Native
American arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us
Goodyear man saves the Zuni language from extinction
57th Choctaw Fair promises four days of family excitement
Chickasaw athelete wows the competition
Native-owned art show and sale celebrates 35th year
Native American Film and Video Festival Presents 25 Films
Lee Mullican: Painter of Sun and Spirit
Student Art Competition Winners Announced by U.S. Department of Education Office of Indian Education
Artist Tom Red Bear changes stone into beauty
Pottery From the Pueblos
Yazzie's moves to new location
NSF, NEH boost efforts to make digital records of dying languages
Samish celebrate the 10th anniversary of re-recognition
Pourier receives Bush Foundation fellowship
Indian writer unlikely to convert skeptics
Goodyear man saves the Zuni language from extinction
Puts it in writing
Christine L. Romero
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
The boxes of documents were tucked away when the government found Curtis Cook on the Internet.
The papers the Goodyear man had created with the help of seven Zuni elders had not been forgotten but were collecting dust.
They held the origins of the written Zuni language. They represented 15 years of Cook's life and work. And now, at last, the Library of Congress wanted them. advertisement
After Cook finished some graduate linguistic studies in the mid-1960s, he set out to create a Zuni version of the Bible. But he quickly realized the language didn't have a written form. So he turned his attention to a more basic task: creating a Zuni alphabet, setting down in written form the Zuni language.
Without Cook's efforts, the Zuni language could have perished as the elders died and young Zunis forgot the tongue. Forgetting the language would have forever cut a tie between the generations of Zunis, who live predominantly in New Mexico and in Arizona east of Flagstaff.
"I became concerned that many of their old stories and the richness of their history would be lost to posterity as the elders, who were the storytellers, began to die off," Cook said. The elders were all older than 100 when Cook began his work.
The Library of Congress' intention is to preserve the work and eventually make the traditional Zuni stories more widely available.
Cook's work has allowed the Zunis to teach their written language to children from kindergarten through high school on the reservation. The Zuni words are even on street signs, which Cook proudly notes are spelled correctly.
By the end of this year, The Curtis Cook Collection is expected to be finally inducted into the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center.
During his time on the reservation, Cook also approached the Zuni Tribal Council and suggested that some of the tribe's stories should be recorded and preserved. The council agreed and eventually, about 300 reel-to-reel tapes were created with Zuni oral histories, folk tales and religious teachings.
The Curtis Cook Collection will include those tapes, transcriptions, learning guides and some Zuni publications.
Now at 67, Cook is the associate state director of community outreach for AARP Arizona. Previously, he was director of the National Indian Council on Aging.
When Cook talks about his time with the Zuni, known as "a friendly people," his eyes light up and seem to dance with respect and excitement.
Cook, also known as the Locust, wears turquoise Native-styled rings on his hands. In telling traditional Zuni stories, he infuses rhythmic Zuni words with English ones. To the English-speaking ear, the Zuni language seems breathy and includes many pauses that translate into meaning.
On the reservation, Cook's constant chattering and repetition of Zuni words and phrases earned him the names the Mockingbird and later the Locust among the Zuni Pueblo, now around 10,000 people.
Language experts say there likely still are pockets of the world where some languages exist only orally.
Cook's intent was to create a Zuni version of the Bible. Other oral traditions have morphed into written languages in a similar missionary fashion, experts say.
"Oral tradition keeps certain kinds of intergenerational contacts," said Guha Shankar, folklife specialist with the American Folklife Center. "It keeps memories alive."
Without written documentation, the Zuni oral tradition could have been lost, Shankar said.
Cook's work piqued the Library of Congress' interest because he collaborated directly with native speakers in the pueblo, Shankar said.
"The difficulty with some cultural communities is that as older speakers of the language pass away, the future generations aren't as likely to pick it up," he said.
"Then you have some suggesting that the language might not be around for future generations."
Cook meticulously made language records, including transcribing traditional stories passed down through the generations. Cook learned these stories from several generations, including the oldest that included a handful of men older than 100 who knew these tales by heart.
