Lightfoot, Wake, and Schiff: The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Fort Ross, California, Volume 1, Introduction (original) (raw)

Iktomi in the Land of the Maymaygwayshi: Understanding Lived Experience in the Practice of Archaeology Among American Indians/First Nations

Archaeologies-journal of The World Archaeological Congress, 2007

In discussions concerning American Indians/First Nations and the practice of archaeology in North America, the issues are typically presented in a polarized fashion with American Indians/First Nations on one side and archaeologists on the other. Frequently the literature discusses how archaeologists should modify their practice in response to the needs of American Indian communities. Very little of the literature looks at the roles and challenges faced by American Indians who choose to pursue archaeology. This paper addresses this latter issue by examining my own work among First Nations communities in Ontario, Canada. Through the lens of ‘lived experience’, I will examine the interplay of identity, personal and communal histories, and the contemporary situation of my self and the First Nations communities I worked with, looking at how having ‘insider’ knowledge can be both useful and a handicap in fieldwork. Dans les discussions concernant les Amérindiens/Premières nations et la pratique de l’archéologie en Amérique du Nord, les questions sont typiquement présentées comme polarisant les Amérindiens/Premières nations d’un côté et les archéologues de l’autre. Fréquemment la littérature débat sur la question de connaître comment les archéologues pourraient modifier leur pratique pour mieux répondre aux communautés amérindiennes. La littérature regarde très peu les rôles et défis rencontrés par les archéologues amérindiens qui ont décidé de pratiquer l’archéologie. Cet article traite de cette question particulière en présentant mon propre travail parmi les communautés des premières nations de l’Ontario, au Canada. Par le biais d’une expérience vécue, je vais considérer l’effet de l’identité personnelle liée aux histoires communautaires, ma propre situation ainsi que celle des communautés des Premières nations, avec lesquelles je travaille, tout en examinant aussi comment la connaissance de l’intérieur peut être à la fois utile et handicapante sur le terrain. En discusiones acerca de los Indígenas Norteamericanos/Primeras Naciones y la práctica de la arqueología en Norteamérica, las cuestiones se presentan generalmente de una manera polarizada con los Indígenas Norteamericanos/Primeras Naciones por un lado y los arqueólogos por el otro. Con frecuencia la literatura discute cómo los arqueólogos deberían modificar su práctica en respuesta a las necesidades de las comunidades Indígenas Norteamericanas. Muy poco de esta literatura tiene en cuenta los roles y los desafíos que enfrentan los Indígenas Norteamericanos que eligen seguir arqueología. Este artículo trata esta última cuestión examinando mi propio trabajo entre las comunidades de los pueblos originarios en Ontario, Canadá. A través de la óptica de la “experiencia vivida”, examinaré el inter juego de la identidad, las historias personales y de la comunidad, y la situación contemporánea de mi yo y las comunidades de las Naciones Originarias con las que estuve trabajando, teniendo en cuenta de que manera el conocimiento desde “adentro” puede ser útil y a la vez una desventaja en el trabajo de campo.

RE-ASSEMBLING RADICAL INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY IN THE ALTA CALIFORNIA HINTERLANDS: SURVIVANCE AT PUHÚ

Re-Assembling Radical Indigenous Autonomy in the Alta California Hinterlands: Survivance at Puhú, 2020

Conducted in a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework in partnership with Tongva, Acjachemen, (Blas Adobe Aguliar Museum, Juaneño– Acjachemen Culture Center) and Payómkawichum (Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians) peoples, this dissertation is an Indigenous Archaeology study of the California Historic Landmark (CHL#217; CA-ORA-132 and CA-ORA-317) Black Star Canyon Puhú Village site in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, California. The landmark memorializes the 1832 CE “Battle in Cañón de los Indios”. Indigenous occupants of the Puhú village were accused of stealing horses from local colonial settlers over several months, after which, the village was razed by hired American frontiersmen. I integrate perspectives from descendant collaborators, Indigenous survivance, philosophies of historicity, guerilla resistance, Practice Theory, and Assemblage Theory in the analysis of archaeological and ethnohistorical data collected from five years of interviews, archival research, surveys, excavations, and laboratory research under the Black Star Canyon Archaeology Project (BSCAP). The result of my archaeological and ethnoarchival research reveals how the Puhú occupants exercised economic and political traditions within and beyond the village to exceed a condition of bare survival or micropolitical resistance after colonization. This study facilitates new attention to enduring communal scale Indigenous traditions associated with macropolitical forms of autonomy and prosperity in the Los Angeles Basin proximal colonial hinterlands. In doing so, the archaeological study is envisioned as facilitating a mode of Indigenous survivance-storytelling by challenging the foundations of colonial historiography associated with the landmark.

Archaeological Anthropology: Perspectives on Method and Theory edited by James M. Skibo, Michael W. Graves, and Miriam T. Stark

American Anthropologist, 2008

Eastern Cherokee Fishing, by Heidi M. Altman, is a welcome addition to the corpus of literature on Cherokee ethnoecology. Using a diachronic approach, Altman interweaves archaeological, linguistic, and historical documentary information with her own ethnographic field research to examine traditional and contemporary fishing practices among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living on the Qualla Boundary, western North Carolina. Her objectives are to understand the function of fishing in past and present-day Cherokee economy, to examine indigenous ecological knowledge and its adaptation to local changes, to analyze the boundaries of identity construction within the context of today's ethnotourism, and to compare fish terminology between Cherokee and English vernacular. The resulting publication is an informative presentation of how Cherokee fishing evolved from a seasonally significant aspect of a mixed subsistence economy in the past to a profitable, nearly year-round role in a cash-based tourist economy today. Moreover, from the perspective of fishing, Altman explores cultural, linguistic, and environmental changes, as related to aquatic resources, spanning the period from European contact to the present.

Ritual Prehistory: A Pueblo Case Study

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