Intro to Native American Indian Art

 

I. Naming the People.  Why is naming important?

A.  All over the globe humans name themselves "The People.

1.  Some groups have kept their own names for themselves: 

a. Yokuts, Maidu, Atsugewi, Chemehuevi, Yurok, Hupa.

2.  Many groups are referred to by names given by outsiders: Cahuilla, Diegueņo, Luiseņo, Cupeņo,

3.  Others are regaining their own names: Gabrieleno>Tongva, Diegueņo> Kumeyaay, Yuma>Quechan.

a. This implies "insider" and "outsider" roles.

i.  All outsiders are outsiders.  Cahuilla and Pomo are not the same. 

B.  How do we refer to Indian people in a respectful way?

II.  Use the name they chose for themselves, "the People."

A. Is the term "these people" disrespectful.

III.  Divisions of North American Indian Art.  How to get a handle on the subject.

A. The three major temporal divisions of Native North American culture.

1.  An exception to this is in the dry caves of the Great Basin and Southwestern deserts where coprolites, mummies, hides, feathers, clothing, wooden implements, cotton cloth, baskets, mats, sandals remain

2.  A few objects were taken to Europe before 1500 and they remain there in museums and royal collections.

3. Encapsulation with mud can create anaerobic preservation.

a. Precontact - before 1492.  Rock art, shell, silver, copper, bone, pottery, and stone are the materials which have survived until now.

b. Historic - 1493 until 1890.  All of the materials already mentioned remain plus a wide variety of introduced materials including, iron, german silver, brass, tin, silk and wool fabric, cotton broadcloth, glass, paper, graphite pencils, crayons, ink, .

c. Contemporary - post 1890.  Introduced and synthetic materials.

B. The seven major geographic divisions.

1.  Eastern Woodlands and Subarctic.

2.  Great Plains and Plateau.

3.  Arctic.

4.  Southwest.

5.  California.

6.  Great Basin.

7.  Northwest Coast.

C. The six major language divisions.

1.  Inuit - Canada, Alaska, Greenland

2.  Uto-Aztecan - Mexico, Plains, Southwest, California.

3.  Hokan-Sioux - California, Southwest, Plains.

4.  Athabascan - Subarctic, Southwest, California.

5.  Algonquian - Eastern Woodlands, California.

6.  Penutian - California only.

7.  Unique languages - the split was so long ago as to be untracable

Yuki  - California only.

Keresan - Southwest only.

D.  The eight ecological divisions of North Ameica.

1.  Too much cross over to define groups tightly

a. Coastal tidelands collectors.

Northwest Coast, California, Southeast, Northeast

b. Coastal sea hunters and fishers.

Arctic, Southeast, California, Northwest Coast

c.  Riverine and lake dwellers.

All Areas

d.  Semiarid gatherer/hunters

California, Great Basin, Plains

e.  Semiarid hunter/gatherers.

Plains

f.  Woodlands hunters/gatherers

Subarctic, Northeast, Southeast, Northwest Coast

g.  Desert gatherers and hunters.

California, Platueau

h.  Agriculturalists.

            Woodlands, Southwest, Plains, California.

E.  Tribal divisions

1.  Impractical on a continental scale.

a.  more than 250 tribes in California alone