Media and Ethnic Identity: Hopi Views on Media, Identity, and Communication (Indigenous Peoples and Politics)

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Author: Ritva Levo-Henriksson

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Indigenous Peoples and Politics

Edited by

Franke Wilmer Montana State University

A Routledge Series

Indigenous Peoples and Politics Franke Wilmer, General Editor Cultural Intermarriage in Southern Appalachia Cherokee Elements in Four Selected Novels by Lee Smith Kateřina Prajnerovã Storied Voices in Native American Texts Harry Robinson, Thomas King, James Welch, and Leslie Marmon Silko Blanca Schorcht On the Streets and in the State House American Indian and Hispanic Women and Environmental Policymaking in New Mexico Diane-Michele Prindeville Chief Joseph, Yellow Wolf, and the Creation of Nez Perce History in the Pacific Northwest Robert R. McCoy National Identity and the Conflict at Oka Native Belonging and Myths of Postcolonial Nationhood in Canada Amelia Kalant Native American and Chicano/ a Literature of the American Southwest Intersections of Indigenous Literature Christina M. Hebebrand The Present Politics of the Past Indigenous Legal Activism and Resistance to (Neo)Liberal Governmentality Seán Patrick Eudaily

The Ecological Native Indigenous Peoples’ Movements and Eco-Governmentality in Colombia Astrid Ulloa Spiraling Webs of Relation Movements Toward an Indigenist Criticism Joanne R. DiNova Negotiating Claims The Emergence of Indigenous Land Claim Negotiation Policies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States Christa Scholtz Collective Rights of Indigenous Peoples Identity-Based Movement of Plain Indigenous in Taiwan Jolan Hsieh The State and Indigenous Movements Keri E. Iyall Smith Speaking with Authority The Emergence of the Vocabulary of First Nations’ Self Government Michael W. Posluns Media and Ethnic Identity Hopi Views on Media, Identity, and Communication Ritva Levo-Henriksson

Media and Ethnic Identity Hopi Views on Media, Identity, and Communication

Ritva Levo-Henriksson

Routledge New York & London

From Me and Mine: The Life Story of Helen Sekaquaptewa as told to Louise Udall by Louise Udall. (c) 1969 The Arizona Board of Regents. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press.

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN

© 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑95703‑6 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑95703‑8 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Levo‑Henriksson, Ritva. Media and ethnic identity : Hopi views on media, identity, and communication / by Ritva Levo‑Henriksson. p. cm. ‑‑ (Indigenous peoples and politics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑95703‑6 1. Hopi Indians‑‑Public opinion. 2. Hopi Indians‑‑Ethnic identity. 3. Indians in mass media. 4. Public opinion‑‑United States. 5. United States‑‑Ethnic relations. 6. United States‑‑Race relations. I. Title. E99.H7L48 2007 302.23089’97458‑‑dc22 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge.com ISBN0-203-94149-7 Master e-book ISBN

2007000163

Figure 1. Artwork by Abel Nash

To Markku

Contents

Preface

xi

Acknowledgments

xv

Chapter One Media and Ethnic Identity

1

Chapter Two Native Americans, Media and New Information and Communication Technology

15

Chapter Three Hopis Communicating with the Mainstream

45

Chapter Four Hopi Views on Mainstream Media

101

Chapter Five Hopi Identity Construction in the Context of Media

159

Chapter Six Constructing Identity in a Mediated World

215

Notes

227

Bibliography

229

Index

237 ix

Preface

That a Finnish communications scholar finds herself in northern Arizona on the Hopi Reservation, moving from village to village and interviewing people of the Hopi community about media, identity and communication is the result of the intersection of three different interests. One, and in a way the most obvious, goes back to recognizing the need for new approaches to the study of communication and culture. Before the long journey to the Hopi mesas, my focus had been on mainstream culture, comparing Finnish and U.S. television news as cultural products. Working with issues of mainstream media, communication and culture made me curious about the ethnic minority viewpoint, and my interests headed towards the indigenous world. One part of that world had already left an indelible mark on me, when in the months of December 1974 and January 1975, my husband and I as young students in the United States took a Greyhound bus trip through the Southwest. The yearning was born for that scenery brushed with sage amid rocks of red and yellow. We made the first trip to the Hopi Mesas in 1989 with our Navajo friends David and Gloria Johns and their family. After meeting Hopi people and listening to their stories, I was drawn towards their community. A formative encounter was meeting the artist Phil Navasya, who attended a Native American art exhibition in Helsinki, Finland, in August 1987. When he told us about his uncle sitting on a Hopi mesa in the warmth of the afternoon sun, leaning on the wall of his adobe house and recouping his energy, we were lifted from the dark and rain of the Helsinki autumn. And when the next Hopi visitor, Loris Minkler (later Taylor), a conference speaker, visited Helsinki in April 1993, her childhood story about children sitting on the edge of a Hopi mesa, swinging their legs and watching the stars come out in the night sky inspired me to track down the sources of these stories. Most of all, her description of the different

xi

xii

Preface

views of publicity in Hopi culture and mainstream culture helped decisively shape my scholarly interest. It was this combination of scholarly interest and the enchantment of the stories and the landscape that led me to apply for a grant from the Academy of Finland. These concerns were fostered by a third interest, a deep appreciation of tradition and communication between generations. As a child, I lived in a house of four generations on my mother’s side; similarly, Hopi communities provide a locality where, for centuries, traditions have been highly valued. This book addresses the issue of how Hopi Indians see the media, and how they construct their identity in a mediated world. Focusing on these issues will also, I hope, cast light on the problems of improving communication between social and political minorities and majorities. I am not speaking for the Hopis. Hopis are more than capable of speaking for themselves. They are the best people to understand and explain their views, and therefore the aim of the book is to let Hopis use their own voices as much as possible. This means, for example, that instead of short samples, I have included interviewees’ entire answers or long segments of them whenever possible. In the context of the media, it is extremely important to bring new knowledge about ethnic minority audiences, because such studies, among Native Americans in particular, are still relatively rare. To become accepted in Hopi communities as a scholar was not an easy task. Hopis are very careful about letting outsiders be involved in their daily lives. They have a long experience of feeling objectified, interpreted and named by outsiders. The acceptance required a research proposal and further negotiations with then Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe, Wayne Taylor, Jr., and then Director of the Cultural Preservation Office, Leigh Jenkins. I am very grateful to all parties that these negotiations were successful. I arrived in Hopiland at a time when Hopis were planning their own radio station. The station soon became a mutual interest and led to a very fruitful cooperation. In the long run, I was the one who probably benefited most. Hopis generously allowed me as a foreign scholar to participate in Hopi life. When a scholar steps into the life of people and their communities which she knows only as a tourist or through books, stories, and occasional discussions she needs to be especially mindful of research ethics. The first task is to define the viewpoint through which she looks at the people with whom she works. This study approaches Hopi interviewees as specialists in globalization and its management. In these areas the Hopis have centuries-long experience. And because the focus is on Hopis’ views and

Preface

xiii

the aim is to understand them in the context of intercultural communication, theories of globalization as such are outside the scope of this volume. The second task is to define the principles that have guided the gathering of the research data. The overall approach is ethnographical in the sense that I lived on the Hopi Reservation for about two months, observing the Hopi community and Hopi life from the inside. The principal method, however, has been in-depth interviews. I tried to be very careful in expressing to the interviewees my different roles. At times, I have acted as a scholar; on other occasions I have been a guest. In the scholar’s role, I conducted the interviews, whereas in the guest’s role I was more of a participant by offering what little help I could. This principle guided my work, because I would no doubt find it very irritating, if my house guests took notes about what I was saying, doing, and not doing, all the while trying to interpret my actions. Of course, I also learned by observing and through “un-official discussions” in families, but I have tried to be very careful with my interpretations. The information that I gained in the role of the guest I have used only minimally and with extreme caution, mainly as background information for the interviews. I have also submitted my texts for the Hopis to read before incorporating them here. This volume will, I hope, help to understand the views of Hopis in the context of their historical and cultural experience. In addition, it offers some keys to improving intercultural communication. If my discussions with Hopis have worked towards this end, they will have served their purpose well.

Acknowledgments

It is thanks to the encouragement and support of many individuals and institutions that the spark for this book ignited and led to a working process of some ten years. The most important link in the whole chain are, of course, the Hopis themselves, both as individuals and as communities. Their role has been decisive, from their acceptance of this project to their partnership in the interviews and their willingness to read my interpretations. In the crucial role of accepting the project were Wayne Taylor, Jr., Vice Chairman and later Chairman of the Hopi Tribe, and Leigh Jenkins, Director of the Cultural Preservation Office of the Hopi Tribe. I would like to express my gratitude to both of them. I also extend my deep appreciation to Barbara Poley, Executive Director of the Hopi Foundation, and Loris Ann Taylor, Associate Director of the Hopi Foundation and later General Manager of the Hopi radio station KUYI. Their efforts on behalf of the Hopi Radio Project and their help in numerous ways were enormous. In addition, warm appreciation to all the interviewees who are practically co-writers of this book, and to the Hopi Jr./Sr. High School for their collaboration, especially the students involved in the survey. For the artwork, I would like to thank Abel Nash, Production Manager and Music Director of the Hopi radio in its first years. The academic community where I prepared for my research trip was Dewitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism in the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University. The Director of the Dewitt Wallace Center, Professor Ellen Mickiewicz, provided highly valued expertise through many discussions of media policy and ethnic minority issues. I also thank the whole staff of the Center for their contribution during my visit. I would like to send special thanks to Professor John Wunder, who has provided his valuable time and remarkable talent and has commented xv

xvi

Acknowledgments

on and improved my text. In addition, a number of other scholars have provided constructive criticism. Among these, I would especially like to express my gratitude to Dr. Terhi Rantanen and Professor Cheryl Greenberg. Thanks are also extended to Dr. John D. Loftin for a useful discussion. The Academy of Finland made possible my first research trip to Hopiland in the spring and summer of 1996. The second trip in the spring of 2002 was realized thanks to a Fulbright research grant. I am very grateful to both sponsors. During the years of research the Department of Communication at the University of Helsinki has provided the facilities, arrangements and atmosphere for the work. I am especially grateful to Professor Leif Åberg for his great help and support. Many thanks also to Professor Esa Väliverronen and other colleagues for their positive and supportive attitude. Jorma Jokinen deserves appreciation for his valuable help with computer technology as do Marjo Anomaa, Jaana Sälekari, and Anni Siitonen for their helpful attitude during the busy final phase of this book. Many thanks belong to specialists of the Language Center of the University of Helsinki, who have worked with parts of my text. I would also like to thank Pirkko Hautamäki for helping me with the language. I am very grateful to her. Special thanks are extended to Anu Uusivuori, who transcribed all the 1996 interviews, and to Klene Klit, who transcribed the check-up interviews used in this book. Information Specialist Terttu Turunen’s contribution is also appreciated. During my research visits I have received encouragement and help from many other scholars, writers, artists and friends, among them Catherine Feher-Elston, who introduced me to people of Hopiland; Bill and Lorna Chafe; Peter and Kaaren Iverson; David and Gloria Johns, Aresta LaRusso; Jeff and Alice Meikle; Denis Mickiewicz, Willard and Barbara Rollings, Herman and Susan Viola; and Susan Wunder. In all, I am grateful to so many people that I am afraid that not everybody can be mentioned. This I regret, but I want also to express my gratitude to those whose names do not appear here. Benjamin Holtzman, Research Editor of Routledge, has unfailingly offered wise counsel during the publishing process. I am grateful for his patience and great help. I also appreciate the thorough, perceptive criticism of Professor Franke Wilmer, the editor of the Indigenous Peoples and Politics series. Thanks are also extended to Editorial Assistants Erica Wetter and Liz Levine. I wish especially to thank my mother, Maila Levo. Her persistence has set me an example which has encouraged me throughout the long process.

Acknowledgments

xvii

Similarly, I will always be deeply grateful to my late father Veikko Levo, who sent me off on my first research trip, though he and my mother in their old age would certainly have needed my help. I would also like to express my appreciation to my sister Anneli Levo-Kivirikko and her family as well as to the Henrikssons. I am sorry that my endeavors have taken time away from being with you. I agree with Hopi interviewees that we should share more time with our family members. The warmest thanks, however, belong to Markku Henriksson, my husband without whom this book would certainly not exist. His interests as a scholar of American Studies and Native Americans have inspired and directed my own interests as a communications scholar. He is not only a source of inspiration, but also my life companion and co-traveler in Hopi villages and an important reader of and commentator on my texts. I dedicate this book to him with love.

Chapter One

Media and Ethnic Identity

Cultural homogenization and social diversification are two processes that have taken place simultaneously in the world during the last several decades. These processes have been facilitated and complemented by the media. Along with highways and mass transportation, the media has been a significant vehicle into modern life for people in remote, rural areas. Through a case study, this book will consider how Hopi Indians see the media, and how they construct their identity in the mediated world. In addition, this study will cast light on the problems of improving communication between social and political minorities and majorities. In terms of identity construction, Hopis are a people strongly devoted to their own culture. They are generally perceived as the most traditional Native American1 nation (see, for example, Loftin, 1991: xvi-xvii). About 9,000 of this nation of 11,000 citizens live on the Hopi Reservation in Northeast Arizona in 12 villages and nearby off reservation communities. The villages are located on or below the mesas—flat-top hills—called the First, Second and Third Mesa. The area has been continually inhabited by the Hopis since 500 A.D., which gives it the longest authenticated history of occupancy in the United States. For at least as long, the Hopis have also fought against drought and intruders in the area (see the Hopi Tribe, Home Page, http://www.hopi.nsn.us). The history of Hopi villages goes back to at least the 1100s: the village of Oraibi on the Third Mesa is considered the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America. Hopis believe that the village of Shungopavi (also known as Shongopavi) on the Second Mesa is even older, but it was moved to its present site from the base of the mesa after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Starting in about 1 A.D., an identifiable culture took root in the area over the next 700 years. The Hopi call these people Hisatsinom (People of 1

2


Long Ago). To the public and archaeologists, they are known as Anasazi or San Juan Basketmakers. By the 1500s Hopi culture was highly developed with an elaborate ceremonial cycle, complex social organization and advanced agricultural system. In addition, the Hopi participated in a sophisticated trading network that was spread throughout the Southwest and into Mexico (see The Hopi Tribe, Home Page, http://www.hopi.nsn.us). The Hopis’ great devotion to their own culture comes through in the words of scholar John D. Loftin (1991: xvi-xvii), who describes the Hopis “as a very conservative, slow-to-change people who have clung tenaciously to their law, their way of life, their land, and their religion for centuries, demonstrating at times an almost incredible degree of stability, comparable perhaps to the Old Kingdom of Egypt.” On the other hand, Hopis, as much as any other group in the world, have been receptive to modern things. They have a long history of cultural contacts, first with Spain and later with the United States. Similarly to the rest of the world since the beginning of the 1900s, the Hopis have been affected by modern technology. Contact with technological innovations has also brought intertribal debates over whether to accept them. Village political factions have hotly debated “modern conveniences,” such as paved roads, electricity, and modern plumbing. This does not mean, though, that the lifestyles within these factions with different views would be necessarily different (see Rushforth and Upham, 1992: 167). As Rushforth and Upham point out, the Hopis’ endorsement of some western technology also entailed a demand for western material culture, which had a role in the Hopi commitment to participate in the wage labor economy. Today many Hopis gain their livelihood from wage work or from a combination of wage work, farming and raising livestock (Bonvillain, 1994: 93-94). An important part of technology in modern Hopi life has been media technology. One significant impact of the media, and electronic media in particular, is its ability to diffuse group identities. This happens by creating, in Joshua Meyrowitz’s (1986) words, a “placeless culture.” Electronic media tends to merge formerly distinct social situations, blurring the dividing line between private and public, and thus separating the traditional link between physical and social place (Meyrowitz, 1986: 71). It also blurs previously distinct group identities by allowing people to “escape” informationally from place-defined groups and, on the other hand, by permitting outsiders to “invade” the territories of many groups without entering them. In addition to the specialness of place, electronic media also has the power to destroy the specialness of time (Meyrowitz, 1986: 57, 125). It will be interesting to see how Hopis, who have highly valued their local place-bounded traditions, think and speak about media as a part of their life and identity.


3

At the turn of the millennium, the core media on the Hopi Reservation consisted of one national television channel (in some households also of satellite television), local commercial radio stations, and some non-daily newspapers. Much of the information and images circulated in Hopi homes was produced outside Hopi communities. Hopis’ own media consisted of a biweekly newspaper, the Hopi Tutuveni. Towards the end of the 1990s, Hopis were actively engaged in planning their own radio station, which led to the launch of KUYI-FM at the end of 2000. Another timely issue has been computer networking, though most Hopis still have no access to these services. The media which Hopis use on the Hopi Reservation will be described closer in Chapter Four. According to Thomas Fitzgerald (1992: 112-123), groups whose place was formerly shaped by physical isolation, such as American Indians on reservations, are no longer segregated from larger social groupings. Through electronic media, Native Americans, as well as dwellers in the middle of mainstream cultures, breathe the same placeless air. In Meyrowitz’s (1986: 125) words, when we are everywhere through electronic media, “we are also no place in particular.” As a result of this “placeless culture,” aspects of group identity, socialization, and hierarchy that were once dependent on particular physical places, and the experiences available in them, have been altered by electronic media (Meyrowitz, 1986: 125). Following his thoughts, physical places are no longer used to define group identities. The concepts used for the definitions are rather influenced by the media as symbolic places (see also Fitzgerald, 1992: 113). The physical location has been at the core of Hopi life. This book explores to what extent Hopis feel that they have lost their sense of place during their coexistence with modern media, especially television. The traditional meaning of place is echoed in the words of several ceremonial chiefs and elders from Shungopavi. In a joint statement presented to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1951 they stated, “Our land, our religion and our life are one” (Loftin, 1991: xvi). This was before television sets entered Hopi homes. When exploring Hopi views, I will consider which factors of identity speakers emphasize and how they speak about issues concerning media and identity. An especially significant issue in this context is whether territoriality (one identity factor described later in this chapter) manifests itself, and if it does, how it is viewed by the Hopis themselves. Hopi self-identification will be explored in Chapter Three: how do Hopis speak about their experiences of being Hopi today and how do they see people and media practices in mainstream culture? When focusing on communication with Euro-Americans, emphasis will be on interpersonal intercultural communication.

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The focus will then move to media-related issues, mostly approached as media-mediated intercultural communication, called mediated intercultural communication in short. Chapter Four will examine both Hopi and non-Hopi media as the channels and technologies which Hopis have available on their reservation. This will be followed by an exploration of Hopi views about mainstream media representations of Native Americans and Hopis themselves. Sub-chapters will analyze Hopi views about television and the Internet. It should also be said that intercultural communication in this volume broadly refers to such communication where a message produced in one culture must be processed in another (see Porter and Samovar, 1997: 8). Chapter Five focuses on Hopi views about constructing Hopi identity in their own media. The central issue in this context is the Hopi plan for their own radio station. Problems of transferring cultural traditions are also examined. The final chapter, Chapter Six, offers Hopis’ assessments about themselves and their communication in relation to majority culture and mainstream media. It hopefully also speaks more generally about challenges of communication between minorities and majorities.

A NOTE ON METHODOLOGY The research data used as the basis for this book consists mostly of the interviews I conducted in Hopi villages in April-May 1996. I have also used the results of a survey (“Media Use and Media Attitudes in Hopiland”) I conducted in the Hopi Jr./Sr. High School in May 1996 (Levo-Henriksson, 1997). Finally, I will make use of information obtained through interviews which I conducted in Hopi villages in April-May 2002 to check on the newest media developments, including the founding of the Hopi radio station KUYI. A reader may well question whether interviews conducted in 1996 and published a good ten years later are still relevant. The answer is that they are, for two main reasons. The first is that the closing years of the millennium (1990-2000) represented a significant turning point in available media and media development in Hopi communities. Information and images of everyday life were produced and transmitted outside the community, mainly by mainstream television. Plans for a Hopi radio station to serve Hopi communities were made and implemented during those years. In addition, new information and communication technology, especially the Internet, raised an increasing amount of interest in Hopi villages. Thus, there arose the opportunity to conduct interviews in which the interviewees had a long perspective on such mainstream media as television. At the same


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time the interviews provided a forum for Hopis to articulate their needs, hopes, and fears about something new, including their own radio station and the Internet. Secondly, the interviews are uniquely relevant because they have been done in varied communities, among both females and males, and among people of all ages. They therefore represent a wide spectrum across genders, generations, and locales. Intercultural co-operation between the Hopis and the researcher has been essential throughout the research process. It started by our planning together the survey questionnaire, an important part of which was based on the Hopis’ desire to get information to prepare program guidelines for the planned Hopi radio station. It appeared in the information-checking follow-up interviews in the spring of 2002 that the previous survey had indeed been used in the planning of Hopi radio programming. The six Hopis whom I was able to meet again during the spring of 2002 also commented on the ways I had used their interviews from the spring of 1996. One of them also read the whole manuscript and provided some additional information. Some of these interviewees suggested some minor changes, caught a few Hopi misspellings, and gave stylistic comments, which I took into account. No one disagreed with my analysis and interpretation of their interviews. It is always important for an interviewer to build up a trusting relationship with interviewees. When the participants of an interview come from different cultural backgrounds and do not know each other’s culture very well, the building of such a relationship is even more crucial. The conception that the interviews give information about the social worlds of the interviewees is also based on an interactionist tradition. The path to this kind of information is usually, as in this study, through in-depth interviews. This type of interview, as Jody Miller and Barry Glassner have written (1997: 100), involves “‘intersubjective depth’ and ‘deep-mutual understanding’ [that] can be achieved (and, with these, the achievement of knowledge of social worlds).” The underlying conception in this kind of approach is that there is life both in the interview and outside it. In order to gain a better understanding of the interviewees’ conceptions of their social world, I lived on the Hopi Reservation for about two months. It is not a long time, but provided a deeper understanding than just short interview trips to Hopiland from another location. In qualitative indepth interviews, such as those conducted with the Hopis, the researcher is usually interested in the lived world of the interviewees and their relation to it. Steinar Kvale (1996: 31, see also Alasuutari, 1998: 144) describes this: “The qualitative research interview seeks to describe and understand the

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meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say.” According to Kvale (1996: 32, see also Alasuutari, 1998: 144), qualitative research aims to cover a factual and meaning level alike. The meaning level implies that it is necessary for an interviewer to listen to both the explicit descriptions and meanings as well as to what is said “between the lines.”

THE GATHERING OF RESEARCH DATA The main data of this research, the interviews of the spring of 1996, consists of the interviews of 24 Hopi people of different ages, from 15 to 59, with an equal number (12) of females and males. The interviewees were from all three Hopi mesas on the reservation, and from the following villages, in alphabetical order: Bacavi, Hotevilla, Kykotsmovi, Oraibi, Polacca, Mishongnovi, Shungopavi, Shipaulovi and Upper Moenkopi, and also from the Keams Canyon area. Four of the 24 interviewees were students at Hopi High School, interviewed as a group. Twenty of the interviews were individual qualitative, in-depth interviews which lasted from one to one and a half hours. The language used in all the interviews was English. Some of the interviewees were bilingual (Hopi and English), and some spoke only English, though they said that they understood the Hopi language more or less. The younger interviewees often mentioned that they spoke only a few Hopi words. Some of the interviews were administered in offices, some in Hopi homes, and the group interview with the students was done in the Hopi High School. All interviews were taped and then transcribed in Finland by a research assistant whose mother tongue is English. The data of the survey came from the answers of 70 students of the Hopi High School gathered in their classrooms by two teachers. Of the responders, 66 gave their gender, 38 females and 28 males. Sixtyseven students provided information on their age, which varied from 12 (one student) to 20 (five students). The largest age group was students between 17 and 19 years of age, 35 students in all, totaling 52 percent of the sample. Most of the survey questions were closed-ended and were analyzed quantitatively. Among the questions, however, were also openended interrogatives which were qualitatively analyzed. Sub-chapters, “Hopi Mediascape” in Chapter Four and “Plan for a Hopi Radio Station” in Chapter Five, include information received from the follow-up interviews in the spring of 2002. This information focuses on new developments with the media.


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ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND PRESENTATION OF THE DATA The basis for the analysis of the interview data and the written answers to the open-ended questions of the survey is the research problem of this study: How do Hopis view the media and how do they construct their identity in a mediated world? The frame for examining the research data is intercultural communication (both interpersonal and mediated) between an indigenous group and a majority from the viewpoint of an indigenous group. On the basis of this frame I rearranged and coded the data under seven different themes emerging from the interviews and the research problem: • • • • • • •

What is it to be a Hopi? Views on communication with mainstream culture Views on mainstream media coverage and representations of Native Americans and Hopis Television as a part of everyday life Views about the Internet The plan for a Hopi radio station Transmission of cultural traditions

The complexity of the data led to the creation of subcodings in these themes, reflected in the book’s section titles. Note that much of this material obviously had relevance to more than one theme, and these codings are inevitably subjective. Where especially relevant, I call attention to the thematic overlaps in the text. After the coding of the data comes the actual analysis. When possible, I have tried to present the interviewee’s entire answer or a long segment instead of short samples. Part of the data should be understood both as background information and as an introduction to Hopi voices. Such are, for example, elaborations of some discussions between the interviewer and the interviewee. In these cases no attempt was made to locate the data within some specifically defined category, but rather it was analyzed and described in the context of the theme examined. The more formalized analysis of data was made within the themes and sub-themes, except for the cases mentioned above. These analyses were conducted in the frame of intercultural communication. I analyzed the data within the themes using qualitative content analysis. This analysis revealed different groups or “categories of views,” which I define when they appear for the first time. Each of them includes views which are

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considered similar on the basis of their key meanings. The idea in these categories of views is that they refer both to the facts emphasized by the speaker and to the meanings s/he gives them (as seen by the researcher). Some categories of views may focus more on facts, others more on meanings, which must often be inferred. Meanings may frequently be found “between the lines.” Following this qualitative content analysis, I interpret the results on the basis of the theoretical discussion in Chapter One. This generally appears at the end of each theme and chapter, although some interpretation appears only in the concluding chapter. In that last chapter, I also offer a broader interpretation of the issues raised by the data together. In most cases I use age and gender to identify the interviewee. For the Hopi High School survey, I identify the interviewee as a gendered “Hopi High School student.” When names are used, it is in the context of background information or childhood memories when an interviewee has given her/his permission to use the name. In the first three themes, the young (12-23 years) and middle-aged (34-59) Hopis are singled out. There were no interviewees between the ages of 24 and 33. For the rest of the themes, the two groups are not separated. The categories of views evident in the data are presented in each chapter according to the issues discussed. To illustrate with one example, Chapter Three is comprised of four issues: what is it to be a Hopi; the Hopi language; living two cultures; and Hopi views on communication with mainstream culture. In the context of the first issue, what it is to be a Hopi, the analysis revealed views in five different categories, which I have called contradiction views, responsibility views, cope-with-strategy views, unproblematic ethnicity views, and beyond ethnicity views. Each category is defined when it first appears. In the presentation of the interview data in the text, extra words which have no meaning have mostly been deleted. For the most part, I have also taken away verbalized pauses. When using a Hopi-language word, I have followed the established English spelling, if there is such a form. When a Hopi word appears in its English form for the first time, the Hopi-language version is given in parentheses. Place names are an exception, as they are always written only in their English form. If there is not an English form for a Hopi word, only a Hopi word is given, such as taawa (=sun). The spelling of Hopi words follows the orthography of Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni: A Hopi-English Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect (1998).


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THE CONCEPT OF ETHNICITY AND INDIGENOUS GROUPS How do Hopis construct their social identity in this “placeless” mediashaped world? A crucial piece of the answer lies in the nature of ethnicity which is understood to provide a useful approach for understanding social identities. Ethnic identity is central not only in understanding minorities but also in understanding the contemporary world of complex societies, which is so often expressed in ethnic terms (De Vos and Romanucci-Ross, 1982: ix). But before defining ethnic identity, it is important to discuss two other terms used in the context of indigenous groups, ethnicity and ethnic minority. This work is based on the concept that “we are all ethnic” (see Riggins, 1992a: 2, refers to Everett Hughes), or as Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1997: 37) says, virtually every human being belongs to an ethnic group. This differs from the general approach in the United States, where ethnicity has often been reserved for the research of immigrant groups. In this volume, however, Native Americans are also considered an ethnic group, following concepts in recent American sociological research (see, for example, Nagel 1994 and 1996). When describing different types of ethnic relations, Eriksen (1997: 39-41) also includes indigenous peoples among them. Eriksen’s typology of the different contexts of ethnicity is also adopted and modified by Steve Fenton (1999, see also 2003: 116-117). The use of “ethnic minority” to mean indigenous people generally, or Native Americans in particular, is often inconsistent. Here I want to clarify my own usages, to avoid any ambiguity or misunderstanding. In recent media studies, the term is used routinely (see, for example, Cottle, 2000: 215-216). In Ethnic Minority Media: An International Perspective, Stephen Riggins (1992a: 7) mentions that “one category of ethnic minority consists of indigenous people.” Indigenous media, too, tend to be treated “as just another form of ethnic minority activity” (see Browne 1996: 4). On the other hand, the scholarly magazine Cultural Survival Quarterly: World Report on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities already differentiates between these two in its title. The U.S. Supreme Court uses yet another term, that of “political minority.” Since the viewpoint of this study is that “we are all ethnic” (see above), I will apply the term “ethnic minority,” or “minority,” to Native Americans. In addition, in the context of media issues, I consider the status of Native Americans and “ethnic minorities” similar when compared to ethnic majorities, even if Native Americans have not politically, judicially or historically been considered an “ethnic minority.”

