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This little book took its rise in the following experience that came to me many years ago when living with the Indians in their homes and pursuing my ethnological studies: ... Read more

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This little book took its rise in the following experience that came to me many years ago when living with the Indians in their homes and pursuing my ethnological studies: ... Read more

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This thorough critical examination of photographicpractices calls attention to the inability of most photography tocommunicate the lived experiences of native people or theirhistory. Faris's survey, beginning with the earliest photographs ofNavajo in captivity at the Bosque Redondo and including the mostrecent glossy picture books and calendars, points up the Westernassumptions that have always governed photographic representation ofNavajo people.

Drawing on exhaustive archival research to unearth rarely publishedphotographs as well as unpublished photographs by well-knownphotographers, Faris documents Navajo resistance to the West's view(and viewfinder) and persistent attempts to overcome or dismiss suchresistance. He challenges the photographic history of the Navajopeople as presented by photographers, historians, and anthropologists,and explores the social and legal conditions that make suchphotography possible. Confronting many readers' nostalgicexpectations, Navajo and Photography will appeal to all those with aninterest in the juxtaposition of cultures and photographic critique.Amazon.com Review
James Faris's Navajo and Photography concerns a worldthat has nearly disappeared: that of the traditional Navajos, theIndian people of the high desert American Southwest. What Faris calls"non-hostile" Navajos became an essential part of thetourist trade following the Indian Wars of the 19th century, and theirrepresentation in photographic images was a carefully crafteddeparture from the realities of reservation life. The Navajos weredepicted as proud yet friendly warriors, not as defeated enemies andwards of a conquering state. Those photographs--and Faris's bookcontains scores of them--were important instruments in the foundationof a "conventional wisdom" about who Indians were and howthey lived. As Faris shows in his commentary, the Navajos did notalways willingly participate in this mythmaking process, and sometimessubtly subverted it. Even so, history and anthropology books are fullof ersatz images of characters such as the famous "Navajo Brigandof the Black Mountain Country." Faris's text is an importantcontribution to a growing body of criticism of what might be called"the manufacture of The Other." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Photographs 10, text 0!
Chapter 1, sentence 2:"The West had long privileged scopic enterprises and visual modalities, and by the mid-nineteenth century an observational visualist hegemony became a persistent focus of modernism in social, scientific, and aesthetic endeavours - and certainly of anthropology."The photgraphs are new and wonderful; Professor Faris's text is no match for them.First, it is largely unreadable (see sample above).Second, what I could read was tediously PC (that "hegemony" should have tipped me off!).Third, it adds very little to my knowledge of the "juxtaposition of cultures" as promised on the dust jacket.Where was the editor who should have read this manuscript with an active red pencil?Ok, perhaps this is just an extreme example of scholarly writing - not intended for the general reader like myself.If so, too bad.Professor Faris has succeeded in turning a tremendously interesting selection of photographs into a book that is dense and unenlightening. ... Read more

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The Pueblo of Zuni is situated in Western New Mexico on the Rio Zuni, a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zuni have resided in this region for several centuries. The peculiar geologic and geographic character of the country surrounding them, as well as its aridity, furnishes ample sources from which a barbarous people would derive legendary and mythologic history. A brief reference to these features is necessary to understand more fully the religious phases of Zuni child life.

Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zuni is a conspicuously beautiful mesa, of red and white sandstone, t[=o]-w[=a]-yael laen-ne (corn mountain). Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zuni. The Zuni lived during a long period on this mesa, and it was here that Coronado found them in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells that they were driven by a great flood from the site they now occupy, which is in the valley below the mesa, and that they resorted to the mesa for protection from the rising waters. The waters rose to the very summit of the mesa, and to appease the aggressive element a human sacrifice was necessary. A youth and a maiden, son and daughter of two priests, were thrown into this ocean. Two great pinnacles, which have been carved from the main mesa by weathering influences, are looked upon by the Zuni as the actual youth and maiden converted into stone, and are appealed to as "father" and "mother." Many of the Zuni legends and superstitions are associated with this mesa, while over its summit are spread the extensive ruins of the long ago deserted village. There are in many localities, around its precipitous sides and walls, shrines and groups of sacred objects which are constantly resorted to by different orders of the tribe. Some of the most interesting of these are the most inaccessible. When easy of approach they are in such secluded spots that a stranger might pass without dreaming of the treasures within his reach. On the western side of this mesa are several especially interesting shrines. About half way up the acclivity on the west side an overhanging rock forms the base of one of the pinnacles referred to. This rock is literally honeycombed with holes, from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. I visited the spot in the fall of 1884, with Professors E.B. Tylor and H.N. Moseley, of Oxford, England, and Mr. G.K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey. These gentlemen could not determine whether the tiny excavations were originally made by human hands or by some other agency. The Indian's only answer when questioned was, "They be long to the old; they were made by the gods." Hundreds of these holes contain bits of cotton and wool from garments. In the side of this rock there are larger spaces, in which miniature vases, filled with sand, are placed. The sand is ground by rubbing stones from the same rock. The vases of sand, and also the fragments of wool and cotton, are offerings at the feet of the "mother" rock. Here, too, can be seen a quantity of firewood heaped as shown in the right-hand corner of the illustration. Each man and woman deposited a piece, that he or she might always have plenty of wood for heat and light. Some three hundred feet above is another shrine, directly attached to the "father" rock, and to the white man difficult of access. Here I found many offerings of plume sticks (T[=e] l[=i]k-tk[=i]-n[=a]-we).


