Indigenous Studies Commons^™

Pa´Ts Petejul: Maíz Y Frijol En La Mesa, Fanny López Jiménez, María Méndez Vázquez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: La tradición del consumo de tamales entre los choles de Palenque está ligado al conocimiento y manejo ancestral de las plantas, así como al calendario de fiestas y ceremonias relacionadas con las fechas de días de muertos y de la Santa Cruz, entre otras. En este trabajo, hablaremos de este tamal (Pa´ts Petejul), que es propio de la región de Palenque, su relación con dos de las tradiciones más importantes de México y cuáles son los cambios o la evolución que ha tenido en la comunidad chol de Palenque desde tiempos muy remotos. Los tamales, por supuesto, tienen su …

Introducción Essay - Tamales Mayas. Sabores En El Tiempo, Laura Elena Sotelo Santos, Adriana Cruz-Manjarrez

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Editors' introduction of Maya America Volume 6 Issue 1. This article is written in Spanish.

Introductory Note In English, Maya America Editors

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Editors' introduction of Maya America Volume 6 Issue 1

El Tamal Como Parte Integral Del Movimiento De Revalorización Gastronómica Guatemalteca, Tomás Barrientos Q., Mirciny Moliviatis

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: Desde finales del siglo XX, la continuidad de la gastronomía tradicional de Guatemala se ha visto afectada por cambios socioeconómicos a nivel doméstico y la introducción de productos procesados importados y nuevos valores en la cultura alimentaria. Como respuesta a dicha situación, se inició un movimiento para la conservación y revalorización de los ingredientes y recetas tradicionales, apoyado por una etnografía audiovisual realizada para la producción de programas televisivos, así como descubrimientos arqueológicos relacionados con la gastronomía prehispánica. Ante la reciente declaración del tamal como Patrimonio Intangible de la Nación, se resalta la importancia de esta comida dentro del …

Forced Family Separation: U.S. Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, David W. Barillas Chón

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Forced family separation under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy is not only a crime against humanity, but also a crime against Indigenous Peoples, which includes the Maya. Rooted in white supremacist ideologies and settler colonialism, contemporary forced family separation continues historical violence inflicted upon Maya Peoples by the U.S. government. Submitted to the International Criminal Court, this amicus brief contends that the Court should investigate and hold the U.S. accountable for crimes against Indigenous Peoples under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy. The amicus brief begins with an overview of Maya Peoples in present-day Guatemala and the meanings and practices of …

Complete Issue: Volume 6 Issue 1, Maya America Editors

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 1, Volume 6 of Maya America, published June 2024

Un Recorrido Iconoglífico Por Las Antiguas Representaciones Del Tamal En La Mesoamérica Maya De Tierras Bajas, Daniel Martínez González

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: En el presente texto se ofrece un recorrido histórico milenario por las representaciones, tanto visuales o iconográficas, como epigráficas o escriturarias, de uno de los alimentos -al parecer- más antiguos, preciados y generalizados entre los pueblos mayas desde épocas tempranas. Como tal, la hoja de ruta de este recorrido en torno a las representaciones del tamal en el mundo maya -de sobre todo Tierras Bajas- inicia por las célebres pinturas murales del sitio de San Bartolo (ca. s. i a.e.c) y la subestructura I-4 de Chiik Nahb de Calakmul (ca. 650-700 e.c.); prosigue con algunos otros indicadores arqueológicos y …

Aita O Paul Gauguin I Ite I Te Parau I Te Reo Tahiti: The Colonial Implications Of Paul Gauguin’S Incorrect Tahitian, Elise Hatch

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Historical And Contemporary Representation Of Kava By Members Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Sione M. U. H. Funaki

Pacific Studies

In Oceania, kava, which is made from the root or stump of the kava shrub, is associated with traditional values such as sacrifice, loyalty, commitment, and chiefliness; it is especially linked with the importance of nurturing vā relationships with fonua—land and people (Kaʻili 2017: 74–75; Tomlinson 2020: 71, 74–75). Kava has also been demonized and mischaracterized since the early nineteenth century as a harmful substance detrimental to the spirit and physical body. The conflicting realities of kava as virtue and vice are expressly displayed in the relationship between kava and the Christian church. Specifically, this paper examines the dynamics between …