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The term ethnic minority also refers to the size of the population when differentiating between ethnic minority media and mainstream media. The size of the population is, of course, often connected to the difference in social power between an ethnic minority and majority. Also for the purposes of this study, ethnic identity denotes a sense of belonging to a group, as De Vos defines (1982: 16): any “subjective, symbolic, or emblematic use ‘by’ a group of people . . . of any aspect of culture, in order to differentiate themselves from other groups.” Essential to this definition is that it refers to a “subjectively self-conscious community that establishes criteria for inclusion into and exclusion from the group” (see Brass, 1991: 19; Roosens (1989: 15). De Vos (1982) and Epstein (1978) emphasize the psychosocial dimension of ethnic identity. The concept has an “internal,” intrapsychic dimension and a social dimension referring to “the others.” Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1997: 39) highlights social dimensions of ethnicity. Ethnicity, then, is a social relationship between agents who consider themselves culturally distinctive from members of other groups with whom they have a minimum or regular interaction. If ethnicity is emphasized as a personal choice, there is, however, the risk of seeing it one-sidedly, as if ethnicity would depend only on personal criteria. Joane Nagel (1994: 156) warns of the risk of seeing ethnicity simply as a personal choice, because such a view emphasizes agency at the expense of structure. She reminds us that individual choices are circumscribed by socially and politically defined ethnic categories. In other words, ethnic options are shaped by external forces (see Nagel, 1994: 161). In some cases, the set of available ethnicities can be quite restricted and constrained. Governments, for example, reshape their internal ethnic maps by immigration policies and use official ethnic categories in census-taking (Nagel, 1994: 157). Ethnicity is thus understood in this book as a matter of personal choice and as socially and politically defined ethnic categories. The broad and heterogeneous phenomenon has both symbolic and material dimensions. The British scholar Steve Fenton (1999: xi) has described this aptly: “Ethnicity is manifested as a dimension of cultural meanings and as a dimension of social structure; ethnic formations are material, symbolic and social facts.” When approaching ethnicity in the context of media issues, it is also important to take into account the power of the external forces essential in the construction of ethnic boundaries. Media, and especially mainstream media, has great power when it represents ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples through ethnic categories filled with stereotypes. Some scholars have criticized the very use of ethnic categories in media representations.


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Linda Tuhiwai Smith, for example, tells of First Nation Canadian writer Lee Maracle, who prefers the terms of man and woman to Native man or female Native in news stories. Maracle sees both “Native man” and “female Native” as if “we were a species of sub-human animal life” (Smith, 2001: 9). Thus, when focusing on ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples in the context of media, it is crucial to explore the type of coverage provided for these groups and the influences which mainstream media may have on members of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples. These issues, and the aspirations of ethnic minorities generally and Native Americans especially, are explored in Chapter Two in reference to their own media. Outsiders’ views of Native Americans, mainly based on media representations, also have a bearing on the definition of Native identity. Outsiders’ views of “Indianness” often draw on media stereotypes of Plains Indians. To prove to outsiders that one is an Indian, even non-Plains Indians must fulfill certain externally imposed and often false expectations of Indianness—which are based on Plains Indians’ images (see Larva, 1994: 45). Werner Sollors (1986: 4-7) approaches ethnicity through “descent” and “consent.” “Descent” emphasizes positions “as heirs, hereditary qualities, liabilities, and entitlements.” The basis of “descent” relations is defined by anthropologists as the relations of “substance” (blood or nature). “Consent” emphasizes “law” or “marriage,” and refers to “our abilities as mature free agents and ‘architects of our fates’ to choose our spouses, our destinies, and our political systems.” As regards ethnicity generally in the American context, Sollors (1986: 33) suggests that it has been transformed from a social liability to a desirable identity. In modern ethnicity, there is a possible voluntary or multiplechoice aspect of identity. Sollors gives an example of two American-born brothers, one of whom identified himself as German-American, the other as Franco-American. According to this view, ethnic identity is the result of a dynamic process of negotiations in social contexts (see Fitzgerald, 1992: 115). Already in 1969, Fredrik Barth articulated the notion of ethnicity as a mutable phenomenon (see also Nagel, 1994: 154). Research has shown that people’s conception of their ethnic identity is situational and changeable (Nagel, 1994: 154, refers to Waters, 1990). This is typical for identities in general, as Stuart Hall (see, for example, 1996: 4) has stated. When an individual chooses his or her ethnicity, it is determined by the individual’s perception of its meaning to different audiences, its salience in different social contexts, and its utility in different social settings. When acquiring resources or political power, a larger pan-ethnic boundary is often the basis of identification (Nagel, 1994: 155).

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For an ethnic identification of Native Americans, Joane Nagel (1994: 155), referring to Cornell (1988) and McBeth (1989), introduces various levels of identity. These are subtribal (clan, lineage, traditional), tribal (ethnographic or linguistic, reservation-based, official), regional (Oklahoma, California, Alaska, Plains), and supra-tribal or pan-Indian (Native American, Indian, American Indian). The choice of each identity depends partly on where and with whom the interaction occurs. On the reservation, a Native American might be “mixed-blood.” When speaking to someone from another reservation s/he might be from “Pine Ridge.” When speaking to the U.S. census s/he might be a “Sioux” or “Lakota.” And when discussing with non-Indians, s/he might be “Native American.” The largest number of Native Americans, however, identify themselves primarily as members of some tribal nation (as Navajo, Sioux or Hopi and so on), and secondly as “Indian” or “Native,” in other words, on a pan-Indian level. Examples of pan-ethnic aspirations among Native Americans are presented by Joane Nagel (1994: 164), including such cultural forms as powwow, the Indian center, Indian Christian churches, Indian bowling leagues and softball teams, as well as Indian popular music groups. These forms have been constructed by borrowing pieces from various tribal cultures and non-Indian urban culture, and they are mostly constructions of urban Indians. About half of Native Americans lived in urban areas by the end of the 1980s (see ibid., refers to U.S. Census Bureau 1989). The share is even bigger today. Typical modern ethnic identifications work more as “external symbols” than actual cultural ability, knowledge or performance (see Sollors, 1986: 35 and Fitzgerald, 1992: 116). Fitzgerald emphasizes the persistence of the emotional significance of such attachments, though the actual cultural content may have dramatically changed. Today the attitudinal level of identity (subjective aspects) receives more attention than behaviors (objective aspects). In addition, more attention is given to private versus public areas of behavioral change and to situational contexts of ethnic identities (Fitzgerald, 1992: 116). Fitzgerald (1992: 120) questions treating culture and ethnicity as essentially the same entity. The difference between the two can be depicted as presented by Nagel (1994: 162): ethnicity (ethnic boundaries) answers the question of who we are, while culture answers the question of what we are. When answering the question of who are we, ethnic boundaries “function to determine identity options, membership composition and size, and form of ethnic organization.” In answering the question of what are we, culture “provides the content and meaning of ethnicity; it animates and authenticates ethnic boundaries by providing a history, ideology, symbolic


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universe, and system of meaning.” Culture and history are the substance of ethnicity and the basic materials used in the construction of ethnic meanings. Often they are intertwined in cultural construction activities. The decisions concerning the appropriate and inappropriate content of a particular ethnicity are made on the basis of culture. It also designates the language, religion, traditions, belief system, art, music, dress, and lifeways that constitute an authentic ethnicity (Nagel, 1994: 161). The cultural past is a powerful source for groups in the collective quest for meaning and community, especially in the process of constructing culture (see Nagel, 1994: 163, refers to Cohen, 1985: 99). The past is usually reconstituted to serve the group as it tries to move on (Roosens, 1989: 125). An example of such cultural reconstruction projects are indigenous group efforts to revitalize their Native language and increase its use. In practice, cultural reconstruction programs in the United States concerning Native Americans consist of language documentation and education programs and the creation of cultural centers, tribal museums and educational programs. They all aim to preserve and revive tribal cultural traditions (Nagel, 1994: 162-163). George De Vos (1982: 10-16) has explored factors contributing to ethnic definitions and identity maintenance. These include “racial” uniqueness, territoriality, economic bases, religion, aesthetic cultural patterns, and language. As to “racial” uniqueness, De Vos maintains that some sense of genetically-inherited differences, real or imagined, has been and is a part of the ethnic identity of many groups. Territory may be central, or minimal, or even nonexistent. In terms of economic bases, an ethnic minority can be well dispersed within another population and still defend itself from assimilation by maintaining a certain amount of economic autonomy. In the context of ethnicity, religion can have a role in two opposite directions. It can either be a means of abandoning one’s ethnic identity, or it can support a sense of ethnicity. For some groups, religious beliefs concerning their historical origin and past tribulations may provide the vital definition of who they are. On the other hand, De Vos (1982: 14) offers American Indians as an example of those who suffer from an inability to believe in themselves, because they have lost faith in their own religious system and hence symbols of dignity and status. At the same time they cannot draw sustenance from the religion of their conquerors without giving up their own identity. This has less application, however, to the Hopis. Particular patterns related to aesthetic traditions are used symbolically as a basis of self and social identity. Examples include tastes of food, dance traditions, styles of clothing, and definitions of physical beauty. Aesthetic features related to communication also have to do with ethnic identity,

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while the most characteristic feature of ethnic identity is language. But as De Vos (1982: 15) reminds us, ethnicity is frequently related more to the symbol of a separate language than to its actual use by all members of a group. In addition to these factors given by De Vos as contributing to ethnic definitions, one could add such concepts as values, and separate institutions, mentioned by Wsevolod W. Isajiw (1991: 219-220). He also considers common ancestral origin, real or imagined, which has some similarities with the factor named as “racial” uniqueness by De Vos (see above), real or imagined. Isajiw has explored different definitions of ethnicity and theorized a total of twelve different attributes referring to the concept. Some of the attributes refer to special cases, such as immigrant group or minority or majority status. Regarding Hopi views studied in this volume, there are a few factors which are central in the consideration of identity. They are values, language, territoriality, and traditions, often referred to in the literature of ethnic identity. The sparkling heart of Hopi identity, the energizer through the generations, is located in the area of traditions. Here are found the ceremonial songs, sung in the Hopi language by the deities. The Hopis call the experience of these songs “the way out,” as an interviewee reported. In addition to these factors central to Hopi views, their own media were also brought up by several interviewees as an important constructor of identity. Hopi media were not seen only as a vehicle to other factors, but as an actual dynamic factor in Hopi identity construction. The next pages will discuss Hopi views on media, both mainstream and their own, and look at identity construction, beginning with a general introduction to these issues in Chapter Two.

Chapter Two

Native Americans, Media and New Information and Communication Technology 1

“I think that if I was in dominant media, I would try to center out the positive things that the tribes are doing, the progress that they are making in this time we are now . . .” 23-year-old Hopi male

In considering Native Americans and media, we must take into account both the dominant, mainstream media, and Native Americans’ own media. In modern societies the two are inseparable and not least because of intercultural communication (both mediated and interpersonal). In Native American communities, as in other minority communities in most parts of the world, mainstream media are a significant part of everyday cultures. In the background of the presentations which mainstream media provide on ethnic minorities, there are images of their producers, based on stereotypes or more or less extensive and deep communications with representatives of the ethnic minority. On the other hand, ethnic minority media does not grow from nothingness, but is rooted in western technology and follows models adopted by schooling or practice patterned after mainstream media. Because of the cultural intertwining of the globalized world, one cannot look at ethnic minority media without examining mainstream media. From the point of view of an ethnic minority culture, the central issue is how media could be used to maintain one’s ethnic identity. For example, how could the mainstream media be involved in the process of enriching mainstream culture and adding understanding toward ethnic minorities? So far this media has tended either to ignore ethnic minorities or to present them essentially in terms of the social problems they create for the majority (Riggins, 1992a: 2).

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NATIVE AMERICANS AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA The portraits presented of Native Americans by mainstream media have meaning both for the consumption of big audiences in mainstream culture and for the formation of self-images of Native Americans. Briefly stated, the prevailing practice in the reporting of Native Americans has been either neglect or reflecting stereotypes. The consequences of lopsided presentations of ethnic minorities apply to mainstream audiences and ethnic minorities alike. As Clint C. Wilson II and Félix Gutiérrez (1995: 44) write: “In the absence of alternative portrayals and broadened news coverage, onesided portrayals and news articles could easily become the reality in the minds of the audience.” One significant source of media mistreatment and stereotypes are Hollywood westerns; but the roots of the mistreatment of Native Americans in different presentations go much deeper. As Sharon Murphy (1979: 39) shows, long before films and television, the print media of the nineteenth century did their own part in fostering inaccurate images of Indians. And even worse, much of the news reporting on Indians was done in advocacy fashion, “encouraging or at least condoning the savage treatment of Indians.” Murphy colorfully depicts this kind of news reporting by quoting Elmo Scott Watson’s text: “Depending mainly on volunteer correspondents more gifted in imagination than in accurate reporting, [eastern newspapers] spread before their readers the kind of highly colored accounts of Indian raids and ‘massacres’ that the most sensational yellow journalism of a later period have envied” (Murphy, 1979: 39. No note to Elmo Scott Watson). Print media and other media, on the other hand, have not been and are not separate from the prevailing culture and aspirations of their time and earlier eras. The reporting practice presented vicious kinds of stereotypes with connections to popular literature and policies for dealing with what the U.S. Government called the “Indian problem” (see Wilson II and Gutiérrez, 1995: 63). As Clint C. Wilson II and Félix Gutiérrez (1995: 63) observed, popular literature was a tool for nineteenth-century policies to deal with Indians. By the mid-1800s, policies applied to the “Indian problem” had found their justification in popular literature. The practice of popular literature seeing Indians as a problem for White2 settlers moving West had significant consequences. This practice helped establish a myth of the monolithic “Indian,” and made it easier to forget the distinctions between more than 2,000 different cultures. In addition, stories of actual and exaggerated atrocities by Indians towards White settlers created hatred, making Indians an enemy “in war” and to “the progress of civilization” (ibid.). In all, Indians

Native Americans, Media and New Information

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had a place in the stories of non-Indian people, including textbooks, as a stone in the shoe of development, or as Wilson II and Gutiérrez (ibid.) put it: “Elimination or subjugation of the Native American Indian was seen as merely an evolutionary step in the development of Industrial America.” The tones in presentations of American Indians as “savages” naturally varied so that they also carried some features which could be considered positive. Early settlers’ writings in particular gave Natives some characteristics which the White settlers could consider “noble.” They referred to the Natives’ primitive innocence, their willingness to share food, and their dark, handsome physical appearance. At the same time, though, the early settlers made observations about the Natives’ nudity, open sexual relationships, and incidents of cannibalism—traits regarded as “savage.” Elements readily evolved of the “noble savage,” which emerged in colonial literature (see ibid.). Media stereotyping of Native Americans, according to Elizabeth Bird’s (1999) article in the Journal of Communication, includes representations of American Indians which are easy to predict and clearly gendered. Women appear in supporting roles as faceless, relatively sexless “squaws” or sexy exotic princesses or maidens who lust after White men. Men are portrayed as good-looking young warriors or as wise elders, safe and sexless. In order to understand the roots of the stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans by Whites, we need to focus on the issue of coping with and rationalizing the unknown “other.” Native Americans were the first peoples of a different ethnicity which European settlers encountered in the New World. They were different, but they were humans. It is important to remember Native American humanity, US scholar John Adams (1995: 80-81) reminds us. In this context, Adams refers to the representation of extraterrestrials, savages and aliens by the Swede Emanuel Swedenborg: they were often so closely associated that “they had to have been virtually identical in the minds of many European thinkers.” Those who were thought to inhabit outer space were given human form by being imaginable as American Indians and other ethnicities. According to Adams, “these ethnicities, in turn, lost a portion of their humanity by being analogous to aliens.” Maybe the clue to the pervasive characteristics in representations of Native Americans constructed by Whites lies in the issue of humanness. As some kind of alien, in presentation practices, Native Americans remain invisible yet carry stereotypes and mystifications at the same time. If this is the case, there is much to be improved in intercultural communication between ethnic majorities and Native Americans.

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An example of modern mistreatments of Native Americans is a television news story presented in January 1993 on KARE-TV, an NBC affiliate serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, market. It was a long account of 3 minutes and 15 seconds of a fishing rights controversy, pitting Minnesota’s sports fishermen against a Native American tribe. Christopher P. Campbell (1995: 50-58), who analyzed this story, discovered many ways which persistently marginalized a Native American perspective and led to stereotyping. Because the story is a textbook example of stereotyping, the ways of reporting deserve to be repeated. First, all three journalists involved in the story are Whites. So too is the important state official who describes a recent state-tribal agreement, and the local interviewee who gives his opinion on the issue. In addition, there is a group of White protesters who represent the dissatisfaction of “sport fishing” enthusiasts. In all, Whites are seen and well heard. The representation of the Native American side of the story is quite the opposite. The role of a couple of Natives seen in the story is that of the “silent man.” They are never asked anything. They are not identified. The visualization also helps in promoting the marginalization. On a tape of about 8 seconds a Native man is shown in the darkness of his boat, taking one poke with a long wooden spear into the water. The other Native American in the story, shown but not heard, is the tribal member who negotiated the agreement. He is seated at a press conference. The practice of leaving indigenous people without identification by name is not unique to this news story. Valerie Alia and Simone Bull (2005: 46-47) provide a similar example of photographs of indigenous people in Canada published in an English newspaper. Using the spearfishing videotape to illustrate the life of Native Americans can be criticized, as Campbell (1995: 53-54) does, for two reasons. First, in the absence of any other portrait of tribal life, the spearfishing video becomes the central characterization of Native American existence. Although it may seem appropriate and common sense to use the tape, it also contributes to a kind of historical robbery (see Campbell, 1995: 53, who refers to Parks, 1940), in which news coverage fails to place single events into a meaningful context. Second, the spearfishing video works as a binary opposite to what Campbell (1995: 53) calls a “sports fishing” or “trophy fishing” tape, seen during the story and illustrating White hobbyists fishing. According to Campbell (ibid.: 54), the contrast between Natives spearfishing and Whites “trophy fishing” furthers the story’s White, commonsense perception of the use and function of America’s natural resources. The primitive ritual of spearfishing takes place silently in the darkness, while the White “spirited hobbyist’s” “trophy fishing” is a “daylight enterprise.”


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The language of reporting the news story picks up mythical meanings which are present in traditional “cowboy and Indian” movies. The conflict between Native Americans and White sport fishermen is repeated throughout the story by journalists using the word “controversy.” “The silent Indian” (Campbell, 1995: 54, refers to Trimble, 1988) does not appear from a vacuum either, but is reminiscent of the silent wooden cigar-store Indian—the epitome Indian of many Americans. The reporter contributes to the marginalization of Native Americans by speaking about “their sort of commissioner” when he refers to the tribe’s negotiator. The spearfishing news story is one example of the marginalization of Native Americans in the media, although the journalists involved in the story apparently did not want to marginalize and stereotype on purpose. As Campbell (1995: 56) mentions, the journalists were simply offering their own perspective and tried to cover the story as dutifully as possible. But the prejudiced perspective carried the weight of film and textbook stereotypes from years and decades back. Marginalization in this particular news story is part of a larger and deeper marginalization of ethnic minorities. Mainstream media have tended to ignore ethnic minorities or present them essentially in terms of the social problems they create for the majority (see Riggins, 1992a: 2, and Downing and Husband, 2005: 139). This kind of practice is problematic in two ways. First, it does not offer the audience of the mainstream media an opportunity to expand their knowledge of ethnic minorities and the society as a whole. This again contributes to continued racism (see Campbell, 1995: 33). Secondly, it also contributes to the self-image (see ibid.) of ethnic minorities, and thus to their defining of themselves as ethnic groups. In doing this, the mainstream media does not further a rich multicultural environment. Academic research has been much more concerned with media representations of ethnic minorities, including Native Americans, than with studies which analyze how ethnic minorities perceive such representations. Peggy Bieber-Roberts, Mary Brown, and Kevin Fuller (1995) have, however, looked at these very perceptions. Their survey used a questionnaire of closed-ended and open-ended questions to interview 215 Arapahoe and Shoshone Indians about the treatment of Native people in non-Native news media. According to the interviewed Arapahoes and Shoshones, non-Native media portray Native people and their society in a predominantly negative light. The key stereotype, the respondents argued, was the portrayal of Natives as bad people, and their society as violent. This was most visible in responses where Natives said Anglo media painted Indians as alcoholics, and stupid, violent, second-rate citizens (ibid.: 6).

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Another frequent stereotype is the primitiveness of Native people, the respondents said, often connected to movie depictions, as in the following: “They portray us like we are still living in teepees and riding horses. Like we don’t even have any knowledge about the modern world, that we are thieves and drunks” (ibid.: 7). Also, media reinforce the image of Native peoples as invisible and neglected. In the words of one respondent, “We are always at the bottom of everything. They don’t seem to realize that we are here too” (ibid.: 8). We can read the mystification and stereotyping of Natives in the media and the pain of reality in one of the Indian respondent’s statement: “To me, non-Native media portrays Indians in . . . the blue light of the hopeless, homeless alcoholic in the inner cities. Always their favorite is that of the people in our Native finery, moving to the ancient heartbeat of our drums. As if we could dance away the inequity, the suicides and despair” (Bieber-Roberts, Brown, and Fuller, 1995: 8). Beyond Bieber-Roberts, Brown, and Fuller (1995), we have little research on how Native Americans view media representation of them. Responses to their survey indicate that there is a close similarity between how the Native people see themselves portrayed by non-Native media and how the non-Native media actually represents them. The representations of non-Native media marginalize and depict negative stereotypes. However, the mechanism behind this is more complicated than mere stimulus and response. Rather, it is a mesh of biased media coverage which, if anything, repeats old stereotypes and portrays the “dark side” of Native societies without paying attention to the real socioeconomic difficulties which Native Americans have. Such a harmful combination serves only to circulate harmful meanings which do little to strengthen the Native people’s self-esteem. Drawing on their Native respondents for information about non-Native news media, Bieber-Roberts, Brown, and Fuller (1995: 10) claim there is powerful evidence “that the media help to influence, shape and create low self-esteem and low aspirations among Native people.” The consequences of low self-esteem are concrete and fatal. As psychological processes, they can lead to self-hatred and result in suicides, alcoholism and violence. Eduardo and Bonnie Duran (1995: 29), who have worked with the psychological problems of Native Americans, speak about internalized and externalized self-hatred which may be held by an individual and/or a group. Suicides and alcoholism are consequences of internalized self-hatred, while violence springs from externalized self-hatred. Social problems resulting from self-hatred are severe in Native communities. Native Americans have the highest rate of violent crimes of any group, with homicide and suicide rates almost double that of U.S. all-races


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rates (Duran and Duran, 1995: 29, refer here to Abbas, 1982; French and Hornbuckle, 1982). The violence in Native communities is directed towards other Native Americans and could be interpreted as domestic violence, defined as violence within the Native American extended family. Although the authors found no current incidence studies, they attest, after decades of work in Native American communities, “to the astronomical incidence of domestic violence within the Native American nuclear family.” The root of the anger in domestic violence is toward the oppressor; but the oppressor reacts very quickly to any violence. The great numbers of Native Americans in prisons reflect this. According to the authors: “Therefore, it is safer for the perpetrator to cathart his/her anger on a helpless family member who represents the hated part of him/herself” (ibid.: 29-30). To Natives, the media have clearly been part of the violent social developments in Native communities because they highlight hopeless representations. By dwelling on negative events when reporting on Native Americans, mainstream media only follow their common news criteria, but this does harm in small ethnic minority communities. What has been said about American news criteria and African Americans can also be easily applied to Native Americans. As Christopher P. Campbell (1995: 30) states, referring to Martindale (1986), “Clearly American journalism’s emphasis on news as events, and as controversy, helps to produce a distorted picture of race relations and of American Blacks.” New ways to make ethnic minority news reports more balanced and sensitive relate both to mainstream media and the founding and development of ethnic minority media. In mainstream media, there were some increases in the number of minority journalists in the 1970s, but this development has come to a halt. More than half of the daily newspapers in the United States currently do not employ any minority journalists. African Americans make up less than 5 percent of all daily newspaper journalists (American Society of Newspaper Editors ASNE, 1992 in Campbell, 1995: 31). There is reason to assume that the percentage of Native American journalists is even smaller. Broadcast news organizations employ an equally low number of minorities, a number that declined further in the 1980s (Campbell, 1995: 31 refers to Johnson & Bullard-Johnson, 1988). Even when there has been some increase in the number of ethnic minority journalists, it has not helped change journalistic practices regarding minority reporting. A few minority journalists do not have the power to change newsroom policies which affect the news selection process and eliminate stories that do not fit the traditional news model (see Campbell, 1995: 31). The position of ethnic minority journalists in the mainstream media, whose policy often requires them to forget their ethnicity in reporting, is

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difficult. And if they are worried about their career, that policy will “bind their hands.” The problems come up very clearly in the text of Wilson II and Gutiérrez (1995): A common complaint of non-White reporters working in mainstream newsrooms is the pressure of unwritten policy applied to their stories and ‘news angle’ ideas. This is the manifestation of news being defined in terms of the dominant cultural perspective. Both non-White and White reporters face sanctions when policy is violated. Sanctions include reprimand, loss of esteem among colleagues, and the lessening of opportunity for upward mobility in the organization. (pp. 161-162)

In addition, ethnic minority broadcasters in the United States are absent from executive positions. John D.H. Downing and Charles Husband (1994: 21, referring to Downing, 1994 and NGui, 1994) speak about the problem as a particular form of “strategic tokenism,” which “places those ethnic minority professionals in an invidious position both personally and professionally.” One option ethnic minority workers have exercised is operating outside the mainstream media on a contract basis. Downing and Husband (1994: 22) see two advantages in this. First, ethnic minority media workers obtain a large degree of organizational autonomy. Second, they develop a stronger sense of ethnic solidarity within their working environment. One additional advantage is also that mainstream media, though it can control its ethnic minority input, needs the linguistic and cultural skills of ethnic minority professionals to gain access to conflictual and stressful situations. Mainstream media professionals are excluded from these kinds of situations, either by physical threat or through their cultural incompetence. Nor is this option unproblematic for ethnic minority professionals. They always seem to struggle between two fronts (see Downing and Husband, 1994: 22). Providing ethnic minority voices in the mass media—and mainstream media in particular—is an important current issue. Many media organizations are concerned with whether there should be separate programming for minorities or whether the programs should be for big mainstream audiences. The Commission of Radio and Television Policy, for example, which considered options and suggestions for the improvement of news coverage involving ethnic and racial minorities in the United States and in the Republics of the former Soviet Union in November 1992, agreed that both


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types of coverage of ethnic concerns and issues were important (Browne, Firestone, and Mickiewicz, 1994: 157-158). The Commission emphasized that big audiences should receive information on minority issues: . . . It is critical to cover minority issues on the stations with the largest audiences, in order to assist both minorities in understanding themselves and their relations to the larger system, and the majority group’s comprehension of ethnic minorities. From the latter should spring tolerance, a new understanding of and empathy for minority group’s perspectives. (Browne, Firestone, and Mickiewicz, 1994: 157-158, referring to the Report of the Working Group)

The Commission also emphasized the importance of providing programming in the languages of the minorities. Such programming would be channeled to a special broadcast channel, cable television channel, or radio. Meanwhile, the main channel or channels could provide programs on minority ethnic issues in the majority’s language. In addition, the Commission recommended that ethnic issues are reported both by minority and majority reporters and commentators, and that more general stories should also be covered by minority citizens. Further, minorities should make programs about their own culture for the majority audience in the language of the majority audience (Browne, Firestone, and Mickiewicz, 1994: 159-160).