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They generally lived in villages, containing from fifty to five hundred families. Their houses, called _wigwams_, were usually constructed of poles, one end being driven into the ground, and the other bent over so as to meet another
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Out of some sixty aboriginal stocks or families found in North America above the Tropic of Cancer, about five-sixths were confined to the tenth of the territory bordering Pacific ocean; the remaining nine-tenths of the land was occupied by a few strong stocks, comprising the Algonquian, Athapascan, Iroquoian, Shoshonean, Siouan, and others of more limited extent.

The Indians of the Siouan stock occupied the central portion of the continent. They were preeminently plains Indians, ranging from Lake Michigan to the Rocky mountains, and from the Arkansas to the Saskatchewan, while an outlying body stretched to the shores of the Atlantic. They were typical American barbarians, headed by hunters and warriors and grouped in shifting tribes led by the chase or driven by battle from place to place over their vast and naturally rich domain, though a crude agriculture sprang up whenever a tribe tarried long in one spot. No native stock is more interesting than the great Siouan group, and none save the Algonquian and Iroquoian approach it in wealth of literary and historical records; for since the advent of white men the Siouan Indians have played striking roles on the stage of human development, and have caught the eye of every thoughtful observer.

The term Siouan is the adjective denoting the "Sioux" Indians and cognate tribes. The word "Sioux" has been variously and vaguely used. Originally it was a corruption of a term expressing enmity or contempt, applied to a part of the plains tribes by the forest-dwelling Algonquian Indians. According to Trumbull, it was the popular appellation of those tribes which call themselves Dakota, Lakota, or Nakota ("Friendly," implying confederated or allied), and was an abbreviation of _Nadowessioux_, a Canadian-French corruption of _Nadowe-ssi-wag_ ("the snake-like ones" or "enemies"), a term rooted in the Algonquian _nadowe_ ("a snake"); and some writers have applied the designation to different portions of the stock, while others have rejected it because of the offensive implication or for other reasons. So long ago as 1836, however, Gallatin employed the term "Sioux" to designate collectively "the nations which speak the Sioux language,"(2) and used an alternative term to designate the subordinate confederacy--i.e., he used the term in a systematic way for the first time to denote an ethnic unit which experience has shown to be well defined. Gallatin's terminology was soon after adopted by Prichard and others, and has been followed by most careful writers on the American Indians. Accordingly the name must be regarded as established through priority and prescription, and has been used in the original sense in various standard publications.(3)


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Out of some sixty aboriginal stocks or families found in North America above the Tropic of Cancer, about five-sixths were confined to the tenth of the territory bordering Pacific ocean; the remaining nine-tenths of the land was occupied by a few strong stocks, comprising the Algonquian, Athapascan, Iroquoian, Shoshonean, Siouan, and others of more limited extent.

The Indians of the Siouan stock occupied the central portion of the continent. They were preeminently plains Indians, ranging from Lake Michigan to the Rocky mountains, and from the Arkansas to the Saskatchewan, while an outlying body stretched to the shores of the Atlantic. They were typical American barbarians, headed by hunters and warriors and grouped in shifting tribes led by the chase or driven by battle from place to place over their vast and naturally rich domain, though a crude agriculture sprang up whenever a tribe tarried long in one spot. No native stock is more interesting than the great Siouan group, and none save the Algonquian and Iroquoian approach it in wealth of literary and historical records; for since the advent of white men the Siouan Indians have played striking roles on the stage of human development, and have caught the eye of every thoughtful observer.

