to advance the lives of Indian people -- economically, socially and politically. NIGA operates as a clearinghouse and educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, policymakers and the public on Indian gaming issues and tribal community development.

Web: http://www.indiangaming.org

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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Zuni Language and Worldview, Part III

Zuni Cosmology and Aesthetics: Color Terms

In a like manner, the Zuni terms for colors point to objects, but often by means of phrases using a comparative particle (ikna), which is a reference to a cultural norm. Color terms form a significant part of the Zuni lexicon, frequently occurring in texts (both myth and texts descriptive of daily life), and are pervasive in art and ritual. There is no general term for color in the Zuni lexicon and the only indication of an abstract term for color is where the color has changed or designated as an unnatural property of the thing (jeli or heli)[36]. To the Zuni the power inherent in an image (assuming color to be an image) is its ability to depict vital aspects of the physical world in relation to their "specificity-their ability to represent living beings"[37]. Thus, in the absence of a general term for color, color terms have no category sui generis, but will refer to objects belonging to a separate taxonomic structure, often referring with religious connotation to the wide category of beings, which is inclusive of humans, animals, ceremonial objects, spirits (Koko, Kachinas)[38], and possibly plants, insects, and natural concretions as well (corn maidens, kokopelli, or the twins of Towayalane). The similarities and dissimilarities in a contrast between the Zuni and Navajo, and their own inherent “continuities and discontinuities” show the cross-cultural implications for comparability of semantic categories where categories are culturally defined and a manifestation of a Weltsanschauung[39]. The problem of a Chomskyan analysis of the Zuni language has been noted[40] and it is apparent that the best approach to the language is one with a modified relativistic attitude.

The Zuni perceive of no phenomenon that is exclusively physical. Their ontological taxonomic structure is permeated with animate matter and their language has no means of explicitly expressing the distinction between the animate and inanimate. As Cushing pointed out, and later Walker in his taxonomy of Zuni terms, the category of 'beings' has no distinct boundaries. There are no types of beings, but rather, degrees of being. Young also noted in the results of card sorting that figures with both human and animal characteristics were sometimes grouped as either, but were less specifiable as specific beings[41]. In contrast to an ontology such as the Cartesian cogito where it can be assumed that everything external to the subject is physical, an ontology that admits of an interrelated sameness throughout animate matter would assume, a priori, universal subjectivity or other minds, however one wished to describe the intellectual and individuating function. Thus, objectivity, or more precisely, the resultant intersubjectivity which is evident in analysis of their usage of their semantic components seems to indicate that the distinction between the ontological and the epistemological is analogous to the confluence of their cosmology and aesthetics in the beautiful and the dangerous, and is for the most part logically imperceptible (non-distinct).

Ontologically and epistemically, for the Zuni, logos is deeply embedded in substance. As Young states, "…Zuni perceptions and interpretations of rock art reveal much about the Zuni world view…"[42]. Clarification is needed in regard to this statement however, for while "perceptions and interpretations" may be revealed conceptually and have a strong intersubjective basis visually (ostensively), the lack of a naming process indicates the strong presence of contextual implications where non-verbal expression is preferable when reference is indeterminate, for a deviant utterance may be the manifestation of the dangerous and subsequently the aesthetic is expressed as a communal act of appreciation visually.

There are some points to be made here in regard to the naming process; 1) because intersubjective objectivity can be revealed conceptually and non-verbally a linguistic relativism approach is preferable to a linguistic universalism, 2) given the extent of metaphor and analogy in reference to particular objects or figures in Zuni language and ritual a possible world semantics is inappropriate, and 3) Young’s assertion that “one cannot separate Zuni sacred and secular life”[43] is incorrect in view of non-verbal aesthetic expression.

Concerning (1), for the language universalist the ineffability thesis of semantics states that one cannot discuss the relationships that constitute the meanings of words and other expressions of language because it is an inescapable intermediary between me and the world, and one with which I cannot dispense, meaning that I cannot “step outside my language (and the conceptual system it embodies) and view it from the outside"[44]. The universality of language to the language universalist means that language is "inescapable". Everything we say and (according to some philosophers) think presupposes the one language we are using, including the semantic relations in virtue of which it can be used to say something. We can only say things about our language by using that which we suppose in order to do so, i.e. our own language. Language of the user constitutes the language user’s universe. What lies outside of the language is not only inexpressible, but is meaningless.