NATIVE AMERICAN MEDIA AND NEW INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW OF GOALS AND DEVELOPMENTS Native Americans have not only been an object of representation in the mainstream media, but they are also users of the media and actors who use their own media. They have entered the media world, or “Media Age” in Marshall McLuhan’s words, in a relatively short time, only since the mid-1960s. Hanay Geiogamah (1994: 701), who has written about this subject, states that no single event or happening can be named as the starting point of this cultural process. The Native Americans moved toward the media age at the same time as ethnicity was claiming a large share of the nation’s attention in the media as a human and economic reality. Since the entry of Native communities into the media age, the change has been dramatic. It has meant a move from an oral, personal

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mode of communication to a mass communication which is technological and non-personal. But we do not know exactly the direction this change will take in Native societies. In the words of the writer who has thoroughly considered this development: Whether this fundamental change in communication modes and systems will prove a positive, beneficial advancement for Indian people and their traditional cultures and belief systems is a question that won’t be answered completely any time in the near future. But already this revolution is redefining the identity and role of American Indian communicators and artists, and a productive track record from it has been established and is growing. (Geiogamah, 1994: 702)

From the mid-1960s, Native Americans became aware of the creative excitement generated by the civil rights movements and of the opportunities to bring up grievances, demands and moral concerns that had solidified when “American Indians were at the bottom of the ethnic ladder in the American melting pot” (Geiogamah, 1994: 701). This was seen as new attitudes, new skills, and unified campaigns involving many tribes and as a revision of the images of the Indians, both in their own minds and in the minds of non-Indians (ibid.: 701-702). In some areas reforms have happened quickly, while others have changed much more slowly, as shown above in the representations and images of Indians. Many Native American media professional associations have evolved since the 1970s. The basics of their history have been outlined by Geiogamah (1994). In the 1970s, a group of American Indian journalists in Washington, D.C., established the American Indian Press Association. It encouraged many tribal communities and groups to sponsor news publications, many for the first time. Later it became the Native American Journalists’ Association. Also in the 1970s, the American Indian Theatre Ensemble, later the Native American Theatre Ensemble, was founded in New York City. In the early 1980s, Indian filmmakers created the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Its aim is to support and encourage Native work in television, video, and motion pictures. Its members and contributors have produced works for educational, cultural and arts development programs around the country. The Consortium has also strongly supported American Indian television programming on many public television stations. The work related to the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium brought with it the American Indian


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Producers Group in 1990. The Group consists of Native video artists, filmmakers, directors, writers and producers and pursues an agenda of self-sufficiency and self-determination within the media industry. Another new development was the launch of the American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts, established in Los Angeles in 1983. It serves as an advocate for and promoter of American Indian actors, directors, producers and technical personnel who are entering mainstream professions in film and television. Thus, Indians involved in media are organizing. The goals of Native American media generally do not differ from the goals of ethnic minority media. They both seek to fend off assimilation into mainstream culture and to preserve an ethnic minority’s linguistic and cultural identity. In their quest for avoiding assimilation and preserving their cultural identity, minority group members would rather see themselves in assertive postures as active agents for change instead of being depicted as passive victims in the hands of others (see Riggins, 1992b: 282-283). This comes out in the words of the famous Native American producer Peggy Berryhill (1995). She even refers to the term “new Indian movement” when speaking about telecommunications and the growth of public radio stations on Indian reservations: Native people are doing for themselves what cannot be accomplished by the mainstream media. They are sharing their communities’ concerns in their own voices, uninterrupted by cultural interpreters and reporters who lack the background to understand the complex issues of contemporary Native life, issues such as gaming, sovereignty, jurisdiction, and religious freedom. (Berryhill, 1995: 149-150)

By giving a voice in their own language to their own point of view, Native media helps to preserve cultural and linguistic identity. As such, it offers a viable strategy for ethnic minority survival. It avoids the danger of reducing cultural traditions to the level of folklore. It may also help promote the evolution of languages in a way which adapts to the requirements of modern societies, as is emphasized by Stephen Harold Riggins (1992a: 3). There is more, however, to consider in the functions of ethnic minority media. While they help to keep alive an ethnic minority’s cultural identity, minority media may also inadvertently foster the assimilation of their audiences to mainstream values (see Riggins, 1992a: 4 refers to Black & Leichtner, 1987; Hardt, 1989; Subervi-Vélez, 1986; Wilson & Gutiérrez,

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1985; Zubrzycki, 1958). Riggins reminds us about this in the context of immigrant media of the early twentieth century (ibid., refers to Park, 1922; Bogardus, 1933). According to Riggins, many early twentieth-century sociologists concluded that the immigrant press promoted assimilation, because it served as one of the major means of providing information about the dominant social values of their host society. It is therefore more than feasible to assume that ethnic minority media should fulfill both functions. Scholars such as Federico Subervi-Vélez (1986 in Riggins, 1992a: 4) highlight the “dual role” of ethnic media: on the one hand we have the promotion of group uniqueness, while on the other there is the promotion of assimilation. However, the difference between immigrants’ ethnic media and indigenous peoples’ media is significant. While we can readily acknowledge that the promotion of assimilation is one key facet of the immigrants’ media, we should recall what Riggins said about the ethnic minority media’s unwitting advancement of assimilation. This is crucial in the media of indigenous peoples. Now, assimilation may be the result of the actual practices of indigenous media rather than a conscious goal. Also, when talking about the relationship to the dominant culture, the more accurate term would perhaps be the fostering of integration. In this case, Berry’s (1990) views of integration are instructive: an acculturation attitude helps an ethnic minority both in preserving its own original culture and in maintaining contacts to a majority culture (Berry, 1990: 217). The third function involves the attitudes of the majority to an ethnic minority. According to Riggins (1992a: 5), indigenous residents have the political upper hand in claiming for language and cultural protection because their claims are likely to be seen as more legitimate than the claims of immigrants. This helps the long-term survival of minority media, since it relies on a positive disposition by the majority population towards indigenous aspirations (Browne, 1996: 6). The majority owes much to, and has much to learn from, indigenous peoples. The indigenous media also have a role in this educational process. Could the education of the majority population be a third function of ethnic minority media? Browne maintains (1996: 59) it should be one of its core functions. Majority populations could also benefit from learning more about indigenous peoples and traditional values. Riggins (1992a: 4-5), for instance, categorizes Native Americans in accordance with geographical origins and traditional values, but he also cautions against simple connotations. It may be dangerous and even misleading to use concepts such as “traditional” and “modern” in conjunction with indigenous groups. He reminds us that they should not be seen as synonyms of backwardness and advancement.


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While “traditional” is often connected to behavior that hinders cultural change, Riggins disagrees (referring to J.J. Smolicz, 1988: 388): “It is erroneous to regard tradition as invariably hindering social change since, in a society with a long established civilization, resilience depends on new developments being incorporated into traditional values. At the same time, a tradition can only survive the vicissitudes of time and continue to flourish if it accommodates itself to the present.” The history of Native American media goes back to 1828, when the first American Indian newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, came out in present-day Calhoun County, Georgia. It was the first in a series of newspapers published by and for Native Americans (Murphy, 1983: 23-24). The development of Native broadcasting started almost 150 years later. Michael C. Keith (1995), whose book Signals in the Air is the first book-length study of Native broadcasting in America, describes its birth as belated and its evolution as slow. This is the case, especially in comparison with Canada, where government support has been far more substantial (ibid.: xviii). Nonetheless, Native Americans have harnessed the airwaves. It is difficult to give the exact number of broadcast stations, but by 1995, for example, there were at least 26 Indian-owned non-commercial radio stations operating in the mainland U.S.A., the oldest stations having started in 1972 (Orozco, 1995: 25). By 2001, there were 30 American Indian radio stations, and during that year three more were expected to go on the air in Montana and Arizona (Robbins, 2001). The development of community radio has been rapid in Alaska in particular, where radio conquered isolated villages in rural areas in the early 1970s. In fifteen years, there were ten full-service stations in communities of populations less than 2,500 (Daley and James, 2004: 139). Usually, American Indian radio stations are publicly financed through tribes, grants and underwriting. An exception is KTNN, the Navajo station in Window Rock, which operates commercially. These stations are important landmarks of Native American identity. As Keith puts it, they are “modern symbols of the will to abide” (Keith, 1995: xvii). The broadcast stations are largely the result of a move away from Indian assimilation of White people’s ways (government policy during the first half of the century) toward a plan for self-determination and cultural preservation (ibid.: xviii). The past two decades in particular have seen the growth of a unique medium that employs satellite technology to beam Native programming to indigenous stations of the United States and the world. Now American Indian broadcasters are charting their routes on the information highways. The American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) was set the task of providing Native stations with a unique programming service in 1994. It is a joint

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project of the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC) and the Indigenous Communications Association (ICA) (Berryhill, 1995: 151). It is headquartered with NAPBC in Lincoln, Nebraska, and managed by Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT), which is also the initial project grantee and fiscal sponsor of the network. Major financial supporters are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the Northwest Area Foundation, and network affiliated stations (AIROS Fact Sheet). AIROS is a nation-wide distribution network for Native programming that reaches tribal communities and general audiences through Native American and other public radio stations. Distribution is available five days a week on the Public Radio Satellite System. AIROS network’s flagship program is a live one-hour call-in show, distributed to Native American radio stations and the National Public Radio system, Monday through Friday at noon CDST. This call-in show, “Native America Calling,” reaches at least 250,000 radios each week. In addition, about 50,000 people a month receive it on the Internet at http://www.nativecalling.org (see Robbins, 2001). The AIROS network has been described as extremely important for the future of Native broadcasting (see Keith, 1995: 127). The AIROS network was replaced in the summer of 2006 by Native Voice One (NV1) as the nation’s major distributor of Native programming produced by tribal stations. NV1 is a division of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, which is an Alaska Native media organization based in Anchorage. NV1 streams Native programming around the world via its website, http://www.nv1.org, distributing material to Native American radio stations across the United States and Canada. It also introduces mainstream radio outlets to Native programming (Lee, 2006). Satellite technology is also used in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Distance Learning Network, headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. The AIHEC Telecommunications Project is comprised of 29 tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs-controlled (BIA) community colleges and universities, located in 12 states. Of the 29 institutions, 25 are located among tribal nations in remote areas of the country. The mission of the tribal colleges is to foster educational opportunities for American Indians and Alaska Natives in an atmosphere that reflects and promotes the cultural heritage of the Native people they serve. The purpose of the AIHEC is to connect the colleges in a seamless telecommunications system sharing limited educational resources. By using a network to deliver and receive telecourses, videoconferences, and in-service training for faculty and staff, resources are also available for various federal, state, and tribal employees (AIHEC Distance Learning Network Fact Sheet).


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Telecommunications applications (such as computer networking, videoconferencing, multimedia, digital and wireless technologies) and their uses is an actual communication issue concerning American Indian communities (see U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995: Foreword, iii). Native Americans started claiming their territory in cyberspace in the first half of the 1990s. The first Native American nation who put up a web page were the Oneida Indians, in May 1994. According to interviews of Oneida Indian Nation employees by Jean Armour Polly (1998: 39), they were not only the first sovereign Indian nation to put up a web page, but they had perhaps one of the first websites among the nations in the world. When theirs came on, there were only about 5,000 web pages on the net (Polly, 1998: 37, 39). The Hopi Tribe received its official website (http://www.hopi.nsn.us) in the summer of 1999, when it formed an important “ramp” into the information super highway (see the Hopi Tutuveni, July 20, 1999: 3). In August 1995, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) published a report at the request of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The report discusses the opportunities for Native Americans to use telecommunications in culture, education, health care, economic development, and governance. It also explores the challenges to realizing these opportunities and the barriers, such as technology infrastructure and access to it, technical training, leadership, strategic partnership, and telecommunications planning on Indian reservations and in Alaskan villages and Native Hawaiian communities. OTA also developed the Native American Resource Page for its study, a website accessible via OTA Online (http://www.ota. gov/nativea.html) (Herdman, 1995: iii). This report, the first federal government report on Native American telecommunications, involved Native Americans throughout the study. The strengthening of Native American leadership in telecommunications issues, both at the local and national levels, was emphasized in the policy implications of the report (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Telecommunications, Technology and Native Americans: Opportunities and Challenges, 1995). The report presented both an optimistic and a pessimistic year 2000 scenario of telecommunications. According to the optimistic scenario, telecommunications creates jobs in Native-owned companies in the field, markets Native-produced arts and crafts electronically, develops and promotes tourist and recreational activities on or near Native lands, provides expertise and competitive skills to Native entrepreneurs, provides infrastructure for business startups in Native areas, and manages Native lands and financial resources (ibid.: 3,5). Under the pessimistic scenario, the inadequacies of rural Native American economies and telecommunications infrastructure

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continue to prove too great to overcome. If this is the case, unemployment rates will continue to exceed 50 percent on many reservations. In addition, the report estimates that about one-half of American Indian homes in rural areas still do not have telephone service, which is far below the nationwide average. Moreover, “Native Americans run the risk of being exploited by, rather than controlling, the technology” (ibid.: 5-6). Meeting the demands of the optimistic scenario is neither a quick nor an easy process in Native communities, whose value-based aspirations may not include promoting more tourism or developing competitive skills. On the other hand, there are and will be those for whom developing a home page and surfing and producing on the Internet is easy and natural. A comment by Ojibway Indian Turtle Heart in the Denver Post, (March 29, 1995: 1F) is a case in point: “For reasons which may become apparent over time, I have become a scout or a runner in this Internet. I drop songs as my offerings as I seek along this new migration path, the Cyber-Bearing Crossing, a new route for singing, a new trail for the dust of our clinging to the tribal contract with this sacred creation” (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995: 13). In any case, Native people and Native governments have big issues to resolve in approaching information policy on telecommunications. The problems are both shared and specific. Among the general problems are concerns about privacy and cultural and intellectual property rights. Specific problems include controlling access to sensitive religious, spiritual, and ceremonial information transmitted electronically and protecting the integrity of the information content (e.g., Native artwork or traditional healing) from alteration, misrepresentation, or misuse (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology, 1995: 12). The OTA report states that Indian tribes have “significant authority to set rules and regulate the use of information on their own reservations. However, tribal members are citizens of both the tribe and the United States: constitutional and federal issues, such as privacy, security, and freedom of speech and press are more than relevant.” This “dual citizenship” will bring big tensions in information policy planning, if religious, spiritual and ceremonial communication is approached from the viewpoint of freedom of speech and press. This is one of the central areas where the core of Native culture and a basic Euro-American tenet are in opposition.

NATIVE AMERICAN RADIO AND ITS AUDIENCES In Native communities, radio is a particularly central medium. The Native radio station has been depicted aptly by Jerry Kammer, writing in June,


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1993, for the Arizona Republic: “Radio is the dominant means of communication on a reservation where most families don’t have telephones and many live in the sort of spectacularly lonely canyon butte and mesa country that has shaped the world’s images of the Wild West” (Keith, 1995: 98). Not only is it the dominant medium, but sometimes radio, and especially Native radio, is the only medium available on a reservation. The importance of Native radio for Navajos has been endorsed by the former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peterson Zah, who speaks of it as “the primary form of communication” and mentions that on many reservations these radio stations are the only communication companies. Donald R. Browne (1996) has studied indigenous electronic media and its audiences worldwide. According to him (p. 77), indigenous audiences are more predominantly female than male, and older (40+ years) rather than younger. This is not, however, the whole picture. Younger listeners tend to listen to indigenous radio stations in the mid- to late afternoon hours and late in the evening. Most of the formal surveys have been conducted, however, in and around towns and small cities, rather than in larger urban areas. E.B. Eiselein’s 1992 survey (Browne, 1996: 77) showed that all but one of eleven stations reached more than half of their target populations—Native Americans—in an average week. Meanwhile, Apache radio KNNB, in Whiteriver, Arizona, reaches 89 percent of its target population on a daily basis. Eiselein’s survey also showed that many Native stations are in a competitive situation with other nonNative broadcast sources. Some Native stations direct programming to non-Indian listeners. Among these is the Navajo nation’s KTNN, whose program “Navajo Nights” is designed for the station’s non-Native listeners. Native programs’ routes to mainstream audiences through primary distributors of public radio programming have not been painless, and there is still a lot to do with stereotypes connected to Native Americans. Neither has mainstream distribution made space for Native American intellectuals, maintains Native producer Peggy Berryhill: As an Indian, I knew that there was a tremendous interest in our people, our cultures, our histories, and our lifeways. As a producer, I have continually fought for quality time slots, not Sunday morning 6 A.M. or Wednesday night 10 P.M. slots reserved for minority programs. One of the biggest battles we wage as Native producers is against stereotypes. This struggle is on-going. (Berryhill, 1995: 152)

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According to this Native producer’s comment, mainstream distribution should rethink and rearrange their Native programming to provide a broader view of Native life and make it more accessible for its audiences. In Native communities, Native programming has more possibilities to reach its audience, especially when Native radio is the only medium available. However, when there are many media competing for the Native audience, Native programs, says KSHI’s Duane Chimoni (Keith, 1995: 123), must “make sense” so that the listeners do not switch off. Sense-making for a community and its different groups and individuals is the key for a broadcaster, but producing such programming is also very demanding.

PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES OF NATIVE AMERICAN MEDIA The focus on Native American media thus far has been on general developments. Some central functions of ethnic minority media including Native American media need to be studied more carefully. Three central functions are: 1) the preservation of linguistic and cultural identity, or, in other words, the promotion of group uniqueness, 2) the promotion of integration, which is needed to maintain contacts with the majority culture, and 3) the education of the majority population. Of these, the preservation of linguistic and cultural identity, including the cultural traditions of an ethnic minority, is the most vulnerable area of ethnic media operation. This is where cultural erosion is at its strongest. The forces and challenges of erosion are imminent on the “touching surfaces” where cultures meet, in language, technology, and the comprehension of informational publicity. Language Clearly, a key goal of ethnic minority media is the advancement of Native language and culture. While this applies to Native American media, there are also concerns in the promoting of Native languages. One has to do with inadequate language skills, which may be evident in two ways. First, some radio stations have had a hard time finding competent Native speakers. This is the case in KGHR, a radio station in Tuba City, Arizona, which is largely staffed by students and which has struggled to find young Navajos and Hopis able to speak their language (see Keith, 1995: 118, refers to manager Stu Schader). Secondly, some Native audiences, used to mainstream media, may not be impressed by Native broadcasting professionals who may not have the perfect announcer skills (see ibid.: 109). For the most part, Native media are inevitably entwined in a larger mediascape, which has eroded, and continues to erode, the Native speakers’


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language skills and those of media professionals and audiences. And more, mainstream media have also created preferences which may have predisposed the audiences to certain expectations, challenging Native media and Native languages. The issue of inadequate language skills is compounded by other problems which arise in the usage of Native languages in media, when an attempt is made to adapt to the forms and practices of the majority language and mainstream media. As Donald R. Browne (1996: 61-62) has pointed out, what the auditive language of radio and the visual language of television do is take away the power of expression and/or change the natural communication conventions of indigenous languages. The electronic media, for example, which has an inherently quickened pulse, cannot easily carry minute-length pauses, although these are typical in many indigenous languages. The languages make use of pauses as signs of deliberation, careful consideration of another point of view, or respect and politeness. If the pauses do not make their way into the electronic media, an essential element of the language is lost (ibid.: 61). Conversely, if the pauses are used in broadcasting, this can be interpreted (by a reporter or an interviewer) as showing a lack of professionalism. As regards television, many indigenous cultures have different visual codes, such as not looking directly at another individual in many circumstances. If an indigenous television production uses this code with a majority culture audience, misunderstandings can be predicted. This in turn may prompt indigenous television productions to resort to the visual conventions of majority culture. In media practices, ethnic minority media—operating in ethnic minority languages—may be prone to discarding some of the linguistic subtleties. However, according to Riggins (1992b: 283), these media contribute crucially to the continuing survival of minority languages. They are able to modernize the languages by adding new technical vocabularies related to contemporary life. By speaking a Native language, they also give young people opportunities to be role models. The very use of minority languages in the media sustains them publicly, which can be important for their survival in the eyes of young people. Indigenous media have been essential, for example, to the Sámi language in the Nordic countries. As Veli-Pekka Lehtola has said (2002: 91), the media has both developed and given prominence to the Sámi language. We need to reach the young people in and outside the media, in families and school, if we are to preserve minority languages. Having analyzed indigenous electronic media globally, Donald L. Browne finds it essential to have programming in indigenous languages which involves music, sports,

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and disk jockey patter: it is these programs that interest young people. The use of a Native language in the context of cultural traditions and in disk jockey banter are two different formats, however, which some indigenous cultures believe should be kept apart. The issue of how a Native language is used in the media calls for sensitivity. Technology The electronic media has found it particularly hard to tackle the transformation of traditional communication and cultural traditions. Colliding cultures in the context of media technology have resulted in clashes between majority and ethnic minority cultures and in inter-generational conflicts in ethnic minority cultures. The experiences of radio listeners in Native American communities remain little analyzed. One key study is Stephen Rada’s (1978) research in Ramah, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northwestern New Mexico in 1975. He found that radio as an institution was supposed to be committed to the preservation of culture and identity, while in reality it proved a vehicle for modernity and Anglo values (Rada, 1978: 365). This was the case because the Anglo engineering crew in charge of the station’s set-up and staff training conceived of radio in terms of the engineering and FCC (Federal Communications Commission) licensing requirements. Their concerns did not extend to cultural imperatives. Their approach therefore failed to take into account the unique nature and needs of Navajo oral culture. As Rada says, the outcome “was not so much a unique Navajo radio station as an Anglo station operated and programmed by Navajos” (Rada, 1978: 364). The problem depicted by Rada also highlights problems in intercultural communication. Representatives of majority culture and technologies may fail to grasp the aims of minority cultures. In this case, nobody aimed to cause harm to Native culture, quite the opposite. The harm was done when oral culture was lost in the everyday of a typical radio operation with the necessary time and program constraints. And yet, the Navajo radio station satisfied a great many of the expectations of the Navajo leadership, who identified the following among the advantages: a sense of community, a role in accelerating economic and educational development, and, to some extent, endorsement of the community leaders’ efforts in focusing the attention of the Ramah Navajo on their cultural heritage and identity. However, Rada is careful to point out that radio has also had consequences which were hardly intended: “Radio, a product of electronic technology, imposes its assumptions upon those who serve it, as well as those who listen to it. Among those assumptions is the belief that


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technology is of a higher order than traditions and values” (Rada, 1978: 364). Rada argues that the negative impacts of radio are connected to the level of willingness, interest, and cooperation of the community leaders to work through radio to preserve the stories, legends, and songs of Navajo culture. Radio, the cassette tape recorder, and, in a broader sense, the culture of technology have not convinced the elders of the role of collaboration. In many cases, the result has been a total refusal to discuss Navajo culture, which has kept cultural traditions unrecorded. Many of the interviewees famously claim that the younger generation does not appreciate or want to hear Navajo history and traditions (Rada, 1978: 364-365). I, too, have seen mistrust in the traditions between Native generations in the context of Navajo culture. As a tourist sightseeing in an open car in Monument Valley in May 1989, I was approached by a young Navajo man of about twenty who argued that Navajo elders did not want to speak to the young people about traditions because they were afraid that they would “sell them out.” Based on this comment, the distrust would seem to go far beyond electronic media. The unfavorable elements in media technology, or clashes between majority and ethnic minority cultures, have also been explored in Patrick Daley’s and Beverly James’s (1992) research on indigenous broadcasting in Alaska. It clearly shows how the state planners were too trustful of the possibilities of technology as such, and depended too much on a conception of communication that did not work for the local people. With little knowledge of the local cultures, the planners believed that communication hardware would resolve the issue of modernization and education. They only paid passing attention to communication as an interaction. Daley and James (1992: 40) see the emphasis on instrumental, technological values as fatal to cultural values. In developing the use of communication technology in Alaska, cultural values were overthrown by efficiency, technique, and speed: Once the decision to concentrate on instrumental, technological values was made, there was no turning back. The opportunity for alternative programming congruent with native cultures was lost. In keeping with Alaska’s frontier spirit, the communications system was erected with an uncritical optimism over humankind’s ability to conquer nature’s limits through technology.

Still, despite such damaging outcomes, media technology can also bring benefits. Studying communications in the Canadian North, Valerie Alia

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(1999: 7) maintains that new technologies are so widely appealing precisely because many of the indigenous communities are so remote. A Native radio station can be “the voice of a community,” where the listeners become an integral part with their very concrete needs, “essentials for survival, whether blankets on a cold night or community news,” as public radio station manager Anna Kosof has said of the Lakotas’ KILI station (Keith, 1995: 99). This does not, however, do away with the special need for sensitivity when transferring cultural traditions, not to mention the ways of coping with the generation gap. Different View of Publicity Sensitivity is a key issue also when dealing with publicity, which Native American cultures see differently than mainstream culture. What lies at the core of a Native American point of view is the issue of “the right to know.” As a Hopi representative on the Hopi Reservation clarified, the right to free speech is tied up with something called the right to know. This, however, may clash with the Hopis’ standard of law, where one does not need to know everything, especially when it comes to religion. Hopis understand that you have to have an authority to know and to speak, and as a listener you need to have a privilege and a right to know. For this, you have to be initiated. One Hopi woman explained: “We are all pieces of a pie, or we are a wheel. You can only speak for your own piece of a pie, if you know it. Then we have trust that whatever each group does, it is not beneficial only for that one group, but for all society.” The Native standard of law, for example, does not recognize public criticism as a method of social control. Criticism is offered privately, within the villages. In a Hopi religious context, this interviewee explained, criticism is given in a religious society and as counsel. Criticism is not criticism in the Western sense: “Western criticism is often emotions, pro and con, liking and not liking something. It is defined as expressions. It does not need reasons. In Hopi religious context, criticism is given in a religious society, and as a guidance” (ibid.). A heritage of this kind entails that there are public and non-public areas. Non-public areas are sacred and are commonly more or less taboo. Religion is often in the domain of the non-public and sacred, as is the privacy of people. Such heritages will shift slowly if at all. They are and will be a stumbling block for journalists who come from different cultural backgrounds, and will also challenge journalists who belong to Native American groups. At the same time, claims have been made for the sphere of publicity in Native American media to be arranged in the spirit of the First Amendment.


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The conflict of opinions concerning publicity is inside Native American communities. ICA’s Joseph Orozco (cited in Keith, 1995: 125) sees the conflict as the major problem of Native radio and puts it into a historical perspective: The major problem facing Native radio is the same that faces Native newspapers—inherited oppression. Our own tribal governments, our own tribal people, are the major barriers to the free exercise of the First Amendment by Native media. Over the generations, Native people have learned not to trust one another. We have learned that it is possible to bully others to go along with us. One of the great fallacies we continue to perpetuate, usually at the tribal council level, is the notion that if we keep the control of the amount and type of information that goes out, we can maintain control and protection of our destiny. (see Keith, 1995: 125)

Views on the issue of publicity in Native American communities differ, and it must be for the people of each of these communities to decide where the public sphere ends and the private begins. Concerns of publicity are deep-rooted practices in culture, and resist change. The focus above has been on ethnic minority media’s function to preserve linguistic and cultural identity, and the approach has been based on intercultural communication. In addition, the function must also be approached from the vantage point of communication within the ethnic minority community. For reaching its ultimate purpose, the preservation of linguistic and cultural identity, ethnic minority media must find trust between generations and different groups in the communities. While the older generation has much knowledge about traditional culture, the younger generations know how to make that knowledge available. In addition, both groups have knowledge about sensitive issues compared to outsiders. Those who run the media must especially trust in the young, for, as Riggins (1992b: 285) puts it, “modern media cannot passively perpetuate culture, but interact with it.”