Cybersecurity Laws In South Pacific Nations, Siuta Laulaupea’Alu, Te Taka Keegan, Paora Mato

Pacific Studies

Cybersecurity practices and protocols should be updated in terms of human

capacity development and legislative capability to support appropriate responses

to cyberthreats within the island nations and beyond. Recommendations here

discuss awareness and prevention strategies that combat cybercrimes and

cyberattacks and offer pertinent suggestions within cybersecurity strategies

aiming to combat the rapid growth of online fraudulence and crime affecting

nations of the South Pacific. At a national level, suitable frameworks and response

models are essential to instill cybersecurity prevention and awareness. Mandatory

adoption of formal protocols and conventions by businesses and community

and government organizations would underpin regional and national …

Vol. 47 No. 1 (2024): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 47, No 1-Jun 2024 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Autonomy And Creativity In ‘Epeli Hau‘Ofa And The Lo‘Au University Philosophy Of Education For Thinking, Siosiua F. P. Lafitani (LoʻAu VavangakitupuʻA)

Pacific Studies

The spirit of autonomy and creativity in Epeli Hau‘ofa’s writings that relate to the

philosophy of the Lo‘au University of education for thinking is explored here.

For Hau‘ofa, the spirit of free thinking aids Moanan (Pacific people) to redefine

their identity in Moana (Oceania) and worldwide. The philosophy of education

for thinking is applied here to highlight that a degree of autonomy and creativ-

ity can be planted and grown in Moana. Free thinking ought to be central to

research projects that strive for autonomy and creativity if twenty-first century

Moanan people want their intellectualism to be a permanent …

Vol. 47 No. 1 (2024): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The

Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young

University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lā ‘ie, Hawai‘i 96762, but

responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone.

Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center

for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian

and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded

by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in

meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teach-

ing, …

Frontier: Land, Architecture, And Abstraction, Jacob Boatman

Masters Theses

The abstraction of land is a colonial process by which physical land is transformed into a conceptual or symbolic entity. This transformation occurs through various economic, architectural, and cultural practices that imbue land with abstract values, meanings, and functions beyond its physicality. This includes the division of land into parcels for economic transactions, the design and construction of built environments that shape human interactions with the land, and the cultural narratives and representations that ascribe significance to particular landscapes. Through abstraction, colonial powers devalue indigenous perspectives and relationships to the land, reducing them to mere obstacles in the path of …

Domestic Exotic: Dispossession And Desire In South Florida 20th C Tourism, Emily Nelms

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Domestic Exotic, considers the conditions that led to the rise of cultural tourism in Florida and examines Yale University’s involvement in this economic phenomenon. Cultural tourism is defined as site-seeing attractions where performers interact with visitors under fabricated conditions. At these sites, ‘the spectacle of the other’ was demarcated onto specific bodies, creating a collective imaginary that helped to shape the infrastructure and public thought of Florida as a travel destination for Euro-American audiences. This document supports an exhibition at the Yale Peabody Museum titled, The Resonance of Things Unseen: Indigenous Sovereignty, Institutional Accession, and Private Correspondence (March 26 - …

Knowledge Production And The Unthinkable: Weaving Stories Of Art, Gender, And Land, Christin Huntsman

Master's Theses

Colonialism is deeply and violently embedded in Western knowledge formation—dominant power structures produce epistemes that uphold and perpetuate colonial narratives. This kind of knowledge production forecloses other possibilities. Western discourse of truth becomes universalized to the point that other worldviews, other knowledges that do not conform to hegemonic norms, are suppressed or silenced. This thesis examines three areas of hegemony and erasure: art, gender, and land. First, the history of art clearly marks a delineation between Western elitist artistic masterpieces and non-Western ethnographic artifacts. Eurocentrism of art in the academy determines what counts as art and how art is categorized. …

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

“My Home Is My Heart: It Migrates With Me” Indigenous Sami People At The Crossroads, Sari Linnainmaa