"I was concerned that all of their history would be lost forever," Cook said.
"My belief is when people get their language in writing it launches a whole new era. We take notes so we can remember."
Cook used the International Phonetic Alphabet, a commonly accepted series of symbols among linguists, to capture the Zuni language.
It took Cook only about six months to learn the language, he said.
He admits he's one of those people who is gifted in linguistics. He studied Latin and "ate it up."
The Zunis loved to see the language in print, he said. Reading became something of a novelty on the reservation. He taught a young boy to read in Zuni and soon the boy was going from house to house simply reading.
"He became a rock star with the Zunis because he could read and the older people couldn't," Cook said.
Cook contends that the symbols themselves aren't sacred. What is sacred is the process by which an oral tradition becomes fixed in time with written symbols and how that affects the perception of the world.
"It becomes sacred when you start communicating," Cook said. "I think there's something that happens when it moves from the mind to the head to the heart."
The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, July 8 and 9, on Milner Plaza on Museum Hill, outside the Museum of International Folk Art. The event includes arts workshops, tours of the folk art museum and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, talks, films and entertainment, as well as work on view from 104 artists from more than 30 countries. (The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is showing the third installation of "Elements of Earth and Fire: New Directions in Native American Ceramic Art," July 2 through Oct. 8.) Tickets and information: 505-476-1166 or www.folkartmarket.org.
Institute of American Indian Arts shows include "THE Magazine Show," through July 23, and "Relations: Indigenous World Art" July 8 through Sept. 30. The Institute Museum is at 108 Cathedral Place. Information: 505-983-1777 or www.iaia.edu.
"Native American Pottery from the Pueblos" will run through Aug. 27 at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Indiana, 102 S. 10th St. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Call 742-1128.
Taos Art Museum: "The Stark Legacy," paintings by members of the Taos Society of Artists. Through July 23. 227 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos. Admission and hours: (505) 758-2690.
The art market is a celebration of the contemporary and traditional Native American arts and culture. Activities include Hopi and Navajo dancers and performances by singer James Bilagody and flute player Aldean Ketchum. Food, pottery, arts, crafts and jewelry are available for purchase. For more information, please call 435-678-2238.
Rochester, New York-The Native American Dance and Music Festival (July 29 and 30). Traditional dancers, artists and storytellers demonstrate culture and explain history.
July 21-22, 2007
American Indian Intertribal Cultural Festival, July 21-22, 2007, Hampton, Va. -- Festival highlighting the contributions and cultures of Virginia Indians, with native foods, dances, traditional stories, arts and crafts and music
August 25-27—PowWow Native American Festival: Intertribal gathering of Native American dancers, drummers, artists, and craftspeople, Friday noon-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Patterson Park at Linwood and Eastern avenues, 410-675-3535, baic.org.
OCT. 5-6
Virginia Indian Symposium -- Williamsburg Hosted by Virginia's Indian tribes, the "400 Years of Survival" symposium will feature nationally known Native American speakers on topics such as sovereignty, federal recognition, health care, repatriation and education.
Adventures of Bull Turns Round - Blackfoot
Once the camp moved, but one lodge stayed. It belonged to Wolf Tail; and Wolf Tail's younger brother, Bull Turns Round, lived with him. Now their father loved both his sons, but he loved the younger one most, and when he went away with the big camp, he said to Wolf Tail: "Take care of your young brother; he is not yet a strong person. Watch him that nothing befalls him."
One day Wolf Tail was out hunting, and Bull Turns Round sat in front of the lodge making arrows, and a beautiful strange bird lit on the ground before him. Then cried one of Wolf Tail's wives, "Oh, brother, shoot that little bird." "Don't bother me, sister," he replied, "I am making arrows." Again the woman said, "Oh, brother, shoot that bird for me." Then Bull Turns Round fitted an arrow to his bow and shot the bird, and the woman went and picked it up and stroked her face with it, and her face swelled up so big that her eyes and nose could not be seen. But when Bull Turns Round had shot the bird, he went off hunting and did not know what had happened to the woman's face.