INFLUENCES OF MODERN COMMUNICATION ON TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES The introduction of any form of modern communication actualizes questions about culture change. Russell Means, one of the founders of the American Indian Movement, has taken what could be called a technopessimistic attitude to literacy’s influences. He foresees only detrimental consequences from new communications technologies, which Riggins (1992a) has cited:

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Media and Ethnic Identity I detest writing. The process itself epitomizes the European concept of ‘legitimate’ thinking; what is written has an importance that is denied the spoken. My culture, the Lakota culture, has an oral tradition and so I ordinarily reject writing. It is one of the white world’s ways of destroying the cultures of non-European peoples; the imposing of an abstraction over the spoken relationship of a people. (Russell Means cited by Riggins, 1992a: 6)

As Riggins remarks, Means conveys the basic idea of medium theory: the preferred medium of communication of a society can be related to its cultural characteristics. A good summary of medium theory is provided by Joshua Meyrowitz (1986), who uses it to explain the social impacts of electronic media, television in particular, on North American culture. However, as Riggins (ibid.) points out, if Means’s statement were taken literally, the surest method for the protection of the “purity” of the culture in a society would be social isolation. This is impossible today without devastating consequences. Opposite to Means’ view about modern communication is the idea that broadcast media would simply continue the oral culture as a harmless branch of it. According to Riggins (ibid.), superficially broadcast media appear to convey information in a manner consistent with an oral culture. This view, however, overlooks two facts. First, television and radio are a part of everyday life, and thus contribute to culture change. Secondly, few minority groups have the financial means to create, on their own, all of the programming they broadcast and they are thus bound to transmit programming also produced by outsiders. The result of the programming is a “multicultural mix.” Following this, cultural isolation is very difficult to realize in a comprehensive mediated world. In addition, communications technologies have cultural impacts. That broadcast media is not just a continuum of oral culture does not, however, change the fact that radio is closer to indigenous oral tradition than, for example, print media. Native people themselves emphasize the radio’s naturalness to them. Barbara Dooblej, a Native from Ontario, Canada, describes Native people’s affinity to radio: “I think Native people are natural on air. They have so much humor when they tell stories. They are so full of life” (Morisseau, 1995: 21). Though communications technologies have their cultural impacts, audiences as active interpreters (see, for example, Fiske, 1987) have the power to regulate these influences. Recipients of different audiences are members of different cultures, and use values, myths and dreams for inter-


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preting mass mediated messages. One example of such interpretations of television messages, in the context of their own culture as it relates to Native North Americans, is the research of Granzberg, Steinbring, and Hamer (1977) (referred to also by Riggins 1992a: 7). Television’s introduction to Canadian Eskimos has also been analyzed by Sheldon O’Connell (1977) and Gary O. Coldevin (1977). Gary Granzberg, Jack Steinbring, and John Hamer (1977) studied the introduction of television to a remote Canadian Cree community by using participant-observation methods and surveys. To analyze the impact of television on the Crees, researchers first explored how Cree culture traditionally conceptualizes communication. They found two aspects which seemed to exert the most influence on the impact of TV. One applied to how communication with the distant points was established, and the other to how transmitted sights and sounds were interpreted. When establishing communication with distant points, Crees believe that they have always had the ability to bring “live” sights and sounds from distant places into their midst through “conjuring.” This occurs during the ceremony of the “shaking tent.” The “magic” of television, telephone or radio was not new for Crees in this sense. That magic of television, its reception of sights and sounds over long distances, reminded them of the “shaking tent” ceremony in which participants communicate with distant spirits. It was only natural that Crees gave TV and radio the same Cree name—koosabachigan—by which the shaking tent is known. In this Cree interpretation of sights and sounds, the spirits speaking through them were assumed to communicate truthfully. The content of television was also generally assumed to be truthful. There was evidence as well that some Crees began to study the programs for omens concerning their own future, as one might search for omens in dreams. Young Cree boys tended to identify strongly with television heroes, which indeed, seems to be the case everywhere, not only in the Cree community. Researchers also found that it was often the most traditional Crees who were the most critical of the content of television and worried about its effects on children. Shamans were supposed to protect the young from evil in the past, but they believed that no one protected them successfully from television’s sex and violence. In addition to the affect of superheroes on young boys, adults’ worries about the influence of TV sex and violence on children are quite commonly shared in different cultures. Granzberg et al. (1977) concluded: Traditional conceptions of communication influence the way new media are perceived and used. The traditional conceptions seem to cause the

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Media and Ethnic Identity Cree to be very susceptible to TV, to take it literally and seriously, to idolize the superhero characters, to read special messages into it concerning behavior requirements, and to be especially concerned about its potential harm to children. A fundamental tenet of classical anthropology states that as an item diffuses from one culture to another, its form, function and meaning may vary independently. TV, in its Western form, has diffused to the Cree, but its Western meaning and function have not. The Cree have added and substituted new meanings and functions which seem to have heavily influenced TV’s impact while, at the same time, preserving their own culture and smoothing acculturation process. . . . We cannot consider TV to be a uniform phenomenon cross-culturally: TV is a different thing to different people and its impact varies according to the cultural traditions that surround it. (p. 157)

The statements which Granzberg et al. (1977) make about considering television a different phenomenon cross-culturally and its different meaning in different cultural backgrounds have also been proven by other researchers (see, for example Liebes and Katz, 1990). In his research, Coldevin (1977) focused on the Native community of Frobisher Bay, 1,500 miles north of Montreal, Canada. His research indicated that television viewing came at the expense of radio listening, hobbies, reading, and visiting neighbors, some or all of which were principal activities prior to television. In common with other communities, this may be one of the most significant changes television has brought to Frobisher Bay; viewing is done at the expense of other activities, which has changed leisure time rituals and culture. The average viewing time of people in the community was 6.7 hours per day during weekdays and 7.4 hours per day during weekends. At the same time, 18 percent of the sample indicated that the set was left on all day during weekdays, while 21 percent reported that the TV was left continuously on during weekends. Among the most favorite programs were non-Native series. The only truly Inuit program “Tarqravut” or “Our North,” a 15-minute program featuring interviews and information on the Arctic, slotted between the Saturday night news and the late movie, was not high on people’s rankings. Coldevin (1977: 153) sums it up: “Television has captured a large portion of the lives of both Eskimo parents and children but is, for the most part, irrelevant to their deep-rooted social customs and environment. . . . ” The previous examples have shown television’s somehow smooth adaptation to Native life, because people have succeeded in “regulating”


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the impacts of the new medium on the basis of their own values and traditions. The biggest changes have occurred in “traditional” leisure patterns. On the other hand, there are also other kinds of conclusions about television’s and other mass media’s impacts in Native communities. They have to do with media presentations. Patrick J. Daley and Beverly James (1992: 23) claim that the long-standing assimilation policy in the United States, which has worked reasonably well with immigrants sharing the dominant culture’s European heritage, has often had tragic consequences for Native Americans. The reasons spring from mass media and boarding schools, which have helped Natives believe that, compared to everything that other Americans are shown to have, they are worthless. Before commercial television, the development of telecommunications policy and different experiments in satellite technology for educational and health purposes in rural, sparsely populated Alaska were guided by the view of development as a participatory process. As shown in the research of Daley and James (1992: 27), the state planners were misguided overly to trust the possibilities of technology per se. They formulated a view of communication which did not work with local people and lacked knowledge of local cultures. Giving only fleeting attention to communication as interaction, the state planners were convinced that communication hardware was the solution in modernization and education. According to research, the projects which sought to establish rural communication networks implicitly indicated that the right to communicate was rigidly understood as the right to access information, hardware and software facilities. This, of course, is very important as such, but such a conception of communication entirely ignores the notion of interaction (see Habermas, 1979: 3 and also Daley and James, 1992: 28). Communication, then, is not real interaction; it is closer to the transmission of values. This transmission view of communication, as James W. Carey (1989: 18) states, has dominated American thought and culture with its religious undercurrents. According to Carey, the traits of this view of communication are present in contemporary technical discussions of new communications technology. “From the telegraph to the computer the same sense of profound possibility for moral improvement is present whenever these machines are invoked.” Daley’s and James’s findings lead to the assumption that one significant reason for the failure of a participatory model in Alaska was to draw on the transmission view of communication in setting it up. It is common practice to apply these kinds of coordinates in other countries’ intercultural projects as well. Like Alaska, other states and countries with indigenous people have witnessed modern communications technologies’ impact on the pattern of

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life in communities. Avoiding these technologies is almost impossible. They also provide challenges to indigenous groups, who have to decide about their use and content. As active interpreters, indigenous recipients may also regulate the productions of these technologies, which usually are, in Riggins’s words (1992a: 6), a “multicultural mix.” If this mix, however, continues to give Natives impressions that they are worthless, the Native recipients’ possibilities for positive interpretations of their identity are not very likely. Some cyberspace philosophers have nevertheless seen Internet as an opportunity for positive identity construction in indigenous communities. James Hrynyshyn finds the Internet an ideal match for indigenous tribes. He argues that virtual communities maintain coherent group identities and resist assimilating into a larger society. He also believes that because the Internet can support a mixture of audio, video, and text, it is well suited to the oral story-telling traditions of indigenous communities. In addition he predicts that the Internet will help preserve artifacts of indigenous cultures, which will make them stronger. Hrynyshyn, however, admits that the Internet can also induce pressures to “merge, interact, and standardize” (Zellen, 1998: 51-52). On the other hand, more critical voices have been raised in the discussion of the Internet’s impact on indigenous communities. This discussion is strongest in the Northwest regions in Canada. Jim Bell, editor of the bilingual newspaper Nunatsiaq News, is not that certain about the Internet’s potential for preserving indigenous culture or language. Though the Internet increases one’s ability to store information, it does not help if an elder’s grandchildren do not speak the indigenous language. Bell says: “If you want to keep a culture alive, you have to use it. The medium does not really matter.” He thinks, however, that other tools such as CD-ROM, digital video discs and other multimedia technologies might be more suitable as information storage tools than the Internet (Zellen, 1998: 52). More critical is Fred Lepine, a Métis writer, who believes that the Internet has “the ability to completely dismantle even strong cultures.” On the basis of television’s impacts, he argues that learning about other cultures weakens traditional interpersonal relations. According to him, the Internet has assimilating power which comes from its accessibility. On the other hand, Lepine believes that the risk of assimilation is balanced by many potential benefits of the Internet, including its ability to network indigenous peoples (Zellen, 1998: 52). Maybe the most interesting part in Lepine’s reflection on the impacts of the Internet is his worry for the loss of traditional ways of thinking.


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He claims that the digital age requires people to think in a more goal-oriented, logical, and linear way. Traditional indigenous thinking, meanwhile, involves “a more interconnected, abstract, and circular sense that is often based in intuition.” Lepine calls this “round thinking.” To him, such thinking has kept indigenous people alive for thousands of years and also kept the planet flourishing. To survive the virtual world, Lepine sees one must combine the traditional ways of thinking with “acceptable Western technology” (Zellen, 1998: 53). When analyzing the impacts of communication technologies on traditional societies, including Native American communities, perhaps the biggest outcome is that they change the use of time. This can be seen very quickly, when technologies such as television are introduced in communities, as proven by the research done among Canadian Inuits. The magic of television is, after all, to capture the minds, to take the time away from something else. And if the world of the screen is totally different from one’s own world, it may help remove all value from one’s own culture. What could be a more genuine remark about the impacts of mainstream television and the absence of Native television than the comment of a Native who speaks from her own experience? The Inuit broadcaster Rosemarie Kuptana (as cited in Brisebois, 1983: 107 in Riggins, 1992a) has compared mainstream television to an atomic explosion: We might liken the onslaught of southern [Canadian] television and the absence of native television to the neutron bomb. This is the bomb that kills the people but leaves the buildings standing. Neutron bomb television is the kind of television that destroys the soul of a people but leaves the shell of a people walking around. This is television in which the traditions, the skills, the culture, the language count for nothing. The pressure, especially on our children, to join the invading culture and language and leave behind a language and culture that count for nothing is explosively powerful. (cited in Riggins, 1992a: 3)

If the impacts of mainstream television are seen as this dramatic for indigenous cultures, the years to come will show the actual cultural gains and losses of the Internet for indigenous communities.

Chapter Three

Hopis Communicating with the Mainstream

Groups of people and their cultures are no longer segregated from larger social groupings. Through transportation, electronic media and continuous contacts with people of other cultures, we are in essence all parts of larger cultures. In this way, we all participate in mainstream culture at various levels of our own group identities. In identity construction, groups differentiate themselves from other groups, but they are not totally free to do this, because external forces have the power to set groups in different frames in which they can then practice their differentiation. For a better understanding of a group’s social identity construction, it is necessary to know some basics of the history of that group.

HOPI CONTACTS IN A NUTSHELL Hopis have been in contact with outsiders at least since 1540, when Spanish explorers became interested in the area and the Puebloan peoples.1 The Catholic Church soon followed suit, attempting to suppress Hopi religion and gain Catholic converts. As a result of contact with Spaniards and later with other Europeans, Hopis contracted smallpox, which periodically reduced the Hopi population from thousands to hundreds. On the other hand, the Spanish also introduced horses, burros, sheep and cattle, as well as certain fruits and vegetables to the Hopis. Soon after Spanish contact, Navajos started moving into Hopi territory in the late 1600s. In the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Hopis joined other Puebloan Indians of New Mexico in forcing the Spanish out of the Southwest. After the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, Hopis fell under Mexican jurisdiction. When the war between Mexico and the United States ended in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, a new period began in Hopi life as their territory became a part of the United States. 45

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The contacts between Hopis and the U.S. Government and American missionaries increased during the 1850s and 1860s. The first Hopi Indian agent was appointed in 1870, and soon after an Indian agency in Keams Canyon was established. In 1882 President Chester Arthur issued an executive order establishing a 2.5-million-acre Hopi Reservation. And as the Hopis describe on their web pages, Hopi life was forever altered: “Children were made to go to school, men and boys were forced to cut their hair, efforts to try and convert Hopi to Christianity intensified, and attempts were made to allot their land, even though traditionally no Hopi can own land.”2 The contacts created tensions between those Hopi who accepted White ways and those who tried to resist them. The hostility culminated in a devastating split in the village of Oraibi in 1906. Changing policies towards Native Americans led to the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934. It codified the obligations of the U.S. Government to protect and preserve certain rights of Native Americans, but the law also included provisions to alter or abolish traditional Indian governments. The Hopi Tribal Government was formed in 1936. Rather than negotiating with individual village administrations, the U.S. Government could do business with this single representative body. The internal tension over external forces continues to this day. The Hopi Tribal Council that represents all Hopis towards the U.S. Government and State of Arizona officials also interacts with individual Hopi villages which remain independent in a variety of relationships with the Tribal Council. Some villages are not even represented on the Council, and they are governed more or less by traditional ways. The United States, however, recognizes only the Tribal Council, not the village governments. Hopi communication with the larger world today, or with American mainstream culture, is next examined through two issues, how Hopis speak about their experiences of being Hopi, and how Hopis view communication with people of the mainstream culture. A subsequent chapter addresses Hopi media experiences.

WHAT IS IT TO BE A HOPI? A crucial question in the construction of the social identity of a group is how they see themselves. When focusing on ethnic identity as in this study, we should look at the ways in which interviewees speak of their personal experiences of being representatives of that special group. This is crucial to understanding which factors of identity previously discussed became determinative. Hopis were therefore asked what it meant for them today to be a


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Hopi. In the reporting of their experiences, the views of young people and middle-aged interviewees are presented separately. Young Peoples’ Views of Being Hopi The clearest and shortest answer came from a 16-year-old female: “I don’t know, ’cause, you just grew up being [Hopi] . . . you just are it.” This answer refers to something that you are, not to something that you would like to be. It relates to that which comes into being through growing up in a certain environment. It is something that you do not question. Though not said clearly, it also refers to something gained by birth in addition to a certain socialization. All this pertains to the “descent” aspect of ethnicity (see Sollors, 1986: 4-7, 33, and Chapter One). The interviewee went on, wanting to clear up any ambiguities about her social environment: “You are just, like, grown up with things, you know not to do this, and when to do this. . . . ” Her discourse refers to values and rules of behavior, and thus to the cultural content of ethnicity. Her answer, which links both the cultural content of ethnicity and ethnic boundaries, complements the ethnicity views of Joane Nagel (1994: 162, see Chapter One). Other young interviewees also discuss different elements of the cultural content of ethnicity. Being Hopi means speaking the Hopi language, acting certain ways of life, adhering to ancient teachings and traditions, and participating in ceremonies. Ceremonies and being with your large family is especially attractive to Hopi youth, even from neighboring cities. Being Hopi also provides the personal pleasure of representing “one of the oldest cultures.” The cultural content of ethnicity is sometimes celebrated on the personal level by not only feeling that certain elements of ethnicity are important, but by participating in one’s culture. Mostly, for Hopis it is participating in or going to ceremonies. For a Hopi male, it means learning some of the ceremonial songs in the Hopi language. For a Hopi female, it may be that “you do the cooking and stuff” for a ceremony. On the other hand, there are often difficulties realizing some forms of cultural traditions, either because of “no time” or “’cause times are changing.” In this kind of argumentation, busy city life and some cultural traditions seem to clash or contradict. These views which bring up different kinds of cultural tensions, constitute contradiction views. A Hopi student who lives in a city and often visits in Hopiland, described the difficulties of learning some traditions in a busy city life with its many obligations: . . . living in the city, you don’t have time to, even if I wanted to, or maybe my mom, or someone, they don’t have the time. And maybe,

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Media and Ethnic Identity when she has the time, I’m like in school, or I gotta go to some school thing. . . . (16-year-old female)

Another Hopi student expressed a contradiction in being a Hopi at a time of change: It’s to follow your tradition, and you can’t really do stuff, like a long time ago, ’cause times are changing. (Hopi High School student, male)

Being a Hopi also placed more emphasis on cultural responsibilities for some. You “need to hang on,” or you “have to sacrifice.” Views expressing different kinds of requirements or cultural obligations are called responsibility views. Some young interviewees used the word “stuff” quite often, maybe pejoratively, or maybe rather because it is a common word in the speech of young Hopis and young people more generally. To be a Hopi is to be: . . . willing to learn your language, and willing to take part in what your people do, your ceremonies and stuff. You have to sacrifice . . . , to be there to help your culture survive. (Hopi High School student, male)

The next answer also implies responsibility views, though at the same time it tells about the personal delight and pride of being a Hopi. The pride of representing one of the oldest cultures, which Anglos are interested in and other Native Americans look up to, adds to the need to preserve old cultural forms. The interviewee also wants to emphasize that, in spite of keeping some ancient ways of life, the Hopis are moving on. His looking towards the future, coupled with the personal delight and pride, gives the discourse a trusting and positive tone: . . . for me it’s important, and I am very glad that I am a Hopi person, because Hopi is one of the oldest cultures, if we still retain a lot of our ancient lifeways. But again, we are still moving into the future. The Hopi are one of the people that, even, not only Anglo people are interested in, but other Native people look up to Hopi a lot. And so, that’s why I think it’s really important that we keep these lifeways. The things that we do


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now, at this point, that we hold on to those. Even though we’re progressing, we still need to hang on to these ancient teachings and lifeways, and mainly our language. (23-year-old male)

Middle-Aged People’s Views of Being a Hopi “A jack of all trades to survive . . .” (female in her forties)

The prevailing views of the middle-aged interviewees brought up conflicts in the issue of being Hopi, which, if done in accordance with the Hopi teachings, is seen as very demanding in modern everyday life. Trying to live by Hopi teachings and values is a life of contradictions. It takes powerful cultural skills, some Hopis believe. This kind of argumentation is an example of contradiction views, which was also one of the two predominant categories of views held by young interviewees. While Hopi teachings and values refer to the cultural content of ethnicity (see Nagel, 1994: 162, see above Chapter One), the recognition of the difficulties in following them relates to the hardship of holding on to the cultural content. The threats are manifest in the values of mainstream culture, which act as temptations and barriers to many kinds of Hopi activities. They lull you away from being a master of your own time and thus remove you from a way of life. Hopis’ views of this issue carry some very universal tones. The contradiction issue is more closely examined under the heading “Living Two Cultures,” once other different categories of views of Hopi identity are explored. The following answers to what it means to be a modern Hopi are examples of contradiction views. Keeping a strong Hopi background is not easy in today’s modern culture, especially when dominant values are all around Hopis through their participation in a cash economy. A Hopi male in his forties explains: . . . Real tough to be a Hopi today, because now we’ve got the influence of dominant values that we’re all a part of. It affects the level of spirituality in many, many ways. You know, the agricultural farming because of the cash economy. We survive to a large degree from the cash economy, and that affects how we look at our own Hopi cultural values, and how much it affects that. (male in his forties)

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This interviewee emphasizes the meaning of cultural survival in the present generation’s fight between the two-value worlds. . . . We have a real challenge, because a hundred years ago my grandfather’s generation, or maybe even later, my father’s generation, the issue of cultural survival really wasn’t around, because it (Hopi value world) was really, really strong in their days. The big difference is that we have to worry about cultural survival today. (Ibid.)

Hopis are culturally ambivalent about some of the qualities required by a job. Aggressiveness is often demanded in a job whereas humbleness is an ideal trait in Hopi thinking. Following both kinds of demands is like being “two different people.” Leaving a job and going to a ceremony is switching between these two people. Life as a Hopi is a life “in both worlds.” Consider the words of a 43-year-old Hopi woman: I never know how to answer that question. It’s kind of hard, because it’s like these days, it’s really hard to be totally Hopi, because I sometimes feel that I am two different people. Like when you work in my job, you have to work the way the whole world works. You have to become like a different person in order to get some things done which require some of the qualities that Hopis don’t really admire, like being aggressive and being, you know, all those kinds of things to get a job done. And then on the other side, in order to participate in ceremonies and get ready for some of these kinds of things. You have to be a humble person, and have everybody’s welfare in mind, all that kind of stuff. So, in a lot of ways, it’s like, when there’s some ceremony coming up, it’s like you have to switch, right, ok, I can’t be like this now, I have to jump on this side, and be this kind of person. So, sometimes it’s really hard to try to, I guess, live in both worlds. . . .

Some interviewees, including this Hopi woman, describe the dilemma of two different worlds and the conflicting situations in their own present life, their own youth, and in raising their children. For the children, this cultural duality, they believe, creates conflict, especially when as parents they advise their children to obtain education, and at the same time ask them to come back to the villages and participate in many kinds of Hopi obligations. The problem of coming back after being educated, however, is very difficult for young people, as finding a job they are educated for is rare.


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The Hopi woman’s previous response also shows some internal contradictions: to be “two different people,” a Hopi must strive to be in the middle of or balance mainstream cultural requirements. For a 55-year-old Hopi male the contradictions bring a certain hardness to life. These feelings come from external, social issues, which should be addressed. The difficulties arising from everyday practice are truly real: It’s very hard to be a Hopi person. Because there are so many issues we face. There is so much tension, I think, because of social issues among us. We talk a lot about working together, helping each other, and helping out others. We talk a lot about those, but we don’t really practice them. . . .

Most responses to the question of what it means to be a Hopi mention difficulties between the two different worlds, but there are subtle nuances. One answer that differs from the previous statements emphasizes individual responsibility. The interviewee states what is also evident in one of the young interviewees’ answers—that being Hopi is something gained by birth, not by choice. She also believes that being Hopi is a constant, and it is only the environment which changes and causes a variety of difficulties at different ages. She argues that as clearly as being Hopi is gained through birth, the responsibility to act as a Hopi is also gained through birth. Her response and subsequent interview examples represent the category of responsibility views, which was the second of the two prevailing categories of views of the young interviewees: Being Hopi has always been constant. The teachings never change. They last into eternity. It’s the adherence to the teachings. The environment under which we have to adhere that has changed. A long time ago, there were self-contained villages, and I’m sure they had their own influences that pulled them away, you know, in the 30s and in the 50s, there were different influences, but the teachings were always there. The teachings were always the same, but they just had different things to deal with, which made it difficult for them during that time. Today, we have different things pulling at us, telling us, ‘no, don’t do that, let’s go gambling instead of adhering to our religious teachings that tell us how to take care of the kachinas (katsina, spirit being) and the kiva (kiva, an underground or partially underground ceremonial chamber).’ As a matter of fact, I was just talking to my kids. I was telling them that Hopi religion is not a choice. You are born into it and you have a responsibility from the day that you’re born. (41-year-old female)

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She continued to talk about today’s temptations, such as traveling to Las Vegas during the weekend of a kachina ceremony in Hopiland. She mentioned that her generation was raised in such a way that they did not have a choice. Today’s situations, where you have so many activities all around, make it “very hard” to be Hopi. But she reminded us that being Hopi is a constant: “24 hours a day, all throughout the year. Some people don’t think it is.” This interviewee depicted the difficulties of living by Hopi teachings through the metaphor of traveling a “less traveled road.” Taking this road meant forgetting one’s own needs because of other people’s needs: It’s difficult to wake up every morning and try to be nice for everybody all day long, day after day. It’s very hard to do. It’s difficult to have compassion in your heart, when your needs might be overwhelming. And it’s difficult to take care of the elderly and the sick, when your needs are to be entertained, and be selfish. It’s very hard to do that day after day. And it’s also very difficult to really understand that the whole world is your responsibility, which is basically the Hopi teaching. When you say a prayer, you just don’t say it just for yourself or your family, you’re saying a prayer for every human being on this earth, and for every living thing, and for all the trees and the mountains, that’s your prayer.

She elaborates further: Being Hopi is very hard and very difficult to be because it is the epitome of teachings, your behavior, your conduct and your belief, all have to come together. And if any one part of that is missing, you’ve gone down the road that has been traveled by more people than that road that is less traveled. Being Hopi is going down the road that’s less traveled. (Ibid.)

Another interviewee tells about her desire to follow the teachings: I’m a Hopi, but I was born and raised somewhere else. So I’m just learning. But it’s a lot of treating people the way you want to be treated. It’s just the way of life you trying to do. . . . It’s kind of the pot at the end of the rainbow, you almost get there, but you never get there. But you are always striving for this. . . .


53 (34-year-old female)

The next answer could also be situated in responsibility views, though the source of responsibility is in one’s own will. The interviewee remarks that respecting people is an ethical principle which can fit “most anyone’s culture”: The only thing I can say to that is, and it can fit most anyone’s culture, that you live a life where you respect other people, and you do things, because you want to do things for them, and not because you have to do things. . . . (52-year-old female)

According to the interviewees, Hopi responsibilities cover family, clan and tribal responsibilities, as well as the whole world. The detailed responsibilities are outside the scope of the interviews of this study, but most of them are essentially issues within the tribe and in the area of tribal identity (about tribal identity, see Nagel, 1994: 155, see also above Chapter One). In terms of their tribal responsibilities, Hopis feel that they have a very important duty to make sure their culture survives. It is a responsibility both for fellow Hopis and other Native Americans. Actually, what I have heard of many tribes that I have also visited, that they still see Hopis as one of the last tribes to [be] struggling . . . to be holding on to the culture. It’s surprising that Hopis have this prophecy and other tribes have this prophecy that if Hopi goes that all Native people will go somewhere. I have heard this over and over again from many tribes, at least the east coast tribes. They have been assimilated, they have been acculturated, they’ve lost all essence of their culture. And are now trying to go back, but they really can’t. (male in his forties)

This interviewee also expressed his worry about a pan-Indian powwow culture. He objects to some Southwestern tribes who dress like Plains Indian tribes and whose powwow culture, compared to his tribal culture, is a shallow cultural veneer.

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Media and Ethnic Identity Culture that many tribes are now going into is powwow. It’s powwow here, powwow there, powwow there, powwow there. That’s the culture for people. I know nothing about powwows. You have western tribes, you have Navajos dressing up like eastern or plains tribes. So there’s all these things happening, and that’s really what seemingly tribal cultures is becoming, a powwow culture. It is only a very thin culture. (Ibid.)

Demands for responsibility are expressed by different features and activities which a person has to have to act like a Hopi. This kind of discourse could also be categorized partly as responsibility views. On the other hand, by referring to certain kinds of features and activities in fulfilling responsibilities, one can also speak about a cope-with-strategy view. The response of one 44-year-old Hopi male shows the difficulties Hopis face today. He thinks these difficulties are found in any modern society: I think a Hopi has to have a broad vision. Has to be able to care for his people. Has to constantly find ways of improving things on the Reservation. We have a lot of unemployment, all of our kids are getting into drugs, alcohol, even some of the older people, and that’s eroding our culture. And then we have a high rate of unemployment, you know. Kids go to school, of course they are not trained to do anything, so they’re just left, you know, behind, they are not able to get a job. And then we have kids having kids and that just adds to things. We’re like any other society, we do have all those problems. I think we need to somehow find a way so that we could be able to address these problems, and then open the eyes of our people, you know. But that’s what a Hopi should be, real open. It should have a lot of love, and help in ways to improve, you know, the living conditions of people.