The totality of the relationships that constitute the meanings of words and other expressions of language is semantics. The relation between simple objects and their names is presupposed in all use of language and because of this we have to treat the actual objects as existing necessarily and as necessarily exhausting the entire realm of all possible objects[45]. These relationships that are the links between language and reality cannot, according to universalist, be rationalized for "semantic ideas can only be conveyed non-verbally…non-conceptually. They rely on an unexpressed and unexplainable preconceptual Vorwissen" [46].

Herein lies a crucial distinction, for Young notes that where ambiguity is present in both meaning and form, "the power invoked through particular images…may at times be metaphorical or ambiguous, but their form rarely is” and power is the power to invoke narrative of myth and the time of the beginning.[47] Young’s specific meaning of "form" is basically that of shapes and is representative of universality. If the formal aspect of an object is what can be said to be true of it a priori, then the form of simple objects governs the way in which these objects can be combined with each other (elements of design) and form complex logical forms (patterns of design). If a culture’s ontological taxonomic structure admits of an animate matter, or more precisely, if the culture’s language has no means of expressing explicitly the distinction between the animate and the inanimate, and a totality of relations between things is referred to as a sameness of all things, then it would seem to admit of an a prior intersubjectivity in these relations. Semantic ideas are conveyed conceptually for "the power inherent in those images that depict being associated by the Zuni with vital aspects of the physical world is related to their specificity-their ability to 'represent' "living beings"[48]. For the Zuni, personification is inherent in the substance of animate matter and has existed since "the beginning". Ontology is then relative to personalization (as distinct from personification), individuation and context, where ‘to be’, in Hintikka’s terms, is to be the object of a search[49] and to “find” as an act of quantification may be better served by the verb “to produce”[50]. ‘To be’ is to be somewhere and is a relation that concedes to the eternal possibility of an existence. Thus, when an image may be recognized and categorized according to its form, even when labeled as “unknown” by the lack of content, it is still possible to convey semantic ideas conceptually according to principles that inhibit the tendency to render a deviant utterance, and can further be conveyed ostensively, where knowledge and aesthetic appreciation is dependent upon one’s cultural assimilation.

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If you can, plan to be there Sept. 10 or 11; you will be in for a treat. The animal park is having a special Native American Arts Festival featuring the expert storytelling of John Three Hawks, who will share tales of the local animals, plants and terrain and will truly inspire his listeners. After hearing his lively narratives, you can stroll around the facility and enjoy the wildlife from a new perspective.

American Indian songs, dances and food will also be available, as well as beautiful and unusual crafts. It's the perfect opportunity to ask questions of gifted artisans.

For more information, call Friends of the Moonridge Zoo at (909) 878-4200.

Additional American Indian artisans who are interested in participating are welcome to display wares free of charge.

Moonridge Zoo at P.O. Box 2557, Big Bear City, CA 92314

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Adobe Gallery: older original paintings by Tony Abeyta, Emil Bistram, E.A. Burbank, Fremont Ellis, R.C. Gorman, Patrick Swazo Hines, and Fritz Scholder,cq all through Sept. 3; acrylic paintings and aquatint etchings by Helen Hardin, through Oct. 16. 221 Canyon Road, Santa Fe. (505) 955-0550.

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USAO to host young writers workshop Aspiring young writers and filmmakers from across Oklahoma are invited to participate in a workshop Sept. 15-16 at the University of Science and Arts in Chickasha. The workshop is hosted by the Woodcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, with support from USAO.

The free, two-day workshop is geared toward Native American students but participants do not need to be Native American or become members of Woodcraft Circle.

Participants are also awarded with membership in the Woodcraft Circle, a national organization of Native American writers and storytellers.

