Cultural Survival

Q U A R T E R L Y

The interconnectedness
of languages, rivers, and forests
Also: Celebrating culture through food, art, and music

Volume 35, Issue 4 • december 2011

US $7.50/CAN $9
d ecember 2011
V olume 35, Issue 4

Board of Directors

President & Co-Chair Richard Bell,

Sarah Fuller
Wewereherefirst,
Vice Chairman 2007. Acrylic on
Richard Grounds (Euchee) canvas, 2 parts,
Treasurer 96 x 144 in.
Jeff Wallace overall.
Clerk Private collection,
Jean Jackson Brisbane.
Karmen Ramírez Boscán (Wayuu) Photo courtesy
American Federation
Marcus Briggs-Cloud (Miccosukke)
of Arts
Westy Egmont
Laura Graham
James Howe
Cecilia Lenk
Pia Maybury-Lewis F e at u r e s D e pa r t m e n t s
Les Malezer (Gabi Gabi)
P. Ranganath Nayak
Vincent Nmehielle (Ikwerre) 16 A River Tale 1 Executive Director’s Message
Ramona Peters (Wampanoag) Kendra McSweeney, Zoe Pearson, A Time for Change, Celebration,
Stella Tamang (Tamang) Sara Santiago, Ana Gabriela Dominguez and Reflection
Roy Young The lives of the Tawahka people of
Honduras are intertwined with the Patuca 2 In the News
FOUNDERS River, but a dam project threatens to
David & Pia Maybury-Lewis change everything.
4 Indigenous Arts
Reclaiming Aborigeneity:
12 In Pursuit of Autonomy
Cultural Survival Richard Bell
Danielle DeLuca
215 Prospect Street
Indigenous Peoples Oppose Dam
Cambridge, MA 02139 6 Women the World Must Hear
t 617.441.5400 f 617.441.5417 Construction on the Patuca River
www.cs.org in Honduras Awakening a Sleeping Language
on Cape Cod
P.O. Box 7490 22 A Day in the Life
Boulder, CO 80306 Hope Ross 8 Food for Life
t 303.444.0306 f 303.449.9794 Guatemala’s Radio Doble Via keeps its Forget the Pineapple Pizza;
7 Avenida Norte #51 listeners current on issues that pertain We’ll Have the Pa'i 'ai
Antigua Guatemala, to the country’s Indigenous Peoples.
Sacatepequez, Guatemala
10 Rights in Action
24 The Yuchi House Voice of Conscience:
Renee Grounds Mick Dodson’s Place Amidst
Cultural Survival Quarterly The Yuchi House serves as a learning
Copy Editor: Barbara Ellen Sorensen
Australia’s Unfinished Business
and community center where the
Designer: NonprofitDesign.com revitalization of the Yuchi language
Production Manager: Agnes Portalewska 21 Bazaar Artist
is being realized.
Hawk Henries hand-crafts and plays
Writers’ Guidelines
View writers’ guidelines at our website (www. 26 I Love Sauk Language Native flutes to encourage dialogue
cs.org) or send a self-addressed, stamped enve- between people.
lope to Cultural Survival, Writer’s Guidelines, Jennifer Weston, Barbara Sorensen
215 Prospect St., Cambridge, MA 02139. Community participation has been vital
to the success of the Sauk Language
Cultural Survival recognizes that Indigenous
Peoples have long been exploited by photo- Department in Stroud, Oklahoma.
graphers and publications. This publication
does not pay photographers for images and g lo b a l r e s p o n s e
makes no money from publishing them. 28 Walking in Time Toward 2012 c a m pa i g n I n s e r t
We also make a tremendous effort to identify
every Indigenous individual in the images
Cesar Gomez
that appear here. From time to time, however, Prophecy about the end of the world Take action with the Kuy people
such identification is not possible. We apol- demystified. of Cambodia to protect a unique,
ogize to the subjects of those photos and to
ny reader offended by the omission. threatened forest.
Cultural Survival Quarterly is printed on
paper that is a combination of post-consumer
recycled fiber and fiber from sustainably
managed nonpublic forests certified by the
Forest Stewardship Council, the Sustainable
Forestry Initiative, and the Program for the
Endorsement of Forest Certification. The printer On the cover Miskitu youth help their father (who is off camera to the right) deliver bananas and plantains
exclusively uses inks, chemicals, and solvents from their farm to their village along the Patuca River, Honduras. A proposed dam upriver threatens their
that are biodegradable and recyclable.
way of life. Photo by Sara Santiago
Executive Director’ S messa ge

A Time for Change, Celebration, Staff

Suzanne Benally (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa),

and Reflection
Executive Director
Mark Camp, Deputy Executive Director
Danielle DeLuca, Program Associate
Kristen Dorsey (Chickasaw), Endangered
“Yá'át'ééh” Greetings! we are invited to travel along- Language Consultant
side Doña Rufina Cardona, David Michael Favreau, Bazaar Program Manager

H
an elder, as she relates the Sofia Flynn, Accounting & Office Manager
ello friends and readers.
Cesar Gomez (Pocomam), Content Production
In this issue of Cultural Patuca River’s turbulent his- and Training Coordinator for the Community
Survival Quarterly, tory, and its ever-present ca- Radio Project
there is much to be celebrated. pacity to hold the hearts and Jamie Malcolm-Brown, Communications &
souls of the Miskitu people. Information Technology Manager
Aboriginal artist Richard Bell
Paula Palmer, Global Response Program Director
invites us into his colorful and   Many of the stories in this
Agnes Portalewska, Communications Manager
provocative world of visual issue speak to the interconnec-
Rosendo Pablo (Mam), Program Associate for
art; Indigenous flautist Hawk tedness of the struggles of all the Community Radio Project
Henries reminds us of the peace Indigenous Peoples against Alberto ‘Tino’ Recinos (Mam), Citizen Participation
music can bring; the Mayan calendar is impartial governments that have forgotten Coordinator for the Community Radio Project.
justice, rights, and responsibilities. For exam- Miranda Vitello, Development Assistant
explored; the strength and determination of
Jennifer Weston (Hunkpapa Lakota), Endangered
three women ensure that the Sauk language ple, Aboriginal law professor Mick Dodson Languages Program Manager
is not forgotten; and in Hawaii, pa'i 'ai is still must confront the Australian govern- Ancelmo Xunic (Kachikel), Guatemala Community
finally recognized as a truly Indigenous ment over human rights issues and land Radio Program Manager
food source. titles. There are stories that will resonate
I hope you enjoy the Quarterly and note with those who have empathy and integrity,
Program Advisors
the new look of the magazine. At Cultural such as the ongoing challenge of the Yuchi jessie little doe (Wampanoag)
Survival we are increasingly working to people of Sapulpa, Oklahoma to keep their Theodore Macdonald, Jr.
effectively use new communications media language vital and alive.
and strengthen the integration of printed During times of celebration, there is
always a corner for reflection. Cultural Sur- INTERNS AND VOLUNTEERS
materials with the website. Cultural Survival
Ava Berinstein, Don Butler, Ana Lucia
Quarterly has added a new section: “News vival is just one organization trying to make Fariña, Aisha Farley, Rachael Fermino,
From Around the World.” In this segment many small, yet graceful responses to the Sunny Fitzgerald, Daniel Horgan, Erica Jaffe
perpetual barrage of injustices to the earth’s Redner, Talia Katz-Watson, Curtis Kline,
of the magazine, we report victories and
Allison Mackin, Paula Svaton, Hope Ross
other news ranging from court rulings Indigenous Peoples. As the seasons of hope
that recognize Indigenous Peoples’ efforts and joy draw closer, I hope that many of
to preserve land, resources, and languages you will remember that peace and justice
to governments that champion human are connected and that there really is a way
to combat injustice and cruelty. We can all GENERAL INFORMATION
rights, justice, and dignity. We also include Copyright 2011 by Cultural Survival, Inc. Cultural Survival
progress updates on our Global Response be reflective and graceful in how we walk on Quarterly (ISSN 0740-3291) is published quarterly by Cultural
Survival, Inc. at 215 Prospect St., Cambridge, MA 02139. Periodical
campaigns in the Quarterly, on our website, this earth. We can all be musicians, artists, postage paid at Boston, MA 02205 and additional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes to Cultural Survival, 215
and via our E-newsletter. These campaigns and poets of humanity and hope. We can all Prospect St., Cambridge, MA 02139. Printed on recycled paper
in the U.S.A. Please note that the views in this magazine are
support Indigenous communities as they see with the clear, sharp eyes of the elders, those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views
of Cultural Survival.
struggle to protect their environment and like Doña Rufina Cardona. Indigenous hearts
the biodiversity on which they depend. may flow with the rivers of our past, but 2011 Statement of Ownership, Management,
and Circulation
When you send letters and emails for our we continue to live in the present and pray 1. Publication Title: Cultural Survival Quarterly 2. Publication Num-
ber: 0740-3291 3. Filing Date: October 30, 2011 4. Issue Frequency:
letter-writing campaigns, you share in our the rivers will still flow, always hopeful and Quarterly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: Four 6. Annual
victories—like the one we are celebrating ready to fight for the future of our children. Subscription Price: $45.00 7. Mailing Address of Publication: 215
Prospect St. Cambridge, MA 02139 8. Mailing Address of Publisher
now in Papua New Guinea. Please see the Finally, as an organization, we remain Headquarters: 215 Prospect St. Cambridge, MA 02139 9. Full Mailing
Address and Complete Names of Publisher, Editor, and Managing
current “Global Response Campaign” insert mindful of our role in consumption of Editor-Publisher: Cultural Survival, Inc. 215 Prospect St. Cambridge,
MA 02139, Editor/Managing Editor: Agnes Portalewska, Cultural
in this issue and lift it out of the magazine natural resources, waste, and costs of produc- Survival, 215 Prospect St. Cambridge, MA 02139 10. Owner: Cultural
Survival, Inc., 215 Prospect St. Cambridge, MA 02139 11. Known
and share it with friends, families, and col- tion. To that end we will continue exploring Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Securities: None 12. Tax Status:
The purpose, function, and nonprofit status for federal income tax
leagues. Our “Youth Action Alert” encourages how to best communicate these critically purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months 13. Pub-
young students and teachers to raise their important issues and the voices of Indige- lication Title: Cultural Survival Quarterly 14. Issue Date for Circulation
Data Below: Winter 2011-Issue 35, Volume 3 15. Extent and Nature
voices, too, for environmental protection. nous people, as well as share with you the of Circulation: a. Total Number of Copies: Average No. Copies Each
Issue During Preceding 12 Months: 3742; Actual No. Copies of Single
While there is so much to be thank- work that we are doing. You may also find Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date: 4000 b. Paid and/or Requested
Circulation-1. Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions
ful for, there are still many challenges that the Cultural Survival Quarterly on our Stated on Form 3541: 2040; 2200 2. Paid In-County Subscriptions:
207; 211 3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Indigenous people face. These serious website at www.cs.org. Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: 675; 800 4.
Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 175; 185 c. Total Paid and/
and potentially devastating issues, like the or Requested Circulation: 3097; 3396 d. Free Distribution by Mail:
275; 300 e. Free Distribution Outside the Mail: 250; 300 f. Total Free
proposed damming of the Patuca River in Distribution: 525; 600 g. Total Distribution: 3622; 3696 h. Copies
Honduras, must be heeded. In an article Not Distributed: 120; 304 i. Total: 3742; 4000 j. Percent Paid and/or
Requested Circulation: 96.7; 92.4 16. This Statement of Ownership is
written by Kendra McSweeney, Zoe Pearson, Suzanne Benally, Executive Director printed in the Winter 2011 issue of this publication 17. I certify that
all information furnished on this form is true and complete: Agnes
Sara Santiago, and Ana Gabriela Dominguez, (Navajo and Santa Clara Tewa) Portalewska, Communications Manager, Cultural Survival, Inc.