The next answer is an even clearer example of cope-with-strategy views. It clearly concentrates on the features which a person must have to live as a Hopi: A jack of all trades to survive, to be a Hopi today. You have to have a good strong Hopi background, but still [be] flexible enough to learn the White man’s or other societies’ way of thinking and doing things. (female in her forties)


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A fourth category of views in the context of being a Hopi is that of unproblematic ethnicity. When expressing such beliefs, the interviewees do not refer to any particular kinds of difficulties, contradictions or demanding responsibilities, nor to any specific kinds of survival strategies. They just claim to be proud of being a Hopi or tell about how Hopi life has changed. In the next answer, pride comes from having and practicing one’s own culture: I’m proud to be Hopi, because we still have our culture, and we still practice it. I don’t have any problems outside. I mean, out here people will respect me, and I don’t have any problems, when I go out, like to town or some place, I don’t have a problem. (35-year-old female)

Another interviewee emphasizes changes which have not caused him any problems. On the contrary, they appear to have made his life somewhat easier: Well, I guess, you know, we’re still, my age, you know, we’re still trying to retain the traditional ways. We still practice it, but of course, you know, we’re going along with the changes also, you know, with the modern things. Well, I’ve got the radio, I’ve got the TV, and the microwave and all this stuff, you know. It makes it easier for me, electric lights, you know, what not. And I’ve got power tools here. It’s just making it easier, you know, I’m doing it traditionally, you know, in a way, but still, that makes my work easier. And at the same time, you know, before we used to walk on the Mesa, now we have cars and we drive up there, and drive wherever. We just jump into a car, and go here and there, go to Winslow, be back in two hours or so, and that kind of thing. . . . (51-year-old male)

Though this piece of the answer has been categorized within unproblematic ethnicity views, there is some trace of worry in the words of the interviewee. When referring to his age and in relating how people of his age are trying to retain the traditional ways, the interviewee indicates his concern over this issue. He wonders if younger generations will retain the traditional ways. Ethnicity is not problematic for the interviewee, but he supposes that it might be problematic for the next generations.

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In addition to the four categories of views mentioned above, there was one additional group of views. It appeared only once, but it is important to take it into account in the context of identity. It was expressed in discussions about Hopi professionals in the media industry. It emphasized how professional Hopis can do art separate from one’s own culture or own story. These kinds of views are beyond ethnicity views. An expresser of such views emphasizes professionalism, a criteria which springs from the mainstream rather than from being Hopi: . . . So there are people that are in the industry that are starting to tell their own stories, but the thing is, I think we do art, a lot of the time it is not about, or some of the times it’s not just about telling about your own culture or your own story. You want to do it for the art and the meaning itself and, you know, you’re addressing a lot of other issues. I think, some people get to a point where it’s not just about their own individual story. Yeah, like my, OK my own art, for example. Some of it’s just contemporary, it has nothing to do with Hopi. I mean there’s a Hopi flavoring, but some of the stuff has nothing to do with interpreting a story or having Hopi symbology. It’s just a contemporary piece, which is where I want my art to be at some point, in a more mainstream kind of place. (35-year-old female)

This interviewee had colleagues with similar views: . . . And when I talk to other people, that are Native, that are working different areas of profession, whether it’s acting or visual performing arts, they try not to focus so much on that (own culture). I mean that’s obviously a factor in what you do, but that’s not the ultimate end result. You know, you want to perfect your crafts. And if your being Indian helps you do that, that’s great, but that’s not the end result of everything. . . . I think you’ve got folks that have been doing it for art-sake, they’re really not doing it for like a Native American issue kind of thing. (Ibid.)

The interviewee refers to other Native professionals who share these views. Authors, journalists, and artists both Native American and similarly representatives of other cultures, have universal aims in their art.


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A common denominator for both young and middle-aged interviewees is the worry about Hopi cultural survival. They express serious concern about the cultural content of their ethnicity (see the term, Nagel, 1994: 162, see also above Chapter One). The views of both groups fall into contradiction views and responsibility views. The middle-aged interviewees’ views are, however, more varied. They expressed additional cope-with-strategy views and unproblematic ethnicity views, and in the context of professional endeavors, beyond ethnicity views. In some of the young people’s responsibility views, there was, however, a positive, future-oriented tone, full of personal delight and pride.

HOPI LANGUAGE The importance of the Hopi language for Hopi identity is obvious. It was emphasized by all interviewees, described as “our identity,” the “soul of any culture,” a “vehicle of culture,” and related to “everything that Hopi does.” Hopi culture has been transferred orally via the Hopi language, and according to the interviewees, even today many Hopis do not agree with the writing of the language because of its oral spiritual nature. When referring to the meaning of the language, one of the interviewees noted that its source was also understood to be special. He believes it was initiated from a higher spiritual authority. Tribal members hold that each Hopi has a personal responsibility to express his or her appreciation of the Hopi language by speaking it. Hopi ceremonies are conducted in Hopi. The spoken Hopi language is, however, being eroded. Speaking the Native language is also very much an issue for different generations. Most actual speakers of Hopi are the elders, some of whom are more fluent in Hopi than English. However, English is spoken in most homes today. Most parents would be able to speak Hopi, but there are traumatic, historical reasons for the situation where they prefer to speak English to their children. For religious reasons, the responsibility for teaching the language and culture traditionally belongs to the home, and to a special religious place, called kiva. Schools have not interfered with this sphere. However, as one of the interviewees stated, the current mood in Hopi communities has changed, and many parts of Hopi culture and language could and ought to be taught in the schools. There are a few schools which now have some Hopi language teaching in their curriculum. Young People’s Views of the Hopi Language The Hopi language is the central element of the cultural content of ethnicity in most Hopi youths’ considerations of what it is to be a Hopi. The meaning of the language is obvious for the survival of Hopi culture:

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Media and Ethnic Identity It’s mainly the language, though, because everything revolves around the language, all the ceremonial songs and stuff. So, I’d say, like, the language is the most important thing for us to try to survive. (18-year-old female)

Referring to the question about the meaning of language for Hopi culture, another young interviewee emphasized its significance in ceremonies and everyday life: Language ties into everything that Hopi does . . . , within the ceremonies, within the everyday life. Everything connects into the language, and when you’ve lost the language, then you ultimately lose all of the other aspects of Hopi that go along with it, that it’s tied into, such as the ceremonies. (23-year-old male)

To the question of speaking the Hopi language, most young people answered clearly in the negative, by articulating “oh no” or “not really.” Many added that they could not speak it fluently, but that they could understand it or some forms of it. In the Hopi High School, Hopi is a voluntary subject, which none of the group of four students interviewed had taken. One male student admitted that the Hopi class for him was “probably at home.” To the question about the language spoken mostly in Hopi homes, one of the young interviewees answered: . . . nowadays it’s mostly English that’s spoken. That’s one of the biggest things that’s facing Hopi right now. What a lot of Hopis are realizing now is that the language is being lost. And so that’s why the language is one of the main issues right now. (23-year-old male)

A Hopi student described the difficulties of learning the Hopi language in an environment where it is not present in everyday life. Though she lives in a neighboring city, her experiences may resemble those of the young people living in Hopiland. She sees the very discussion of learning the Hopi language as pressure on her. Such views are an example of pressure views.


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A lot of people like the teachers, or like other people, they feel like: ‘Oh, you should really learn your language to save your culture,’ and stuff. But, it’s not so easy. It’s easier said than done, you know. ’Cause you are out here, and you live in the city and it’s not all around you, and stuff. (16-year-old female)

Middle-Aged People’s Views of the Hopi Language The meaning of the Hopi language for a middle-aged male reveals a kind of responsibility view. He speaks about the admiration of other tribes towards the Hopis who have preserved their language. He is, however, worried about the future of his Native language: That’s our identity. Some of the tribes that have lost their language, when I go somewhere, if I’m with a Hopi, I’m gonna talk Hopi, you know. And they are amazed at it. ‘Hey, these guys still have their . . . ,’ you know. But in a sense, we’re losing it too. ’Cause there’s nobody to really teach us. (44-year-old male)

All middle-aged interviewees believe in the centrality of the Hopi language in Hopi culture. Language and culture are inseparable in many answers: . . . I think it is just the heart and soul of any culture that includes Hopi. (male in his forties) . . . when you teach language, you are actually teaching culture. You know, because the language is the vehicle through which we learn our culture. You lose your language, you lose your culture. (41-year-old male)

Many interviewees said, however, that the most commonly used language in homes today is English. They also said that many young people and children can understand the Hopi language, but they do not speak it. Even if the children speak Hopi, they switch to English when they start school.

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Media and Ethnic Identity I think I can safely say that a lot of them understand Hopi. But for some reason or other, they don’t want to talk Hopi. I think some of them do. I know there’s a few real young kids, they know how to talk Hopi, and they get to a certain age, and they seem to quit. In fact I was talking to one person about that. One time we were talking about the language. Oh, we were in training session and we’re talking about language, and my feeling is that I noticed, I watched my sister’s kids, and when they were young, they could speak really good Hopi. They talked Hopi to them until they entered the school system. And then I noticed changes in them. They were speaking more English than they did Hopi. So that definitely has an influence. Because in school, we were always taught to speak English and not Hopi. (43-year-old female)

The next interviewee reflected on her own childhood memories of switching from Hopi to English. The change was made for fear of punishment, which the school would administer if children used their Native language. The school which the interviewee referred to was a local BIA school. She had no doubt that a generation which saw such practice would transfer a similar fear onto their children, and thus take a part in the process of losing the Native language: . . . I know that when I was going to school that’s how it was. We were not allowed to speak Hopi. We were punished when we spoke Hopi. And so that immediately told us that we couldn’t speak Hopi, so we just spoke English. And when you’re treated that way, you don’t speak Hopi, you only speak English. And that’s how we got to be, how do you say it, trained. We were trained to only speak English. And when that happened, then we also, I guess, in a way, did the same thing with our children. (Ibid.)

The interviewee describes the kernel of Native language loss, when she tells about her own difficulties to speak her Native language to her children. When you have been trained to use only the majority language, you are also trained not to use your own Native language: I know it’s really hard for me. When my boys are home, that’s what we do, and if I remember I’d try to do that. But it’s so hard. It really is


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hard, to just talk nothing but Hopi. It is really hard to get back to that. In fact, probably the majority of the families out here speak English. (Ibid.)

Another interviewee recalls similar memories from his school in using the Hopi language: . . . when I went to the Bureau school, our teachers, if we spoke Hopi, [told us] get your hand out, you gotta meet the ruler or paddle. You got spanked or you got your hand slapped, or you got your mouth washed out with soap. (56-year-old male)

A local authority describes the systematic suppression of the Hopi language: . . . In my father’s generation, our school system physically prevented Hopis from speaking, when they went into the boarding school system. Our generation generally was the tail end of that kind of suppression of language up until 1964. When I finished the eighth grade of one of the elementary schools here, Hopi language was still forbidden to be spoken. So you had a very systematic suppression of language. . . . (male in his forties)

The interviewee evaluates that 90-95 percent of Hopi teenagers and younger children no longer speak Hopi. He also supposes that in the age group of 20-30 years, the situation is even worse. In the whole Hopi population, the loss of the Native language concerns at least 25 percent of the people, or maybe more. When discussing the preservation of the Hopi language, he sees it as important for the language not only to survive on paper on a dictionary level, but that “it has to survive as a conversational language.” According to this interviewee, each Hopi has an individual responsibility to ensure the survival of the Hopi language because of its spiritual origin: Language has to survive, because it was given to us by a higher authority, by a spiritual authority. It is not a language that Hopi had on its own, but it was a language that was given and allowed to be spoken

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Media and Ethnic Identity by a higher authority from the spiritual domain, so we speak someone else’s language. And that someone will come before the Hopi people and ask them individually one by one, if they in fact have placed enough value on the Hopi language to speak it. . . . (Ibid.)

The interviewee’s answer, which emphasizes individual personal responsibility in preserving the Hopi language, is also an example of responsibility views, a common aspect in the weighing of Hopi identity issues. That Native languages and cultures have not been taught in the schools was part of the federal government’s education policy, a way of assimilating Native cultures into mainstream culture. The result was a kind of “learned helplessness.” The federal government’s education policy, as well as the Hopis’ own education policy, has since changed. Wayne Taylor, Jr., Vice Chairman of the Hopi Tribe at the time of the interview, explains the changes: . . . We since learned that your culture is everything. It makes you who you are. You know, it builds the whole person. You’re not whole, if you’re not connected with your culture. And so the federal policy has made a long circle, and they’ve come back, and they’re now saying, ‘We recognize the importance of culture and we recognize the importance of language.’ Therefore, our policy has changed, now you can implement these kinds of things. But we have been slow in moving in that direction. And we now need to aggressively institute these kinds of curriculum into our schools. . . .

Taylor also discusses the Hopi people’s changed mood about teaching Hopi culture and language in the schools: . . . The mood has changed in our people. The mood used to be that the language and culture do not belong in the schools. They belong in the homes, they belong in the kiva. And certain parts of the Hopi education process does, I agree with that. But many parts of Hopi culture and language can be taught in schools, and ought to be taught in schools. . . .

The primary thread running through the young and middle-aged Hopis’ responses is the unquestionable role of the Hopi language in Hopi culture. It is also a central factor in the construction of Hopi identity. In spite of the


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unanimous appreciation, the ability to speak the language has, however, eroded. This is a generational issue: those who have the weakest skills are found among the younger generation. Middle-aged people would seem to be in key position to preserve the Hopi language. Representatives of this generation express responsibility views, but also recognize the difficulties in using the language, mainly because of their frustrating school experiences, when they were punished for using the Hopi language. This, and the long-prevailing practice of assigning the teaching of the language and culture only to the homes and religious institutions, has certainly contributed to the erosion of the use of the Hopi language. Though there is now a changed mood in the Hopi community about teaching Hopi language and culture in the schools, some of the young people in this study indicated that they would prefer to learn the language at home. However, they gave only indirect hints to the reasons of not wanting to study Hopi at school. One clue is that the demands of the older generation of “should learn your language” are felt as stressful (pressure views). To meet such demands is “easier said than done,” and the problem is compounded by living in a city off the reservation where the language is “not all around you.” The key in this kind of argument seems to be the looseness of Native language from other cultures in an urban environment. The “easier said than done” comment might also refer to many demands which a young representative of an ethnic minority faces today, when s/he should be fluent and effective in two languages and cultures (mainstream and ethnic minority language and culture). On the basis of the interviews about the position of the Hopi language, we can find two levels of practice. First, on the level of valuing the ethnic minority language, the language is very highly respected over the generations. On the second level, which I call the level of using the minority language, the practice has eroded in the younger generation. For them, in keeping with modern ethnic identifications, the Hopi language as a central element of the cultural content of ethnicity works more on “external symbols” than on actual cultural ability (see Sollors, 1986: 35 and Fitzgerald, 1992: 116, see also above in Chapter One).

LIVING TWO CULTURES As shown by the previous comment of a young Hopi on the difficulties of learning or retaining an ethnic minority language, the use of the cultural elements of one’s ethnicity is not easy to practice when living simultaneously

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in the mainstream culture. From the Hopi point of view, mainstream culture is a source of change: Hopis live in “two worlds,” or, in the words of a young Hopi interviewee, in “both worlds.” The term “two worlds” is used by writers and researchers depicting cultural interchange. It is also used in Hopi discourse, as the concept “both worlds” indicates. We can also find it in Hopi media. For example, the Hopi Tutuveni (1998, June 1) reported Chairman Wayne Taylor, Jr.’s address congratulating the Hopi Graduates of 1998: “You have shown it is possible for our people to succeed and live in two worlds.” He was referring to the challenge and successful management of cultural contradictions for Hopis. The interviews concerning the “two worlds” experience revealed something of the conflicts resulting from these contradictions. Young People’s Views of Life in “Two Worlds” It is not only the learning and using of the Native language in a majoritylanguage environment that is difficult for Hopi youth. When discussing the living of life as a Hopi in a cultural environment which is largely formed by mainstream American culture, young Hopis concentrated on the problems of value issues, communication, and feelings of anxiety. The next three views on living in the two cultures represent three different categories: pressure outside views, feeling of otherness views, and views of pressure inside. Pressure outside views focus on value issues. The difficulties relate to rapid changes which have been “brought” from outside Hopi country. Some of the changes have had fateful consequences for traditional Hopi values: . . . we are living in such a fast-paced world, things are changing every day. And those things are being brought to Hopi, and being the people that we are, having the ancient culture and teaching that we have, a lot of the changes are going up against those particular teachings that we have. And so it’s difficult for a lot of people to try to live in both worlds. (23-year-old male)

This interviewee sees that the most difficult changes are related to technology, among them the reception of negative information through new information technology. The other essential change transforming traditional Hopi society involves the change from a “things-done-forothers” economy into a “wage-gain” economy, where “everyone wants to get paid for everything”:


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I think of some of the technological changes that now have been brought to Hopi. Just like they’ve been using computers. A lot of people had no access to a lot of the information that we have now. And a lot of that information can be negative in some ways. . . . Oh, another thing is the economy, the way that we live now, the wage-gain economy, where so many people now want to get paid for everything. That’s another thing that a lot of people get caught up in. Because in traditional Hopi society, things were done for others, out of respect, and to help each other. Like one person had something going here, everyone would go and help, and in turn, by their help, then when they did something, then they would go to that person to help. So everyone helped each other with different things, and that’s how things were done. And now, in this day and age, where everyone wants to get paid for everything that they do, everyone is so caught up in the economy, that everyone wants to get paid for everything. And that’s one other factor that plays into Hopi here. It’s contradictory to traditional teachings. (Ibid.)

Feeling of otherness views focus on communication. One young interviewee felt that, because of different cultures, the ways of communicating are also different for the representatives of the two cultures. The representative of the world “out there” mostly talks, whereas the representative of the Hopi culture mostly “listens.” Regarding the problems between the two cultures, this interviewee observed: Mostly communicating. It’s kind of harder to communicate. Because we have a different culture, and, some things we do aren’t the way it is out there in the world. . . . (18-year-old female)

To the question about the situations where communication is a problem, this interviewee answered: I don’t know. Well, it’s like we don’t give back a response, because we’re quiet and mostly listen instead of talk. (Ibid.)

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The pressure inside views focus on the feeling of expectations, especially from inside the Native community. It is kind of “you should live that way” talk, which a young person sees as conflicting with worries influenced by the “wage-gain economy” that requires a job and making money. In spite of these concerns, the young person tries to listen to the voices from within her community: Yeah, it’s definitely like living in two worlds, because they’re different. I don’t know, like, the old people; they say that you should live like the old ways. I mean, you try to, but it’s sort of like impossible nowadays, because you need to get an education, and you need to get a job to make money and stuff. (16-year-old female)

When discussing with Hopi High School students their plans for the future, including the choice between life on Hopiland or outside in the mainstream culture, most of them said that they would like to come back after some more education outside of the Hopi Reservation. However, some also see the return as impossible because of the lack of jobs. Three different categories emerged on the issue of returning to the reservation: duty to come back views, pleasure to come back views and impossible to come back views. A representative of the duty to come back views admits that it is difficult to find a job on the reservation. One must find a job in a city, and then plan to return to “help our people.” Well, like they said, it’s really hard to find a job out here, so you have to just, I don’t know, you go find a job, like in a city or somewhere. But I’ll come back, and help our people out, and not leave them. (Hopi High School student, female)

The advocate of pleasure to come back views finds many positive reasons to return after completing studies in a college. It does not mean that s/he would not see some negative sides in her/his choice, but positive reasons for the return count for more: I’ll try to, maybe, go to a college later on, and get a degree or something and come back. To me it’s more, I don’t know, peaceful here. I like it here better than big city. There’s not much to do, but you don’t have to worry about crime and stuff. I know almost everybody out here too.


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I think, I wanna create jobs out here. Some of the younger people, or most of them are leaving, ’cause there’s not really out here no jobs. (Hopi High School student, male)

Impossible to come back views refer to interviewees who claim that even if there are positive reasons for staying on the reservation, you must live somewhere else because of employment: Well, it’s kind of hard to come back. I like it out here, there isn’t that much violence and stuff, but with the jobs and stuff, if you wanna work there isn’t much [here]. Yeah, you have to go to some town to work. (Hopi High School student, male)

Though many Hopi young people go to neighboring cities for jobs, or have moved there with their families, they want to come back, even if only for a visit. It is important that the roots are not cut. When asked about the attraction to come back for a visit, a young interviewee answered: . . . And it’s like your family, and just like the ceremonies, ’cause they are really nice and stuff. You know, like, going back and seeing those. (16-year-old female)

Middle-Aged People’s Views of Life in “Two Worlds” Over time many new obligations have emerged from the modern mainstream culture. They have taken time away from the religious activities of a traditional society. Wage work and the arrangement of the education system belong to these obligations. Other significant time consumers are the modern conveniences which attract people’s interests. Many interviewees have personal memories of an education system which has diminished the Hopis’ possibilities to participate fully in the cultural activities of their own culture. Reflections on the fateful consequences which followed from the changes brought about by mainstream culture belong to pressure outside views. For instance, to me, one of the biggest factors that impacted the transmission of that information (information on Hopi culture) was the education system. Back in the early 1900s, starting with 1906, they

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Media and Ethnic Identity started taking Hopi children off to boarding schools, away from their villages. And since that time up to maybe as late as 1980, the Hopi children were being taken off the reservation to places like Phoenix, Arizona; [and] Riverside, California; to go to school, nine months out of a year. And I think it’s during those times when so many of these Hopi rituals [and] initiations are taking place. So if the youth are not out here during those times, then they basically miss out, not only the language instruction but also the ceremonial activities that are going on. (45-year-old male)

According to this interviewee, Hopi children were in boarding schools usually off the reservation for four to five years. And as he put it, that period was a “robbed time in terms of participation in their community activities, their language and culture.” Another example of the pressure outside views is the interviewee who named two significant sources of mainstream culture with negative influences on Hopi life. One is the intrusion based on the curiosity felt toward the Hopis, and the other, already mentioned by the previous interviewee, concerns modern conveniences. The intrusions breed animosity, which in some cases may cause shocking reactions against outsiders. Meanwhile, modern conveniences divide generations and families: I think part of the influence is the animosity it has created, because one of the things you have mentioned is that people have become curious about Hopi, and many of ’em come out here and do some of the things that you’re doing, you know, ask a lot of questions and write things about Hopi. So, for a lot of Hopi people, that can become very intrusive. They may not be very diplomatic about how to handle that. And so, they’ll just react with their own irritation, which to a lot of outsiders is shocking. Because here they come with the perception that Hopi are peaceful people. But any people anywhere can only take so much intrusion, and then you begin to react in some ways that is displaying the irritability that is being created. So that has been one of the influences that the outside culture has created among us. And then on top of that conveniences, such as running water, electricity, and telephones that are being offered to villages like Old Oraibi and Hotevilla, also are causing problems there. So, those are not good influences; they’ve caused people to become divided. Because naturally some people, especially the younger people at any of these villages, would like to have


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those conveniences. And so they become at odds with their parents, or with their grandparents, because it’s hard for them to not want these kinds of things, not to want television, for example. . . . (55-year-old male)

The interviewee explains the attitudes of people towards the influences of mainstream culture and differentiates between himself and other people. When describing how he handles the mainstream influences, he moves to an articulation which is an example of cope-with-strategy views, used already in the context of the issue of being a Hopi. His cope-with-strategy view to social change is an example of an adjusting strategy. When describing Hopi reactions, he makes a difference between himself and other people. He approaches the core of all interviewing situations—the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee. When explaining the interviewee’s situation between the options of being honest and being polite, he questions the validity of the interviewing method to get information about people’s “true feelings.” The honesty and truthfulness of interviewees are key issues of validity in in-depth qualitative interviews (see, for example, Alasuutari, 1998: 145). A way to check the validity of interviews is to try and find other contextual information, including assessment of other research done on modern Hopi life. A key point, however, for any improvement on the validity of the information is trying to win the confidence of the informants (see Alasuutari, 1998: 144-145). For example, I met with representatives of Hopis who then introduced representatives of Hopi villages to the research project. Interviewees have also been consulted more than once. Moreover, I co-operated with interviewees in the Hopi Radio Project by planning and conducting a survey. This interviewee’s statement, in which he reflects on the validity of his own interview, is proof of a certain amount of confidence: . . . To me it’s (the management of mainstream influences) a matter of adjusting to those changes. Because I’m not upset that maybe somebody will wanna come in and talk to me and ask me a lot of questions. ’Cause, I think I can handle that situation pretty well myself. But, I also have to be very honest about how I’m feeling as these things are passed up. I cannot lie to you, because that’s something that’s against my values as a person. So, I have to be honest with you in sharing this information. And, that’s something that a lot of people have problems with. They would like to be polite to some degree, but maybe they’re feeling it might be making them feel that they’re not polite; because whatever

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Media and Ethnic Identity I am sharing with you, it may be upsetting to you. Letting you know about my true feelings is something that some of the people are not comfortable with, so they try to give you a different kind of attitude, or perception of what they’re really talking about, instead of telling you the truth about it. (Ibid.)

The solution to this contradicting situation between the two cultures is to adjust and manage contradictions on the basis of internal “honesty.” A kind of adjusting strategy also comes through in the answer of the next interviewee, who describes most Hopis’ experience of two cultures by such metaphors as “going down two paths” and “being in the middle.” I think, most everybody is going down two paths. One is the dominant society, and then the traditional. We are right in the middle, and we walk in and out. (44-year-old male)

“Being in the middle” adjusting contains the strategy to “pick the good from the White man’s side” and “keep the good from the Hopi side,” a strategy which came out in many interviews and was said to be part of the teachings to former generations. This strategy also reveals the worry about consequences of forgetting the Hopi side of the two paths. The worry of “who we are” refers to the concern about ethnic boundaries, which, among other things, function to determine ethnic options and membership composition (see Nagel, 1994: 162, see also Chapter One above). This comment also relates to the anxiety over the cultural content of ethnicity (see again Nagel, 1994: 162 and above, Chapter One), because the difficulties of two intertwining value worlds have led to forgetting who Hopis are and where their ethnic boundaries lie. The “who we are” issue in this comment covers both ethnic boundaries and the cultural content of ethnicity. The interviewee also remarks that Hopis are not exceptional in this regard. Forgetting who they are, according to the interviewee, is a worldwide problem: If we take the middle road, and we know that in our hearts that these things are good for us, we would pick the good from the White man’s side, and we would also keep the good from the Hopi side. We would somehow make those things intertwine, you know. But the thing that


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has happened is we forgot who we are. But it’s not just this society, it’s the society all over the world as a whole. (Ibid.)

Such comments are examples of adjusting to the existence of two different cultures. They exemplify cope-with-strategy views. The interviewee above, however, expressed the worry of forgetting ethnicity. The next interviewee’s comment, which clearly shares cope-with-strategy views, also reveals a worry about ethnicity. But, as a recipe to solve the problem of two cultures, it does not consider the adjustments required, but rather emphasizes the importance of knowing “your culture,” and being “well grounded” in ethnic consciousness. Yeah, I believe that we live in two cultures. When we go to the village today, we’re going to be stepping into the Hopi world, you know, the Hopi ceremonial world. And everything that you’ve been taught that is proper, that is courteous, you’re gonna be practicing that. And, judged by the way you handle yourself in those kinds of situations. Myself, and most all of Hopi, we have another life, and that’s our jobs. And those are not traditional Hopi jobs. We are forced to respond to what’s happening around us, and in order for us to survive, we have to. And so, we’ve taken [on a] new responsibility that we’ve not normally there. I guess, they were taken, I’m sure, handled in some form or another in the past. But these are clearly modern offices, modern equipment. You have to know the dominant language, the dominant everything. And so, yeah, it’s clearly living in two worlds. But the important thing is that you have to know your culture. You have to be very well grounded, so that you can survive. So that this dominant world doesn’t swallow you up. I think cultures generally, they teach you about your value systems, your beliefs. In these areas, if you really don’t have a firm footing, you get lost. . . . (41-year-old male)

The interviewee is especially worried about the grounding of young people who do not speak the language and who “don’t understand truly what’s going on.” He remarks how easy it is to get lost in all the things that are around, including alcohol, drugs, and violations of the new laws that have replaced the unwritten Hopi laws. Similar worries have entered the mind of a middle-aged Hopi woman. She claims that for her and her peers living in two worlds is not a problem,

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because they have experienced “some of the early days . . . traditions of the Hopi way of life, understanding, thinking and the cultural thing.” For the next generation, the traditional way of life is hard to imagine and visualize. The guiding of the next generation requires a “strong family background” and “the Hopi way of disciplining.” And it’s hard to, well, I don’t know, if I should say it’s hard, it’s a challenge for us to really guide them, in which direction to go. Like, if you don’t have a strong family background, like discipline, say the Hopi way of disciplining, it’s hard [to] carry it forth, to the next generation. (female in her forties)

The next interviewee’s answer to the issue of influences of the two cultures also represents cope-with-strategy views, but for her the coping with the two cultures is just adjusting to modern times. Her worry about the influences of mainstream culture is that the government has made Hopis trust it to the point where they have lost their self-reliance. Well, for me it’s no problem, because times are changing and things are changing. And, like I said, these people need to change with the times. Sure, don’t forget your culture, though. Keep it there. But you have to change with the times, because we’re not gonna be always under the [federal] government. One of these days, the government is gonna let us go, and I feel sorry because these people aren’t gonna be able to handle whatever they have to; like when that appears, we’re gonna have to pay taxes, property tax, stuff like that. And they’re not gonna be able to do it. (59-year-old female)

Some interviewees whose answers could also be categorized under copewith-strategy views emphasized the importance of knowledge of the mainstream culture to help manage life. You have to have an education; otherwise you “won’t be counted.” You have to know your rights to be able to “speak for yourself.” Or you have to have a job, you can live the “old way.” To make pottery and live off that, according to one of the interviewees, would be “kind of a luxury.” This kind of discourse refers to the importance of the “White man’s way” as a prerequisite for the Hopi way. Following this logic, the former


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Hopi way of life which used to be in everyday practice has turned into a luxury. One still aims for it, even though one must go toward it in the “White man’s way,” which again, with all its conveniences, may make the old way difficult to achieve. The next interviewee explains the intersection of the White world and the Hopi world, emphasizing education as the primary means for coping: It’s just a way of respecting elders, and then yet, it’s a young person and as our children, they still have to look forward to getting an education, otherwise, you’ll be just criticized. You won’t be counted. You know, if you can’t learn to speak, or if you can’t learn, or if you don’t have the understanding of your rights and the rules and regulations that control society within the United States, how could you speak for yourself? (49-year-old male)

For the next interviewee, life is more of an effort to balance between two cultures. And mainstream culture is a necessary step to the Hopi way of life: We are living two cultures. Many of us [are] trying to balance [them], some more traditional than others. But, you know, the fact is, we have to have a job to earn money, to provide our living, the old way of being able to make your pottery or whatever, and live off that, that’s kind of a luxury to me, to be able to do that now. . . . (34-year-old female)

Cope-with-strategy views and the emphasis on the importance of knowledge of mainstream culture are examples of “compartmentalization.” This term, discussed by John D. Loftin (see, for example, 1991: 84-86) and used by Hopi scholar Emory Sekaquaptewa, is based on the work of Edward Spicer (see Loftin, 1991: 84, refers to E. Sekaquaptewa 1976: 40; Spicer 1971). “Compartmentalization” refers to the Hopis’ way of managing different “worlds” by keeping them separate. The examples above represent the first of the two interrelated dimensions of “compartmentalization” (see Loftin, 1991: 84). They refer to the ability of Hopis “to put in abeyance their traditional values while participating in another, dominant society.” In Loftin’s words, “it is a means to an end.” The second dimension of “compartmentalization” is “the Hopi attempt to embody traditional values within a nontraditional modality” (Loftin, 1991: 85-86).

