Book List

Whenever  I travel, especially when I'm going to new places or learning about new cultures, I will put together a reading list. My lists are usually a mixture of fiction and nonfiction about a wide-range of topics related to the region OR a very focused collection of texts about a single issue. For this trip I have three books to read.

1. "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" by Timothy Egan. This book is both regional and topical. A biography of the Seattle-based photographer, Edward Curtis, this book details the struggles of an artist and amateur ethnologist attempting to photograph Native life before it disappeared. Egan's wonderful descriptions of the photographs add depth to an already captivating story about the lengths one man was willing to go for art and culture.

2. "1491" by Charles Mann. As the title suggests, Mann takes on Native American history pre-Columbus. Mann counters traditional academic paradigms that depict indigenous cultures as unchanging without any real impact on their environment or a history of their own.

3. "Fools Crow" by James Welch. Set in Montana in the 1870s, this novel tells of White Man's Dog (later known as Fools Crow), a young Blackfoot Indian on the verge of manhood, and his tribe, the Lone Eaters. The invasion of white society threatens to change their traditional way of life, and they must choose to fight or assimilate.

I am notorious for buying more books on my travels so I'll keep you posted if new texts are added to the list.

Research Project Day 1: SEAFAIR POWWOW

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the progress of my research into Native American culture and identity from colonial and frontier settlement to the present. The first leg of the trip is to the Pacific Northwest. I landed in Seattle just in time for the SEAFAIR Powwow, a regional gathering of tribes for traditional dancing competitions, salmon bake dinners, and, of course, frybread! After spending an afternoon at the gathering, it was striking to see the blend of "traditional" with more "modern" lifestyles. Alongside regalia, chanting, and dancing it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to find men wearing tanktops and flip flops and baseball hats. Also striking was the sense of pride and dedication with which young boys fancy-danced in the main arena (I will post pics soon).
I still have many questions about the function and importance of these gatherings for individuals and separate tribes. As I travel to speak to academics and curators, I hope to find out more about historic examples of these types of gatherings so I can make comparisons between historical and contemporary life. How do tribes represent themselves and to what purpose? How has this changed over time? How have the negative events of history affected the participation and growth of these gatherings?
So, more questions than answers, but a great start to the trip.