Now when Wolf Tail came home and saw his wife's face, he said, "What is the matter?" and his wife replied: "Your brother has pounded me so that I cannot see. Go now and kill him." But Wolf Tail said, "No, I love my brother; I cannot kill him." Then his wife cried and said: "I know you do not love me; you are glad your brother has beaten me. If you loved me, you would go and kill him."
Then Wolf Tail went out and looked for his brother, and when he had found him, he said: "Come, let us get some feathers. I know where there is an eagle's nest;" and he took him to a high cliff, which overhung the river, and on the edge of this cliff was a dead tree, in the top of which the eagles had built their nest. Then said Wolf Tail, "Climb up, brother, and kill the eagles;" and when Bull Turns Round had climbed nearly to the top, Wolf Tail called out, "I am going to push the tree over the cliff, and you will be killed."
"Oh, brother, oh, brother, pity me; do not kill me," said Bull Turns Round.
"Why did you beat my wife's face so?" said Wolf Tail.
"I didn't," cried the boy; "I don't know what you are talking about."
"You lie," said Wolf Tail, and he pushed the tree over the cliff. He looked over and saw his brother fall into the water, and he did not come up again. Then Wolf Tail went home and took down his lodge, and went to the main camp. When his father saw him coming with only his wives, he said to him, "Where is your young brother?" And Wolf Tail replied: "He went hunting and did not come back. We waited four days for him. I think the bears must have killed him."
Now when Bull Turns Round fell into the river, he was stunned, and the water carried him a long way down the stream and finally lodged him on a sand shoal. Near this shoal was a lodge of Under Water People (S[=u]'-y[=e]-t[)u]p'-pi), an old man, his wife, and two daughters. This old man was very rich: he had great flocks of geese, swans, ducks, and other water-fowl, and a big herd of buffalo which were tame. These buffalo always fed near by, and the old man called them every evening to come and drink. But he and his family ate none of these. Their only food was the bloodsucker.[1]
Now the old man's daughters were swimming about in the evening, and they found Bull Turns Round lying on the shoal, dead, and they went home and told their father, and begged him to bring the person to life, and give him to them for a husband. "Go, my daughters," he said, "and make four sweat lodges, and I will bring the person." He went and got Bull Turns Round, and when the sweat lodges were finished, the old man took him into one of them, and when he had sprinkled water on the hot rocks, he scraped a great quantity of sand off Bull Turns Round. Then he took him into another lodge and did the same thing, and when he had taken him into the fourth sweat lodge and scraped all the sand off him, Bull Turns Round came to life, and the old man led him out and gave him to his daughters. And the old man gave his son-in-law a new lodge and bows and arrows, and many good presents.
Then the women cooked some bloodsuckers, and gave them to their husband, but when he smelled of them he could not eat, and he threw them in the fire. Then his wives asked him what he would eat. "Buffalo," he replied, "is the only meat for men."
"Oh, father!" cried the girls, running to the old man's lodge, "our husband will not eat our food. He says buffalo is the only meat for men."
"Go then, my daughters," said the old man, "and tell your husband to kill a buffalo, but do not take nor break any bones, for I will make it alive again." Then the old man called the buffalo to come and drink, and Bull Turns Round shot a fat cow and took all the meat. And when he had roasted the tongue, he gave each of his wives a small piece of it, and they liked it, and they roasted and ate plenty of the meat.
One day Bull Turns Round went to the old man and said, "I mourn for my father."
"How did you come to be dead on the sand shoal?" asked the old man. Then Bull Turns Round told what his brother had done to him.
"Take this piece of sinew," said the old man. "Go and see your father. When you throw this sinew on the fire, your brother and his wife will roll, and twist up and die." Then the old man gave him a herd of buffalo, and many dogs to pack the lodge, and other things; and Bull Turns Round took his wives, and went to find his father.
One day, just after sunset, they came in sight of the big camp, and they went and pitched the lodge on the top of a very high butte; and the buffalo fed close by, and there were so many of them that they covered the whole hill.