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Among the interviewees were also those for whom living in two cultures was personally no problem. They represent unproblematic ethnicity views. These interviewees may have been off the reservation for as many as dozens of years, and then returned. With the personal experience behind them, they understand why people may have problems living in two cultures. Some interviewees saw problems among the younger generation in particular, including returnees to the Reservation. One interviewee who lived off the Hopi Reservation for many decades thought returning for him had not been difficult, because he grew up in the “traditional way and living the progressive way.” Being raised in the traditional way, he was well grounded, and by living the progressive way, he was used to the ways of the White world. This seems to be a combination which makes life in the two worlds smooth. One can move between the worlds easily. The interviewee presents a metaphor of putting on a tie while laughing. At the same time, his words describe his experience and behavior in a reassuring way: I can tell you from my own experience there really is no difficulty. Because I grew up here in the traditional way and living the progressive way. When a religious thing is going on, there’s no problem. I just drop everything here, and go over there and do that, you know. Because I already know what to do. When that’s over, I come back over here to my office, put on my tie, or whatever, and go back to work with what I have to do. (58-year-old male)

This interviewee’s life draws strength from his grounding in Hopi culture. He is worried, though, about the children today going to kiva, the ceremonial chamber, because they no longer have sufficient knowledge about being there, as the older generations have, and they do not speak Hopi, the language of the ceremonial songs. Nor do they have the knowledge of the magical power of people being “of one heart” and “one mind,” and “pulling all that energy together”: The problem I see today, and I see an influence of children wanting to go back to, say like, performing the dances, you know, the mask dances, and getting involved. And I have often wondered how, or what their thinking is, when they’re going to the kiva to participate. In my days, I didn’t have any problem, because I was brought up in that way. I was brought up to respect the kachina as a deity, something


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supernatural. Those [beliefs] were instilled in my mind, and I had that respect. But I feel that today the young kids who go down to the kivas to participate, they don’t have that respect. They don’t have the knowledge of why they’re there. And foremost, they don’t speak Hopi. And many of the songs are in Hopi. And what my parents, my grandparents taught to me, was the songs that kachinas bring to you, when they sing to you, it tells a story. And it tends to tell the people, maybe a prophecy that might be coming, you know, and things like that. So you tend to believe in those things. And if they talk about rain, usually it’s supposed to rain four days after the ceremony. And if it does, it makes a believer out of you, you know. If the people were of one heart and one mind, participating in this ceremony, pulling all that energy together, would make this happen. But the kids don’t know that today. (Ibid.)

The following interviewee does not see any problems in living in two cultures. It is only in the last few years that this kind of feeling has developed in her. The easiness of getting along in two cultures becomes an issue of aging. She believes that the experience of living in two cultures is tied up with personal reasons. She also understands that it is an issue of being grounded in the Hopi culture. People who were raised and have lived off the Reservation for a long time, have found it hard to adjust after returning to the Reservation: I don’t see a problem with it, but I have talked to some people and they think that it’s really difficult to adjust. For me it hasn’t been, but I think that really comes with your own personal acceptance of what is comfortable for you. And I have only felt that, maybe in the last five years, that yeah, it’s not a conflict for me. But I have talked to some other people that I know that have lived off the Reservation for a long time and were raised off the Reservation, and they came back and they had a really difficult time being here. It was a big adjustment, it was really quiet, it was really isolated, there was a lot of factors. But for me, no, there hasn’t been. (38-year-old female)

Some middle-aged interviewees recognized young people’s difficulties with the two worlds as age-related. Thus, the only example of feeling of

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otherness views among the middle-aged interviewees on this issue appeared when they were recalling their own youth. According to the next interviewee, communication difficulties between the two cultures may also relate to Hopi children being taught only to listen to their elders. This is difficult to know for sure, because the interviewee also thinks that she herself is quiet by nature. In any case, she also finds that Native Americans generally, not just Hopis, have difficulties expressing their feelings, which might create difficulties in communication: It’s hard, you know. When I was growing up, one of the things they used to tell us that when our elders were talking to us, that we shouldn’t say anything. We would listen to them. Maybe, that’s what it was, I don’t know, because I was really quiet too. But I know that a lot of Indians don’t express how they really feel. They have a problem of that. (59-year-old female)

The feeling of otherness view also appears when she describes her striving in the mainstream culture. As the only Indian in her group at work, she had to justify herself: Yeah, when I was working too, I had to, ’cause I was the only Indian in my group, I had to work extra hard to show’m that I was just as good as they were and better. And it was not easy for me. But I did it, because I wanted to show them that I was just as good as they were. And I proved [it] to them. . . . (Ibid.)

In the mainstream culture Hopis believe they have to learn to speak up, which is very difficult after learning to be quiet in your own world. The interviewee’s description of her fight for respect is at the same time a survival story. As such, it might also represent the story of many Hopis, or other Native Americans or any minority members who have experienced similar stages in communicating between two cultures: You know, being out in the city, I’ve had to learn to speak up. Because, when I was working, this one woman was giving me a hard time, and I wouldn’t say nothing, and I finally got tired of it. So I finally did something about it. And after that I figured, well, I guess I’ll have to start speaking up, because if I don’t, they’re gonna walk all over me, just like


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that woman did. So, that’s when I started expressing how I feel about things, especially if I don’t like something. I’ll just come right out and tell’em. And that’s what I’ve done out here. (Ibid.)

Coming back to the Hopi community, after being away for many years, made difficulties in communication evident. She felt that when she returned and remarked about the need for some improvements, people “didn’t listen to us.” In a community where speaking about the issues is not encouraged, raising the need for change is particularly difficult because people are afraid. Though her next comment comes from the Hopi community, it could be about any community where people feel that communication is not encouraged. Such communities are everywhere. The interviewee describes her return, feeling that she was not listened to. She also emphasizes the need “to speak up” and “stick together”: I think why it’s still happening like this [is] because the people are afraid to speak out. They’re afraid to speak up and say how they really feel. And I have told people that and said, you know, if you want something to change, you have to stick together and push it, in order for things to work out, to better things for the people out here. If you don’t speak up, nothing is gonna happen. And I said, one person can’t do it. (Ibid.)

Those who return to the Hopi Reservation after many years or even longer periods, may have difficulties in communicating with fellow Hopis who stayed on the Reservation; still the sense of place (Hopiland) is very strong when they speak about the area. Hopis describe themselves as a “placebound” people who have an “affinity for their own land,” “for its culture and religion.” The next interviewee, who has lived far away from the Hopi Reservation for over ten years and in a neighboring city for more than fifteen years, describes Hopiland as her “home” and explains the deeper meaning of the place as more than just a domicile. When asked if she could imagine a Hopi living for the rest of his or her life outside the Hopiland, she answered: I think it would be rare to find any Hopis, whether they’re presently living in France or New York or in Flagstaff or Phoenix, to say that they

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Media and Ethnic Identity would never come home. And I have known people that have lived off the Reservation for twenty years or more, and they’re place-bound people in their hearts, and in their minds and in their souls, and they will always tell you, ‘I’m going to go home.’ And home is not where they’ve been residing for the past twenty years or more. Home is right here on the Hopi Reservation. And I’d be really surprised to see if there’s any person out there that would not regard this place as home. As a matter of fact, if you listen to them very carefully, especially those Hopis that are off the Reservation, you probably would hear them say, at one time or another, ‘I’m gonna go out home next week,’ or ‘I’m going home next week,’ and you are sitting in their living room thinking, ‘well, where’s home? I thought you lived here.’ That might be their domicile, but home has a whole different meaning, and so home is a very special word to Hopis, to most of them, it refers to out here. And it’s part of their language. So people sometimes get confused. But to know Hopis, when they mean home, home is here. (41-year-old female)

In his answer to the same question, another interviewee acknowledged the sense of belonging in Hopi land, culture, and religion. According to him, Hopis living outside the Reservation want to know more about their culture, even more than fellow Hopis do on the Hopi Reservation, who sometimes take their culture and religion for granted: . . . A person who is born Hopi usually always has an affinity for his own land and for its culture and religion. And when we go out there and talk to those people who live in urban areas, like Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, they’re the ones, although they might not speak their language or understand their culture very much, [who] wanna learn more, because they know that they might not have been taught these things or they might have lost it going out there to the outside world, living an urban life. They want to learn more, and they seem to appreciate [it]. They want to learn more than their counterparts out here. Sometimes, that’s what they say, we Hopis who live on the Hopi Reservation and in the villages, sometimes take our culture and religion for granted out here. Also more so than some of the people who are off the Reservation. They wanna learn more out there about what’s going on than out here. (45-year-old male)


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Being away from the Hopi Reservation is often related to education and/or employment. But once you have returned and settled, leaving the Reservation feels impossible, especially if you have special responsibilities, such as religious duties to your community. This is the case for the next interviewee, who also shared the previous interviewee’s observations that returning to the Hopi Reservation from the outside world was to come home. At this stage in my life, I would not wanna live anywhere else. I have been away during my younger age at schools. In Phoenix, I went to school for two years. Then I spent three years back east in New York and New Jersey going to school. And when I returned home, I spent about two more years working in Phoenix. Then I came home. So, there’s a period of about seven or eight years that I was away from home. But once I came back home, I’ve never wanted to go anywhere else. And part of the influence for it is because I have religious responsibilities, too. I have a lot of responsibilities to my village, to my community, based on who I am as a clan member. So those are some of the things that makes it hard for me to stay away from here. I can’t stay away from here. (55-year-old male)

The answer above is another example of responsibility views, also expressed by the young interviewees discussing their future plans (duty to come back views). The great sense of place is tied not only to physical landmarks, the mesas or religious buildings, the kivas. While they are important landmarks of Hopi scenery as such, the very experience of the place, according to the interviewees, ties in with Hopi history and teachings. These include the guardians who guide Hopis to their very special, spiritual place called Hopiland. The key to that semi-arid place is not in its natural resources, but in its spirituality, which is why Hopis refer to it as the “center of the universe.” One interviewee contemplated why Hopiland is special to Hopis: We are a place-bound people, because this place out here is very special. Not only because the mesas are out here physically and the kivas are out here, but because in our history, we migrated throughout the world, and our teachings tell us that the great guardians said we were going to eventually settle in a very special place. And that the life of the Hopi would be very hard, but our life would be rewarding. And so we didn’t settle in the nice pine trees of Flagstaff. Obviously, it’d be nice if

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Media and Ethnic Identity we had lumber and lakes and all that. But we settled here, because it is a very spiritual place. And so this part of the land is special spiritually, and it’s what we refer to as the center of the universe out here. So we’re place-bound. That makes us place-bound. There’s a bond and there’s a connection out here that we can’t feel for any other place. And so it makes it very hard to find the same spiritual bonding to, maybe, the city of New York or in England or wherever. Hopis are very mobile. They’ve gone all over the world. They reside in all parts of the world, and our students have crossed the ocean. But I can tell you one thing, this place is home. (41-year-old female)

When comparing young and middle-aged Hopis’ views on their lives in two worlds—the traditional world colored by Hopi culture, and the mainstream culture—a central difference is in the scope of their views. The youth emphasize pressures, while middle-aged interviewees also describe their different coping strategies (cope-with-strategy views). In all, the scope of the categories of views of middle-aged interviewees is broader than that of younger interviewees. The pressure felt by most young interviewees stems from rapid changes in the mainstream culture or demands from the Hopi community to live in a certain way. In other words, the pressure comes from either outside (pressure outside views) or inside from their own community (pressure inside views). In addition to views of pressures, young people express their feelings of otherness (feeling of otherness views), focusing on communication. Feelings of pressure in middle-aged Hopis’ interviewees appeared as pressure outside views, rising from the many obligations the interviewees felt they were not able to fulfill. Modern life had set them new kinds of obligations which the interviewees saw as taking time away from traditional religious activities. Most commonly, however, the middle-aged interviewees embraced cope-with-strategy views, which shows that they have more experience in handling different kinds of pressures. This category of views emphasized a variety of adjusting strategies and the importance of knowing Hopi culture, or in other words, having an ethnic consciousness. Though middle-aged interviewees often expressed cope-with-strategy views, they also revealed their worries, which were more or less connected to the traditional Hopi world. They were concerned about forgetting the “Hopi side of the path,” grounding the young generation in Hopi culture, and about the loss of self-reliance. Even when expressing unproblematic


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ethnicity views, for example, the middle-aged interviewees might articulate their worry for the future of children who no longer had any knowledge of Hopi language, culture, and religion. In addition, when an interviewee stated s/he did not have any problems concerning life in two worlds, s/he might add that this might not be the case for those who returned to the Hopi Reservation. Feeling of otherness views were typically expressed by the young interviewees, often in the context of communication, but were sometimes also held by middle-aged interviewees. However, this only happened, when they remembered their own youth as contrasted to the years spent in the mainstream culture. As one interviewee remarked above, communication problems might occur partly because Hopi children were traditionally taught only to listen to the elders. When speaking with people from different cultural backgrounds, it is not easy to break the habit of the listener and become a speaker. The interviewee also mentioned the difficulties of Native Americans generally in expressing feelings as causing problems in communication. According to both young and middle-aged interviewees, the feeling of otherness appears in youth and is typically connected to communication. Middle-aged people can obviously have such feelings, too, but they were not articulated in the Hopis’ discussions on living in two worlds. Recalling her own youth in the mainstream culture, one middle-aged interviewee did mention one particular difficulty of communication, that of learning to speak up. This was hard, she said, because in your own Hopi world, you were taught and required to be quiet. Feelings of otherness also came up, when middle-aged interviewees reflected on their striving to succeed in the mainstream culture. This was especially obvious in a working environment where one was the only Native American. “You have to show them” and be as good as others and even better. According to all the interviewees, life is much more complicated for young people in the “two worlds.” The young people themselves articulate pressures coming from both outside and inside the Hopi community, while middle-aged interviewees expressed their worries over the grounding of young people in Hopi culture. And yet, despite the pressures and concerns, the sense of place seemed as strong among both groups. It is an expression of the importance of territoriality as an identity factor. Young people want to return to the Hopi Reservation. They come for a visit or stay permanently, if job opportunities make it possible to return for good. The attractions on the Reservation are family and ceremonies. Ceremonies relate to the meaning of traditions as an identity factor. Middle-aged

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interviewees describe themselves as place-bound people who have an affinity to the land, culture, and religion of the Hopis. According to one interviewee, a Hopi may have a residence anywhere in the world, but the home is in Hopiland. As articulated by the Hopi, Hopiland is a spiritually experienced place, “home” and the “center of the universe” all at the same time.

COMMUNICATING WITH PEOPLE OF THE MAINSTREAM CULTURE While discussions regarding the living in “two worlds” concentrated on everyday life in the mainstream and Hopi traditional culture, what follows next is the Hopis’ specific experiences involving communication with people from the mainstream. The Hopis’ home, the Hopi Reservation, and tribal members in residence are of great interest to non-Hopi people, who come to visit from the American mainstream culture or from overseas. Among the visitors who wish to explore and experience this land are many kinds of tourists: they arrive in packed buses, in small groups, and one by one. On Hopi village roads, you also find researchers, writers and journalists, and many kinds of venders. All of them not only drive past the villages, but they also want to enter the villages and talk with people, in some cases in their homes. To Hopis, this interest may often constitute an intrusive experience. One large group of mainstream people who Hopis meet in their homeland throughout their lives, are the tourists who arrive by cars and buses to see Hopi ceremonies, art, and the Hopis themselves as an “exotic Other.” Tourists are welcomed by arts and crafts makers, for in the livelihood of the reservation, arts and crafts are significant economic resources. Most Hopis appreciate this. On the other hand, tourists may also be a problem, because they interfere in the privacy of people, steal ceremonial items, try to force their rules on Hopis, tell artists how to make their art pieces “properly,” and generally do not obey Hopi rules. Privacy interference of the Hopi people is clearly illustrated by what happened to the grandmother’s family of one of the interviewees at Old Oraibi on the Third Mesa. In the late 60s or early 70s, the family were having supper together, when somebody knocked on their door. When the grandmother went to open the door, a group of tourists rushed in and claimed: “Oh, is this a typical Hopi home? Is that typical food you are eating?” The grandmother took the closest object she could grab, a broom, and kindly asked the uninvited guests to leave her home. She also arranged for a sign to be put up at the entrance to the village road that declared: No visitors allowed. The village was closed to tourists for a good many years.


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Young Hopis’ Views of Communication with People from the Mainstream Young interviewees often spoke about the tourist visitors of the Hopi Reservation. Young people identified stereotypes which non-Indian people have about Native Americans as the primary cause for the misbehavior of some tourists and saw that the media would be a suitable forum to educate visitors: I think that, this again is just that stereotype that a lot of people have, that Native Americans live in the past, I guess. A lot of people think that we’re not up-to-date with a lot of these things, we’re not aware of a lot of these issues that are coming up. And so, I think that visitors to Hopiland could be educated, when they come in, and are able to witness ceremonies and things like that. (23-year-old male)

When asked about the key attraction of visitors and researchers to Hopiland, the following young interviewee introduced items essential in Sollors’ “descent” element of ethnicity (1986: 4-7, see also above in Chapter One). The respondent refers to the knowledge of ancient descent, including the place. In emphasizing cultural ability and knowledge of ethnic identification, he goes against the grain of modern ethnic identification, which rather highlights “external symbols” (see Sollors, 1986: 35, see also above in Chapter One). He also touches on issues which are essential in the cultural content of ethnicity, including ancient lifeways (see Nagel, 1994: 161-162, also above in Chapter One). I think it’s because the culture is so ancient, and we know who we’re descended from, and we’re one of the oldest peoples here on Hopi, or in the United States, here on the North American continent, we’re one of the oldest peoples. And we still hold on to much of our ancient lifeways, and whereas in other areas, that the Indian people no longer carry on much of their tradition. And, I think, that’s one of the main things that a lot of people come here, I guess, to experience. (Ibid.)

The historical and cultural knowledge of Hopis goes through oral history to the ancient Anasazi settlements of the Southwest:

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Media and Ethnic Identity Well, each of the different clans has their clan story, I guess, their migration stories. So, we still have reference to a lot of these areas, throughout the Southwest, the different Anasazi settlements, I guess, the ruins in those areas. And that’s all taught through oral history, also. And so, we still have connections to those different places. (Ibid.)

The previous comment also refers to the secret part of Hopi life, in which many tourists and researchers have had too much interest. This has caused Hopi people harm and damage. When the interviewee speaks about the different clan stories, he also says that they only belong to a particular clan and are not supposed to be told to other clans or other people. There is also other knowledge which Hopis want to keep private. This is very difficult for tourists and researchers to understand. Because, there’s some things that I might even never gonna know. And that’s just the way it is, because maybe I’m a girl or coming from a different clan. There’s just some things that I’m just never gonna know, and that’s just the way it is. So, it’s just a lot of religion. . . . (16-year-old female)

According to young Hopis, most visitors are positively interested, but there are also those who are too curious and annoy people: . . . But most of them are interested, and they want to learn and want to know. But some of them get, I don’t know, they want to know too much where you can’t tell’m. Some of them are understanding, but others . . . , they keep at it. (Hopi High School student, male)

As the comment shows, young Hopis classify visitors as ideal or difficult. Ideal visitors are positively interested. They ask people questions, but are not too curious, and they may contact the tribe for information. They also respect the rules. A difficult visitor is the opposite, disturbs people’s privacy by being too curious, does not respect the rules, and is a knowall who claims to understand Hopi culture better than the Hopis do:


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If they wanna know, they’ll read it up. Some people, they go to the people and ask’m about, and they’ll get to know little bits here and there, and they’ll wanna know, they’ll ask you a question, ‘Oh, we heard this and this, is it true?’ And you’ll tell them your point of view, and maybe they’re the same. But, then there’s these other people out there that think they know everything. They tell you how you’re supposed to act, what your people are supposed to do. And this happened recently at an art show that my father went to. We’re sitting there, and this guy came over to us [and] told us what our crafts were, what we made. He was telling us what that was, and that’s how we were supposed to represent it. And, we told him, we asked him, ‘well, how do you know so much?’ He didn’t answer us. I don’t know, we didn’t feel right about it, because I feel, if people wanna know, they should ask the people first instead of making the judgment first. Like, just coming out and telling you what you’re supposed to do, and be like that. (Hopi High School student, male)

The regulations for visitors in Hopiland stipulate, for example, that they do not take any photos or make video recordings or sketches anywhere in Hopiland. The regulations are there to protect privacy, including religious ceremonies, which the Hopis do not want to be disturbed. Nor do they want to feel like objects of voyeurism. The rules also help Hopis prevent the commercial use of their people and land by outsiders. Some difficult visitors do not obey the regulations and disturb the people. Although such visitors were mentioned by the interviewed students, the interviewees assured that the people and rules were respected by most visitors and that tourism helps self-employed Hopi artists by bringing in money. But the disturbers are: Only the ones that don’t obey the rules. (Hopi High School student, male) Yeah, like some, or most of them we just tell people not to take pictures and stuff. (Hopi High School student, female)

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Media and Ethnic Identity Or video recordings. Most people are understanding, but some of them, there’s like, I dunno, there always has to be a few that try to. . . . (Hopi High School student, male) Know too much. (Hopi High School student, female) Yeah, [tourists do] not follow the rules; [they] do their own thing. Then they start complaining when the police come and confiscate their cameras. They’ll start complaining, but then, they should’ve known, ’cause there’s usually a big sign up saying what can and cannot be done. Or you should go to get information. (Hopi High School student, male)

When regulations are broken, as may occur at those religio-cultural ceremonies which visitors are allowed to see, Hopis do not take the offenses lightly. Persons from the Hopi audience or clowns from the ceremony plaza may stop attempts to violate the regulations. They may climb up on to the flat roof of a building surrounding the plaza, where non-Indians are watching the ceremony, and tear up sketches or break a camera: . . . we had a family out on my village and this lady was just out in the open writing what was going on. And you know, in our culture, you can’t do that, especially White people. She was taking sketches of the dances. And so my aunt and them, they just went over there and took their stuff and just tore it up. And, you saw the clowns. If they see someone [with] a video camera, or anything like a camera, especially, if they’re non-Indians, they don’t care, they’ll go up there, no matter how much that video camera costs, it costs, like, $5,000, they’ll just take it, and they’ll destroy it. And if they have a camera, they’ll just take the film out. (16-year-old female)

Among the visitors are also those “wannabees” who see themselves as Indians. As the interviewee says, they are often middle-aged people with a lot of turquoise jewelry and feathers in their hair. You see these visitors especially in Sedona, Arizona, which is a well-known tourist city to the south of


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Hopiland, but you also see them sometimes in Hopiland, particularly in the village of Hotevilla. An interviewee described her feelings when seeing them “like laugh in your head.” Some young Native Americans, including this young Hopi woman, are very conscious about their ethnicity by birth, the “descent” element of ethnic identification (see Sollors, 1986: 4-7, see also above in Chapter One). One is Native American by birth, not by action, as the wannabees would like to be. The interviewee’s comment also shows that young Natives are very conscious of the fashion to be an Indian: Yeah, there’s others, like they try to be Indian. Especially nowadays, it’s the ‘in’ thing to be Indian. It’s not like you can be Indian, you just are Indian, you know. (Ibid.)

The reason why these “would-like-to-be-Indians” come to Hopiland is to seek solutions to their problems: . . . I guess, they think we know the answers to everything. (Ibid.)

Young interviewees ask the visitors for cultural respect. Real respect is not putting feathers in your hair. Rather it is asking people about proprieties when a visitor is unsure about what would be proper behavior. Often the misbehavior is the result of too much curiosity, which may cause a visitor to go into a private area or touch a dancer’s dress during a ceremony. This young interviewee cleverly shows what she considers misbehavior by a visitor lacking the proprieties for respectful behavior. She also wants to assure that Hopis are not prejudiced against outsiders, when they expect respect from them: And, there’s some who really are nice, and they really respect, and they ask: ‘Should I do this? Or should I do that?’ It’s not like we’re prejudiced against outsiders. We welcome them. They just gotta respect our ways. It’s just, like a matter of respect. ’Cause, you know, it’s just like a matter of going into someone’s house. You would not go into their room and start trying on their clothes. (Ibid.)