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 1

 i n t h e n ew s

Peru Officially Recognizes

Indigenous Languages
July 5, 2011
The Peruvian Congress officially recog-
nized Indigenous languages by passing
Law 29735, the Law for the Use, Pres-
ervation, Development, Revitalization,
and Use of Indigenous Languages,
proposed by Congresswoman Maria
Sumire.
   The law recognizes that language
diversity is linked to the expression of
individual and collective identity and
makes Indigenous languages official.
This law repeals Decree Law 21,156,
which recognized Quechua as an
official language of Peru. 
   Public administration will now Lucia Meloq’s Quechua language is finally officially recognized by the Peruvian
have to communicate in the 80 In- government. Huilloc, Peru. Photo by David Ducoin
digenous languages spoken in Peru. 
nickel from 16 Indigenous communities,
Paraguay Returns Ancestral including Agua Caliente. In February
Lands to Indigenous 2011, Guatemala’s Constitutional
Global Response
Community Court ruled in favor of Agua Caliente.
Campaign Updates
August 3, 2011 Guatemala has not fully complied with
Philippines: Stop Mine
The government of Paraguay officially court orders. Agua Caliente is seeking
on Indigenous Lands
returned almost 9,000 hectares of justice through the regional human
SLAPP Suit Against Ifugaos
ancestral lands to the Indigenous com- rights system. 
In Didipio Dismissed
munity Kelyenmagategma of the Enxet
September 13, 2011
people in response to a petition filed Peru’s President Signs
before the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights in 2004.
Prior Consultation Law
September 6, 2011
 A municipal judge in the
Philippines dismissed charges
against nine Ifugao Indigenous people
   The community filed their petition Peru’s President Ollanta Humala signed
who are members of the Didipio Earth
because they were displaced by force a historic law guaranteeing Indigenous
Savers Multipurpose Association.
from their ancestral land. In October Peoples the right to prior consultation
DESAMA has organized opposition to
2004, the commission granted pre- about any mining, logging, or petroleum
a gold mine that displaced Indigenous
cautionary measures in favor of the projects affecting them and their
landowners and threatens the water
Kelyenmagategma community to territories.
supply in this agricultural region. The
protect lives and physical integrity,    President Humala said he wanted
judge’s decision reinforces DESAMA’s
to provide humanitarian support to Indigenous people to be treated like
opinion that the charges constituted
displaced persons, and guarantee citizens who must be consulted where
a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
their return to their lands. their interests are involved. 
Participation” (SLAPP) suit, a tactic
   The bill was unanimously approved
aimed at eliminating public opposition
Maya Q’eqchi’ File Petition by Congress on August 23, 2011. It is
to corporate projects.
with the Inter-American intended to ensure that Peru’s local
Commission on Human laws are in compliance with the Inter-
Mexico: Stop Mine/
Rights against Guatemala national Labour Organization’s Con-
Protect Sacred Site
August 19, 2011 vention 169.
UN Special Rapporteur Dialogues
The Maya Q’eqchi community of
with Mexican Officials on Mining
Agua Caliente, El Estor, Izabal, filed Costa Rican Court Rules
in Wirikuta Reserve
a petition with the Inter-American in Favor of the Bribri
September 12, 2011
Commission on Human Rights against September 12, 2011
Guatemala for violating their rights.
Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel
The Contentious Administrative Court
of Costa Rica ruled that the ancestral
 James Anaya, the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, recently pub-
was awarded a license to extract lands of the Bribri people of the Keköldi
lished his correspondence with the
Mexican government regarding
2 • www.cs.org mining concessions within Mexico’s
Reserve must be returned. The Bribri  corporations, announced a new policy Teddy Brawner Baguilat is pushing for
live in the Talamanca Canton in Limón that will require clients to obtain the a new mining law that respects and
Province of Costa Rica. Keköldi Reserve free, prior, and informed consent of protects the rights of Indigenous
was created in 1977 on the Caribbean Indigenous communities that could Peoples.
coast, after non-Indigenous groups be- be affected by their projects. Approved
gan settling on the land. International as part of an updated Sustainability Fourth Anniversary
Labor Organization’s Convention 169, Framework by IFC’s board of directors of the UN Declaration on
which Costa Rica ratified in 1993, on May 12, 2011, the policy will take the Rights of Indigenous
was referenced in the decision. effect on January 1, 2012. Peoples
September 13, 2011
International Finance Philippines: Indigenous In the shadow of the tenth anniversary
Corporation Includes Free, Legislator Introduces Bill of September 11, 2001, many people
Prior, and Informed to Strengthen Free, Prior, failed to recognize another significant
Consent In New Policy and Informed Consent  event. Four years ago, on September
September 12, 2011 September 12, 2011 13, 2007, the United Nations General
The International Finance Corporation Citing the documented negative effects Assembly signed into existence the
(IFC), the branch of the World Bank of mining operations on Indigenous UN Declaration on the Rights of
Group that loans money to private communities, Ifugao Congressman Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve, well as the Russian Federation’s inter- repeal the Environmental Amendment
an area that is sacred to the Wixárika national obligations related to the Con- Act, passed by the legislature in May
(Huichol) people. Anaya noted that the vention on the Protection of World 2010, which denied landowners this
government of Mexico authorized min- Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites.” right. Cultural Survival joins Indigenous
ing concessions within the protected landowners in Papua New Guinea in
Wirikuta Natural and Cultural Reserve, Campaign Victory celebrating the government’s decision
without consulting with the Wixárika Papua New Guinea: to reverse the amendments, and we
people. He urged Mexico to recognize Protect Marine Life and share in the victory. Our campaign
the Wixárika people’s right to free, prior, Defend Indigenous Rights called on the government to revoke
and informed consent and offered to Government Reverses Amendment the amendments.
assist the government in implementing to Environmental Act
the UN Declaration on the Rights of October 18, 2011
Indigenous Peoples, if invited to visit Learn more and take
the country.  Papua New Guinea’s government
announced that it will restore the
right of landowners to challenge in court
action on Global Response
campaigns at www.cs.org/
take-action.
Russia: Pipeline Threatens any development project they feel could
Sign up for our e-newsletter and read
Sacred Highlands be detrimental to the environment. The more news at www.cs.org/news.
Ministry of Natural Resources National Executive Council agreed to
Recommends Re-routing Pipeline
Photo courtesy of Ere-Chui Association of Obshchinas of the Telengit.

Away from Ukok Plateau

Telengit people make offerings at
October 15, 2011
a sacred site “Jeele” on the Ukok

 In reply to a letter from Cultural

Survival, Russia’s Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment
Plateau, Altai Republic, Russia.

acknowledged “high ecological risks”

in the proposed construction of a
natural gas pipeline across the Ukok
Plateau, reiterating its preference for
alternate routes. The letter, signed by
N.R. Inamov, director of the Department
of International Cooperation, states that
the Altai pipeline route, which is opposed
by Telengit and other Indigenous com-
munities of the Altai region, “is in con-
tradiction with a number of Russian
federal laws on protected areas, as Cultural Survival Quarterly Winter 2011 • 3
 indigenous arts

Reclaiming Aborigeneity:
Richard Bell
Aisha Farley and Agnes Portalewska to be prepared for assimilation into white society. His family
later settled on an Aboriginal reserve and lived there until

A
boriginal Australian artist Richard Bell’s artwork Bell was 14.
has been labeled “provocative,” “uncompromising,” Living on the reserve, Bell witnessed firsthand the mis-
and “controversial” for bringing race politics into treatment of Aboriginal people when his home was bulldozed
the mainstream, however, Bell sees himself as by the government. In the 1970s, Bell became involved in the
“more activist than artist.” Aboriginal Rights Movement, and in the 1980s he worked for
“I’m just being matter of fact,” he says. “I recognize some the New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Service. When he was
people find [my work] contentious, and that my paintings 34, Bell began painting as a way to earn money by making
attract controversy. This response has nothing to do with souvenirs for tourists.
me; the response has to do with the viewer.” Why did Bell become a serious artist? “I’m a jock and like
For over two decades, self-taught Bell has created art most jocks in Australia, I thought art was for girls. Someone
that challenges the status quo, shocks the establishment, and convinced me that in the art world there was quite a large,
inspires discussion for change. Born in 1953, in Charleville, powerful, and influential audience. I was told that through
Queensland, northeastern Australia, as a member of the my art I could get into activism, express almost any issue,
Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang communities, and not get arrested. I liked that part,” he laughs.
Bell spent his early childhood living in a tent, then a corrugated Since then, Bell has flipped the table on Western art; Bell
tin shack. Later, he lived in a Christian reeducation facility plays with the appropriation of abstract expressionism and
for “half-casts” (biracial children) where his mother worked. pop art styles of painters like Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns,
These centers were established in the 1930s to house mixed- and Jackson Pollock. The text that accompanies each piece is
race children who were forcibly removed from their families what causes shock in some circles. Bell is brutally honest in

Richard Bell,
Psalm Singing
Suite, 2007–09.
Installation of
approximately
30 paintings,
all acrylic
on canvas,
dimensions
variable.
Courtesy
Milani Gallery,
Brisbane.
Photo
courtesy
American
Federation
of Arts

4 • www.cs.org
exposing Australia’s racism towards Aboriginal people, the
endemic white privilege, negative stereotyping, and exoticizing
of the “other” that perpetuates itself in almost every facet of
the mainstream media. Invasion, displacement, violence,
genocide, broken treaties, language loss, systematized racism,
marginalization, and dispossession of Aboriginal communi-
ties are common themes in Bell’s art. He says, “[There is] a lot
of discussion going on about [these issues] all over the country, Richard Bell,
but it’s in Aboriginal residences, not in the mainstream; these The Peckin’ Order,
issues are not [discussed] in the mainstream. What I do is 2007, acrylic on
very un-Aboriginal; it’s very unusual for Aboriginal people canvas, 60 x 60
to have an opinion and to espouse it loudly.” inches, private
After years of activism with the Aboriginal Rights Move- collection,
ment, Bell’s artwork finally emerged in the spotlight when Brisbane.
his painting Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell’s Theorem) won the
Photo courtesy
2003 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art American
Award. With the words “Aboriginal Art—It’s A White Thing” Federation
of Arts
splashed across the canvas, his painting demanded attention
to the exploitation and commodification of Indigenous art
and aesthetics by the white art market. The painting also chal-
lenged non-Aboriginal artists who appropriate Indigenous
symbols in their work, and the common misunderstanding can recognize themselves and their family in the artwork. Then,
of traditional and modern Indigenous art. I feel that I am actually communicating to people. When
When asked how one might resist this type of commodifi- white people come in and then leave saying, ‘I felt really, really
cation, Bell is clear: “Re-appropriate in return.” Then, he adds, uncomfortable with this show,’ I think, ‘Damn, that is good.’
“We need the academics to write about issues. We need to I try to observe how my exhibit affects them. Here [in the
discuss these things. Remember, we are back at looking at the United States] people are much more willing to share their
circumstances facing our people. Immediate survival is para- opinions, but back home [in Australia] they are more
mount, that is the rule. In that context, how do we get back reserved. They have that British reserve.”
in-sync? How do we inform white people that this is going Bell’s introductory North American exhibition, Richard
on? It’s a huge task to undertake. Taking the effort to go and Bell: I Am Not Sorry, showcased in New York in the fall of
inform the people is probably one of the best things to do. 2009. Bell’s work can now be seen in a traveling exhibition
This is what happens in my work. When Aboriginal people entitled Us vs. Them.
walk through [my exhibits], it’s gratifying to me because “Aboriginal people need to be more open [about what we
they become aware of issues happening in other parts of the want]. Directness is needed. We can’t just talk in metaphor;
country. One of the big issues I’ve been talking about for six we can’t just whisper. These issues have to be screeched from
or seven years now is the death of a man in Palm Island in the rooftops.”
North Queensland, in 2004. We are quite familiar with the Richard Bell currently lives in Brisbane.
circumstance. We keep talking about it. This man died while
in custody [of the police] and the arresting officer was acquit- — Aisha Farley, a former Cultural Survival intern,
ted; we are all scared now when one of our children or rela- interviewed Richard Bell in September.
tives is arrested—whether they will survive. We know that
the perpetrator of any crime against us will be acquitted with
impunity. So that’s why we have not let this issue die and keep
it topical so that we do not forget and we let them know that
Richard Bell: Uz vs. Them
we have not forgotten. This incident sparked the creation Tufts University Gallery
of my painting Psalm Singing Suite (2007). The whole issue http://ase.tufts.edu/gallery/shows/bell.html
is abominable.” University of Kentucky Art Museum
What does Bell see as the biggest barrier to aboriginal February 12–May 6, 2012 

artists? Bell answers this question emphatically: “White male Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver
privilege. Maura Riley [my curator] gave this talk in Cannes, September 13–December 9, 2012 