For more information, contact Dr. Lee Hester, director of American Indian Studies, at 405-574-1289 or fachesterl@usao.edu, or Jay Goombi, Woodcraft regional director, at 405-574-1264or jgoombi@usao.edu.

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Northeastern Native American Fine Arts Show. A new exhibit at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum features an array of art, which runs through Sept. 5 at the museum's gallery, shows off the artistic skills of American Indians from the Northeast. Thirty-four artists with connections to tribes of the Northeast were chosen for the show, which includes sculpture, carvings, oils, acrylic and mixed media.

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Sept. 4-Nov. 13: "By Native Hands: Native American Basketry," Forsyth Center Galleries, Memorial Student Center, Texas A&M. 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

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October 30. Native American Fall Festival-Lenape Village. Churchville Nature Center. Churchville, PA. 215-357-4005. www.churchvillenaturecenter.org.

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture:"Beauty Within," historical objects from the collection, through Oct. 23; "IconoClash," symbols of American Indian culture, through Jan. 15; "The Pottery of Santa Ana Pueblo," through Feb. 19. 708 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe. Admission and hours: (505) 476-1250.

Plains Art Museum: "Between Two Cultures: The Art of Star Wallowing Bull," opens Sept. 24; "Contemporary Native American Artists - Reflections After Lewis and Clark," opens July 21, (701) 232-3821.

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AEQ Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Frawley, William, Kenneth C. Hill, and Pamela Munro, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. 450 pp. ISBN 0520229967, $34.95.
© 2004 American Anthropological Association Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Reviewed for the Anthropology & Education Quarterly by Catherine S. Fowler
University of Nevada
csfowler@unr.nevada.edu
To Order this book

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W. Tussinger has written his first novel which was released in December, 2004. The title of the book is THE FOURTH WORLD.
W. Tussinger is a member of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma and has lived on several reservations including the Yuroks of Northern California and the Yakamas of Washington State where he attended college.
THE FOURTH WORLD

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Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden - Tewa

Long ago in the ancient home of the San Juan people, in a village whose ruins cam be seen across the river from present-day San Juan, lived two magically gifted young people. The youth was called Deer Hunter because even as a boy, he was the only one who never returned empty-handed from the hunt. The girl, whose name was White Corn Maiden, made the finest pottery, and embroidered clothing with the most beautiful designs, of any woman in the village. These two were the handsomest couple in the village, and it was no surprise to their parents that they always sought one anther's company. Seeing that were favored by the gods, the villagers assumed that they were destined to marry.

And in time they did, and contrary to their elders' expectations, they began to spend even more time with one another. White Corn Maiden began to ignore her pottery making and embroidery, while Deer Hunter gave up hunting, at a time when he could have saved many of his people from hunger. They even began to forget their religious obligations. At the request of a pair's worried parents, the tribal elders called a council. This young couple was ignoring all the traditions by which the tribe had lived and prospered, and the people feared that angry gods might bring famine, flood, sickness, or some other disaster upon the village.

But Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden ignored the council's pleas and drew closer together, swearing that nothing would ever part them. A sense of doom pervaded the village, even though it was late spring and all nature had unfolded in new life.

Then suddenly White Corn Maiden became ill, and within three days she died. Deer Hunter's grief had no bounds. He refused to speak or eat, preferring to keep watch beside his wife's body until she was buried early the next day.

For four days after death, every soul wanders in and around its village and seeks forgiveness from those whom it may have wronged in life. It is a time of unease for the living, since the soul may appear in the form of a wind, a disembodied voice, a dream, or even in human shape. To prevent such visitation, the villagers go to the dead person before burial and utter a soft prayer of forgiveness. And on the fourth day after death, the relatives gather to perform a ceremony releasing the soul into the spirit world, from which it will never return.

But Deer Hunter was unable to accept his wife's death. Knowing that he might see her during the four-day interlude, he began to wander around the edge of the village. Soon he drifted farther out into the fields, and it was here at sundown of the fourth day, even while his relatives were gathering for a ceremony of release, that he spotted a small fire near a clump of bushes.

