Matching Items (16)
Description
Understanding agricultural land use requires the integration of natural factors, such as climate and nutrients, as well as human factors, such as agricultural intensification. Employing an agroecological framework, I use the Perry Mesa landscape, located in central Arizona, as a case study to explore the intersection of these factors to investigate prehistoric agriculture from A.D. 1275-1450. Ancient Perry Mesa farmers used a runoff agricultural strategy and constructed extensive alignments, or terraces, on gentle hillslopes to slow and capture nutrient rich surface runoff generated from intense rainfall. I investigate how the construction of agricultural terraces altered key parameters (water and nutrients) necessary for successful agriculture in this arid region. Building upon past work focused on agricultural terraces in general, I gathered empirical data pertaining to nutrient renewal and water retention from one ancient runoff field. I developed a long-term model of maize growth and soil nutrient dynamics parameterized using nutrient analyses of runoff collected from the sample prehistoric field. This model resulted in an estimate of ideal field use and fallow periods for maintaining long-term soil fertility under different climatic regimes. The results of the model were integrated with estimates of prehistoric population distribution and geographical characterizations of the arable lands to evaluate the places and periods when sufficient arable land was available for the type of cropping and fallowing systems suggested by the model (given the known climatic trends and land use requirements). Results indicate that not only do dry climatic periods put stress on crops due to reduced precipitation but that a reduction in expected runoff events results in a reduction in the amount of nutrient renewal due to fewer runoff events. This reduction lengthens estimated fallow cycles, and probably would have increased the amount of land necessary to maintain sustainable agricultural production. While the overall Perry Mesa area was not limited in terms of arable land, this analysis demonstrates the likely presence of arable land pressures in the immediate vicinity of some communities. Anthropological understandings of agricultural land use combined with ecological tools for investigating nutrient dynamics provides a comprehensive understanding of ancient land use in arid regions.
ContributorsKruse-Peeples, Melissa R (Author) / Spielmann, Katherine A. (Thesis advisor) / Abbott, David R. (Committee member) / Hall, Sharon J. (Committee member) / Kintigh, Keith W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This research explores how people's relationships with the spirits of the dead are embedded in political histories. It addresses the ways in which certain spirits were integral "inhabitants" of two social environments with disparate political traditions. Using the prehistoric mortuary record, I investigate the spirits and their involvement in socio-political affairs in the Prehispanic American Southeast and Southwest. Foremost, I construct a framework to characterize particular social identities for the spirits. Ancestors are select, potent beings who are capable of wielding considerable agency. Ancestral spirits are generic beings who are infrequently active among the living and who can exercise agency only in specific contexts. Anonymous groups of spirits are collectives who exercise little to no agency. I then examine the performance of mortuary ritual to recognize these social identities in the archaeological record. Multivariate analyses evaluate how particular ritual actions memorialized the dead. They concentrate on treatment of the body, construction of burial features, inclusion of material accompaniments, and the spaces of ritual action. Each analysis characterizes the social memories that ritual acts shaped for the spirits. When possible, I supplement analysis of archaeological data with ethnohistoric and ethnographic information. Finally, I compile the memories to describe the social identities for the spirits of the dead. In this study, I examine the identities surrounding the spirits in both a Mississippian period settlement on the Georgia coast and in several Protohistoric era Zuni towns in the northern Southwest. Results indicate that ancestors were powerful members of political factions in coastal Mississippian communities. In contrast, ancestral spirits and collectives of long-dead were custodians of group histories in Zuni communities. I contend that these different spirits were rooted in political traditions of competition. Mississippian ancestors were influential agents on cultural landscapes filled with contestation over social power. Puebloan ancestral spirits were keepers of histories on landscapes where power relations were masked, and where new kinds of communities were coalescing. This study demonstrates that the spirits of the dead are important to anthropological understandings of socio-political trajectories. The spirits are at the heart of the ways in which history influences and determines politics.