The term Siouan is the adjective denoting the "Sioux" Indians and cognate tribes. The word "Sioux" has been variously and vaguely used. Originally it was a corruption of a term expressing enmity or contempt, applied to a part of the plains tribes by the forest-dwelling Algonquian Indians. According to Trumbull, it was the popular appellation of those tribes which call themselves Dakota, Lakota, or Nakota ("Friendly," implying confederated or allied), and was an abbreviation of _Nadowessioux_, a Canadian-French corruption of _Nadowe-ssi-wag_ ("the snake-like ones" or "enemies"), a term rooted in the Algonquian _nadowe_ ("a snake"); and some writers have applied the designation to different portions of the stock, while others have rejected it because of the offensive implication or for other reasons. So long ago as 1836, however, Gallatin employed the term "Sioux" to designate collectively "the nations which speak the Sioux language,"(2) and used an alternative term to designate the subordinate confederacy--i.e., he used the term in a systematic way for the first time to denote an ethnic unit which experience has shown to be well defined. Gallatin's terminology was soon after adopted by Prichard and others, and has been followed by most careful writers on the American Indians. Accordingly the name must be regarded as established through priority and prescription, and has been used in the original sense in various standard publications.(3)


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This long-lost journal, now available in paperback, gives a unique look into the old Navajo country.Recently rediscovered, it is both the earliest and only extensive eyewitness account of the traditional Navajo homeland in the eighteenth century. It reveals new information on Hispanic New Mexico and relations with the Indians.

For the first twenty days in August of 1705, Roque Madrid led about 100 Spanish soldiers and citizens together with some 300 Pueblo Indian allies on a 312-mile march in retaliation for Navajo raiding. The bilingual text permits appreciation of the unusually literate and dramatic journal. Historical and archeological data are carefully tapped to retrace the route. ... Read more

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This paper is the result of two and one-half months' field work among the Washo Indians of California and Nevada supported by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
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This paper is the result of two and one-half months' field work among the Washo Indians of California and Nevada supported by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
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he Pueblo of Zuni is situated in Western New Mexico on the Rio Zuni, a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zuni have resided in this region for several centuries. The peculiar geologic and geographic character of the country surrounding them, as well as its aridity, furnishes ample sources from which a barbarous people would derive legendary and mythologic history. A brief reference to these features is necessary to understand more fully the religious phases of Zuni child life.

Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zuni is a conspicuously beautiful mesa, of red and white sandstone, t[=o]-w[=a]-yael laen-ne (corn mountain). Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zuni. The Zuni lived during a long period on this mesa, and it was here that Coronado found them in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells that they were driven by a great flood from the site they now occupy, which is in the valley below the mesa, and that they resorted to the mesa for protection from the rising waters. The waters rose to the very summit of the mesa, and to appease the aggressive element a human sacrifice was necessary. A youth and a maiden, son and daughter of two priests, were thrown into this ocean. Two great pinnacles, which have been carved from the main mesa by weathering influences, are looked upon by the Zuni as the actual youth and maiden converted into stone, and are appealed to as "father" and "mother." Many of the Zuni legends and superstitions are associated with this mesa, while over its summit are spread the extensive ruins of the long ago deserted village. There are in many localities, around its precipitous sides and walls, shrines and groups of sacred objects which are constantly resorted to by different orders of the tribe. Some of the most interesting of these are the most inaccessible. When easy of approach they are in such secluded spots that a stranger might pass without dreaming of the treasures within his reach. On the western side of this mesa are several especially interesting shrines. About half way up the acclivity on the west side an overhanging rock forms the base of one of the pinnacles referred to. This rock is literally honeycombed with holes, from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. I visited the spot in the fall of 1884, with Professors E.B. Tylor and H.N. Moseley, of Oxford, England, and Mr. G.K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey. These gentlemen could not determine whether the tiny excavations were originally made by human hands or by some other agency. The Indian's only answer when questioned was, "They be long to the old; they were made by the gods." Hundreds of these holes contain bits of cotton and wool from garments. In the side of this rock there are larger spaces, in which miniature vases, filled with sand, are placed. The sand is ground by rubbing stones from the same rock


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There are few great leaders whose lives and actions have so completely fallen into oblivion as those of the Earl of Peterborough. His career as a general was a brief one, extending only over little more than a year, and yet in that time he showed a genius for warfare which has never been surpassed, and performed feats of daring worthy of taking their place among those of the leaders of chivalry.

The fact that they have made so slight a mark upon history is due to several reasons. In the first place, they were overshadowed by the glory and successes of Marlborough; they were performed in a cause which could scarcely be said to be that of England, and in which the public had a comparatively feeble interest; the object, too, for which he fought was frustrated, and the war was an unsuccessful one, although from no fault on his part.