France. She compared how many white males and how many
Indiana University Art Museum
white females were included in various exhibits to how many March 7–May 12, 2013
people of color [were included in exhibits]. At the Whitney
The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of
Museum, in New York City, 63 percent of exhibits were by white Arts and supported by the Queensland Government, Australia,
males, 35 percent by white females, and only 1 percent by peo- through Trade and Investment Queensland’s Queensland
ple of color. The rest of the world (two-thirds of the world’s Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency (QIAMEA).
population), is represented through art by only 1 percent. Additional support has come from the Australian government
through the Australia Council for the Arts and the Embassy
When you look at those numbers, that is the biggest barrier.”
of Australia, Washington, D.C.
How does Bell measure success? “I’m really happy if people

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 5

 wo m e n t h e wo r l d m u s t hear

Awakening a Sleeping
Language on Cape Cod
Jennifer Weston and Barbara Sorensen

H
ow can a dream inspire an entire to implement a master
nation’s language revitalization apprentice program
THE WOPANAAK movement? If you ask jessie with jessie as the mas-
LANGUAGE little doe baird of the Mashpee ter speaker to three
Wampanoag Tribe that question, she is quick full-time language
RECLAMATION apprentices, Nitana
to explain how in one of her dreams, her
PROJECT’S ancestors told her to “ask Wampanoag people Hicks, Tracy Kelly,
if they would like language home again,” so and Melanie Roder-
MASTER-
in 1993, baird met with tribal elders, leaders, ick, who share her
APPRENTICE and community members who transformed long-term commit-
PROGRAM her dreams into the Wampanoag Language ment to opening a tribal charter school. The
Reclamation Project (WLRP). Thus three school would teach all subjects in Wampanoag—modeled
successive nights of dreams in a language she after the Native Hawaiian immersion school system.
couldn’t then understand, became a vision widely embraced In the midst of the whirlwind that accompanies public
by the Wampanoag Nation in southeastern Massachusetts. recognition and admiration, baird is decidedly humble and
In 2008, Cultural Survival’s Endangered Languages Program resolute—still closely focused on the day-to-day work that
began collaborating with WLRP to research and raise funds needs to be done to ensure the survival of her Indigenous
to support their efforts, and working with Makepeace Pro- language. For a language to be labeled endangered is a matter
ductions to create a PBS documentary film called We Still of degree. There are three key criteria that UNESCO scholars
Live Here—Âs Nutayuneân, relating the remarkable story of and linguists have refined to designate a language as being
the reawakening and return home of the Wampanaog language vulnerable to endangerment: 1) the numbers of speakers who
No English after many generations without first-language speakers. are still living; 2) the average age of native and fluent speakers,
spoken here! The Wampanoag Nation includes the federally recognized and 3) the percentage of the youngest members of a commu-
Participants Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribes, the state- and nity who have learned the language and can easily articulate
of the 2011 tribally-recognized Herring Pond, and Assonet Wampanoag it. More than half of the world’s 6,000–7,000 languages are
Language communities, and smaller family bands, all of whom live on threatened with extinction this century.
Immersion Cape Cod and the areas around Martha’s Vineyard. We Still The importance and significance of all Indigenous lan-
Camp. Live Here explores how the awakening of this “sleeping” lan- guages cannot be emphasized enough. Languages encompass
Photo
guage evolved. In fall 2010, baird received an award from the historical, linguistic, cultural, environmental, and spiritual
by James MacArthur Foundation, popularly dubbed a “genius grant.” A distinctions that are valuable to all peoples. The decline of
Vanerhoop week later, the tribe’s language project received a federal grant Indigenous languages is tragic in that important observations

6 • www.cs.org
Closing ceremony
of the Summer Turtle
program. jessie little
doe baird (right) and
seven year old Mae
Alice Baird (in pink)
who was raised with
Wampanoag as her
first language.
courtesy of
Wopanaak Language
Reclamation
project

concerning biodiversity—and other human wisdom accrued Âs Nutayuneân that explores language revita- Wampanoag people from
over millennia—are lost as well. Information about the natural lization in Indian country. The 12 tribal lan- the 17th and 18th centuries
world and its storehouse of types of edible food, knowledge guage communties include: Cherokee, Sauk, left their descendants the
of weather and tidal movements, and scientific illumination Mohawk, Wampanoag, Salish, Crow, Navajo, largest repository of Native-
about wildlife and insects could potentially become irretriev- Yuchi, Alutiiq, Dakota, Lakota, and Ojibwe. written documents on the
able. Neurolinguists and other researchers exploring cognitive Though baird initially helped to spear- continent—including the first
development and human communication also lose priceless head the miraculous revitalization of the
bible published in the Western
data offering insight into how the human brain functions. Wampanoag language, there are many people
By studying the morphology of a language, and its linguistic who appear in We Still Live Here who have Hemisphere. The Wampanoag
origins, research into how the brain constructs reality can been integral to the sustaining and building language has been reclaimed
be more fully understood. upon the successes of the Wampanoag Lan- using documents like this
To quell the rapid and relentless disappearance of Indig- guage Reclamation Project. Baird reaches out land transfer between Wam-
enous languages, various methods have been used in conjunc- to any and every willing Wampanoag per- panoag men. April 16, 1685.
tion with community efforts. One such methodology is the son—ages 2 to 92—who is ready to partici- Duke's County archives on
master-apprentice language immersion model. In this model, pate and learn Wôpanâôt8âôk (Wampanoag Martha's Vineyard.
a master speaker pairs with an adult apprentice or a small Language). WLRP has developed five Wam-
team, and works intensively in the language with that person panoag grammar workbooks that are accessible to the
or group for 20–30 hours a week, across a given period of time. lay-person, each accompanied by a CD or MP3 file so students
The language nest—an approach developed by the Maori and can practice when they’re not in a structured classroom.
Native Hawaiians—is intergenerational with adults speaking WLRP linguists, teachers, and volunteers have also created
the endangered language to preschool-age children in daycare a dictionary, coloring and storybooks for children, board
classrooms and at home, even before reading and writing games, organized immersion camps, and offered innumer-
skills are taught. Perhaps the most successful models of lan- able community classes.
guage revitalization have been immersion or medium schools. A Wampanoag prophecy once related that during the
These schools and programs educate primary, middle, and seventh generation (which includes baird’s daughter who is
high school students via immersion classes conducted in the first native speaker of Wampanoag in more than a cen-
the Indigenous language. tury), the language would return home to the people. The
Perhaps the most difficult method to implement is recla- prophecy is today a reality due to determined efforts by
mation. This is how the Wampanoag language was given new Wampanoag people.
life. Reclamation, however, is difficult to implement unless Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) whose language is Keres,
the language has been extremely well-documented. Still, even has said, “When we speak, we use language conceptually. We
with that benefit, a linguistic researcher must cross-reference can’t be glib with our language. We cannot throw the beloved
with closely related spoken languages and cull through away.” For jessie little doe baird, Nitana Hicks, Tracy Kelly,
extensive written material. and Melanie Roderick, and all Indigenous Peoples striving
Wampanoag is just one of more than three dozen languages to renew usage of their ancient mother tongues, this
that branch out from the tree that encompasses the Algonquian observation resonates.
language family. Because it has been studied by religious
scholars and linguists for centuries, and is closely related to To access information about the 12 tribal lan-
languages like Blackfeet, Cree, Ojibwe, Passamaquoddy, and guage programs, and to meet speakers, teachers,
Sauk that are still spoken by tribes spanning from Canada students, and advocates for their language
into Montana and Oklahoma, it was possible for WLRP’s revitalization efforts, go to: OurMotherTongues.org.
linguistic team to determine rules of grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation. To learn more about the Makepeace Productions and
The WLRP’s Master Apprentice Program stands out PBS/ITVS film, We Still Live Here—Âs Nutayuneân,
even among Cultural Survival’s network of more than 300 watch clips, and to download a discussion guide edited
Indigenous language programs in the United States, and is by Cultural Survival’s Endangered Languages Program
one of 12 communities selected to be featured on OurMother visit: http://www.itvs.org/films/we-still-live-here/
Tongues.org the companion website to We Still Live Here— engagement-resources

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 7

 food for life

Forget the Pineapple Pizza;

“Sunny” Ashley M. Fitzgerald So how did such a culinary and culturally significant
staple become an outlaw in its own land?

D
ishes described as “Hawaiian” can be spotted on In 2009, the state Department of Health (DOH) deemed
menus around the world. From Georgia to Japan, pa'i 'ai unsafe for public consumption. They shut down a
restaurants offer “Hawaiian” burgers, barbeque, pa'i 'ai booth at the farmers market and confiscated pa'i 'ai
pizza, and even pasta. Although these dishes may that had been sold to a local restaurant, on the assertion that
have pineapples aplenty, authenticity is often absent; contrary food that is not prepared according to DOH codes cannot
to the culturally ignorant trend, putting pineapples on a plate be sold to the public.
does not magically make it more Hawaiian. On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable and consumer-
Putting pa’i ‘ai on a plate might. conscious argument; one that would be more believable if the
But for the past couple of years, serving pa'i 'ai in a restau- DOH consistently maintained it. But they have already made
rant was actually illegal, as was selling it in the grocery store exceptions to their rules for foods such as honey, sushi, and
and peddling it at the farmers market. And for decades be- rare steaks. The DOH allows these products to be sold and
fore—since about 1950—pa'i 'ai was unavailable to the public served, provided they are labeled with a warning indicating
for purchase and consumption. So while the people of a rural that the risk involved in consuming them rests with the con-
village in a place as distant as Thailand could eat a “Hawaiian” sumer. This means that while raw—and often foreign—items
pizza at the local pizza joint, Native Hawaiians living in have remained on the menu, the local Native Hawaiian staple,
Hawaii could not order a dish that has roots—both figura- pa'i 'ai, was removed.
Daniel tive and literal—in the culture and history of the islands. And so began the battle between Indigenous culture and
Anthony Pa'i 'ai (pronounced pah-ee-eye) is a byproduct of poi. state law. The DOH claimed that the methods and imple-
teaches Poi is produced by pounding the cooked corms of kalo—a ments used for pounding pa'i 'ai violated DOH prepara-
Makanala'i root vegetable also known as taro–and adding water to create tion guidelines. According to custom, pa'i 'ai is traditionally
a glutinous paste. A descendant of the Sky Father and Earth pounded at home. But according to the DOH, food items
Santiago
Mother, kalo is believed to be the greatest life source of all produced for public consumption must be prepared in a cer-
(in pink
foods and an ancestor of the Hawaiian people. According to tified commercial kitchen. The DOH argued that the pohaku
shirt) and ku 'i vai—the porous stone used to pound the kalo—carried
Native Hawaiian custom, you must pay respect to Elders. So
Pumehana it follows that because kalo is linked to ancient ancestors, it is the risk of becoming a bacteria breeding ground. Native
Santiago expected that no one will argue while a bowl of poi is uncov- Hawaiians maintained that the stone has the potential to
(in brown ered; when poi is at the center of the table, there is respect carry the mana—the spiritual power—of a former practitio-
shirt). for ancestors and celebration of family. ner; bleaching a stone so sacred is naturally not an option.
Pa’i ‘ai and its supporters proved they would not wait
silently on the sidelines while sushi and steaks were served.
Practitioners, cultural activists, community members, and a
student from the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson
School of Law took up the pa'i 'ai flag and took the issue to
the legislature. The “Legalize Pa'i 'Ai” movement was born
and, in early 2011, SB 101—commonly called “The Poi
Bill”—was created.
The Poi Bill was about much more than public consump-
tion of hand-pounded taro. The bill carried the weight of an
ancient tradition, raised questions of food security and food
safety, and pushed policymakers to consider the culture and
knowledge of the Native people of Hawaii.
And for many, it also ignited an interest in learning to
pound poi like the ancestors of these islands. As recently as
2010, you couldn’t buy pa'i 'ai in Hawaii; but you could learn
to make it, thanks to practitioners like Daniel Anthony and
Uncle Earl Kawaa. Both men teach workshops on all things
kalo, from crafting the boards to cleaning the corm and of
course, the proper way to pound pa'i 'ai. They are training a
new generation of practitioners and raising a consciousness
of kalo culture.
Photographs courtesy of Joe Diez

8 • www.cs.org
We’ll Have the Pa'i 'ai

Next generation preparing pa'i 'ai by pounding kalo on the papa ku'i 'ai board. Hailey Pohai Foster (left) and Matthew Kapu (right).