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Indigenous people around the world have gained more attention than ever before. One such group is the Sami people, an indigenous ethnic minority in the Fennoscandia region, who have experienced the tension between their sustainable lifestyle that respects nature and the Western world’s way of living. Reindeer herding, a part of their traditional way of life, is at the heart of Saminess and their identities. However, current research on indigenous issues often focuses on land rights, resource management, and other aspects that overlook the diversity and complexity of the Sami culture. This thesis aims to explore the sustainability of the …

Abetting Assimilation: Competing Narratives In Sister Inez Hilger’S Together With The Ainu: A Vanishing People, Mark Spangler

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

No abstract provided.

Mixed Feelings: The Emotional Appeals Of Zitkala-Ša’S American Indian Stories, Kayla Joan Baur

Publications and Research

Zitkala-Ša (Lakota: Zitkála-Šá, meaning Red Bird) was among the first to write about the experiences of Native American children in the U.S. Indian boarding school program to an English-speaking audience. As a writer and political activist, Zitkala-Ša uses emotional appeals and cultural ideas she learned through her white education to expose the very boarding school institutions that taught her. In American Indian Studies (1921), Zitkala-Ša critiques the violence that the Indian boarding school system inflicts on young Native Americans. She presents these critiques through emotional appeals that take two forms: one, a more traditional sentimental appeal associated with middle-class white …

Dakodia Wohdaka: Indigenous Language Revitalization In The Lower Sioux Indian Community, Gavin Zempel

Student Research, Papers, and Creative Works

Many Indigenous languages in the Americas are drastically declining in the number of fluent speakers and use within their own communities. The Bdewakantunwan Dialect of Lower Sioux Indian Community in southwestern Minnesota is one of the afore-mentioned Indigenous languages with the last fluent speaker of Dakota in the community passing years ago. Language is essential for maintaining identity, conducting ceremony, mental health, maintaining Indigenous sovereignty, and much more. Revitalizing the Dakota language in Lower Sioux would facilitate the growth of and maintenance of all of the previously said benefits, along with the advantages of bilingualism. The text explores many different …

Cultivating Honor: How Indigenous Students Harness Resilience And Cultural Wealth To Thrive At A Borderlands University, Lourdes Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study sheds light on students' lived experiences regarding Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) at Borderlands University (BU), a Hispanic-serving institution on the U.S.-Mexico border where First Peoples lived for thousands of years. This study supports Indigenous students whose dismal national college graduation rates must be addressed. It recognizes studentsâ?? cultural wealth and richness (Yosso, 2005) and is grounded by the Peoplehood Matrix (Holm, 2003; Tachine, Cabrera, and Yellow Bird, 2017). This study was consistent with previous studies revealing that prioritizing student support raises equity and improves the overall academic experiences for all students in higher education (Tachine …

What's In A Name? Plant Naming As Cultural Artifact And Story In The Midwestern United States, Sophie Wesseler

Undergraduate Theses

This project sought to collect and contextualize the historical and contemporary names given to plants by inhabitants of the Midwestern United States, understanding plant names as cultural artifacts that can offer insight into the communities in which they were created and evolved. Formatted as a series of entries, this collection gathered these names and contextualized them within other artifacts of cultural significance, such as art or poetry, and alongside historical research on their origins and cultural environments. Examining plant names through the fields of linguistics, semiology, anthropology, cultural studies, taxonomy, and ethnobotany, this work traces the names of various plants …

The Purepecha And Food Sovereignty, Andrea Abarca

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will focus on the food sovereignty of the Purepecha of Michoacan. I will explore their culture and how their relationship with food shapes them. I will look into the effects of neoliberalism, and how it puts the food sovereignty of the Purepecha in danger. With this, I will compare the resistance to this issue with another indigenous community and see how these uprisings bring hope to restoring their sovereignty.