ContributorsThompson, M. Scott (Author) / Buikstra, Jane E. (Thesis advisor) / Kintigh, Keith W. (Committee member) / Abbott, David R. (Committee member) / Goldstein, Lynne G (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In these three pieces, I expand my thoughts about the functional relationships that sociocultural notions of identity and belonging, and economic development (nation building) of Isleta Pueblo have to citizenship. The journal article, "Sociocultural perspectives on sovereignty, citizenship, identity, and economic development with implications for Isleta Pueblo," builds a framework for understating the current social dynamic of a United States Indigenous community in this present time. In the journal article, I draw from Western philosophers and activist scholars including Indigenous authors, to problematize notions of citizenship and full-participation with its emphasis on rights, and reflections from the filed about my personal upbringing to further the argument about identity. For the book chapter, "Isleta Pueblo Economic Development and Citizenship," I expand on the relationship of Isleta Pueblo citizenship, notions of sovereignty, and economic development. The book chapter will discuss the theory of nation building using some comparative examples taken from other countries in order to broaden the conversation on Indigenous economic development and what it currently does and might entail, especially as related to citizenship. The policy paper brief will provide a summary, findings, history, and recommendations for the identity crisis Tribal Youth are experiencing with regard to a blood quantum policy. The policy paper brief is intended for the tribal leadership of my community to consider.
ContributorsAbeita, Shawn Patrick (Author) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Brayboy, Bryan McKinley Jones (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The overarching purpose of my dissertation is to offer one Pueblo perspective about research and health education to contribute to critical dialogue among Pueblo people so that relevant research and health education approaches grounded in Pueblo thinking can emerge. Research was a pebble in my shoe that caused me great discomfort as I walked within academia during the many years I worked as a health educator at a university, and continues to bother me. The purpose of my journal article is to discuss why much mainstream research is problematic from a Pueblo Indian standpoint and to explore considerations for research with Pueblo people. The purpose of my book chapter is to reflect on my experiences as a Pueblo Indian health educator to add to the discussion about the importance of grounding Pueblo health education in local Pueblo knowledge systems and to discuss the limitations of delivering health education primarily grounded in a western biomedical disease model. Finally, my policy brief is an urgent call to action for tribal leaders regarding a recent change to the New Mexico Department of Health's race and ethnicity presentation in health data standard. This change resulted in 39,636 American Indians and Alaska Natives in New Mexico being reclassified as Hispanic. It is my intention to connect my ideas about research and health education with the work of other Pueblo scholars to add to the growing body of Pueblo informed writing to contribute to current and future scholarship that will ultimately benefit Pueblo people.
ContributorsSuina, Michele (Author) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Gomez, Alan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Due to the history of colonization, disruption of Indigenous life ways, and encroachment of external Western ideals and practices upon tribal peoples in New Mexico, the protection and preservation of tribal customs, values, traditions, and ways of thinking are critical to the continued existence of the tribes. It has taken many years for tribal communities, such as the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, to get to where they find themselves today: In a paradoxical situation stemming from the fact that Pueblo people are told to pursue the iconic American Dream, which was not actually designed or intended for tribal peoples and that always seems to be just out of reach for many community members. Yet many of them do their best to emulate the capitalistic consumption and the Western way of life. What is troubling about this is that perhaps many of these people are starting to forget that it was the strength of their ancestors and their dreams that allowed Pueblo people to be here today. So, how do Pueblo people address this paradox? How do they begin to give newer generations, such as the youth, the tools to question and to assess future programs and the future of the tribal communities? Furthermore, what does such a process of preserving and reclaiming mean for future governance? Are these communities prepared to accept the outcomes?
This compilation seeks to address these issues by examining a) the creation and delivery of Western medicine for American Indians in New Mexico and b) a discussion of Pueblo culture and belief systems. The exploration will include not only discussing health and health care concerns, but it will also engage the future considerations that tribal governments in New Mexico, specifically Pueblo Indian communities, must reflect on to ensure the preservation of the culture and values of Pueblo people. Finally, specific recommendations for action and discussion will be delivered in the form of a policy paper that is designed for tribal leadership and tribal administrative audiences and suggested for implementation.
This compilation seeks to address these issues by examining a) the creation and delivery of Western medicine for American Indians in New Mexico and b) a discussion of Pueblo culture and belief systems. The exploration will include not only discussing health and health care concerns, but it will also engage the future considerations that tribal governments in New Mexico, specifically Pueblo Indian communities, must reflect on to ensure the preservation of the culture and values of Pueblo people. Finally, specific recommendations for action and discussion will be delivered in the form of a policy paper that is designed for tribal leadership and tribal administrative audiences and suggested for implementation.