To say that people in Hawaii are appreciative of Daniel The time has also come for others to learn about the
Anthony and Uncle Earl’s efforts is an understatement. “He ancient tradition and enjoy the delicate taste of fresh, hand-
is a gift,” Native Hawaiian David Kapu said of Daniel as we pounded pa'i 'ai. On May 5, 2011, The Poi Bill was unani-
watched David’s son pounding pa'i 'ai at a community gath- mously passed by the House and the Senate, legally exempting
ering in Daniel’s backyard. “He is upholding our history.” pa'i 'ai from certain DOH requirements regarding food safety,
For years, the family pounding stone sat untouched in provided certain conditions are met. The conditions include
David’s home. David explained that not just anyone could certification of the kitchen where the pa'i 'ai is produced and
pick up the stone that held the mana of his ancestors. “We the law requires that the DOH adopt the new rules no later
don’t take it up for just any reason. It is very sacred. It has than December 31, 2011.
to be a very special situation, the right type of person.” But folks like Daniel Anthony and restaurants like Sushi
That person, David discovered, was his own son, Matthew. Ii have already begun putting pa'i 'ai back on menus and
“A few mystics mentioned that the time had come” for plates across the Aloha state and beyond. Anthony received
someone to take up the stone once again, David said. But his DOH certification and offers pa'i 'ai for purchase—at the
he never told Matthew. “I didn’t mention it. I sat back and Haleiwa farmers market on Oahu and through his website,
waited.” And in time, Matthew became interested on his Mana Ai—while Sushi Ii took almost immediate advantage
own. David explained that his son heard the sound of pa'i of the availability and added “fried pa'i 'ai” to their menu.
'ai pounding—the noise produced as practitioners strike the If you’ve never tried pa'i 'ai, you’ve never truly experi-
stone to the papa ku'i 'ai board—as they passed by Daniel’s enced Hawaiian cuisine. Now that pa'i 'ai has resumed its
home one day. When they found out that Daniel opens his rightful place at the table, you can pound it, sell it, purchase
home up to others interested in learning to pound, they it, and taste taro the way it was meant to be tasted: hand-
signed up for a community pounding event. pounded and fresh off the papa ku'i 'ai.
“And now here we are,” David said with a smile, as he
glanced over at his son. Matthew kept his focus on the task, — Sunny Ashley M. Fitzgerald is a writer living in Hawaii
with the family stone in one hand and the half-pounded and a former Cultural Survival intern.
pa'i 'ai in front of him.
“The time has come,” David said. “For my family and
for the next generation.”

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 9

 rights in action

Voice of Conscience
Mick Dodson’s Place Amidst Australia’s
Unfinished Business

Erica Jaffe Redner

D
ispossession. Discrimination. The struggle for
self-determination. These are the issues that weigh
most heavily on Mick Dodson’s mind. 
  He is, first and foremost, a Yawuru with tradi-
tional ties to Broome in Western Australia. It is through this
identity that he understands his place in aboriginal society,
and it in turn connects him to the land of his heritage, the plants
and the animals in its midst, to the sea, and to his spirit or
essence, his rai. His life, in contrast to the calm and constant
rhythms of nature so valued by his people, has been marked
by extraordinary twists and turns, conspiring to make him one
of Australia’s most recognized voices on Indigenous issues. 
When asked to consider how childhood events inspired
his work, he laughs gently. “I don’t know what inspired that,
or whether it was inspired.” His smile fades. “I lost my parents
at a young age. I was 10. And from then on pretty much, I had
to look after myself, be independent.” Mick soon found him-
self over 2,000 miles from his birthplace, but he would not
forget the suffering that existed there. “I saw people who were
subjugated and dispossessed, people who were marginalized,
isolated, people who were discriminated against and still are,”
he recalls of his formative years. As he adjusted to life in a
predominantly white boarding school with its share of racism,
he drew the greatest strength from his own ability to be
independent. It’s this same capacity for independence and
self-determination—both individually and collectively—
that he has championed so vigorously on behalf of his
Mick Dodson has held wide-ranging positions since people and all Indigenous Australians.
becoming the first Indigenous Australian to receive a law “The colonization hasn’t ended, it’s ongoing, it’s constant,”
degree in 1974, most recently serving as Reconciliation Mick stresses. A review of Australian Indigenous history reveals
a shameful legacy in which repair efforts have only recently
Australia’s co-chair and Pacific region representative to been made. Aboriginal groups occupied the Australian main-
the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. He directs land for tens of thousands of years before British settlers laid
the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at Australian claim to the continent in the late eighteenth century. Those
National University, and is currently a visiting professor
who survived the ravage of European disease and gunfire
were, with few exceptions, dispossessed of their land, and
at Harvard. In 2009, he received the Australian of the Year with it the nutritional, cultural, and spiritual resources that
award in recognition of his contributions to Indigenous had ensured their individual and collective sustenance. Laws
Australians and his country. soon obstructed their right to marry, permitted the forced
removal and assimilation of their children (the aptly-named
stolen generations), and created reservations that Aborigines
lived on and at times were transported between against their
will. These policies continued into the 1960s. The ensuing
period ushered in some hopeful signs, including the first
boriginal university graduates and legislation providing

10 • www.cs.org
Aboriginal groups with varying degrees of reservation owner- our people off welfare . . . [and out of] government housing.”
ship.  Most recently, Indigenous Australians have witnessed “We have been forced to sell some of the land to get sufficient
successes in ongoing reconciliation efforts, passage of the UN money to operate,” Mick continues. “We’ve done some deals . . .
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, and to help develop the [rest of it]. Now our plan in 20 years is
the advent of Australia’s Indigenous elected body in 2011.  to be the major landlord . . . in Broome. There are two cattle
But they have so much farther to go. stations, [and one of them] . . . is probably the best [in the
Mick, who was heavily involved in the Declaration’s 20-year region]. . . . If we build the [right] foundations . . . we’ll be
drafting process, notes that its passage “gave and still gives me able to make use of the land as our economic base.” Mick
some hope.” His country was one of only four to vote against is using much of his time at Harvard to examine how their
it, but, Mick recalls, “we kept running at Australia in various plans comply with existing development principles and
ways.” Australia finally yielded in 2009, but, Mick emphasizes, whether they’re the right foundation for their economic
“it’s [still] not comprehensively implemented, particularly with future and cultural development.
respect to rights of self-determination and free, prior, and While Australian policies have progressively given Indig-
informed consent . . . [which form its] . . . pillars.” Reflecting enous Australians more opportunities, the healing process has
on Australia’s most immediate motivation for rejecting it, really just begun. Australia is only now working to recognize
Mick is blunt. “They don’t want Aboriginal groups with the Indigenous Australians in its Constitution and, hopefully,
power to weed out development proposals. The mining eliminate discriminatory clauses to which they’re still vulner-
industry generate[s] enormous income. . . . And they’re pro- able. Similarly, the stolen generations waited eleven years for
tecting them because they’re very powerful people.’  Mick a formal apology following a 1997 National Inquiry report
acknowledges that the post-WWII rights movement has led (co-authored by Mick) concluding that their forced removal
to significant local breakthroughs around land rights, par- and assimilation constituted genocide. Australia received
ticularly the 1993 Native Title Act that enables Indigenous international criticism for its inadequate response in 2000.
Australians to negotiate about the future of their traditional Mick calls the 2008 apology “a step” in the process of
lands. But, Mick explains, “if we can’t agree we get arbitrated … confronting what many consider “unfinished business.” The
[and] there have only been two arbitrations in the history of other unfinished business is “a treaty that puts the modern
native title . . . that have favored the Indigenous group [over] sovereignty of Australia on a proper footing that respects . . .
. . . the developer. Because the developers don’t respect the Aboriginal sovereignty.” “[T]he British . . . took the land away
right to free, prior, and informed consent, they don’t respect from us without our consent,” he says. “And that was wrong. . . .
our right to self-determination.” [T]hat issue has to be addressed, in a way that is satisfactory
What use is the Declaration for Indigenous Australians to both parties. Otherwise there will be no reconciliation.”
to date, then? “Well,” he laughs, “there’s something you can In 1988, the Australian government affirmed its commitment
use to beat the government over the head with. . . . It’s another to establishing a treaty.  Yet two decades into reconciliation
weapon you have to use against them.” He also notes that and over two centuries since their dispossession, a treaty has
Australia’s newly-elected Indigenous body is very focused still failed to surface. “[We] deserve compensation for our
on the human rights outlined in the Declaration. “The First dispossession and the two hundred plus years of colonization
National Congress workshopped various policy issues a few and the impact it’s had on us,” Mick asserts. “These are diffi-
months back,” he reports. “I led one about self-determination cult truths but we need to deal with them. You can’t bury it in
and what that meant. They’re developing policy approaches the sand and say, well, that’s all in the past. We’ve got to deal
to a broad range of issues and will advocate around them.”  with it because it’s very much part of our lives and it’s being
Mick also believes its plan to examine and apply the best handed down through the generations. And like the stolen
practices of worldwide Indigenous groups to Australia will generations, the intergenerational impact is something
benefit from one of the Declaration’s “greatest achievements”— you’ve got to sever.”
the unification of the international Indigenous caucus during Reflecting on these obstacles and the progress made in
its drafting. past years, Mick concludes generously, “I think most demo-
Just as the Congress is embarking on an exciting new path, cratic nations strive to be better in just about anything they
so too is Mick taking up a new project that is especially close do, including how they treat their Indigenous populations.
to his heart. “My own people, the Yawuru, we’ve had some I think the pace with which they do that can be questioned,
satisfaction because we recently won a drawn-out court battle but I don’t think they’re deaf to the pleas we make.”
to win back a substantial portion of our traditional lands. . . .
So that’s filled an emptiness for us in a way. . . . It doesn’t give — Erica Jaffe Redner is a research assistant at Harvard
us any . . . real self-determination. [But] [i]t’s going to help University and an intern at Cultural Survival.
us.’  This is a chance, he says, to “become independent again
and not have to rely on the government for anything, get

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 11

 p r o t e c t i n g t h e e n v i r o nment

In Pursuit of Autonomy
Danielle DeLuca

S
In May 2011, Cultural Survival’s Global Response ince the military coup that ousted center-left president
program launched a letter-writing campaign at Manuel Zelaya in 2009, Honduras has been a dangerous
place for activists. In these two years, more than 100 political
the request of Indigenous Peoples of the Moskitia, dissidents have been assassinated and another 200 have fled
Honduras, to halt the construction of a hydroelectric the country in fear for their lives. Poverty remains rampant at 80
dam along the pristine Patuca River. Despite years percent, and many communities in rural areas lack voice and power
of protest from local Indigenous Peoples and inter-
while wealthy landowners, drug traffickers, and foreign corporations
have free reign. The coup-supported president, Porfirio Lobo, took
national environmental groups, in January 2011 office promising to bring prosperity to the country by ‘normalizing’
the Honduras government signed a contract with a foreign relations. One of his initiatives was to sign a contract with
Chinese company to start construction on the first the Chinese company, Sinohydro, to build the long-protested Patuca
III dam on the Patuca River in La Moskitia. Indigenous People and
of three dams that would have many irreversible
environmentalists had held off this project in its various incarna-
consequences in the Moskitia, Central America’s tions for over a decade. But now, Sinohydro, infamous for its shoddy
most biologically diverse tropical wilderness. The construction of the world’s largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam on
ancestral lands and contemporary villages of four the Yangtze River in China, is on-board. As Norvin Goff, president
of MASTA, commented, “The current government is obsessed with
Indigenous Peoples—the Tawahka, Pech, Miskitu, bringing external investments into the country.” They are doing so
and Garifuna—line the Patuca River, and these without conducting proper environmental impact studies and with-
communities are fighting for their futures as dam out consulting the Indigenous Peoples that would be affected, as
construction gets underway.
required by the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
After a 14-hour bus ride from Guatemala City to La Ceiba,
  In July, Cultural Survival was invited to travel to Honduras, made longer by a protest blockading the Guatemalan-
the Moskitia to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Honduras border along the way, I finally boarded a small plane and
Miskitu people’s governing body, MASTA (Moskitia an hour later arrived at the landing strip in dusty Puerto Lempira,
the entryway and capital of the Moskitia region. I was surprised
Asia Takanka). As a Global Response Program asso-
to find military presence greeting the arrival of passengers. I had
ciate based in our Guatemala office, I was eager to already gone through airport security in La Ceiba, but upon arrival
make the trip across the border into Honduras and in Lempira, two men in army fatigues took my passport, wrote
the Moskitia. The trip would be a good opportunity down my information, and questioned: What am I doing here?
Whom do I represent? What are my interests in this region? I felt
to strengthen our collaboration with the Indigenous like asking them the same questions.
communities and learn more about the movement I touched down in Ahuas, the “heart of MASTA”, hopping off the
for Indigenous autonomy in the Moskitia, as well tiny, five-passenger plane into a dusty field, and followed a friendly
as to experience life along the beautiful Patuca
neighbor towards the town center, where the conference was being
held. Since I arrived a day early, I was able to witness the hustle and
River­.