Native American Choral Music: Strategies For Celebrating And Incorporating Music Of Indigenous People, Mary Ruth Young

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

*Language usage is fluid and evolving, representing past and present people groups. During my discussions with my Indigenous composer colleagues, I've found that they hold varying preferences regarding how they wish to be addressed and the terminology they prefer. Because of this, I use the terms Native, Native American, First Nations, Indigenous, American Indian, and First Peoples interchangeably.*

This document will discuss the historical exclusion of Native American music in the Western art forms, specifically the choral tradition, and provide solutions to incorporate it in modern choral performances. Considering first the wars, disease, displacement, colonization, and missionization, it is no …

Ꮝꮘꮝꮩꮝꮣꭲ Ꭴᏸꭷꭲ Ꮢꭹ Ꭲꮎꭸ Ꭱꭿ: Reclamation Stories Of Indigenous Graduate Students At A Native American Serving Nontribal Institution, Sky B. Wildcat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of Indigenous graduate students in higher education are underrecognized in research and scholarship. Similarly, the experiences of Indigenous students, undergraduate or graduate, within Native American Serving NonTribal Institutions (NASNTIs) are largely excluded from research and scholarship. Although NASNTI designation is only dependent on the Indigenous undergraduate student population at an institution, the stories shared through this research signify the importance of considering Indigenous graduate students experiences at a NASNTI. The conceptual framework consisted of four core foundations as outlined by Kovach (2021), including ᎦᏚᏩ (ga-du-wa) knowledge, relational accountability, the Indigenous community of the NASNTI, and the situating of …

The Osteobiography Of Human Remains From The Seaview And Indian Town Trail Archaeological Sites, Maggie M. Klemm

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Extensive site surveys and excavations on the Island of Barbuda led by Sophia Perdikaris have identified over 62 sites spanning from the Archaic time period to Historic times. Over the last 18 years, these multidisciplinary teams have focused on mapping all sites and performing rescue excavations on sites threatened by sea level rise, erosion or development. Two such sites are the Saladoid site of Seaview (BA016) and the Troumassoid site of Indian Town Trail (BA01). The dunes surrounding the site of Seaview receive the brunt of storms and hurricanes. In 1998 hurricane Georges exposed skeletal material now part of the …

Writing, Performance, Resistance: Examining Feminist Ideology And Theory In Theatre Since The Second Wave, Olivia Cross

Theater Honors Papers

This project seeks to identify and analyze how feminist theatre is informed by theory and activism in its resistance against white, heteronormative, and patriarchal hegemony offstage through onstage representation. By identifying three consistent themes of gender & sexuality, race, and trauma and the methods used to effectively convey them to an audience, feminist theatre displays how advocacy takes unique forms to uproot the status quo. Furthermore, this research highlights how theatre is a viable and rich outlet for feminist intellectual history, displaying its versatility as a frame of analysis.

“When White Men And Indians United Shall Praise:” Indigenous Inclusion In The Hartford Music Company, Savannah N. Skaggs

ATU Scholars Symposium

The Hartford Music Company and Institute of Hartford, Arkansas has attracted increasing academic interest, particularly within the last twenty years. This southern gospel music publishing company and singing school based in southern Sebastian County published a collection of shape note hymnals which boasted some of the genre’s most prolific literature. Though a growing number of Arkansans are learning that these gospel staples came from their own hill country, many do not realize that several of these songs were premiered by or recorded by Indigenous people. While this may not initially seem particularly impactful, this genre developed its own distinct identity …

Empoderamiento De Las Mujeres De La Organización Chaski Warmikuna, Iliana Sarai Barnes Diaz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este artículo examina el trabajo de la organización de mujeres indígenas Chaski Warmikuna, conocidas como “mujeres mensajeras” en kichwa, en la región de Saraguro, Ecuador. El grupo organiza apoyo a mujeres para aprender herramientas y estrategias que les permitan salir de la violencia y sanar sus traumas. A través de entrevistas con mujeres, revelan la prevalencia y normalización de la violencia en algunas comunidades, pero también iluminan el fortalecimiento y empoderamiento que estas mujeres han experimentado para liberarse de la violencia. Además, se señala que la violencia frecuentemente es transmitida de generación en generación en las familias y la sociedad, …