R.C. Gorman: Remembering the 'Picasso of American Painters'

Native American arts daily news, presented by
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Massillon showcases pottery, baskets and arrowheads in exhibit

Hank Adams: 2006 American Indian visionary

Reception is tonight to honor Native American graduates

Fest savors culture of native tribes

R.C. Gorman: Remembering the 'Picasso of American Painters'

Hayes offers to return donations from American Indian tribes

Summer Institute helps with effective teaching of American Indian Students

Louisiana-Monroe tears down Indian mosaic while union renovated

Roy Lichtenstein: American Indian Encounters’ at MAM

DPI urges dropping Indian mascots

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"Expeditions of Spirit," an exhibit of 20 of Lorenzo Clayton's large-scale mixed media assemblages and works on paper, will open Saturday at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, New York, N.Y. Clayton's exhibit investigates religious and philosophic world views through complex installations and multi-layered works on paper.

Six of his "mythistoryquest" installations, which examine parallel traditions in indigenous and Christian religions, will be on view together for the first time. Also included will be works from the Come Across series, which express Clayton's rediscovery and embrace of his Navajo identity.

This is the final installation of the "New Tribe: New York" series focusing on New York-based Native American artists.

The show is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Thursdays to 8 p.m.), through April 9. Admission is free. Call (212) 514-3700 or visit ww.americanindian.si.edu for more information.

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THE WOMEN/Edward S. Curtis

"THE WOMEN/Edward S. Curtis," by Christopher Cardozo; foreword by Louise Erdrich (Bulfinch Press, $35) — Cardozo, who lives in Minneapolis, is the world's foremost expert on, and collector of, photos of American Indians taken by turn-of-the-century photographer Edward S. Curtis. Cardozo went through 1,000 photos to find the 100 sepia-toned images in this book, which show the daily lives of American Indian women at a time when most were already on reservations. Minneapolis novelist and poet Erdrich discusses women's work in her foreword: " … although Edward Curtis believed that he was documenting a vanishing culture, it is in these humble arts that the strength of Native culture lives on."

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From: Glenn Welker ghwelker3@comcast.net

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE WESTERN SHOSHONE

FORWARD TO YOUR LISTS, YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, ETC. WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE AT LEAST 10,000 SIGNATURES BY FEBRUARY 28th!

http://ga0.org/campaign/shoshone_petition

Thank you to Oxfam America for putting this together.

www.oxfamamerica.org

US Fails to Respond to UN Request; Western Shoshone Petition for Public Support

Posted: 4 January, 2006

The United States government has missed a year-end deadline to answer questions posed by a United Nations committee looking into charges of federal harassment of the Western Shoshone people.

But along with the Western Shoshone traditional government, the Western Shoshone Defense Project is determined not to let the matter die. The defense project is one of the local organizations with which Oxfam America partners.

The Western Shoshone maintain that the US government, through a host of measures including the seizures of livestock and the imposition of heavy trespass fines as well as attempts to privatize large tracts of land to multinational gold companies, is violating the rights of indigenous people to their ancestral lands—some 60 million acres that stretch across Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and California.

The Western Shoshone have now launched a nationwide petition calling on the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, to act immediately to address the human rights violations the Western Shoshone have long endured.

CERD was the committee that issued the list of 10 questions the government failed to answer by Dec. 31. The questions are part of a request for “urgent action,” which, if accepted, would allow the committee to open an investigation into US conduct regarding the land issues and the treatment of indigenous people.

“CERD is going to get a lot of pressure from the United States to drop this thing and not take it on as a formal urgent action before the full committee,” said Julie Ann Fishel, the land recognition program director for the defense project.

The appeal to CERD is the latest step in a long-simmering dispute between the Western Shoshone and the federal government. At issue is the Western Shoshone’s contention that the land is theirs—recognized as such by the Treaty of Ruby Valley in 1863—and that federal agencies along with energy and mining industries are trampling on the rights of indigenous people in a scramble to access the valuable resources lying beneath the land.

Protection of the land is critical to the Western Shoshone’s preservation of their cultural and spiritual integrity. But among the threats it now faces is a plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to conduct open-pit gold mining at Mt. Tenabo, both areas that are spiritually significant to the Western Shoshone.