12 • www.cs.org
Indigenous Peoples Oppose Dam Construction
on the Patuca River in Honduras

 Nora Trina Miranda, first female Miskita

governor of the state of Gracias a Dios,
which borders the state of Olancho, where
construction of the Patuca III dam is
planned. “The effects of a dam are like a
hurricane”, she said. “Even though Gracias
a Dios is not directly alongside the dam,
the damages will be a detriment to us,
and we are not prepared for it. The state
of Honduras is obligated to consult us.”
Photo by Helder Perez

 View of
La Moskitia,
Honduras
from above.
 Two Miskita girls July 2011.
took a break from their Photo by
soccer game along the Danielle
banks of the Patuca to DeLuca
pose for a photo. Not
only their homes, but
their language, Miskitu,  Norvin Goff is MASTA’s youngest
is threatened by con- president. He is seen as an inspira-
struction, which will tion to Indigenous youth. He urges:
open up the area to an “MASTA is all of us. I am Miskitu,
influx of Ladino settlers so I am MASTA. It won’t disappear,
and cattle ranchers. because it is inside all of us.”
July 2011. Photo by Photo by Helder Perez
Danielle DeLuca

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 13

 p r o t e c t i n g t h e e n v i r o nment

bustle while everything was made ready. It

seemed the entire community was pitching in
to get the events up and running. With only
one or two hotels in the town and plenty of
people needing to be accommodated, organiz-
ers found every spare mattress and extra mos-
quito net, and local families pitched in to host
out-of-towners. There are no restaurants or
cafes in Ahuas, so three families were put in
charge of cooking meals for those who had
traveled far from home. A stage was being con-
structed in the middle of a field, and an outdoor
Ahuas, Honduras: “Yes to Autonomy, No to Patuca III.” These were the main kitchen was being set up by a group of teenage
issues up for discussions at the 35th anniversary of MASTA. For Miskitu boys at the direction of their arguing mothers
leaders like Norvin Goff, these two concepts are integrally tied. “A society and aunts. The church lent its space, and the
that owns its own territory is able to live in peace, able to manage its own mayor loaned his sound system. Norvin Goff
natural resources in accordance with its cosmovision [belief system].” explained that MASTA is not a non-governmen-
Photo by Danielle DeLuca tal organization. MASTA started as a social
movement that over the past 35 years formed
into a system of local governance for Miskutu
people, and spread out among 368 communi-
ties throughout the Moskitia. The governing
structure includes youth councils and councils
of respected elders. “We are all MASTA,” the
saying goes. “I am Miskitu, so I am MASTA.”
The conference revolved around the central
theme of Indigenous governance and territorial
autonomy. For leaders of the movement, the
fight against the Patuca III dam is part of a
larger discourse of territorial autonomy—the
right to manage their own natural resources.
“Autonomy, for us, is a right of Indigenous
Peoples,” said Goff. “We have to fight for our
resources. To ensure the survival of our people
Celebrating the 35th anniversary, the crowd dances to local Miskitu music, from one generation to the next, we cannot
DJ’ed by a Puerto Lempira community radio station. A song written by adapt ourselves to a foreign political system
the Moskitia’s musicians’ union, entitled Du Pali Do (“We hope so”) is a where we become servants to the rich in the
celebration of all the different languages that are spoken in the Moskitia. cities. Having our own territory will bring
Photo by Helder Perez us peace.”
It’s not a new concept in the Moskitia, but
one that has developed over the past two de-
cades, since the Miskitu of Nicaragua gained
gained territorial autonomy in 1987 at the
close of the Contra War. During the war, many
Miskitu of northern Nicaragua sought refuge
among their brothers and sisters in Honduras.
Since that time, the relationship has remained
strong. Members of YATAMA (Yapti Tasba
Masraka Nani Aslatakanka, in Miskitu “Sons of
Mother Earth”—an Indigenous political party
of Nicaragua), Nicaragua’s Miskitu governance
and players in the Contra War, traveled upriver
to attend the MASTA anniversary. “The topic
of autonomy is resurging now in Honduras ,”
explained Adalberto Padilla, of the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature, “as a
Patuca River: A boy floats plantains downstream. Norvin Goff declares, result of the government’s consistent failure
“Dams on the Patuca mean ecocide and homicide. The fight for the Patuca to give Indigenous Peoples an answer to the
is a fight for the survival of our people, from this generation to the next.” poverty, inequality, and exclusion that they are
July 2011. Photo by Danielle DeLuca experiencing. The ladino mono-culturalism
c o n t i n ued o n pag e 15
14 • www.cs.org
 Patuca River: July 2011
Photo BY Helder Perez

that the government presents does not corre-

spond to the reality that Indigenous Peoples are
living in Honduras.” To deal with these problems,
the Miskitu people have turned not to their gov-
ernment, but to MASTA, whose ultimate goal
would be to create their own system of economy,
education, and development, in accordance with
their worldview, and in harmony with the envi-
ronment. To begin the process of recognition
from the state, the Miskitu are not starting from
scratch. Although they want to create a unique
model that will fit their needs in Honduras, they
are looking to other Indigenous nations for inspi-
ration and advice, including the Kuna of Panama,
the state of Cauca, Colombia, and most intimate-
ly, the Miskitu just across the border in Nicaragua.
 Don Francisco, who farms along
In this research, they’ve learned key points about
the Patuca River, shows his crops.
functional autonomy—the development of mar-
Photo by Danielle DeLuca
kets, bilingual education systems to promote
literacy in Indigenous languages, and auto-demar-
cation of territory, a process in which they are
currently engaging. The concept of autonomy is
not envisioned just for the Miskitu, but is inclu-
sive of four different Indigenous groups, who are
all participating in the planning process. Lorenzo
Tinglas, president of the Federation of Tawakha
people, a neighboring tribe of the Miskitu, ex-
plained, “So many politicians have come, trying
to compel us to accept things that are against
the interests of Indigenous Peoples. In response,
we are working hard to establish a Indigenous
autonomy in the Moskitia, for the four Indigenous
groups—Tawahka, Miskitu, Pech, y Garifuna.”
If effective, autonomy would deny the state
of Honduras the power to give concessions to
foreign companies within the Moskitia without
the free, prior, and informed consent of the  Sario Zelaya, Miskitu, leans out of the
Indigenous Peoples. But the Miskitu and the window of the church and conference center
Tawahka, are not waiting for autonomy to demand in Ahuas. Photo by Danielle DeLuca
their right to free, prior, and informed consent.
They are demanding this recognition right now
in their fight to stop construction of the Patuca
 Military in
III dam. The Tawakha people live directly down-
Puerto Lempira. The
stream from the Patuca III dam site and will be
government plans
the most immediately and seriously affected.
to build a military
Tinglas lamented, “We know that neither the
base to protect the
government nor the company themselves will
construction site of
be able to mitigate the damages that will be done
the Patuca III dam.
to the environment.” That has been true in China
Photo by Danielle
where the same company, Sinohydro, built the
DeLuca
Three Gorges Dam. The Chinese government
has already spent $15.5 billion to study environ-
mental problems that have occurred downstream.
Hoping to avoid such a calamity on the Patuca,
Tinglas is all the more determined to stop con-
struction of the dam before it starts. He proposed Cultural Survival is taking the lead in exerting international
three tiers of action: grassroots action taken by pressure on Honduran officials to respect Indigenous Peoples’
the communities, legal action, and, building on rights. Please see our campaign action alert at www.cs.org/
the first two, international pressure. take-action and write a letter to the president of Honduras.

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 15

 p r o t e c t i n g t h e e n v i r o nment

A River Tale
P r o t e c t ing a Ta wahk a
Wa y o f Li f e
Kendra McSweeney, Zoe Pearson, Sara Santiago, Ana Gabriela Dominguez

Travelers setting off up the Patuca River from Krausirpi

in September, 2011. Photo by Edgardo Benitez Maclin
16 • www.cs.org
Doña Rufina Cardona picks her way barefoot
to the riverbank. She bends down, cupping

I
water in one hand and wetting her face, arms,
t is a typical morning at the landin (boat landing)
and feet. It’s early. Mist rolls off the river and
at Krausirpi. This is the capital of Tawahka territory,
up the Patuca valley; it’s just possible to make a 1,000-person town of stilted wooden houses
out the rainforest-covered hills on the far clustered along the high bank of a meander along
bank. Children washing pots in the shallows the middle reaches of the Patuca River, in the heart
of eastern Honduras’ Moskitia region. Upstream
greet her with respect in the Tawahka language:
are six more Tawahka villages, including Kungkung-
Mapiris yamni Kuka—Good morning
was (‘howler monkey stream’), Kama-kasna (‘where
Grandmother. iguanas wash their hands’), and Yapuwas (‘alligator stream’).
Tawahka estimate their numbers at about 2,000, making them
She sits down on a massive drift log, part one of Honduras’ smallest Indigenous groups. Certainly they are
of it covered in fish scales, and looks over the most remote. It has taken us four days to get here from the
the river. A man is poling his family upstream country’s capital, Tegucigalpa. Because the river is too low to navi-
gate the headwater rapids, we had to go the long way around—
in their dugout, rhythmically digging a long
to the Caribbean coast, then the slow ascent by motorized dugout
palanka into the gravelly bed. He’s not strain-
up the meandering lower river. We have come to discuss with
ing. It’s May—the end of the dry season— Tawahka and other residents of the Patuca the impending hydro-
and the river is low. electric development of their river, set to begin this year with
construction of an 104 MW dam known as “Patuca III.”
In their boat, an empty washtub indicates We met first with Miskitu residents of the coastal town of
that the family is on its way to harvest ripe Brus Laguna, where the proposed dam seems worlds away. But
a web of canals link the lagoon—culturally, ecologically, and
cacao from their floodplain orchard. They’ll
economically—to the Patuca. We heard serious concern about
crack the heavy pods and fill the tub with the
the dam. As Miskitu leader Norvin Goff explained:
sweet seeds that are currently selling for five
This Patuca, with all of its branches [distributaries]—
Lempiras (25 US cents) a pound (wet). On it comes to feed the lagoons and wetlands as far as Brus.
the sandy shore near Rufina, Miskitu Indians I tell the people of Brus [pop. 11,000], we are going to be
finish re-loading Coke bottles and other stores affected! Because Brus’ economy is based on fishing. If the
dam is built, shrimp production will go to hell. And another
onto their freight canoe. Then they push off,
thing: all of that water coming down the Patuca, it is a barrier
revving the outboard and pointing the prow
of fresh water, to keep the salt water from entering. So we
towards Miskitu towns downstream. The need to be fighting this fight [against the dam].
motor’s wash sends waves up the shore. There will be profound impacts on the 30,000 or more Miskitu
living in communities along the lower reaches of the Patuca. Along
the river’s annually replenished floodplains, Miskitu have always
focused their subsistence farming of cassava, beans, rice, and plan-
tains. The proposed dams would choke off the enriching sediment,
slowly starving the downstream agricultural systems. A more imme-
diate impact would come from the seasonally lower water tables
predicted under a dammed flow regime. Miskitu teacher Kinke
Wood tells us: “When the level of the river lowers the soil loses