ContributorsLucero, Kenneth Brian (Author) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Martin, Nathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This dissertation explores the interrelationships between periods of rapid social change and regional-scale social identities. Using archaeological data from the Cibola region of the U.S. Southwest, I examine changes in the nature and scale of social identification across a period of demographic and social upheaval (A.D. 1150-1325) marked by a shift from dispersed hamlets, to clustered villages, and eventually, to a small number of large nucleated towns. This transformation in settlement organization entailed a fundamental reconfiguration of the relationships among households and communities across an area of over 45,000 km2. This study draws on contemporary social theory focused on political mobilization and social movements to investigate how changes in the process of social identification can influence the potential for such widespread and rapid transformations. This framework suggests that social identification can be divided into two primary modes; relational identification based on networks of interaction among individuals, and categorical identification based on active expressions of affiliation with social roles or groups to which one can belong. Importantly, trajectories of social transformations are closely tied to the interrelationships between these two modes of identification. This study has three components: Social transformation, indicated by rapid demographic and settlement transitions, is documented through settlement studies drawing on a massive, regional database including over 1,500 sites. Relational identities, indicated by networks of interaction, are documented through ceramic compositional analyses of over 2,100 potsherds, technological characterizations of over 2,000 utilitarian ceramic vessels, and the distributions of different types of domestic architectural features across the region. Categorical identities are documented through stylistic comparisons of a large sample of polychrome ceramic vessels and characterizations of public architectural spaces. Contrary to assumptions underlying traditional approaches to social identity in archaeology, this study demonstrates that relational and categorical identities are not necessarily coterminous. Importantly, however, the strongest patterns of relational connections prior to the period of social transformation in the Cibola region largely predict the scale and structure of changes associated with that transformation. This suggests that the social transformation in the Cibola region, despite occurring in a non-state setting, was governed by similar dynamics to well-documented contemporary examples.
ContributorsPeeples, Matthew A. (Author) / Kintigh, Keith W. (Thesis advisor) / Hegmon, Michelle (Thesis advisor) / Spielmann, Katherine A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The history of research in Indigenous populations is deeply problematic. Power imbalances have led Non-Indigenous researchers and outside institutions to enter Indigenous communities with their own research agendas and without prior consultation with the people and communities being researched. As a consequence, Indigenous scholars are moving to take control and reclaim ownership of the research that occurs in our communities. This study, conducted by a Pueblo researcher with Pueblo leaders, investigates their definitions of and perspectives on research. Eleven semi-formal interviews were conducted in 2017 with a subset of tribal leaders from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. Results show that Pueblo leaders define research using action words such as compiling, gathering, or looking for information to determine a cause or to find out more about a situation. Leaders state that research is “inherent to our beings” and gave examples such as “singing to plants,” “knowing when to plant and hunt” and sustaining our cultural ways as Pueblo activities considered research.
ContributorsBird, Doreen Margaret (Author) / Brayboy, Bryan MJ (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary M (Thesis advisor) / Lomawaima, K. Tsianina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
ABSTRACT
The history of Indian education within public schools is deeply problematic. Power imbalances have led western education to enter Indigenous communities with their own agendas and without prior consultation with the people and communities. As a consequence, Indigenous scholars are moving to take control and reclaim ownership of the education of our children that occurs in our communities and public schools. This dissertation focuses on attitudes toward culturally relevant instruction/curriculum by asking the question, what is the landscape and current climate of culturally responsive schooling for Pueblo and American Indian students within Bernalillo High School and Bernalillo Public Schools in Bernalillo, New Mexico? Through a qualitative study, teachers, administrators, consultants and faculty were interviewed to gain their perspectives on culturally relevant instruction/curriculum. Through analysis of these interviews and focus group, it was found that participants were aware of culturally relevant instruction/curriculum and utilize it in some sense with their students. This study also looks at the current landscape of American Indian and Pueblo education in the state of New Mexico. Indigenous education has always been a part of the learning process for Pueblo people. With the coming of western education Pueblo people were forced to attend boarding schools as well as public schools causing assimilation. This study calls on culturally relevant instruction/curriculum as a way to provide a successful education for Pueblo students. This study looks at the need for culturally responsive schooling paradigms and practices for Indigenous students. It also looks at culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) as a way to help explore, shape and provide valuable theoretical tools for developing culturally relevant instruction/curriculum. The policy paper proposes that Bernalillo Public Schools (BPS) work with Pueblos to promote the delivery of the most appropriate education and services for Pueblo children.