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Middle-Aged Hopis’ Views of Communication with People from the Mainstream In discussing outsiders’ interests in Hopis and Hopiland, middle-aged interviewees identified key reasons for people’s curiosity. These included special Hopi characteristics, real practices Hopis have, and the ways in which the Hopis present themselves to the world as a different kind of society. When asked what attracts people to the Hopiland, all of the reasons (except for the Hopis’ presentation of themselves) came out in the next interviewee’s answer: I think curiosity is part of it, seeing who we are, but also, how would I say it, it’s our relationship in the way of thinking with the world, with the earth. A lot of it, I think, is hospitality. They like the way people are out here. And they’re attracted to something spiritual. Maybe it’s the fact that we still practice the dances from a long time ago. I think that’s what attracts a lot of people back. (34-year-old female)

Another answer from a Hopi male suggests that Hopis have constructed something special, which can also be presented to the world publicly. That construction is “a different kind of society.” It might be because we have presented ourselves to the world publicly as a different kind of society. And also it’s probably because we still have some very strong religious practices, much of which is not allowed to be publicly viewed except by Hopi people. I talk about the fact that there has been so much missionary work done out here, and yet there’s probably only a very small percentage of Hopis who have converted to Christianity. (55-year-old male)

That Hopis themselves have presented themselves to the world as a different kind of society is a significant concept. Without a doubt, the portrayals represented in many different publications emphasize Hopis as a distinct society with an ancient, special culture. Portrayals by outsiders have also often depicted Hopis as something special and unique. The Hopi interviewees who have given information to researchers and writers have been chosen because of that specialness. In cases where most of the interviewees on


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Hopi culture and religion are the communities’ elders, the specialness has been further accentuated. Based on the answers above, there are three different sources for the visitors’ interest in the Hopis. One refers to the ancient, real cultural and religious practices still in use. A second reason are the images connected to special Hopi characteristics. The third is the construction of the Hopi society which Hopis themselves have presented to people outside the Hopiland. The second reason indicates some feeling of objectification, in which the Hopis have also participated. When an interviewee speaks about the Hopis’ still strong religious practices, he mentions that they are strong in spite of many attempts to convert Hopis to Christianity. The feeling of objectification is stronger when the visitor is seen as an intruder. S/he may have arrived in Hopiland with different aims, but it is always to benefit from the Hopis. These kinds of thoughts represent feeling of objectification views. The interviewees understand that the visitors have many aims: they may only want to watch or study, or make museum objects, or make money or find an object for identification. A visitor may come in the role of a journalist, academic, vender and tourist. This kind of objectification is more difficult. Many Hopis said that people with an interest in Hopis should remember that Hopis, as any other group of people, are not “museum objects” but living people who deserve sensitivity and respect. They also mentioned that the media could help add to the sensitivity and respect. One of the interviewees had this to say: . . . I want the people to understand that we are also a people, and we are not museum objects, or anything like that, to be objects of study or these kinds of things, that we’re living people, we’re breathing people, that we deserve sensitivity, we deserve respect . . . (41-year-old male)

The following interviewee concurs: . . . People only need to realize that we are people just like you. We value our privacy. We’re just people. We’ve always been living like this. Other people see us as unique. That’s why they want to write about us and study us, but we’re just people. (male in his forties)

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This interviewee was especially worried about the religious privacy of Hopis. He spoke at length about the commercial and academic exploitation of Hopi religious life. Several key issues deserve consideration in this context: . . . One of the things that I would like to see is this understanding that Hopi people, especially the religious privacy of Hopi, need to be respected. We have no way to stop the tourism. It is nationwide. There is no way of keeping up with all the publicity of the Hopi people: ‘Come see colorful kachina dances. Come see the oldest little living village in the world. Come see these unique people called Hopi.’ We have no way of controlling that. But somehow we need to tell people that we’re just average people. . . . Too much that [visitations] has happened and continue to happen to the Hopi people, that our religious life, ways and rituals, ceremonies are commercially and academically exploited. . . . (Ibid.)

One of the interviewees puts an incident of tourist misbehavior in the context of a tourist’s own country. She explains how she feels when some tourists break the privacy rules and literally take some things from the “exciting Other:” It’s like when you yourself go somewhere, how you look [at] somebody, like say, if you went to Holland or to Finland, if I went there, and I was so amazed and taken by their gardens or something, and I went into somebody’s garden and decided, looking at this one, and just take things. You know, what would they think of me there? I feel like when they come here. You know, when they do things. . . . (female in her forties)

One group of visitors are those coming to Hotevilla, a village on the Third Mesa. According to the interviewees who mentioned them, these visitors are like Hippies used to be, looking for their identity: Their life, they’ve lost. They don’t know where they’re going, where they come from, so they wanna identify with something. So they become one of the Hopis. But that, for the most part, has been a real negative thing for us. (44-year-old male)


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The next interviewee echoes an often-mentioned viewpoint of the Hopi newspaper, Hopi Tutuveni, the need of Hopis to control their arts and crafts. Some non-Hopis try to make fake art and sell it cheaply compared to Hopi prices, while others are venders who buy Hopi arts and crafts cheap and then sell them at high prices. The worry of the interviewee focused on venders who were mostly outsiders and used Hopi people: . . . Younger [Hopi] kids, they’re really talented. You’ve probably seen the kachina dolls and the art work that they have made. Hopis should have control of that so that we really get the maximum dollars for our people. And then the same way with the women folk. They know how to make baskets. And again, that should be controlled by Hopis. Because right now venders are coming in and they’re mostly outsiders and what they do when they come is they buy these arts and crafts at the lowest price, and then when you see them in their shop, it’s quadrupled, you know, the price. (Ibid.)

The next answer hints at feeling of objectification views, though the interviewee admits that other people’s interest is a positive thing as well. The interest shown must, however, have limits: It’s good to know that people are interested in you and the people. And that’s what makes it unique, us Hopis. So, it’s good that they know about us, but there’s just a limit where they can go so far. They have to stop right there, and they can’t go in further for more information, because everything is based on religion, culture. And you can’t expose that, if you know things. But I think, that’s the only thing that the tourists and the whoever—like people come out here just to learn about the Hopi, and write about and make money from’m. And they try to come here to use the Hopi, and get more detail of what their religion is about, which I don’t think is right. But it’s good to know that you are important. And when they find out you’re Hopi, they respect you. (35-year-old female)

As the interviewee above stated, outsiders often come to Hopiland to look for details of the Hopi religion, the key to Hopi culture which the Hopis want to keep as their own. According to many Hopi interviewees, some

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situations are frequently repeated on Hopi Mesas between some outsiders and Hopis: . . . People are coming from all parts of the world, coming here. I had one lady coming here about a month ago only to do something, and I said, ‘No, you can’t.’ But she was kind of insistent. ‘I was sent over here. I was sent over here to do this, I was sent over here to. . . . ’ That’s not part of our thing. ‘Well, I won’t be able to tell you anything, what different [Hopi] societies are involved in. I can tell you the history. I can tell you some information, but I can’t expose to you other than those generalities.’ (56-year-old male)

Outsiders’ overflowing interest in Hopis and Hopiland has brought not only a feeling of objectification, but has also created divisions within Hopi society. Interviewees mentioned such categories as “traditionals” and “progressives,” which are often used by White people when they speak about Hopis. Such labels divide Hopi people. John D. Loftin (1991: 82-83) has similar views, when he speaks about these terms as stereotypical labels used by whites. They do not correspond to Native experience. Outsiders, particularly researchers and writers use such labeling practice when making sense of their research object. It is a significant exercise of power. To be an object of labeling is an experience of intrusion, many Hopis argued. The terms “traditionals” and “progressives” have been discussed by other scholars in addition to Loftin (ibid.). According to him, the division of contemporary Hopis into these factions seems to be based on their positions taken with regard to the Tribal Council. Those who reject the Council are labeled “traditionals,” whereas those who accept it are called “progressives.” Peter Whiteley reviewed these terms in many different contexts, also defining concepts such as “traditional village,” “progressive village,” and “Traditionalists” (1988: 223-237). He claims that all of those terms are common in the literature; he mentions the work of Richard Clemmer 1978 as an example. “Traditionals” mean people oriented towards “Hopi traditions,” while “Traditionalists” refers to “an active political group (perhaps equatable with a party) in demonstrative opposition to the Tribal Council.” “Traditionalists” and “traditionals” overlap, but are not synonymous. “Traditionalists” receive “their Hopi support by some, though by no means all,” of the “traditionals”(p. 229). “Progressives,” according to Whiteley, refer to people “wanting the white man’s ways.” Active “progressives” are often Tribal Council supporters (p. 230).


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Researchers’ comments about the existence of “traditional” and “progressive” in Hopi society are similar to the feeling expressed by an interviewee about the categories created by outsiders. Creating a category has not only stayed in books, but has turned into a labeling practice also used by some Hopis themselves. In this transformation, one divisive category designed by outsiders has reached its goal: I’ve yet to come face to face with a ‘traditional’ Hopi or with a ‘progressive’ Hopi. I guess, I won’t know what they look like, because when you’re a Hopi, all you see are your relations and that’s quite different from being categorized as people that are either in or out. Out here everybody is in, according to my perspective. Every Hopi person that I meet, whether I disagree with them philosophically or politically, or on other grounds, they’re my relations. Whether I am critical of their work, they’re my relations. Whether I want to cut them off my family tree, they’re still my relations, and that’s where Hopi teachings really mean something, because our prayers are for everybody, and that’s all your relations. And when people come out here and say, well, there are ‘traditional’ people and ‘progressive’ people, I’ve no idea who they’re talking about, because Hopi people are Hopis and they practice their ceremonies and their traditions at varying degrees. And sometimes they don’t have a choice, because certain people, certain villages have certain societies and initiations and other villages don’t. So each village is not the same. If everything was the same across the border, maybe then we could distinguish between those people who are ‘traditional’ and those people who haven’t been practicing tradition at all. Maybe we could do that, we could afford to do that. But those two labels are highly divisive. They don’t unite Hopi people, they’re those categories which are designed to divide Hopi people along lines of either they’re for or against something. Unfortunately, some Hopis have adopted those label practices. But in my mind and I tell this constantly, not only to Hopis but to non-Hopis when I speak to them, is that there is no such thing for me. And I keep referring back to the value that Hopis are all my relations, whether they’re from First Mesa or Third Mesa or Second Mesa, they’re my relations, and I can’t distinguish between them. (41-year-old female)

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Her statement also offers an explanation which shows the inaccuracy of the constructed social and political divisions. Hopis practice their ceremonies and traditions differently in different villages. Hopi social structures differentiate specific village traditions. This is why some people may not have a choice whether or not to practice certain ceremonies. It would therefore be false to claim that Hopi people who do not practice particular Hopi traditions are “progressives.” The interviewee above rejected the division between “traditionals” and “progressives” in real life, seeing it as a construction of outsiders. The next interviewee also rejects the existence of “Traditionalists” and “progressives.” In describing the “Traditionalists,” he claims that some Hopis have adopted the labeling practices, as the interviewee above mentioned. He goes so far as to assert that some “Traditionalists” co-operate with researchers. In addition, they are self-labeled traditionalists who otherwise are like other Hopis, but portray themselves to the media in a certain way. They [researchers coming from outside the Hopi Reservation] always wanna talk with ‘so-called Traditionalists.’ I think they are looking for the religious part of Hotevilla [village on Third Mesa]. See, worldwide they think that we’re still living how Hopi really used to live. But that’s not true anymore. Even those ‘so-called Traditionalists,’ they are just like you and I. They’re just like us. They’re no different. But the way they portray themselves to the media, to computers, a lot of things that they say just isn’t true. . . . (44-year-old male)

The next interviewee describes how impossible such labels as “traditional” and “progressive” are in practice. Those who have adopted the term “traditional” may reject some modern things, but accept others. He also explains how the labels “traditional” and “progressive” seemingly have been adopted among Hopis. In his childhood, children even used the terms as nicknames. He speaks about the lower village of Moenkopi, which claims to be “traditional” and the upper village of Moenkopi which is known as “progressive.” . . . And we as kids even used to call each other, you know, ‘you’re a progressive. Yeah, you’re a traditional.’ We fight among each other like that. But I have come to find out going through high school and coming back from high school, that they still do that, and even today they still claim that. But there’s a change. They still talk back there, that’s


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what I say, they say something, but they don’t do it the way they say. Because right now, a part of the lower village don’t have electricity. The other part does. But in the part where there is no electricity, they have solar panels, they have butane tanks, they have generators. See. So, it’s a contradiction of what they’re prophesying. (58-year-old male)

Younger interviewees especially used the term “traditional” as an attribute of people who did not want too many modern things. To the question about the existence of “traditionals” and “progressives” in the Hopi community, and whether it was part of Anglo speech or everyday Hopi speech, a young interviewee answered: I guess it’s part of everyday life. There are some people out there who are very traditional, who don’t want too much of these modern things to be coming in. But personally, I think that we are moving into the future. There’s really no way that we’re gonna be able to get around it. The children are being taught these computers at school. We watch TV everyday. We listen to the radio every day. There’s all these influences that are gonna be here, and they’re not gonna go away. And so, instead of trying to block ourselves out from all of this, we’re gonna need to work with it, and to use it to our advantage, and decide how we’re gonna use it, by using Native language in it, and also, I guess, it even goes so far as to teach a little bit about Hopi culture. So, we need to work with it, rather than try to shut ourselves out from it. (23-year-old male)

Both young and middle-aged interviewees emphasized the special characteristics and practices in Hopi culture as reasons for outsiders’ interest in Hopis and Hopiland. The young interviewees focused on ancient lifeways, knowledge of ancient descent, and the Hopis’ secret knowledge as attractions for visitors. Middle-aged interviewees referred to Hopi ways of thinking, their hospitality, their spiritual beliefs, and the dances from long ago. In addition to these characteristics and practices, they mentioned Hopi presentations of themselves to the world as a different kind of society. In doing so, the interviewees referred to the Hopis’ own image construction for outsiders. Both groups also indicated that there are both positive and negative interests by outsiders. A positive interest is about learning more, but those

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who hold negative interests try to learn too much. They intrude in and disrespect people’s privacy, especially religious privacy. In speaking about outsiders, the middle-aged interviewees expressed some feeling of objectification views. Their comments clearly revealed that they wanted people to understand that they were not museum objects or objects to study, but living people who deserved sensitivity. They also spoke of the commercial and academic exploitation of Hopi religious life. In addition to feeling objectified, middle-aged interviewees also talked about the outsiders creating divisive categories, which they used as labels to divide Hopi people. An example is the artificial societal division into “traditionals” and “progressives,” often used by White writers. The labeling power, which an outsider uses in making sense of research, is one aspect in the process of objectification. It is a discursive power, or as Stuart Hall says, a symbolic power (1997: 259) over its object. Among Hopi people, it has been experienced as a power which is divisive and insulting.

HOPI VIEWS ON IDENTITY AND COMMUNICATION WITH THE MAINSTREAM What and how Hopis speak about their identity and communication with mainstream culture raises a variety of issues. In addition, factors of identity are intertwined. What and how Hopis speak about these issues is multivocal, as described under the different categories of views. These categories of views are examined more closely in a larger frame in the concluding chapter of this volume, but in examining the many varied voices it is crucial to take into account views which indicate situational contexts of ethnic identity (see, for example, Fitzgerald, 1992: 116 and Nagel, 1994: 154, discussed in Chapter One). They are also typical for identities in general (see, for example, Hall, 1996: 4, and Chapter One). The situational aspect of ethnic identity appeared as beyond ethnicity views, expressed in the context of professional endeavors. A key issue of the multivocal views is the shared worry for cultural survival among both young and middle-aged interviewees. Cultural survival refers to the cultural content of ethnicity (see the term Nagel, 1994: 162, see also above Chapter One). A central element of cultural survival is the Hopi language, which is highly valued over generations. Its importance refers to the meaning of language as an identity factor (see De Vos, 1982: 10-16, see also Chapter One). The skill to speak Hopi, however, has eroded, especially among the younger generation. Identity then works more on “external symbols” than with actual cultural abilities. This is typical for modern ethnic identifications (see Sollors, 1986: 35 and Fitzgerald, 1992: 116, see also


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above in Chapter One). Some young interviewees also felt pressured by the demands of older generations to learn the Hopi language. The Hopis’ relationship with mainstream culture shows people as managing lives in two cultures. Both middle-aged and young interviewees describe dealing with two cultures as more difficult for young people. Young people themselves identify these pressures and their sources both inside and outside of the Hopi community. Among young interviewees, there were also some indications that the “descent” element of ethnicity was more important as a reference to who you are than something one would like to be (see Sollors, 1986: 4-7, 33, and Chapter One). Middle-aged interviewees expressed their worry over the grounding of young people in Hopi culture. A common denominator for different-aged interviewees was a strong sense of place, which can be considered an indication of territoriality and a factor of ethnic identification (De Vos, 1982: 10-16, see also Chapter One). As such it is more than just a territory comprehended as a space and separated from other spaces with a “line.” A space formed by the “line” belongs to the central concepts of the spatial vocabulary of colonialism, as Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2001: 52-53) maintains, because “it was used to map territory, to survey land, to establish boundaries and to mark the limits of colonial power.” Sense of place can be understood through space and place as basic components of the lived world, which thus refers to experience (see, for example, Tuan, 1995 [1977]). An important component of place for all Native Americans, including Hopis, is land. Referring to Vine Deloria (1974: 258), Cynthia-Lou Coleman (1997: 200) explains how it is the central value of Indian life. Land is not understood, for example, in the sense of deeds and fences, but rather “through constructing land as place, home, hearth, and center.” Place, land, and home are values, all connected to community (Coleman, 1997: 200). The attractors for young people to Hopiland also include family and ceremonies. The importance of ceremonies for young people refers to the meaning of traditions as an additional ethnic identification factor (see above). Traditions all have a crucial meaning in Native American cultures, and to understand tradition, we have to comprehend the deep interrelationships between land, community, and religion. This finally links a sense of place with spiritual well-being (Coleman, 1997: 200, refers to Warrior 1995: 85). Traditions are connected to Hopi values. Both young and middle-aged interviewees stressed the importance of these values, and thus the importance of values as one factor of ethnic identification (Isajiw, 1991: 219-220, see also above Chapter One). The interviewees also noted the pressures from the outside as causing difficulties for Hopis to uphold their traditional

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values. Middle-aged interviewees expressed quite often feelings or views of cope-with-strategy. Cope-with-strategy views emphasize the importance of knowledge of the dominant culture as a way of being able to maintain traditional values (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86, and the discussion above in this chapter). This could be considered a “compartmentalization” (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86, and discussed in this chapter). On the other hand, in the context of expressing cope-with-strategy views, some interviewees were also worried about forgetting “the Hopi side” and “who we are.” These kinds of comments cover both ethnic boundaries and the cultural content of ethnicity (see Nagel, 1994: 162, and above in this chapter, and Chapter One). Hopis see communication with people of mainstream culture and their interest in Hopi culture as both positive and negative. A visitor’s positive interest to know more about Hopi culture may easily turn to a negative interest. This is generally considered an interest to know too much. It is intrusive and disrespectful of people’s privacy. It is impossible to speak about Hopis’ views on communication with visitors to Hopiland without mentioning a feeling of objectification, especially by middle-aged interviewees. They spoke about visitors who had made Hopis into museum and research objects. In this kind of role, visitors exerted a power which Stuart Hall (1997) calls symbolic power. Outsiders made sense of Hopi culture by labeling and dividing Hopis under different names, exemplified by the practice of calling them “traditionals” or “progressives.” Naming and dividing are old strategies of colonialism. Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2001, see, for example, p. 80-83) analyzes the old research strategy by using examples of the research conducted by Europeans on the indigenous Maori of New Zealand. Departing from Cook’s first voyage, she describes how “They Came, They Saw, They Named, They Claimed” (ibid.: 80). Feeling of objectification views articulated by some Hopi interviewees provide evidence of the continuity of research practices as described by Smith. Feeling of objectification views are also an obvious indication of seeing “intruders” as Others. This is easy to understand against the historical background of Hopis as well as of other indigenous people. This chapter has described how Hopis identify themselves and how they speak about their relationship to mainstream culture. It has revealed factors and ways to manage communication with people of the mainstream, and the difficulties in this interaction. In this discussion, emphasizing ethnicity as agency involves identity issues which focus on the psychosocial dimensions of ethnic identity, the sense of belonging to a group or subjectively self-conscious community (see, for example, De Vos, 1986: 16; Brass, 1991: 19; Roosens, 1989: 15, and discussion in Chapter One). The


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other side of ethnicity is structure; a sense of belonging is circumscribed by socially and politically defined ethnic categories by external forces (see Nagel, 1994: 161 and Chapter One). An important element of the external forces is media. It is a part of Hopi everyday life. Media representations, presence and technologies fill an important section of Hopi environment where identity construction and cultural practices are pursued. The next chapter examines in detail Hopi considerations of this environment.

Chapter Four

Hopi Views on Mainstream Media

In today’s world, many of our experiences are media-mediated. Media provide an important environment for identity construction and cultural practices to all people. An introduction to this environment requires an examination of the media—the channels and technologies that are available. What are, then, the media available for the Hopis on their reservation? This environment is approached by the concept of mediascape (Appadurai, 1990: 298-299). Mediascape, a term first developed by Arjun Appadurai (1990: 298299), is an important part of the landscapes of images in today’s world. According to Appadurai, it refers both to the distribution of electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information—in other words, all the different communication media—and applies to the images of the world created by these media. In describing the Hopi mediascape, the focus will be on the media available on the Hopi Reservation, in accordance with the first part of Appadurai’s definition. An overview of the use of media is compiled on the basis of Hopi people’s views through two sets of data: the interviews and survey made in the Hopi High School (see Chapter One), and the images of the world produced by the media on Native Americans as seen by the Hopis. Before analyzing their views, a short description is necessary of the media available and used on the Hopi Reservation.

HOPI MEDIASCAPE The Hopi mediascape comprises newspapers, radio, and television. Newspaper distribution on the Hopi Reservation is organized in three different ways. The newspapers which the Hopi people subscribe to are delivered to the local post offices, where people have post office boxes. Post offices are 101

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located on all three mesas of the Hopi villages. On the First Mesa, there is a post office in the valley in the village of Polacca. The Second Mesa post office is in Secakuku. The post offices on the Third Mesa are located in Hotevilla and in the valley at Kykotsmovi. In addition to the mesa villages, there are post offices to the west in the village of Upper Moenkopi and to the east in Keams Canyon. People can also buy their newspaper in stores in Hotevilla, Kykotsmovi, Secakuku, Polacca, and Keams Canyon. A very common way, however, is to pick up a free or payable newspaper from the newsstand at the Second Mesa’s Hopi Cultural Center, or from some other place where there are newsstands for newspapers. The newspapers available at these newsstands are the Hopi Tutuveni, a bi-weekly newspaper funded by the Hopi Tribal government; the Navajo-Hopi Observer, which is published once a week in neighboring Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation; and the Gallup Independent which is published in Gallup, New Mexico. These three newspapers are also the most important news sources concerning issues on the Hopi Reservation. In a survey I made in the Hopi High School in the spring of 1996 (Levo-Henriksson, 1997), over 80 percent of the students mentioned newspapers as the key news source of Hopi Reservation news. It is likely that similar results would also apply to other groups of the Hopi population. Before the launching of their own radio station in December 2000, there was no daily-based news media informing Hopis. Local information provided by the media was in the hands of weekly or bi-weekly newspapers. Of the current newspapers, the Hopis’ own newspaper, the Kykotsmovi-based Hopi Tutuveni has clearly the most readers. Almost 65 percent of the Hopi High School students named it as the most important newspaper addressing Hopi issues. The paper has a circulation of 5,000 copies. Also, 300 copies are delivered outside the Hopi Reservation to neighboring areas and all around the United States. Some copies have even found their way to other parts of the world, to Australia and Western Europe, Japan, and Russia. According to the editor of the paper in 1996, the Hopi Tutuveni receives much input from its readers on the Hopi Reservation. Other newspapers mentioned in the survey and by some interviewees include the Southwest Today, a section of Indian Country Today, which is the largest newspaper published by Native Americans, printed in Rapid City, South Dakota; the Eagle Eye, published in Winslow, Arizona; the Arizona Daily Sun, published in Flagstaff, Arizona; a national daily Arizona Republic, published in Phoenix, Arizona; and the Navajo Times. Newspapers were also seen as the most important media on issues of the Hopi Reservation among older interviewees. Crucially, the interviewees


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also differentiated between local and national media. Local issues are transmitted by a newspaper, mostly by the Hopis’ own newspaper, the Hopi Tutuveni. The other newspapers which the interviewees mentioned as important local news sources were those also mentioned by the students: the Navajo-Hopi Observer, Eagle Eye and the Gallup Independent. Broadcasting facilities in the area of the Hopi Reservation have been very scanty. Before the launching of the Hopis’ own radio, there was no local radio or television station or cable television that would provide programming specifically for the reservation community. Neither was there a reliable public radio service for the Hopi Indian Reservation community. Before the end of the year 2000, the Hopi people did not have access to the increasing amount of national Native programming available to other Native American communities. They were denied access, for example, to “National Native News,” “Native America Calling,” other programs on AIROS (American Indian Radio on Satellite) and from other national sources, such as Public Radio International and National Public Radio (see Hopi Foundation: Radio planning project, part IV project narrative, p. 2). Hopis, however, have worked for years to improve public radio service to their area. The Hopi Radio Project, as it was known, aimed to bring a Hopi-owned, Hopi-run FM public radio station to the reservation, in part to help preserve the Hopi language and culture. The efforts were rewarded in December 2000, when KUYI-FM on First Mesa was launched (for more details of this project and its realization, see Chapter Five, “The Plan for a Hopi Radio Station”). Before KUYI-FM, radio stations could be heard on the Hopi Reservation, although the programming was not specifically for the Hopi community. These mostly commercial stations located in neighboring Arizona cities were also mentioned by Hopi listeners. Four of them were based in Flagstaff, three of them commercial—KAFF/KFLG Radio, KMGN Radio, and KVNA Radio—and one a public broadcasting station, KNAU Radio from Northern Arizona University. KNAU-FM in Flagstaff delivered a marginal signal to parts of the reservation, but many residents could not receive it at all (see the Hopi Foundation: Radio planning project, part IV project narrative, p. 1). One of the neighboring commercial stations, KGHR Radio, is located in Tuba City. A commercial station which came up frequently in the young Hopis’ interviews was the Navajo station KTNN, located in Window Rock, Arizona. The station is heard throughout the Southwest and is one of the most popular and profitable Native stations in the country. It has gathered many fans in other Native American nations, and a substantial number of nonIndian listeners (Keith, 1995: 44).