“This is a critical land rights issue. The federal government needs to be held accountable for violating treaties with Indian nations, as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has clearly established,” said Oxfam America’s Laura Inouye, referring to an earlier decision by that body which found the US Bureau of Land Management had violated Western Shoshone rights to due process, property rights, and equality. “A similar finding by UNCERD will help the Western Shoshone press their case for justice.”

“This isn’t just about Indians. It’s about everybody,” added Fishel. “It’s about land, clean water, clean air, and protection of significant areas. This is about not allowing the US government to place corporate interests before human rights and environmental concerns.”

In August, a Western Shoshone delegation traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to speak with CERD members and present their case. Another delegation plans to make a second trip to Geneva in March to present the petition in person. The deadline for signing the petition is Feb. 28 of this year.

“If we can get to the heart of US treatment of indigenous people, and tell the truth about that treatment, we’re going to get to the core of cleaning up social justice issues here and wherever US and corporate policies are affecting peoples’ lives,” said Fishel.

Sign the Petition:

http://ga0.org/campaign/shoshone_petition

For more information: go to: http://www.wsdp.org/ or call: 775-468-0230

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Fox and Rabbit - Apache / Jicarilla

Fox one day met a Rabbit who was sewing a sack. "What do you intend to do with that sack?" asked he.

"I am making this coat to protect myself from being killed by the hard hail which we are going to have today," replied Rabbit.

"My friend, you know how to make them; give me this coat and make another for yourself."

Rabbit agreed to this, and Fox put on the sack over his head. Rabbit then hung him on a limb and pelted him with stones, while Fox, thinking it was hail striking him, endured the punishment as long as he could, but finally fell nearly dead from the tree, and looked out, to see no signs of hail, but discovered the Rabbit running away. Fox wished to avenge himself by killing Rabbit, and set off in pursuit of him.

When overtaken Rabbit was chewing soft gum with which to make spectacles. Fox's curiosity was stronger than his passion for revenge. "What are you making those for?" said he.

"It is going to be very hot, and I am making them to protect my eyes," answered Rabbit.

" Let me have this pair; you know how to make them and can make yourself another pair."

"Very well," said Rabbit, and he put the eye- shields on Fox, who could then see nothing, as the gum was soft and filled his eyes.

Rabbit set fire to the brush all around Fox, who was badly singed in running through it. The gum melted in the fire, and yet remains as the dark rings around his eyes.

Fox again started on the trail of Rabbit, with the determination of eating him as soon as he saw him. He found Rabbit sitting beside the opening of a beehive.

"I am going to eat you," said Fox ; "you have tried to kill me."

"You must not kill me," replied Rabbit. "I am teaching these children," and he closed the opening of the hive, so that Fox could not see what was inside.

Fox desired very much to see what was In the hive making such a noise.

"If you wish to see, stay here and teach them while I rest. When it is dinner time, strike them with a club," said Rabbit, who then ran away.

Fox patiently awaited the dinner hour, and then struck the hive with such force that he broke into it. The bees poured out and stung him until he rolled in agony. "When I see you again, I will kill you before you can say a word!" declared he, as he started after Rabbit again.

Fox tracked the Rabbit to a small hole in the fence around a field of watermelons belonging to a Mexican. The Rabbit had entered to steal, and was angered at sight of the gum figure of a man which the owner of the field had placed beside the path.

"What do you desire from me?" he cried, as he struck at the figure with his forefoot, which stuck fast in the soft gum. He struck at the gum with every foot, and even his head was soon stuck in the gum. Thus Fox found him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "They put me in here because I would not eat chicken for them," said Rabbit.

"I will take your place," said Fox ; "I know how to eat chicken."

The Mexican found him in the morning and skinned him, and then let him go, -- still on the trail of the Rabbit who had so frequently outwitted him.

Frank Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla Apaches, 1898

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

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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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"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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Literacy in Indigenous Communities by L. David van Broekhuizen, Ph.D. (2000)
HTML Format (70K)
PDF Format(117K)

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].