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 17

 p r o t e c t i n g t h e e n v i r o nment

From L-R: Sara Santiago, Lucio Sánchez, Ana Gabriela Dominguez, Tawahka Lucio Sánchez (foreground) and Celio Sánchez
Edgardo Benitez Maclin, Kendra McSweeney at planned site of the Patuca Hernandez (background) visit planned site of the Patuca III
III hydroelectric project, near Nueva Palestina, Olancho, Honduras. May 2011. hydroelectric dam. May 2011. Photo by Sara Santiago
Photo by Zoe Pearson

Tawahka Inosca Sánchez Rosa

washes clothes in the Patuca
Miskitu elder Atto Wood River, Krausirpi May 2011.
Ronas repairs river-going Photo by Sara Santiago
dugout in the coastal Miskitu
town of Brus Laguna, where
river navigation and inland
agriculture remain vital to sus-
taining livelihoods. May 2011.
PHOTO BY SARA SANTIAGO

humidity. Beans and rice are affected. It’s hard planting rice Wampusirpi, Tukrun. But we are most keen to hear from
knowing it’s going to dry up, or won’t even germinate.” the Tawahka people. By any measure, they are the group
Miskitu leaders are also incensed at the government’s com- with the most to lose if Patuca III and two other dams
plete lack of consultation with river dwellers about the proj- planned for the Patuca’s main stem just miles from the edge
ect. Months after President ‘Pepe’ Lobo led a ground-breaking of the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere Reserve, are built. And
ceremony at the dam site in Olancho, river residents are still there is no question that they will have the most to lose.
awaiting an official government visit notifying them of the After two days traveling upriver, we arrive at the Tawahka
government’s plans. “This is ‘free, prior and informed con- village of Krausirpi and stay for a week. A priority for us is
sent’!’’ laughs Goff bitterly. Indigenous organizations have to check in with Doña Rufina. When one of us (McSweeney)
repeatedly demanded more information, but are rebuffed lived in Krausirpi in the mid-1990s, every morning was
or ignored. It was only through pressure on Inter-American marked by her dawn walk to the river. She is a Tawahka
Development Bank personnel that they discovered that an matriarch; reckoning by the ages of her direct descendants
IDB-funded impact assessment was already underway, and she is near 100. We’re told she’s frail now, losing her sight,
that they would be contacted soon for their input. Meanwhile, her hearing. When we do get a chance to visit her, she’s sitting
pro-government newspapers are feeding the urban public a on the veranda of her daughter’s new house, trying to catch
steady diet of cheery dam-related updates, including assertions a breeze on this stifling afternoon. “Miriki!”* she yells in
that the “only impacts” of the dams will be on the 300 or so Miskitu, recognizing one of us. Taking a hand in hers and
non-Indigenous families upstream from the dam who will leans in and declares, “It’s too hot! My knees hurt! This
have to be relocated. house is too far from the river!”
River dwellers know better. Their lives and livelihoods The Tawahka are river people. Their history can be read
pulse with the river. A Miskitu teacher tells us: “We will bear in the river, and the river’s in theirs. This is not a history of
the costs. We will see none of the benefits—not even electric- placid coexistence, but a dynamic one of constant adjustment,
ity.” (True: Honduras intends to sell Patuca-generated energy as Rufina’s life attests. She was born on the Río Wampú, a
to urban users and to Nicaragua.) We hear these opinions
repeated in towns we visit on our way upriver—Ahuas, * Literally, ‘American.’ A generic term for (white) foreigners.

18 • www.cs.org
 Disembarking at
the canoe landing at
the Tawahka village
of Kungkungwas,
May 2011. Photo by
Kendra McSweeney

Tawahka matriarch Rufina Cardona with her

daughter Elvira Aguero (in pink), granddaughter
Azucena Salinas (in blue) and great-grandsons,
Krausirpi, May 2011. Photo by Sara Santiago
Tawahka Ismelda Sánchez Rosa and her cousin look from a motorized dugout
at deforestation and settler households of the upper Patuca, Olancho. May 2011.
Photo by Kendra McSweeney

major tributary of the Patuca, at a time when the Tawahka been outcompeting the migratory cuyamel (Joturus pichardi)
moved around more, spending months in fishing camps and other native fish ever since.
or hunting camps or gold-panning camps upriver. Remote A more serious invasion is the steady advance of Spanish-
as they were, the river tied them to distant economies. They speaking mestizo settlers into the Patuca watershed. Convert-
tapped rubber to be processed in Akron, Ohio; they sold ing rainforest to cattle pasture is the way they know best to
chicle latex to Wrigley’s chewing gum plant in Nicaragua. add value to the land, and they do so with enormous energy.
They grew bananas to be eaten in New Orleans. The ruins Forests that the Tawahka had used for centuries to make dug-
of one of the steamboats that plied the river during these out canoes are now sun-baked fields. Doña Rufina marks the
eras lie exposed near the rapids Tawahka call Tima Bahna cultural impact of this advance in the growing use of Spanish
(‘shipwreck’—some 12 hours upstream from Krausirpi by with every new generation of her family. She stubbornly
motorized dugout). As products flowed out along the river, speaks to them all in Tawahka.
fortune-seekers flowed in. Rufina’s twin sons—born on a The river, too, has been responding to the increased loss
river beach at night—were the children of a mahogany- of its basin’s forest cover: it has become more “moody”, the
trading mestizo from the Honduran interior. One of her Tawahka people say. When it rains now, the river floods more
twins married a Nicaraguan Miskitu woman during the than anyone remembers; when it’s dry, it’s almost impossible
U.S.-backed war with the Sandinistas, when 10,000 Miskitu to pry a flat-bottomed freight canoe along river reaches navi-
refugees flooded the Patuca valley. In limbo on the Patuca gated by steamboats 80 years before. So while the majority of
for 10 years, landless and hungry, the refugees hunted the Tawahka territory remains forest-covered, the river’s character
last of the Patuca’s freshwater sharks. “Good riddance!” is shaped by the barren hills far upstream. The Tawahka must
says Doña Rufina, “they ate hunting dogs.” contend with the consequences. This was never more evident
We bring Rufina some cans of sardines in spicy sauce. than during Hurricane Mitch, when the torrential rains that
Even better than river fish, she says. She has always ascribed fell for three days over the Honduran interior all exited via
her longevity to the local fish, but she hates the bland tilapia the Patuca. Tawahka families lost virtually all of the multi-
that have invaded the river. Some 20 years ago, this African generational, spectacularly diverse agroforests on which
fish escaped from aquaculture ponds in Olancho and have they relied for money, medicines, and food.

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 19

 p r o t e c t i n g t h e e n v i r o nment

cash with gold prices at historic highs—will end overnight,

as the river’s gold-bearing sediment will settle out in the
dam’s reservoir. Canoe-based trade and navigation will
be severely curtailed. Tawahka grandfather Lucio Sánchez
talked to us when we finally reached the site of the future
dam at the end of our trip.
When the river is very dry, the traders won’t come.
We’ll have problems—how will we get a pound of salt,
some cooking oil? I don’t want them to make this dam.
When the river is dry, the Moskitia’s highway [the river]
will disappear. Then real highways will come in then,
with this dam. And we’ll lose our land.
Most observers agree that agricultural invasion of Tawahka
lands will accelerate as indeminified families upriver move in
the only direction where ‘land’ can still be found: downriver.
Honduran construction workers who are brought in to work
on the project may also make use of the new roads to invade
Barren hills created for cattle out of rainforest by mestizo settlers, Tawahka territory, once their work is done
Upper Río Patuca, Olancho. May, 2011. Photo by Sara Santiago Rob Rogers, a geologist at the CSU-Stanislaus, is an
expert on the Patuca River and familiar with other large-scale
Doña Rufina has seen and weathered it all. Collectively hydroelectric development projects in Honduras and else-
too, the Tawahka have consistently asserted their resilience where. He explains that there are ways for dams to be engi-
and adaptability. In response to settler invasion, they shep- neered to minimize downstream impacts (sediment routing,
herded a grassroots process of territorial protection resulting flow regimes). But knowing what he does of comparable dams,
in the 1999 ratification of the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere of the current political climate in Honduras, and the track
Reserve; they now lead the development of a novel co-man- record of ENEE (Honduras’ state-owned energy utility), his
agement plan. After Mitch laid bare the vulnerability of their assessment is blunt. “If you don’t mitigate on the downstream
river orientation, they rebuilt their homes—like Rufina’s— effects, the Tawahka are history; the Miskitu will be toast in
farther from the river. They also reorganized their patterns 10-20 years from now…. Anyone living downstream has a
of land use to spread production out more efficiently and HIGH potential for getting screwed over.”
farther from the floodplain, turning instead to rich micro- The Tawahka are fighting against this dam, as they—
environments along streams. They have responded to new together with Miskitu, mestizo, and Garifuna—have done
cultural pressures with a long-standing prioritization of before. After all, the Patuca is Honduras’ biggest river, and it
bilingual education in primary school—ensuring that has stoked the dreams of hydroelectric developers for over
Tawahka language and culture endure. Families are also 40 years. In 1998, an American company planned to build
transforming cacao harvests into high-school and college ‘Patuca II’ on the edge of Tawahka territory. The project fold-
fees to ensure their children can acquire much-needed ed after a coordinated international campaign spearheaded
accounting, agronomy, or engineering skills. by Tawahka and Miskitu; Hurricane Mitch helped too, by
For all their capacity to adapt, Tawahka people tell us that allowing the river to demonstrate its capacity for destruction.
the Patuca III dam may be too much to bear. Tawahka leader In 2008, Tawahka were a crucial part of the Plataforma para
Lorenzo Tinglas says, “We are facing the slow extermination la Defensa del Río Patuca, which eventually convinced then-
of Indigenous Peoples in the Moskitia. The destruction of President ‘Mel’ Zelaya to suspend an earlier plan for Patuca
the headwaters has been killing the river, slowly. I think with III; Taiwanese backers later pulled out.
Patuca III, this dam will finalize the death of the Patuca On our last evening in Krausirpi, Tawahka leader Lorenzo
River. It won’t just kill the river, but the people too.” Tinglas talks to us on a hill by the church. The mountains
It’s not hard to see how. If the river already runs so dry behind him glow electric green in the fading light. He points
now, Tawahka anticipate little more than a trickle when the out that in 1998, the fight against Patuca II gained major
dams must retain water to generate energy. This will literally momentum through the involvement of environmentalists
starve them of fish and river-dependent animals like turtle worldwide. He sees global support as the only way to make
and iguana; it will quickly desiccate and slowly de-nutrify the fight against Patuca III work. “From our position here,
their agroforests. Gold panning—an important source of it’s hard to do much. But we hope that the international
community will help us to protest this dam!”
In response to this appeal, Cultural Survival
— Kendra McSweeney, PhD, is an associate professor in the
has launched an international letter-writing
Department of Geography at Ohio State University. She can
campaign. To support the rights of the
be reached at kendra.mcsweeney [at] gmail.com. Zoe Pearson
Indigenous Peoples of the Mosquitia and their efforts
and Sara Santiago are doctoral and undergraduate students,
to protect the Patuca River, please see the Global
respectively, in OSU Geography. Ana Gabriela Dominguez is
Response campaign at www.cs.org/take-action.
a Honduran student and micro-entrepreneur in Tegucigalpa.