Deer Hunter drew closer and found his wife, as beautiful as she was in life and dressed in all her finery, combing her long hair with a cactus brush in preparation for the last journey. He fell weeping at her feet, imploring her not to leave but to return with him to the village before the releasing rite was consummated. White Corn Maiden begged her husband to let her go, because she no longer belonged to the world of the living. Her return would anger the spirits, she said, and anyhow, soon she would no longer be beautiful, and Deer Hunter would shun her.

He brushed her pleas aside by pledging his undying love and promising that he would let nothing part them. Eventually she relented, saying that she would hold him to his promise. They entered the village just as their relatives were marching to the shrine with the food offering that would release the soul of White Corn Maiden. They were horrified when they saw her, and again they and the village elders begged Deer Hunter to let her go. He ignored them, and an air of grim expectancy settled over the village.

The couple returned to their home, but before many days had passed, Deer Hunter noticed that his wife was beginning to have an unpleasant odor. Then he saw that her beautiful face had grown ashen and her skin dry. At first he only turned his back on her as they slept. Later he began to sit up on the roof all night, but White Corn Maiden always joined him. In time the villagers became used to the sight of Deer Hunter racing among the housed and through the fields with White Corn Maiden, now not much more than skin and bones, in hot pursuit.

Things continued in this way, until one misty morning a tall and imposing figure appeared in the small dance court at the center of the village. He was dreaded in spotless white buckskin robes and carried the biggest bow anyone had ever seen. On his back was slung a great quiver with the two largest arrows anyone had ever seen. He remained standing at the center of the village and called, in a voice that carried into every home, for Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden. Such was its authority that the couple stepped forward meekly and stood facing him.

The awe-inspiring figure told the couple that he had been sent from the spirit world because they, Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden, had violated their people's traditions and angered the spirits; that because they had been so selfish, they had brought grief and near-disaster to the village. "Since you insist on being together," he said, "you shall have your wish. You will chase one another forever across the sky, as visible reminders that your people must live according to tradition. If they are to survive." With this he set Deer Hunter on one arrow and shot him low into the western sky. Putting White Corn Maiden on the other arrow, he placed her just behind her husband.

That evening the villagers saw two new stars in the west. The first, large and very bright, began to move east across the heavens. The second, a smaller, flickering star, followed close behind. So it is to this day, according to the Tewa; the brighter star is White Corn Maiden, set there after she had died; yet she will forever chase her husband behind across the heavens.

From American Indian Myths and Legends, Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, editors. Copyright © 1984 by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Native_Village
http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories

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"Communing with Bears"

By Sara Wright

Communing with Bears is the story of a joyful encounter between one woman and a black bear.

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Web Sites:
Native American Links Page
Indigenous Peoples Literature
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Wisdom of the Old People
By David Whitney
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand, The Book
Early tribal artifacts put in spotlight
"Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand" is scheduled to be shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from early July to late September.
National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation
Inuit film to tell story of last great shaman
Petition in Support of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe
My Two Beads Worth: Indigenous News Online
Northern California Indian Development Council
Native Village
Smudge Ceremony

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Literacy in Indigenous Communities by L. David van Broekhuizen, Ph.D. (2000)
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Literacy in first languages in indigenous communities is a complex topic that generates lively discussion. This research synthesis explores the notions of national, mother-tongue, multiple, and biliteracies. It presents important information pertaining to threatened languages, language shift, and language loss. Examples of culturally relevant uses of literacy in indigenous communities and issues related to first-language literacy instruction are also provided.

Essay on the Zuni World View
Excerpt(Complete article is available in PDF)
Cushing also cited an incidence where he showed a pole that accompanies a theodolite to an old Zuni man and asked him what he thought the name of it was. In response the old man inquired as to the use of the item. After briefly describing the implementation of the device the old man provided a rather lengthy sentence-word that Cushing translated as "heights of the world progressively measuring stick". The next day Cushing took the pole to the extreme corner of the pueblo and began "to flourish it around" until a middle-aged man relented to curiosity and asked what it was. Cushing then provided the Zuni name he had learned the day before and the man promptly requested, "Can they actually tell how far up and down journeying the world is?" [105].