But most of all, Lord Peterborough failed to attain that place in the list of British worthies to which his genius and his bravery should have raised him, because that genius was directed by no steady aim or purpose. Lord Peterborough is, indeed, one of the most striking instances in history of genius and talent wasted, and a life thrown away by want of fixed principle and by an inability or unwillingness to work with other men. He quarreled in turn with every party and with almost every individual with whom he came in contact; and while he himself was constantly changing his opinions, he was intolerant of all opinions differing from those which he at the moment held, and was always ready to express in the most open and offensive manner his contempt and dislike for those who differed from him. His eccentricities were great; he was haughty and arrogant, hasty and passionate; he denied his God, quarreled with his king, and rendered himself utterly obnoxious to every party in the state.

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When the author visited the Osage, in the Indian Territory, in January, 1883, he learned of the existence of a secret society of seven degrees, in which, it was alleged, the traditions of the people have been preserved to the present time.
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When the author visited the Osage, in the Indian Territory, in January, 1883, he learned of the existence of a secret society of seven degrees, in which, it was alleged, the traditions of the people have been preserved to the present time. Owing to the shortness of his visit, one month and eleven days, he was unable to gain more than fragmentary accounts of the society, including parts of two traditions, from several Osage who had been initiated.

The version of the first tradition was dictated to the author by Ha*d*a-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}ue{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se (Red Corn), a

halfbreed Osage of the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED

K~}e gens. He obtained it from Sa*d*ekice. Ha*d*a-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}ue{~LATIN SMALL LETTER



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Egi¢e |mactciñ'ge| aká | i[k]a[n]' | ¢iñké |ená-qtci|[t]ig¢e| júgig¢á-biamá. It came| rabbit | the | his |the st.| only | dwelt |with his| they to pass| | sub.|grandmother| ob. | | | own,| say.

K[)i]|ha[n]'ega[n]tc[)e]'-qtci-hna[n]'|`ábae | ahí-biamá. | And | morning very habit- |hunting|went thither| | ually | | they say. |

|Ha[n]ega[n]tc[)e]'-qtci| a¢á-bi | morning very|went, they | | say

ct[)e]wa[n]'|níkaci[n]ga|wi[n]'| sí |sned[)e]'-qti-hna[n]|síg¢e|a¢á-bitéamá.| notwith- | person | one |foot| long very as a |trail| had gone, standing rule they say.

|K[)i]| íbaha[n] 3 | And | to know him

ga[n]¢á-biamá.|Níaci[n]ga|¢i[n]' |[)i][n]'ta[n]|wíta[n]¢i[n]|b¢é | tá | miñke,| wished | Person |the mv.| now | I-first |I go|will| I who,| they say. ob.

| e¢éga[n]-biamá. |thought they say.

Ha[n]'ega[n]c[)e]'-qtci|páha[n]-bi|ega[n]'|a¢á-biamá.|C[)i]|égi¢e |níkaci[n]ga| Morning very| arose |having |went they |Again| it | person | they say say.


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IKTOMI is a spider fairy. He wears brown deerskin leggins with long soft fringes on either side, and tiny beaded moccasins on his feet. His long black hair is parted in the middle and wrapped with red, red bands. Each round braid hangs over a small brown ear and falls forward over his shoulders.

He even paints his funny face with red and yellow, and draws big black rings around his eyes. He wears a deerskin jacket, with bright colored beads sewed tightly on it. Iktomi dresses like a real Dakota brave. In truth, his paint and deerskins are the best part of him--if ever dress is part of man or fairy.

Iktomi is a wily fellow. His hands are always kept in mischief. He prefers to spread a snare rather than to earn the smallest thing with honest hunting. Why! he laughs outright with wide open mouth when some simple folk are caught in a trap, sure and fast.

He never dreams another lives so bright as he. Often his own conceit leads him hard against the common sense of simpler people.