20 • www.cs.org
 B a z a a r Art i s t

Hawk Henries
T
he peaceful tones of Hawk
Henries’ flute playing com-
pel one to stop, listen, and
reflect. His music touches
people’s inner chords.
Hawk Henries, a member of the
Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nip-
muck, a people Indigenous to what
is now southern New England, has
been building flutes and composing
original music for over 20 years. What makes his flutes so unique
is that each one is created from a single piece of wood, using only
hand tools and fire.
Henries had been listening to Native flute music for years, but the
drive to make music himself did not emerge until adulthood. After a
stint in the Navy, work with autistic children, and a move to Maine,
Henries realized the flute was the tangible, yet ethereal instrument
he needed to release his creative spirit. Henries’ family gave him his
first flute, as a gift, and his exploration into the world of music
began to unfold.
The craft of making flutes came to Henries quite by accident.
In an attempt to improve the sound of the flute his family had given
him, he had succeeded in ruining it. After six months of fine-tuning
and crafting, he had learned the fundamental knowledge of flute
making, so he created a business from this new, self-taught skill.
“I developed a deep sense of relationship with, and responsibility to,
the flute and its power to remind us of our sacredness and our inter-
connection with everything in Creation. The flute’s voice calls to the
Sacred in every person and aspect of Life, in ways that transcend
words or normal consciousness. Everything is sacred. Every breath,
word, action, thought is sacred. Washing dishes, going for a walk,
cleaning the car; it’s all a part of the same whole,” says Henries.
His mission is to bring health and peace to the world through
the beautiful, airy, and serene resonance of flutes. “I think of instru-
ments as important tools that can open doors because I think that
they’re alive. They voice certain tones, and combinations of tones,
that create vibrations that affect us physically. They create a space
of openness or, at least, a willingness to be in that moment and be
open. Together, they create a physical and social space where we can
remember our connections to each other while exploring our differ-
ences as resources for new understanding and mutual awareness—
instead of using them as weapons of divisiveness,” states Henries.
Henries uses music to encourage common ground and dialogue
between peoples of diverse cultures and beliefs; to promote the well-
being of Eastern Woodland Native communities, and to constantly
expand his vision and skills as a composer and flute player. “I feel that
Visit our newly redesigned Cultural it’s an important time for people to look beyond the exteriors of
Survival Bazaar webpage bazaar.cs.org what we look like and what we do, and try to recognize that Divine-
to listen to Hawk Henries’ music, read ness lives within every person. To me, the greatest gift of the flute
about other artists and artisans, and see the is its power as a tool for prayer and the healing that comes from
upcoming schedule of bazaars. remembering.”
Henries faithfully continues to bring his flutes to life, year
after year, for the patrons of Cultural Survival Bazaars.

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 21

 A Day in the Life of
Hope Ross

Radio Doble Vía (Two Way Street) in the town

of San Mateo, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala is one
of the 85 locally owned and community-run radio
stations which partners with Cultural Survival’s
Community Radio Program. The work of this
alternative form of communication is based on the
promotion of values pertaining to the various
Indigenous cultures that exist in Guatemala,
as well as exercising one’s right to freedom
of expression.
Radio host Alexander Cifuentes in the radio booth
Throughout the course of eight years, Doble Vía has come to serve
of Doble Vía.
the communication needs of the whole San Mateo community from
youth to adults, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. The station has no
ties to partisan or sectarian politics; according to their mission state-
ment, everyone has the same rights to express their ideas, dreams,
and hopes.
Doble Vía is a community radio station that fosters the devel-
opment of alternative social media in the pursuit of sustainable
development and in building a more just and democratic society.
It particularly serves the marginalized sectors of the San Mateo
community whose values and needs are not represented in the
mainstream ladino media.

VISION
To build a community radio system whose priority is human devel-
opment. We hope to do so by providing members of the community
with the technical tools and technologies available to produce creative
radio programs that entertain listeners and present a variety of ideas,
and to encourage conservation of the environment in which we live.

MISSION
Alexander Cifuentes and Fredy Rene Escobar Estrada To serve as a tool to help members of society express themselves
broadcast live commentary just after a speech given freely. To be a place that promotes consensus, tolerance, dialogue,
by UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, understanding, and cooperation among different sectors of the mu-
Frank La Rue. nicipality.

WHY Doble Vía?

To learn more about Cultural Alternative communication in the community must be a two-way
Survival’s Community Radio Project, street, where the listener is the subject and no longer the object.
visit: www.cs.org/grp. Civic participation plays a very important part in this.

22 • www.cs.org
 Radio volunteers, Merlita Ordoñez, Juana
Hernandez, Yomara Elizabeth Paxtor Chavez,
Francisca Elizabeth Oedoñez, Ruby Lopezh,
Ana Elizabet Ordoñez break for lunch during
a community radio conference in August 2011.

Radio Doble Vía

All photos courtesy of Radio Dolbe Vía

A Typical Day in the Life of Doble Vía

5:30–7:30 AM 2:00–3:00 PM
Freddy Escobar hosts the show Buenos Días (Good A second program hosted by Luis—Dosis Grupero—fol-
Morning) to the music of the marimba and orchestra. The lows Teclas Morenas. In this segment, Luis discusses
marimba, a musical instrument similar to a xylophone, is “sexuality with responsibility.” Public health messages
extremely popular in Guatemala, and is recognized as the are also common throughout the programming content,
national instrument of the country. Today, Freddy dis- including educational information about reproductive health.
cusses traditions and customs of San Mateo. Talking In other programs, community radio volunteers address
about traditional aspects of Indigenous culture over the topics like obesity, drug, alcohol, and nicotine addiction,
radio helps reinforce and inform listeners about the im- and sexually transmitted diseases. These discourses allow
portance of maintaining these traditions. Monday through volunteers to inform the public about prominent health
Friday Freddy addresses social issues ranging from child issues and provide support in dealing with such issues.
abuse and alcoholism to environmental pollution. The
variety of topics discussed on this particular segment is 3:00–5:00 PM
representative of the even wider range of topics dis- Pascual Domínguez discusses deforestation on Tardes
cussed by various community radio volunteers through- Románticas (Romantic Afternoons). He hosts this pro-
out the week. gram Monday through Thursday addressing issues fac-
ing the environment including conservation and threats
7:00–9:00 AM posed by extractive industries, while playing romantic
The next segment of the day is hosted by Fredy Socop. music.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, he plays music
from orquestas chapinas. Chapin(a) is a slang term that 5:00–7:00 PM
Guatemalans use to describe themselves, thus “Chapinas Reina López plays a variety of music while discussing
orchestras” refers to orchestras typical of Guatemala. causes of armed conflict. Given the hostile nature of
Throughout his time on the air, Fredy also addresses a international relations, it is necessary to address these
range of subject matter, but today he is discussing a topic issues in a public forum.
very significant in many Indigenous communities across
7:00–9:00 PM
the globe: mining and its impact.
This is the last program of the night, and the one that
9:00–11:00 AM boasts the most musical variety throughout the week. On
Yomara Paxtor—host during this time from Monday to Wednesday, Alex Chojolan hosts Vía Clásica (The Classic
Wednesday—addresses an extremely important cultural Way), where he plays classic rock. Here, Doble Vía
question: what is identity? She discusses this topic and provides space for radio guests, in-
others while playing a musical variety. cluding a teachers and health
promoters. A few other nights
11:00 AM–1:00 PM a week, Doble Vía broad-
From Monday to Wednesday, Juana Hernández discusses casts religious programming,
civic participation and broadcasts marimba music. This evangelical, Catholic, and
segment reflects the importance of politics and the role Mayan spirituality programs
political discussions play on these community radio and music. The incorporation
stations. Not only does community radio reinforce and of various religious programs
strengthen tradition, but they also encourage community is representative of the cul-
participation. tural diversity present in Gua-
temala. These community radio
1:00–2:00 PM stations do not look to ex-
Luis Alvarado hosts Teclas Morenas, and for the next hour clude programming content not
speaks about children’s rights. Given the general history directly related to the Indigenous
of discrimination against and marginalization of Indi- population; they embrace the cul-
genous Peoples in Guatemala, discussions about human tural reality of Guatemala.
and civil rights on community radio is very common.

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 23

 The Yuchi House
A Storehouse of Living Treasure
The Yuchi House is home to a variety of language revital-
ization efforts put forth by the Yuchi community. Each morn-
ing, the house is filled with the fluent speech of elders and
younger language bearers who are eager to learn. In the
afternoons, the Yuchi House emits the laughter and foot-
steps of over 30 children and youth who attend a daily after-
school program conducted in the language. Elder speakers
are involved in the children’s program, however the younger
language bearers do the primary teaching and management
of the kids. This ‘triage’ system of language learning allows
all generations to learn without exhausting the elders.
The success of the program is due to the fact that Yuchi
children are once again speaking the language, naturally and
intuitively. For the first time in over 60 years, young children
are once again getting in trouble in school for speaking Yuchi.
When Taygann Spencer entered an English kindergarten she
had already been learning Yuchi for a few years. When her
new teacher tried to teach the color “red,” Taygann would
only say “chathla” (red in Yuchi) because she did not know
Renee Grounds it in English. The teacher thought she was speaking Spanish
and sent her to a special speech class for English-as-a-second-

U
nnoticed by most passers-by, there’s an old yellow language students. When her father, Yoney Spencer, explained
house in Sapulpa, Oklahoma that is the meeting that she is speaking Yuchi and he encourages it, the teacher
place of the world’s only living experts on a replied that she doesn’t want her to speak Yuchi in class be-
unique language and culture, called Yuchi. Some- cause she doesn’t know what she is saying. When Taygann
thing remarkable is going on inside the “Yuchi House”— asked her dad was what going on, he said, “They want you
native speakers of this ancient language are conversing and to speak English.” She asked, “What’s English, daddy?” To her,
passing on their vast knowledge to younger learners. Only there was no linguistic dichotomy between Yuchi and English,
five elders who were raised as monolingual Yuchi speakers she was just communicating in the only way she knew how.
are living today. All of them are in their 80s and 90s. Henry Each of the five elder speakers is gifted in different aspects
Washburn, Josephine Keith, Maxine Barnett, Josephine Bigler, of the Yuchi language. Some are more fluid storytellers, some
and Martha Squire have chosen to dedicate their last years to are more precise in pronunciation or remember particular
keeping the language alive by teaching Yuchi youth. They are uses of a term. Notably, only one is male. K’asA Henry Wash-
motivated by a deep sense that they are the last keepers of burn, 87, is the only male speaker among the elders living
an ancient way of being in the world, which will be lost today. Because men and women speak differently in terms
forever if they do not act quickly. of pronouns, noun classes, and family terms, K’asA is the
After millennia of Yuchi language speakers, the current only person who can teach young men how to speak the male
elders are the last link to this storehouse of human knowledge version of the Yuchi language. Yuchi men carry the important
and the eons of tradition, cultural practices, spiritual under- responsibility of giving tobacco to the deceased in order to
standings, and unwritten history. Learners and elders alike reunite them with those who have gone before them. This
realize that the only way to keep the language going is to ceremony can only be conducted in the language and fortu-
transmit it face-to-face and breath-to-breath, as it was nately over the past few years K’asA has been able to teach
from mother to child. other Yuchi men how to properly carry out this ceremony.

“A Yuchi parent got up in church during the time for sharing and joyfully
with tears in her eyes said that her daughter, Lillie Mae Wilson (age 3),
started speaking to her in Yuchi during a visit to the state fair, about what
she was seeing at the petting zoo area. This is an example of the kind of
breakthroughs we are having after 70 years of no children speaking Yuchi.”

24 • www.cs.org
 Martha Squire has taught us important aspects of the
language. She happened to be in the Yuchi House the day
we were talking about familial relations. She pointed out
that when women speak about their Yuchi mothers or grand-
mothers, it’s proper to use an “honorific” pronoun instead
of the typical Yuchi female pronouns. For example, instead
of saying “my grandmother” “dElaha sAnû,” the proper way
is “dElaha Ânû.” Martha is the last living person who could
have taught us this socially and culturally important part of
the language. We are continually uncovering new gems like
this in our voyage to learn Yuchi and are constantly struck
by how dull and vague English seems in comparison.
As a former college student, I have been trained to use
books, journals, or online resources to answer questions in
the English language. As a student of the Yuchi language,
there is no google search that can answer any question I have
about Yuchi. Yuchi is a purely oral language with very little
documentation. The elders are our only resource and are our
“living encyclopedias.” The whole Yuchi world is contained
within the minds and hearts of these five elders.
If you find yourself driving by the Yuchi House someday,
remember that it is a miraculous place where the seemingly
impossible becomes possible—our once moribund language
is breathing new life. Each day, we are in a race against time
to glean new treasure from the minds of our elders while we
still can. Truly, our elders are more precious than gold and
the gifts they bear to us far exceed any tangible treasure.

—Renee Grounds is a Yuchi language instructor.

To learn more about the Yuchi language

and watch a video about the project, visit:
www.cs.org/elp/yuchi.