The history of Indian education within public schools is deeply problematic. Power imbalances have led western education to enter Indigenous communities with their own agendas and without prior consultation with the people and communities. As a consequence, Indigenous scholars are moving to take control and reclaim ownership of the education of our children that occurs in our communities and public schools. This dissertation focuses on attitudes toward culturally relevant instruction/curriculum by asking the question, what is the landscape and current climate of culturally responsive schooling for Pueblo and American Indian students within Bernalillo High School and Bernalillo Public Schools in Bernalillo, New Mexico? Through a qualitative study, teachers, administrators, consultants and faculty were interviewed to gain their perspectives on culturally relevant instruction/curriculum. Through analysis of these interviews and focus group, it was found that participants were aware of culturally relevant instruction/curriculum and utilize it in some sense with their students. This study also looks at the current landscape of American Indian and Pueblo education in the state of New Mexico. Indigenous education has always been a part of the learning process for Pueblo people. With the coming of western education Pueblo people were forced to attend boarding schools as well as public schools causing assimilation. This study calls on culturally relevant instruction/curriculum as a way to provide a successful education for Pueblo students. This study looks at the need for culturally responsive schooling paradigms and practices for Indigenous students. It also looks at culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) as a way to help explore, shape and provide valuable theoretical tools for developing culturally relevant instruction/curriculum. The policy paper proposes that Bernalillo Public Schools (BPS) work with Pueblos to promote the delivery of the most appropriate education and services for Pueblo children.
ContributorsChavez, Curtis (Author) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Sumida-Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Tsinnajinnie, Leola (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Connecting the three pieces of this dissertation is the foundation of our land or Mother Earth. Our relationship with our Mother is key to our indigenous legal tradition, as it both defines and is shaped by indigenous laws. These laws set forth the values and rules for relationships between humans, and between humans and the environment, including non-human beings. How we live in this environment, how we nurture our relationship with our Mother, and how we emulate our original instructions in treatment of one another are integral to our indigenous legal traditions. With this connection in mind, the three parts of this dissertation address the status of Pueblo women in colonial New Mexico, a study of attitudes toward preservation of traditional structures, and the ways in which we seek to protect our sacred places.
The journal article will focus on the impact of Spanish colonial laws on pueblo people in New Mexico, and pueblo women in particular. I propose the usefulness of comparing the Pueblo chthonic legal tradition with that of the colonial Spanish civil legal tradition as an approach to a fuller understanding of the impact of Spanish colonial laws on Pueblo peoples. As pueblo peoples move into the future with a focus on core values, this comparison can assist in determining what traces of the Spanish colonial, often patriarchal, systems might continue to exist among our Pueblos, to our detriment.
The book chapter looks at a survey on attitudes toward preservation of traditional Laguna housing in Paguate Village, at Laguna Pueblo, and its possible uses for community planning. This is done within the context of a community whose traditional housing has been interrupted by 30 years of uranium mining and decades of government (HUD) housing, both of which worked against Pueblo indigenous paradigms for how to live in the environment and how to live together.
The policy briefing paper makes a case for using international human rights instruments and fora to protect sacred places where United States law and policy cannot provide the degree of protection that indigenous peoples seek. In all three pieces is a question of how we essentially reclaim the gift of our original relationship with Mother Earth.
The journal article will focus on the impact of Spanish colonial laws on pueblo people in New Mexico, and pueblo women in particular. I propose the usefulness of comparing the Pueblo chthonic legal tradition with that of the colonial Spanish civil legal tradition as an approach to a fuller understanding of the impact of Spanish colonial laws on Pueblo peoples. As pueblo peoples move into the future with a focus on core values, this comparison can assist in determining what traces of the Spanish colonial, often patriarchal, systems might continue to exist among our Pueblos, to our detriment.