Now the people were starving, and some had died, for they had no buffalo. In the morning, early, a man arose whose son had starved to death, and when he went out and saw this lodge on the top of the hill, and all the buffalo feeding by it, he cried out in a loud voice; and the people all came out and looked at it, and they were afraid, for they thought it was St[=o]n'-i-t[)a]p-i.[2]. Then said the man whose son had died: "I am no longer glad to live. I will go up to this lodge, and find out what this is." Now when he said this, all the men grasped their bows and arrows and followed him, and when they went up the hill, the buffalo just moved out of their path and kept on feeding; and just as they came to the lodge, Bull Turns Round came out, and all the people said, "Here is the one whom we thought the bears had killed." Wolf Tail ran up, and said, "Oh, brother, you are not dead. You went to get feathers, but we thought you had been killed." Then Bull Turns Round called his brother into the lodge, and he threw the sinew on the fire; and Wolf Tail, and his wife, who was standing outside, twisted up and died.
Then Bull Turns Round told his father all that had happened to him; and when he learned that the people were starving, he filled his mouth with feathers and blew them out, and the buffalo ran off in every direction, and he said to the people, "There is food, go chase it." Then the people were very glad, and they came each one and gave him a present. They gave him war shirts, bows and arrows, shields, spears, white robes, and many curious things.
[1.] [Footnote 1: Blackfoot Est'-st[)u]k-ki, suck-bite; from Est-ah-tope, suck, and I-sik-st[)u]k-ki, bite.]
[2.] [Footnote 2: There is no word in English which corresponds to this. It is used when speaking of things wonderful or supernatural.]
Blackfoot lodge tales; the story of a prairie people, By George Bird Grinnell Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, [c1892] and is now in the public domain
http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories/
Reprinted from this site by permission
Articles by Chet Staley, Amerindian Arts
Note on Zuni substance
Concept of the Sublime
Dorothy Dunn On Primitive Art
(Excerpt)Quoting Alice Corbin Henderson, Dunn states that in an Indian society, art is "possessed in common" and "totally lacking in individualistic concept." Thus, objectivity is enjoined with intentionality as personal accomplishment without a reference to the individual. This would satisfy a pedagogic sense of rationality in that in an Indian society "the surest way to make a prayer effective is to symbolize the matter prayed for" (Bandelier). If the prayer (the art of rhetoric) was effective, then it was handed down from generation to generation and its success justified its rationality.
Essay on the Zuni World View
Bibliography of the Zuni Language
Indian Ledger Art-Resources and Information
Books of Interest
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
THE FOURTH WORLD
W. Tussinger has written his first novel which was released in December, 2004.
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.
To Order this book
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."
To Order this book
Literature on Native America
An Overview of Pacific Northwest Native Indian Art
Free downloadable e-book
American Indian Women's Activism in the 1960s and 1970s
by Donna Hightower Langston
Complete article
Linguists Find the Words, and Pocahontas Speaks Again
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand, The Book
Early tribal artifacts put in spotlight at the Smithsonian National Museum of
Natural History
"Communing with Bears"
By Sara Wright
Communing with Bears is the story of a joyful encounter between one woman and a black bear.
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.
Web Sites:
Native American Links Page
Indigenous Peoples Literature
Native Voice
Wisdom of the Old People
By David Whitney
National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation
Inuit film to tell story of last great shaman
My Two Beads Worth: Indigenous News Online
Northern California Indian Development Council
Native Village
Smudge Ceremony
To subscribe to Native Village weekly email reminders, please send your
email
address to:
NativeVillage500@aol.com
NATIVE VILLAGE YOUTH AND EDUCATION NEWS is a free newsletter which
informs
and celebrates in the education, values, traditions, and
accomplishments of the
Americas' First Peoples.
Member: Native American Journalists Association
Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(406) 646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
Home of NAMAPAHH First People's Radio
Host/Producer Robin Carneen
Thurs 7-8pm Sun 4-5pm PST
New group: (my photo album location)
http://spaces.msn.com/members/NativeRadio4all/