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Once upon a time the Rabbit dwelt in a lodge with no one but his grandmother. And it was his custom to go hunting very early in the morning. No matter how early in the morning he went, a person with very long feet had been along, leaving a trail. And he (the Rabbit), wished to know him. "Now," thought he, "I will go in advance of the person." Having arisen very early in the morning, he departed. Again it happened that the person had been along, leaving a trail. Then he (the Rabbit) went home. Said he, "Grandmother, though I arrange for myself to go first, a person anticipates me (every time). Grandmother, I will make a snare and catch him." "Why should you do it?" said she. "I hate the person," he said. And the Rabbit departed. When he went, the foot-prints had been along again. And he lay waiting for night (to come). And he made a noose of a bow-string, putting it in the place where the foot-prints used to be seen. And he reached there very early in the morning for the purpose of looking at his trap. And it happened that he had caught the Sun. Running very fast, he went homeward to tell it. "Grandmother, I have caught something or other, but it scares me. Grandmother, I wished to take my bow-string, but I was scared every time," said he. He went thither with a knife. And he got very near it. "You have done wrong; why have you done so? Come hither and untie me," said the Sun. The Rabbit, although he went thither, was afraid, and kept on passing partly by him (or, continued going by a little to one side). And making a rush, with his head bent down (and his arm stretched out), he cut the bow-string with the knife. And the Sun had already gone on high. And the Rabbit had the hair between his shoulders scorched yellow, it having been hot upon him (as he stooped to cut the bow-string). (And the Rabbit arrived at home.) "Itcitci+!! O grandmother, the heat has left nothing of me," said he. She said, "Oh! my grandchild! I think that the heat has left nothing of him for me." (From that time the rabbit has had a singed spot on his back, between the shoulders.)


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The A-shi-wi, or Zunis, suppose the sun, moon, and stars, the sky, earth, and sea, in all their phenomena and elements; and all inanimate objects, as well as plants, animals, and men, to belong to one great system of all-conscious and interrelated life, in which the degrees of relationship seem to be determined largely, if not wholly, by the degrees of resemblance. In this system of life the starting point is man, the most finished, yet the lowest organism; at least, the lowest because most dependent and least mysterious. In just so far as an organism, actual or imaginary, resembles his, is it believed to be related to him and correspondingly mortal; in just so far as it is mysterious, is it considered removed from him, further advanced, powerful, and immortal. It thus happens that the animals, because alike mortal and endowed with similar physical functions and organs, are considered more nearly related to man than are the gods; more nearly related to the gods than is man, because more mysterious, and characterized by specific instincts and powers which man does not of himself possess. Again, the elements and phenomena of nature, because more mysterious, powerful and immortal, seem more closely related to the higher gods than are the animals; more closely related to the animals than are the higher gods, because their manifestations often resemble the operations of the former.

In consequence of this, and through the confusion of the subjective with the objective, any element or phenomenon in nature, which is believed to possess a personal existence, is endowed with a personality analogous to that of the animal whose operations most resemble its manifestation. For instance, lightning is often given the form of a serpent, with or without an arrow-pointed tongue, because its course through the sky is serpentine, its stroke instantaneous and destructive; yet it is named Wi-lo-lo-a-ne, a word derived not from the name of the serpent itself, but from that of its most obvious trait, its gliding, zigzag motion. For this reason, the serpent is supposed to be more nearly related to lightning than to man; more nearly related to man than is lightning, because mortal and less mysterious. As further illustrative of the interminable relationships which are established on resemblances fancied or actual, the flint arrow-point may be cited. Although fashioned by man, it is regarded as originally the gift or "flesh" of lightning, as made by the power of lightning, and rendered more effective by these connections with the dread element; pursuant of which idea, the zigzag or lightning marks are added to the shafts of arrows. A chapter might be written concerning this idea, which may possibly help to explain the Celtic, Scandinavian, and Japanese beliefs concerning "elf-shafts," and "thunder-stones," and "bolts."

In like manner, the supernatural beings of man's fancy--the "master existences"--are supposed to be more nearly related to the personalities with which the elements and phenomena of nature are endowed than to either animals or men; because, like those elements and phenomena, and unlike men and animals, they are connected with remote tradition in a manner identical with their supposed existence to-day, and therefore are considered immortal.


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"This book marks the culmination of fifteen years of collaboration between the University of Utah's American West Center and the Tohono O'oodham Nation's Education Department to collect documents and create curricular materials for use in their tribal school system. . . . Erickson has done an admirable job compiling this narrative."—Pacific Historical Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Required reading for anyone working with O'odham
As one who works with members of the T.O. nation, I found this to be a very enlightening book. Although it probably focuses too much on battles with the Spanish, it does include how the reservation came to be established, and the importance of cattle ranching to the tribal economy in the past.Although it was written fairly recently, the history sort of ends with the 1960s-70s, which I find disappointing.The author certainly proves his mettle in digging facts out of 17th-19th century Spanish archives, but a more informative chapter would have shown how the establishment of casinos has affected the nation.However, as I understand, this book was written to be a textbook for T.O. children, and so this might not have been appropriate.Still, it is an excellent introduction to O'odham history and culture, and ought to be required reading for anyone working with members of the nation. ... Read more