Top Left:  Fluent

elders
teach younger learners
The Yuchi Language
at Yuchi House.
The Yuchi language is an isolate, it is not related to any other language. Yuchi reflects concepts
and perspectives that do not exist elsewhere. The sense of Yuchi community is so fundamental Children partici-
Top Right:

to Yuchi thought that the language always marks whether or not you are speaking about a Yuchi pating in the afterschool
person by using different pronouns for Yuchis and non-Yuchis. If I say “I see a woman” I must program at Yuchi House.
say whether or not she is Yuchi, w@nt’A sAdE’nê (Yuchi) or w@nt’A wAdE’nê (non-Yuchi). There Middle Left:  Renée Grounds
is no way to talk about someone in a generic sense. The “wA” pronoun refers to any non-Yuchi teaches children to play
person, including men, women, animals, the Sun, moon, etc. It is very hard to think of humans “I Spy” in Yuchi.  
as categorically different or superior to those called “animals” in European languages.
Middle Right: Youth
participate
   We call ourselves szOyaha, “People of the Sun.” Our language has deep connections to the
in summer language camp
environment. Our physical relation to the earth is also reflected in the language. A speaker of
at Yuchi House.
Yuchi is always paying attention to the physical relationship between persons and objects and
Bottom: Thefive fluent
the earth. You can’t just say “there it is;” you must say whether “it” is standing, sitting, or lying
elders of the Yuchi
in relation to the earth. If it’s an apple, “aKA-chE” (there it is-sitting); if it’s a river, “aKA- A” (there
language:  Henry Washburn,
it is-lying). The pronouns also carry over to people: “KA dO chE” (I am here-sitting), “KA dE fa”
Josephine Keith, Maxine
(I am here-standing), and “KA dE A” (I am here-lying). In English we simply say “I am happy”
Barnett, Josephine Bigler,
but in Yuchi we say, “zAdOsh@nlA KAdOchE,” which in direct translation means “I am happy—
and Martha Squire.  
I am here-sitting.”
All photos courtesy of
Yuchi Language Project

Cultural Survival Quarterly December 2011 • 25

 motivated to learn the Sauk language because they under-
stand that the heart of every culture is its language. Language
is a living, vibrant entity that holds a culture’s stories,
history, and belief systems.
Chakîhkwê, which means Little Woman in Sauk, studies
psychology at Oklahoma State University. She works for the
Sac and Fox language department and is an apprentice learn-
ing how to speak her Indigenous language. “There are only a
handful of fluent Sauk speakers left,” Chakîhkwê says. “There
are many people who don’t know how to speak Sauk, and
some who can understand it when they hear it, but they can’t
speak Sauk conversationally. Within 50 years, the language
may be entirely gone if we don’t start learning our language
as adults, and then teach it to our children and young people.”
For many Indigenous people, learning a language that
was rightfully theirs opens their eyes to their culture in ways
they have never experienced before. “When I started learning
Sauk,” Chakîhkwê says, “I began to realize who I was. I didn’t
really know what I was supposed to do with my life. When I
began speaking Sauk, I felt connected to my culture and felt
doors opening that I didn’t think [were] there. I always strug-
gled between doing cultural things and being a part of my
culture, and running away from it. As I learned more of the
language, I began talking to other Sac and Fox people and felt
Barbara Sorensen and Jennifer Weston more accepted. By learning the language, I also feel as though
I am honoring my ancestors and my great grandparents who

I
n the United States, 70 of the remaining 139 Native had their language taken [from them]. Well, they stopped
American languages will disappear in the next five years sending us to boarding schools. If we lose our language,
unless immediate action is taken to teach these languages they [the federal government] will finally win.”
to younger tribal citizens. Cultural Survival’s Endangered This deep emotional bond to their language is present in
Languages Program is partnering with tribes to help develop the many of the core group of Sauk language learners, or appren-
resources they need to teach their language to their children. tices, who have dedicated their careers to becoming fluent
The Sauk Language Department in Stroud, Oklahoma is one speakers of the language, and to developing a community-
of our partners. wide language immersion school. Kîyokamekwa, who is from
Despite the loss of over 99 percent of their fluent speakers, the Bear Clan and whose name means ‘on a path,’ was recently
the Sauk people have a long history of working to save their elected as second chief of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma.
language—beginning in the early 1970s with community- She says, “We’re having a resurgence of language revitalization.
based language classes, and continuing with the 2004 found- Growing up, my grandpas and my grandmas spoke their
ing of the Sauk Language Department. language and I heard it all the time. Once they passed away,
The Sauk Language Department has made great strides in I didn’t hear it anywhere else. We’re having a resurgence of
developing and piloting its pre-school language curriculum,
and has mobilized widespread community participation in
language materials production, educational gatherings such
as weekly adult classes and student “language bowl” competi-
tions. A community-based course curriculum, a home study
workbook, and a department website with short videos, Sauk
audio phrases, games, and a downloadable concise Sauk
dictionary have also been created.
Daily meetings and recording sessions with Sauk speakers
for the purposes of language acquisition, curriculum develop-
ment, and expansion of an audio database are ongoing. Work
on a teacher-training curriculum, a Sauk grammar workbook,
and a Sauk pronunciation guide were also completed recently.
Current efforts are focused on funding an expansion of the
department’s intensive Master Apprentice team which pairs
the community’s handful of fluent speakers with a core team
of three second-language learners. This was taken during the Sauk Language Department Master
Three Sauk community members involved with the Apprentice trip to Tama in September, with Kîwêwa Mosiah
Master Apprentice project, Chakîhkwê Katie Grant, Kîyoka- Bluecloud teaching while Meskwaki Language Preservation
mekwa Orvena Gregory, and Kîwêwa Mosiah Bluecloud are Officer Yolanda Pushetonequa looks at language material.

26 • www.cs.org
Sauk Language Department : from left to right Kîyokamekwa Sauk language learning in the classroom.
All photos courtesy of The Sauk Language Department
Orvena Gregory, Neyêshi Christine Williamson, Chakîhkwê
Katie Grant, and Kîwêwa Mosiah Bluecloud.

speakers and people who want to learn the language. Our the wide gap between the eldest and youngest generations
people were at a point where there wasn’t even an awareness in the community. This can only be accomplished through
that we were losing our language. Now, we have people an intensive Master Apprentice grassroots effort within
speaking more Sauk words than I ever heard growing up.” the Sauk community that prepares second language learn-
What is hard to express, is the joy at hearing their chil- ers as immersion teachers and language mentors to open a
dren speak the Sauk language. “I see that our young want to community-wide Sauk language immersion preschool. Three
be Native,” Kîyokamekwa says. “They have self-identity and Sauk Language Department staff members have been funded
awareness. They have become more interested in everything for the past two years to serve as language apprentices to Sauk
that is connected to the language. I see them change and want speakers for a minimum of 20 hours per week. By the end of
to become who they were born to be. They want to sing their the three-year project period, two apprentices will be capable
songs, give their speeches, present power points and write of maintaining a Sauk immersion classroom environment,
in our language. It’s unreal to see how far our language has while one additional apprentice will be capable of serving as a
come. One of the great things that we have now [is] a new “master” for new second language learners. This goal, though
orthography that is teachable to young people.” daunting, is not unattainable. Chakîhkwê, Kîyokamekwa, and
One of the Master Apprentice project’s achievements is Kîwêwa know this. They also know that their children are the
implementing a team-based Master Apprentice learning pro- future. Chakîhkwê says, “When the children start saying their
gram that has enabled significant acceleration of the pace of colors or their animals in Sauk, it makes me realize that this
learning and fluency levels for second-language acquisition is all worth it. Everything that I’m struggling through right
(SLA) teachers. This will lead to apprentices offering Sauk now with language, all the hard days that I have, it’s worth
language instruction in local high schools, and to the depart- it because I know in the future, our children won’t have to
ment’s long-term goal of developing a tribally controlled Sauk struggle like I did.”
immersion school to train new generations of fluent speakers.
Of the myriad connections Indigenous Peoples the To learn more about the Sauk language
world over share, the loss of language is perhaps the most and watch a video about the project, visit:
poignantly sad for first-language speakers. Yet, it is also this www.cs.org/elp/sauk.
connection that brings them together to help one another.
Kîwêwa Mosiah Blue Cloud is not Sauk, yet he is committed
to Sauk language apprenticeship. Blue Cloud says, “The Sauk
people, and the Mesquakis, all the Algonquin people, central Summer language immersion camp
Algonquians, have always been very close. I’m just trying to
be the change that I want to see in the world, which for me, is
to try to bring things back to the way they used to be. I believe
that if it were 200 years ago, I would still be working [with]
Mesquakis or Sauk people, helping them out. If our Indig-
enous languages were to cease to exist, so would our culture.
We would just become like everybody else. We’d lose our cul-
tural identity. It’s sad when somebody knows that they belong
to something but they don’t know how to get connected to it.”
Today, only five conversationally fluent Sauk speakers, all
over the age of 70, survive. The Sauk language is in imminent
danger of extinction unless the language is transmitted across

Cultural
Cultural
Survival
Survival
Quarterly Winter 2011 • 27
Quarterly December
 Walking in Time Toward 2012
Mayan priests conduct a ceremony at the Mujb’ab’l Yol training center in San Mateo in April 2011 to celebrate the initiation
of a series of training workshops at Cultural Survival’s network of pilot radio stations. It was held on the day of “Batz” which
is a day of higher energies, and Batz supposed to represent “infinite time and unification.” Photo by Danielle DeLuca

Cesar Gomez communities, without foreseeing the harm it has on future

generations.

T
he Mayan civilization is one of the cultures that The 2012 cycle change the Mayans left embodied in their
expanded the studies of astronomy, architecture, writings, points to a transformation in the thoughts and actions
mathematics, and the arts. Remnants of these studies of humankind, such as the elimination of discrimination,
remain enshrined in the ceremonial centers of racism, and the gap between the rich and poor. The writings
Tikal, Palenque and Copan, among others. encompassed positive changes like the cultivation of equal
Some researchers say the Maya predicted the end of the opportunities and gender equity, and the end of war
world. What many find difficult to explain is how the Maya between countries.
managed to study the movement of the heavens without We must manage to transform the materialistic and
present-day technology. In texts, codices, and a few murals individualistic way of thinking to a more all-inclusive,
in Palenque, what has been found is not the end of the world, Indigenous concept. To achieve this, we must look back to
but the culmination of a cycle. This cycle, lasting 5,200 years, our past, as the Mayan people did. We must, as they did, use
ends December 21, 2012. the past as a reference for understanding the present, and
This knowledge was acquired through the observation envisioning the future.
and study of the stars, moon, sun, comets, and planets. This
allowed the Maya to develop their calendar upon discovery — Cesar Gomez (Pocomam) is Content Production and
that the energy of the heavens influenced the way human- Training Coordinator for Cultural Survival’s Community
kind and la Madre Tierra (Mother Earth) interacted. Radio Project.
In Chilam Balam, a holy book from Chumayel, it was
written that the Spaniards would come to America. The
Maya also envisioned some of the changes that we are The Mayan Calendar
currently experiencing, such as societal disorder, the lack The calendar is made up of cycles that correspond to
of respect for Mother Earth, the pollution that has induced phases of the sun and moon’s rotation. The smallest
accelerated climate change, and even the instability of the cycle, one month, is made up of 20 days that repre-
global economy. sent different levels of energies. Thirteen repetitions
We must now realize that we are not the proprietors of the of 20 days gives the lunar year of 260 days—the
earth, but merely a part of it. Maintaining harmony with the length of time for the moon to travel around the sun,
earth is crucial for the conservation of the species. This is why
as well as the human gestation period.
the Indigenous Peoples of the world are raising their voices,
   The longest cycle that the Mayans’ contemplated is
demanding that industrialized countries—those responsible
for most of the deterioration of our environment—stop the one that lasts 5,200 years, or 13 repetitions of 400 years,
extraction of minerals, oil, and hydroelectricity in territories called Baktun. In 2012, we will be approaching the
that do not belong to them. Indigenous Peoples warn that end of the current Baktun. December 21, 2012 is a
these practices do not benefit humankind, and that the con- mathematical calculation, based on astronomy, and
tinuation of these practices only encourages self-destruction. physics, that indicates the end of a cycle. Spiritually,
Indigenous Peoples have long been decrying that the drive for the change in cycles means a renewing of energies.
wealth and domination is being superimposed over Indigenous

28 • www.cs.org
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This is Prey Lang, “Our Forest” in the language of Cambodia’s
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against invading agro-industries and mining companies. A Kuy
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Photo by Allan Michaud