The book chapter looks at a survey on attitudes toward preservation of traditional Laguna housing in Paguate Village, at Laguna Pueblo, and its possible uses for community planning. This is done within the context of a community whose traditional housing has been interrupted by 30 years of uranium mining and decades of government (HUD) housing, both of which worked against Pueblo indigenous paradigms for how to live in the environment and how to live together.
The policy briefing paper makes a case for using international human rights instruments and fora to protect sacred places where United States law and policy cannot provide the degree of protection that indigenous peoples seek. In all three pieces is a question of how we essentially reclaim the gift of our original relationship with Mother Earth.
ContributorsLorenzo, June L (Author) / Huaman, Elizabeth S (Thesis advisor) / Brayboy, Bryan M (Committee member) / Vicente Carpio, Myla (Committee member) / Zuni-Cruz, Christine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
ABSTRACT
Because economic advancement has been defined by Western society and not by Indigenous peoples themselves, the material gains of such narrowly defined notions of advancement have long been an elusive dream for many Indigenous communities in the United States. Many reasons have been given as to why significant economic advancement through a Western materialistic lens has been unattainable, including remoteness, the inability to get financing on trust land, and access to markets. These are all valid concerns and challenges, but they are not insurmountable. Another disconcerting reason has been the perception that the federal government through its trust responsibility is to do everything for the tribes, including economic advancement, job creation and economic diversification. Despite the problematic nature of this lens, this work is concerned with both how Indigenous--and particularly southwestern tribal, Pueblo Indian nations--interpret and participate in the drive to achieve measures of prosperity for their communities. Granted, the U.S. government does have a trust responsibility to assist tribes, however, that does not mean tribes are relieved of their obligation to do their part as well. Here, I provide an observation of the notion of government responsibility towards tribes and ultimately suggest that there is a strong and devastating addiction that hinders Indigenous communities and impacts economic advancement. This addiction is not alcoholism, drugs, or domestic violence. Instead, this is an addiction to federal funds and programs, which has diminished Indigenous inspiration to do for self, the motivation to be innovative, and has blurred responsibility of what it means to contribute. I will also include the need to utilize data to develop new economic policies and strategies. Last, I will include a policy suggestion that will be aimed at operationalizing the trust reform and data concepts. While discussing these challenges, my focus is to moreover offer a suggestion of how to strategize through them. Drawing from Pueblo Indian examples, the argument becomes clear that other Indigenous citizens across the lower forty-eight have an opportunity to break the prescribed mold in order to advance their economies and on their terms.
Because economic advancement has been defined by Western society and not by Indigenous peoples themselves, the material gains of such narrowly defined notions of advancement have long been an elusive dream for many Indigenous communities in the United States. Many reasons have been given as to why significant economic advancement through a Western materialistic lens has been unattainable, including remoteness, the inability to get financing on trust land, and access to markets. These are all valid concerns and challenges, but they are not insurmountable. Another disconcerting reason has been the perception that the federal government through its trust responsibility is to do everything for the tribes, including economic advancement, job creation and economic diversification. Despite the problematic nature of this lens, this work is concerned with both how Indigenous--and particularly southwestern tribal, Pueblo Indian nations--interpret and participate in the drive to achieve measures of prosperity for their communities. Granted, the U.S. government does have a trust responsibility to assist tribes, however, that does not mean tribes are relieved of their obligation to do their part as well. Here, I provide an observation of the notion of government responsibility towards tribes and ultimately suggest that there is a strong and devastating addiction that hinders Indigenous communities and impacts economic advancement. This addiction is not alcoholism, drugs, or domestic violence. Instead, this is an addiction to federal funds and programs, which has diminished Indigenous inspiration to do for self, the motivation to be innovative, and has blurred responsibility of what it means to contribute. I will also include the need to utilize data to develop new economic policies and strategies. Last, I will include a policy suggestion that will be aimed at operationalizing the trust reform and data concepts. While discussing these challenges, my focus is to moreover offer a suggestion of how to strategize through them. Drawing from Pueblo Indian examples, the argument becomes clear that other Indigenous citizens across the lower forty-eight have an opportunity to break the prescribed mold in order to advance their economies and on their terms.
ContributorsLuarkie, Richard (Author) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Martin, Nathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015