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Because there was no radio and television station programming specifically for the Hopi Reservation community, radio and television did not play an important role regarding local news. This is reflected, for example, in that half of the students in the survey did not mention any radio station as an important source on issues of the Hopi Reservation. When they did, only two stations were identified by name, the most important being the Navajo station, KTNN. The other radio station mentioned by name was the country-music-flavored KAFF/KFLG Radio, simply called KAFF, in the neighboring city of Flagstaff. In addition, small percentages of students noted some stations by frequencies, including KGHR in Tuba City, and three Flagstaff-based stations, KMGN, KVNA and again the public broadcasting station, KNAU. That radio played such a weak role as a local news source for Hopi High School students came up in the survey time and again. Some interviewees, however, said that while newspapers were the most important medium concerning local issues, radio came in second. The station mentioned most often was the Flagstaff-based public broadcasting station, KNAU. There were fewer mentions of the Flagstaff-based commercial radio, KAFF/KFLG Radio. In any case, radio did not prove to be nearly as important as newspapers regarding local news. Television facilities on the Hopi Reservation primarily comprise one national network, NBC’s Flagstaff-based KNAZ-TV, known as Channel 2. It has a long history on the Hopi Reservation. For those who do not have a satellite dish, it is the only channel available. Satellite households, on the other hand, can receive as many as 100 channels. It is difficult to determine how common satellite television is in Hopi homes. According to the survey, more than half (59 percent) of Hopi High School students had satellite television. However, it is far less common in the whole reservation area, especially among elderly. We must also take into account that there are some villages with no electricity. People use solar power, which some interviewees said functions better with a VCR than with a television set as a transmitter. While keeping this in mind, in addition to satellite television homes, there are homes which have no access to a television channel. In these homes, people who have a television may use it as a monitor only for VCR movies. As with the radio, television is not experienced as an important transmitter of Hopi issues. This was agreed on by both Hopi High School students and interviewees in the villages. As in the case of radio stations, many Hopi High School students, almost 40 percent, left this question unanswered or said that no television station was important on issues regarding the Hopi Reservation. One fourth of the students said, however, that after


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newspapers, television was the most important news source for issues concerning the Hopi Reservation. More than half of the students mentioned that the most important television station covering issues on the Hopi Reservation was Channel 2, the NBC’s Flagstaff-based KNAZ-TV mentioned above. Among the different media, television clearly has a leading role regarding statewide (Arizona), national and, even more, international issues. This was acknowledged by the students in the survey and the interviewees alike. As regards issues concerning Arizona and the U.S., 66 percent of the students in the survey thought television the most important medium. In international issues, television came first in 72 percent of the answers. Newspapers also seemed to have some significance for the students in transmitting international issues but far less than television. The supremacy of television in national and international news was also obvious among interviewees. In national and international news, television is commonly a far more important news source than newspapers or radio (see, for example, Abercrombie, 1996: 55). Meanwhile, television’s role in local news seems to be different among Hopis than in contemporary society generally (see Abercrombie, 1996: 55). Nicholas Abercrombie sees television as the most important news source (compared to newspapers and radio) in all international, regional and local news. One must, however, take into account that the local may be defined differently in different contexts. It may be comprehended in the sphere of a nation-state or a smaller area. For Hopis it is the smaller area, the Hopi Reservation, that counts for “local.” In the news concerning this area, television is clearly understood to have an insignificant role, quite unlike the role accorded to newspapers. That Hopis do not understand television as a medium of local issues is also based on the nature of its coverage, which remains non-local when compared to the newspapers published either on the Hopi Reservation (the Hopi Tutuveni) or in the neighboring areas. The lack of locality is very obvious, for example, in the case of satellite television. Of the ten satellite channels, the NBC’s Flagstaff-based KNAZ-TV, or Channel 2, was excluded from the package. As a result, those who have satellite television, receive their weather forecasts, for example, from distant non-Hopi places. Though television is perceived as a medium of statewide, national and international issues, it is, however, the most important source of entertainment both for students and interviewees. Over half of the students think of television as the most important source of entertainment. After watching television, they mentioned most often such activities as games, sports, music and meeting new people as the key source of entertainment (13

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percent), while for 11 percent the most important sources were discussions with other people. For the interviewees, the leading entertainment medium was clearly television. As elsewhere, television as a medium is a part of everyday life on the Hopi Reservation, if the facilities are there. As some interviewees recalled, this began in the 1960s. The time spent watching the medium, according to the estimations of Hopi students in the survey and of the interviewees, does not seem to differ significantly from average watching in American mainstream culture, which was about four hours a day in the early 1990s (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi, 1990: xi). Students at the Hopi High School estimated that they spent an average of 3.2 hours a day watching television. The interviewees who gave their daily viewing times estimated the amount as 4.1 hours a day. It did not come up whether television was on longer than that every day even though no one was watching. In average American households, TV sets are on for more than seven hours a day (Abercrombie, 1996: 4, refers to Allen, 1992). As regards gender differences among Hopi High School students, males watch television somewhat more (3.7 hours a day) than the females (2.9 hour a day). Among both genders, there was one student who clearly spent more time than others watching television. In comparison to some mainstream numbers, the share of such large-scale consumers is small. According to Lawrence Lichty (1989: 160), for example, 20 percent of Americans watched television twelve hours a day. Hopi numbers, however, are not quite comparable to the average American figures, because there were relatively few respondents, and they represented a special age group, not all ages. Fewer than half of the interviewees estimated their viewing time. In addition to them, there were many men who claimed that they did not watch television much or at all, because they did not have time or because of some other reason. “They have had their share of all that stuff.” Also, a few women said that they did not watch very much, because there was too much to do. Still there were also women who admitted watching “quite a bit,” “half a day” or that “they really enjoy TV.” Some interviewees were worried about some people watching too much television. They were especially concerned about young people. They mentioned that some children may watch ten hours a day and that watching a lot of television made one lazy. These interviewees often emphasized that Hopi cultural values required avoiding laziness. One interviewee also emphasized the unhealthy influence of sitting a lot in front of the TV. Although the actual number of hours of viewing television among Hopis is not revealed by this study—it was not measured by any kind of


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viewing measures—the comments of the students and the interviewees give the impression that the numbers do not differ dramatically from the mainstream. More essential than the actual number of hours, however, is the fact that television is an important part of the mediascape on the Hopi Reservation, whether it is in the form of NBC’s KNAZ-TV or Channel 2 or of the ten satellite channels. It is also a medium which brings issues of Arizona, the U.S.A., and the world into Hopi homes. Before the millennium, the Hopi Reservation was not able to take full advantage of telecommunications. The electronic infrastructure was not there. Most Hopis still have no access to e-mail or other online services. It is difficult to give any exact numbers, but the survey showed that 16 percent of Hopi High School students had that access. The great majority of these students were from the First Mesa, mostly from Polacca. It is possible that homes with e-mail access pay the long distance access fee to the nearby city of Flagstaff to get on-line. This was also the case in 2000 when the Hopi radio station KUYI was founded. They pay $300-500 a month to be on-line. The major organizations on the Hopi Reservation which have access to e-mail or other on-line services via Internet in 2002 were the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Hopi Health Care Center, the Hopi High School and the Hopi Tribe. When viewing the whole mediascape in the Hopi community at the turn of the millennium, it becomes clear that the information and images which surround everyday life are produced outside the community. Mainstream television produces a flow of messages from day to day. Small “brooks” spring from the programming of local commercial radio stations, but not from the Hopis themselves. This also influences the focus of the coverage, which is away from the core of the local sphere, the Hopi Reservation. Newspapers which the families mostly read are usually non-daily, and they cover a larger area than just the Hopi Reservation. The only newspaper to focus on the Hopi community, the Hopi Tutuveni, appears bi-weekly. Before the Hopi radio was realized, the newspaper was also the only medium owned and run by Hopis themselves. And finally, poor telecommunications infrastructure and expensive costs partly stand in the way of increasing the number of personal computers in private homes, though the Hopis would value them highly. What follows is an examination of the Hopis’ views on their mediascape. These are explored through three issues: 1) media coverage and representations on Native Americans and Hopis; 2) television as a part of everyday life, and 3) the Internet. Young and middle-aged Hopis’ views are presented separately only in the context of the first issue, because the scope of the survey made in the Hopi High School provided enough material to make that separation possible.

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VIEWS ON MEDIA COVERAGE AND REPRESENTATIONS ON NATIVE AMERICANS AND HOPIS Mainstream media has great power in representing issues of Native peoples to the mainstream audience and Native Americans themselves. As was discussed in Chapter Two, it has been a prevailing practice in mainstream media either to neglect or stereotype the Native Americans. The following also makes clear what Hopis think about these practices, both as regards Native Americans generally and Hopis specifically. The Hopis have definite opinions about indigenous media coverage. Young Hopis’ Views on Media Coverage and Representations Young Hopi views regarding the media coverage of Native Americans are quite unanimous. The coverage is seen as scanty and inadequate, though there is some change in the air. Some Hopis also believe that the small amount of coverage can be defended by the fact that most people do not want a lot of coverage: . . . the Native American issues are something that’s just starting to build up. And now, more and more newspapers are starting to center on some of these Native American issues. Although I think that there isn’t enough coverage of all Native American issues. . . . (23-year-old male) About Native Americans? I don’t think they really have anything about Native Americans. None of those big newspapers. (16-year-old female) . . . people don’t want a lot of coverage. (18-year-old female)

When asked why there was so little coverage, one young female suggested traditional concerns: I don’t really know, maybe traditional aspects. (Ibid.)


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The representations of Native Americans are seen as biased and stereotypical. The views where the representations are described negatively are called insufficient representations views. This category also includes opinions which hold that the coverage on Native Americans is minimal. Why are, then, stereotypes presented in the media? A lack of education of journalists and broadcasters on Native American issues was mentioned in several interviews: . . . I think radio, it’s just biased [on] Native Americans; they just project it how they want it. . . . (16-year-old female) It’s like, most of it is sad, like controversy. (18-year-old female) . . . you have that bias in there, but I think that it’s, more or less, just because they’re not educated about the people who they’re reporting on. That there’s just stereotypes that they have already in the reporting while they’re writing their story. They kind of incorporate those ideas into it. (23-year-old male)

One young interviewee noted that mainstream reporters categorize Native Americans as old-fashioned and living continuously in the past. This kind of stereotyping was also found in the survey of Bieber-Roberts, Brown, and Fuller (1995). (See also above in Chapter Two). Unlike the people of the mainstream, Native Americans are not portrayed as living their lives in the modern world. In denying the modern context, mainstream reporters might nurse a feeling of otherness in Native American communities while maintaining stereotypical images and behavior among the people in the mainstream culture. One interviewee agreed that Native Americans have preserved their ways of life as they “kind of live in the past,” but they also have a modern world with modern governance and activities similar to those in towns: I think there’s a lot of them [reporters] who just have that particular stereotype that Indians or Native Americans are living in the past, I guess. That we’re not up-to-date with all the modern society. We kind of live in the past, and kind of use those things. They don’t know that, such is the Hopi. It has a formal tribal government. We have over 300 employees in

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Media and Ethnic Identity the tribal government here, and they are very educated. They are fluent in speaking English, and we do a lot of the same things that those people who live in towns do. And, I think, that’s one of the main stereotypes that they have, is that we’re different from them, that we’re kind of, I guess, old-fashioned. That’s one of the main things that I see. (23-year-old male)

The young interviewees recognized, however, positive development in some 1990s films—including “Dances with Wolves,” “Last of the Mohicans” and “Pocahontas”—which went against the grain of media stereotyping. They were happy about the abandonment of the image of the savage and saw the depiction of Natives in these films to be more real or different from the mainstream. The views which introduced such positive developments are called possibility views. They give a good image of what type of Native Americans they depicted in the movie, “Dances with Wolves.” They told how it was in the movie. It wasn’t like the Indians were savages. They told how it really was, how they were living for thousands of years before somebody else came and forced their ways upon them. (A Hopi High School student, male) They gave them a different outlook, instead of Indians trying to kill the Whites, you know, they became friends. They helped each other. (16-year-old female)

The significance of the recognition comes through in the comment of one young interviewee when she gave voice to her hopes for changing the reporting on Native Americans: I don’t know. Maybe, the recognition of people. (18-year-old female)

The reporting of Native Americans would be more accurate if there were more Native American journalists and broadcasters in the media business:


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. . . I think it would be better if we had Native American people in reporting on Native American issues. That would give a better understanding of the issues. (23-year-old male) Well, you’d get to hear it from your own, like the Native American point of view. (16-year-old female)

One of the benefits of having Native American reporters and Hopi reporters in particular was clearly their knowledge of Native American cultures, and their sense of the specific, local culture. All Indians are not Pocahontas: They get to know more about a person’s culture and where he or she is from. Some people think that there is only one Indian: like Pocahontas Indian. (Hopi High School student, male)

One of the young interviewees reminded us that it is not only some mainstream reporters of the United States who may carry stereotyped images of Native Americans, but also people living in different countries. If there were Native American, including Hopi, reporters, they might change the situation. His example came from Germany: . . . my father was telling me, in the army he went over to Germany, and people there, they weren’t really educated in what a Native American was. They asked him what he was, and he said ‘Indian.’ He said, ‘Native American.’ They asked him: ‘Do you still wear the leather robes and stuff and furs, and do you still live in the teepees, and hunt buffalo or something?’ That would be one of the benefits, if we could get out there and get more coverage on how different people are: like, there’s a difference between the way a Hopi and a Navajo live, or how a Hopi and a Sioux live. (Hopi High School student, male)

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The interviewed Hopi High School students thought that people in Europe had received their stereotyped images based on Plains Indians stereotypes from books or movies, which made them think that all Indians were alike. . . . They just saw one type of Indian on a movie. They thought that’s how all Indians were. (Hopi High school student, male)

One of the interviewees emphasized that it would be important to get young people into positions as reporters, because they are well aware of the issues facing their tribes: . . . I think that now we need younger people to start working in these different positions. The more younger you get, the more educated they are also, and more aware of these issues that are facing their tribes. . . . (23-year-old male)

As a wish to mainstream media reporting on Native Americans, he urged more reporting on positive things, including the progress made by Native Americans. . . . if I was in mainstream media, I would try to center out the positive things that the tribes are doing, the progress that they are making. In this time, thing that we’re in now, in the 20th century. (Ibid.)

The most important medium in preserving Native American cultures is video, but Native Americans generally do not want much video coverage. In cultural issues, such as ceremonies, non-Natives are not supposed to know Natives’ ceremonial practices. If some of those private and secret ceremonies are taped, and a video were to come into the wrong hands, it might cause a chain of problems in ceremonial practice. Even young Hopis worry about this: The thing is, a lot of Native Americans don’t want outsiders to know their practices. Even if it was available to have a documentary done about ceremonies [a video], there will be a lot of people that’ll be against it, because they don’t want people [to see] they don’t know. ’Cause, it’s


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like very private to them. And in certain ceremonies, only certain groups of people could know. If you take one video and you say: ‘Only certain people are gonna be able to do it. It’s not gonna get out.’ And, if it gets into the wrong hands, they’re gonna wanna make money, or they’re gonna wanna try to do stuff. We’ve had that on the reservation. There’s just certain places that are sacred shrines. When people on the outside come, they start watching around, and they see these things, and they don’t think anything of it, and they just take it. . . . But they don’t know what they’re doing, because you might only need that sacred artifact to do certain ceremonies. [If] you don’t have that, then you can’t do the ceremony, and that just takes away the whole thing, ’cause, you can’t do it no more. (16-year-old female)

The above comment explains why Hopis have a different view of publicity compared, for example, to the mainstream American view of publicity. If all the ceremonies were open for American and international “outsiders,” including the media, and if all those “outsiders” were not educated enough about Native American cultures, they might, without even knowing it, bring fatal consequences for some cultural traditions. The comment above is an example of a third category of views, focusing on the issue of public and private. It brings up the Hopis’ need for privacy in the context of some traditions and ceremonies. These kinds of views, called need for privacy views, usually surfaced when the interviewees were speaking about the media in the context of ceremonies. Even if such interviewees saw media as a possibility (possibility views), they also believed that the media had a time and a place. It could not intrude everywhere. The message on contemporary Hopi culture which one interviewee would like to send to the media’s majority audience highlights the importance of preserving ancient lifeways and utilizing modern technology. Technology would therefore act as a sustainer of ancient lifeways. This message is also an example of cope-with-strategy views (see also in the previous chapter). In this case, the answer is also an example of “compartmentalization,” the term discussed by John D. Loftin (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86, and also the previous chapter). . . . Hopi is a culture that is strong. We may still carry on ancient lifeways, but we are also living in the 20th century, and we also are

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Media and Ethnic Identity utilizing modern technology to help us to sustain these ancient lifeways. . . . (23-year-old male)

Most of the Hopi youths’ views about representations of Native Americans and Hopis in the mainstream media are on a pan-Indian level. Those interviewed are clearly concerned about representation at a more common Native American level, not just on a tribal level. At the same time, though, they emphasize the differences of Native American cultures, or the ethnicity on the tribal level (about different levels of Native American ethnicity, see Nagel, 1994: 155. See also above, Chapter One). Middle-Aged Hopis’ Views on Media Coverage and Representations Young people who saw the media representations on Native Americans and Hopis as scanty, biased and stereotypical, were joined in similar views by middle-aged Hopis. These interviewees expressed insufficient representations views. Insufficient coverage, its bias, and a certain kind of superficiality were features which came out often in their responses. Like young Hopis, the middle-aged interviewees mentioned that some positive development had taken place in some recent movies which show a certain sensitivity. Such argumentation represents possibility views. One interviewee believes that although the media coverage is insufficient, the situation is not hopeless. Some improvement has clearly happened. Coverage on Native Americans is, however, still inconsistent: I think the media doesn’t cover enough of Native issues. And although we have come a long way in even getting Native American stories. We have that Indian Country Today, which is a national magazine of Native American news, and we have tribal newspapers and we have neighboring bordertown newspapers, who carry news, we still don’t have the kind of coverage on a consistent and daily basis, like our non-Indian counterparts do. (41-year-old female)

Some interviewees wanted to draw attention to inadequate Hopi coverage: Well, I have a hard time understanding what the issues are on other Native countries, or reservations. And so, I really can’t have any


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judgment on how it covers them. But, I’m mainly much more aware that the Hopi side of some issues is not covered adequately. So I can’t really speak for other Native people. (55-year-old male)

The next interviewee also emphasizes the poor coverage of Hopis on television: They do carry some Native stuff, but it’s usually about other tribes. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hopi program except for maybe once or twice. And they’re only like ten minutes or something. Like it’ll give a very brief overview of maybe three different tribes or something like that. I think, they are better though in the last maybe ten to fifteen years. (38-year-old female)

As regards bias in the coverage and portrayal of Native Americans and Hopis, the most often repeated issues had to do with the Navajo-Hopi land dispute and the bias against the Hopis. More often than not, Hopis would be portrayed in the context of religion and emotions, or through culture which was understood to mean only ceremonies. The journalistic interest often equals a tourist and romantic interest where the Hopis are presented as if they did not have any problems. The daily life of the Hopis is forgotten. On the other hand, some of the interviewees stressed that the media want to emphasize negative issues as applied to Native Americans. When the interviewees paid attention to biased coverage, the NavajoHopi land dispute came up repeatedly, either on its own or in conjunction with some other partiality: Again, they dwell only on the religious aspects of things. And they work on emotions. . . . (44-year-old male) The same goes for the land dispute. You always see Navajos crying over there. You’re always hearing about, how they’re not able to graze. How they are not able to use the Native medicines. But all those are not true. But that’s just how they portray the news. And they’re just out to make money; hardly ever do we hear the truth.

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Media and Ethnic Identity (Ibid.) Sometimes they put too much on . . . the land dispute, it’s more on Navajo side. (35-year-old female) Well, most of it, the eagle gathering too, it’s mostly on the Navajo side. (Ibid.)

The following lengthy statement also focuses on biased coverage of the land dispute. The interviewee states that the coverage is “ok,” when focusing on the Hopi alone, but biased when related to Hopi-Navajo issues, including the land dispute. This interviewee also looks behind the coverage and compares Navajos’ and Hopis’ media relationships and views of publicity: I haven’t been happy with the way that the papers have been reporting on Hopi. I think, it’s ok, when it’s just Hopi-focused information, but when it has to deal with the affairs, like we have so many conflicts with Navajo, when it gets to that point, then for me it’s very clear that the journalists are much more friendlier to the Navajo position, because they’ve been courting them all this time. And they’re much freer with the information that they wanna share with the journalists [than] we Hopis are. So, I think there’s not always that balance that you would like to see, an objective journalistic viewpoint of the situation. They tend to be biased, and, although I read the Gallup Independent more than I do any other paper, I’m disappointed that they always seem to be biased. . . . (41-year-old male)

Others share his view that media portrayals of Hopis are one-sided. The coverage on Hopis focuses on culture—in effect, ceremonies only. Hopi culture is viewed as romantic, as if seen through a tourist’s eyes. And Hopis are represented as if they did not live an everyday life with many modern problems: Most of the time people (journalists and broadcasters) wanna know about the culture, and to them, the culture out here only means the


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ceremonies that we have going on. But that is not the whole thing. Daily living is the whole culture of Hopi people. (52-year-old female)

This interviewee also pointed out that the focus on ceremonial information may also be very inconvenient for the people, because they do not wish to provide information about ceremonies. The next comment is an example of need for privacy views which were also expressed by young Hopis (see above). . . . A lot of Hopi people don’t like to provide information about ceremonies as much, because they know that that’s what they’re (journalists and broadcasters) striving to get. That’s the only information they wanna know. And that’s not the total picture. (Ibid.)

The next comments refer to romantic images on Hopis and are examples of insufficient representations views. I think for Hopi, there’s still a lot of romantic images about Indians. I think there’s a real tourist image about Native Americans, especially about Hopis. . . . (41-year-old female) Well, they make the Hopis look like they aren’t real, that they don’t have problems or anything. That everything’s just going smoothly. But it’s not really that way. If they really wanna get the truth, they should come out here and maybe spend a month or so and just look, sit back and watch the people. (59-year-old female)

When referring to the somewhat narrow portrayal of Hopis, some interviewees thought that this might be because of not enough knowledge of Hopis in the mainstream: . . . They (journalists and broadcasters) just barely touch the surface. Like when the television station is here, or gets a press release from Hopi,

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Media and Ethnic Identity they will briefly put it on the air. They usually don’t know enough about the issues on Hopi to even present it any further. (52-year-old female) Well, I think, they don’t tell enough. The newspapers and that sort of medium is always reactive, you react to the situation to tell the story. So it’s focusing many ways. But what I don’t see out there is enough open education about Hopi, a complexity of our social structure, the internal political body of the Hopi people, and there’s not really a fair representation of what Hopi really stand for. They don’t understand us. Even anthropologists don’t understand us. There are thousands of articles on Hopi. They’re still arguing on what Hopi is supposed to be. So how can you expect the media people to even understand, when they are not students of Hopi culture. So in many ways it’s really, I guess, unfair especially today, to have these stories come up, but I haven’t seen any real intent to portray good, objective cultural portrayals for the Hopi. (male in his forties)

The lack of adequate information may often be connected to stereotypes. In the context of Native Americans, including Hopis, one constant stereotype is that Natives want to live on funds provided by the government, not by their own work. This also came up in the reporting on the Hopi: . . . What is not always presented is how the people are trying to become self-determining, what they are doing in their respective areas to build themselves so that they become a capable village or a capable Hopi organization. Things like that are not covered, so when it’s not covered, like our nearby towns continually only see us as people who might wanna live off the government, or continually go after federal dollars. You know, they don’t know what we are doing for ourselves. (52-year-old female)

Stereotypes mostly emphasize negative features. Conflicts and negativity is what the media’s news world is usually made of. Positive developments seldom make news. However, when considering positive news and


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positive media images, we should heed the words of Stuart Hall (1997: 274): adding positive images to the largely negative repertoire of representations “does not necessarily displace the negative.” Richer images demand more attention to be paid to the forms of representations (see ibid.). Stereotyping, whether positive or negative, may have negative consequences in communities and societies. Where a community receives little attention in the media, as often regards ethnic minorities, the negative tone predominates. When discussing the role of broadcast media in reporting Hopi issues, an interviewee stated: Radio, to a degree they do. But it’s very infrequent, you know. They don’t really report Hopi issues, unless it’s something that’s a very controversial issue. That’s the only time we seem to get their attention. And so it always seems to have a sort of negative slant for Hopi, when it does occur. For television, it is very, very rare, when you see news about Hopi on the television. (41-year-old male)

One example of positive news which Hopis received through the media, as one of the interviewees remembered, related to a sports event. One of the Hopis’ favorite sports is running, which has also gained them worldwide fame. In the Olympic games at Stockholm, 1912, the Hopi runner Lewis Tewanima squeezed in between two Finns, Hannes Kolehmainen who won and Albin Stenroos who came in third. The results have been less positive in recent years, when Hopis have arranged charity and wellness runs. They hoped for informational radio announcements of their charity run “Hopi Run across Hopi for Cancer,” which was open to everyone. The funds collected were donated to the Cancer Society in Flagstaff and the Hopi wellness program “100 Mile Club.” The interviewee recounted sending the information of the “100 Mile Club” to the neighborhood’s many radio stations: It was our 100 Mile Club, the Hopi wellness program. When we were going to have a kick-off date and everybody is gonna get their first two miles on that. And it was just like an informational thing for the whole Hopi Reservation and they wouldn’t broadcast it. I think that the only one that did was the High School radio station in Tuba City. So I was really disappointed. (43-year-old female)

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Contacts with journalists and broadcasters may not result in a news story, but some of the interviewees emphasized such relationships will add to understanding and make way for a more diverse and richer reporting. These kinds of views are examples of possibility views. The next comments display different kinds of positive development: I think that the information that I read on Hopi reflects that there is no clear understanding about the things that we deal with, the way we look at these issues. But I understand that it’s a dual responsibility. I understand that it’s a responsibility of us as Hopis to help the journalists better understand the way we look at things. (41-year old male) Sometimes reporters will call and we’re not sure how to respond or whether we should respond. In contrast, the media world expects that you should always respond whether you have something to say or not. We see reporters as being almost an arm of an organization, when we really should be building a relationship with individual reporters. Relationships with reporters are very important, so that they get to know you, you give them background information, all those things that they’re not going to print. If they understand you and your perspective and where you’re coming from, and you educate them, they’ll give you a better story. However, not all reporters have an interest in the people. They are only interested in a story. (41-year-old female)

According to the Hopis, the daily-based media portrays them inadequately. The coverage is thin and biased, and romantic as well. The portrayals are more numerous in books and scholarly magazines, but whether it is diverse is another question. So far, through the Internet and books, information has been rapidly flowing away from the Hopi community. Information has been in the hands of non-Hopis. It is no wonder that Hopis themselves feel, as one interviewee put it: “People in Germany read more about Hopis than we do.” Though much has been written about Hopis in the outside world, the voices of Hopis themselves are weak. This is not very different compared to other Native Americans. Encouragement to use their personal voices, and projecting them through different media, is as important for Hopi as for other indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities everywhere. One area which the interviewed Hopis recognized as a more positive development was films. As with the young people, middle-aged interviewees


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also enjoyed Hollywood’s greater cultural attention in the making of some recent films: The more recent movies are more sensitive, too. But a long time ago, cowboys and Indians, John Wayne, those have trained Native Americans the way we are. (34-year-old female) To me, ‘Dances with Wolves’ . . . maybe the first one that comes to mind. (Ibid.) If you see the movie industry, they’re becoming now more sensitive to Native American culture. Especially with the starting of ‘Dances with Wolves,’ that movie really had a lot of impact. . . . ‘Pocahontas’ seemed to cater more toward what was culturally appropriate, and what was culturally sensitive in some of those movies that were produced. ‘Last of the Mohicans’ is another one that I noticed where they consulted with Native Americans, before they produced. . . . (45-year-old male)

When discussing Native American participation in films, one interviewee stated: Yeah, it really changed. I think it was Kevin Costner with the ‘Dances with Wolves’ kind of thing. Authenticity really was a real issue for a while there. People started to feel like, it was the politically correct thing to do to have something authentic. So you had to have Indian consultants. And one of my friends that I know was a consultant for ‘Pocahontas,’ which I thought was a bit ‘too cute’ and simplified. But they did try to get Natives to consult on that. So, I think, people are becoming a little more sensitive to this. (38-year-old female)

As the comment above shows, the consultation of filmmakers with Native Americans is appreciated, though the speaker does not even like one of the films she talks about. Consultation is understood as a sign of recognition.

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Besides the recognition of Native Americans in filmmaking, some Hopis also see positive trends in the mainstream media’s attention to Native Americans and the issue of taking care of the environment: I think they’re gaining more and more interest in Native American concepts and understandings, and activities that are happening on Native American reservations, and with Native people. There seems to be an increase in covering Native American activities. I think, first of all, their concept of conservation and working with the land, and with the earth, and the universe in general. The concepts of Native Americans seem to be taken very well by the outside world, where they’re more taking Native American concepts into better view. Even that, you know, we are conservators and caretakers of the earth, and we try to conserve and not abuse the resources that we have available to us. And we recognize the importance of all our elements, not only the earth but other things that are here in this universe. And I think now the outside western world and the world in general is looking favorably upon [this], because now they know that whatever they do to the earth and to the universe impacts them directly. And they can bring about catastrophes, disasters upon themselves, ’cause they’re not cautious enough of what they’re doing with their resources. These resources are finite, and they’re not infinite, and they have to start conserving. So, from that point of view, the world and the nation is turning toward conservation, and this is what Native Americans have always done. (45-year-old male)

This interviewee concludes with a word of warning. He would like to caution the many non-Native constructors of media representations on Native Americans: . . . Don’t take Native American people for granted. And don’t exploit Native American people, or misuse our information that’s perceived from Native American people, because now we’re more educated, more astute to the abuse and misuse of information that has gone on already by all these people who have taken advantage of Native people. (Ibid.)

Views regarding media coverage and representations of Native Americans and Hopis are quite similar among young and middle-aged Hopis. Both


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groups identified the inadequacies, biases and stereotypes. These responses represent insufficient representations views. Regarding some stereotypes, Hopi views are reminiscent of the results of a survey by Bieber-Roberts, Brown, and Fuller (1995) (see above in Chapter Two). What is important to keep in mind is that the increasing information about Hopis and Native Americans in the media is not the solution to insufficient and stereotypical coverage. Moreover, both groups of interviewees also recognized need for privacy views in the context of traditions and ceremonies. The representatives of the media clearly need sensitivity to work with these aspects. Both groups hoped that the media would offer more positive portrayals, richer and more diverse. Both young and middle-aged people saw that some improvement had already taken place, especially in filmmaking. Improvements are shown in greater sensitivity and consultation with Native peoples. These expressions again constitute possibility views. In addition, young interviewees also expressed cope-with-strategy views by way of “compartmentalization” (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86). A greater difference between younger and middle-aged interviewees speaking about media coverage and representations may be found on the level of ethnic identity. Young people see these issues on a pan-Indian level, while middle-aged interviewees speak more on the tribal and pan-Indian levels (see Nagel, 1994: 155; see also above Chapter One). When speaking of media-related issues generally, middle-aged people also pay attention to the significance of relationships with mainstream journalists. An ethnic consciousness comes through among both groups. Young Hopis are proud of their people’s ability to continue the ancient lifeways while using modern technology to sustain them. The middle-aged interviewees are more conscious of their modern education and special knowledge as custodians and caretakers of the earth.

TELEVISION AS A PART OF EVERYDAY LIFE Hopis’ views on television are examined from two different viewpoints. First, the interviewees recall a time when television first arrived in the Hopi community or when Hopis discovered it in boarding schools outside of Hopiland. In this context, interviewees also talk about the changes which television brought to the life of the families and life in general in Hopi communities. In focusing on these kinds of experiences, it is important to understand how people find television at the community level. This is the subject of “Television and Changes in Hopi Communities.” Secondly, we need to appreciate the interviewees’ television relationship on a personal level. This is gained through a discussion with the

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interviewees about their viewing habits and their conceptions of them. For example, how much and when do they watch television, what kind of programs do they watch, and how do they evaluate the quantity and quality of time spent watching television? These issues are analyzed under the heading “The Role and Place of Television in One’s Personal Life.” Regarding one last issue of their personal television relationship, interviewees were asked what television meant for them. This discussion is considered under “The Meaning of Television in One’s Personal Life.”

TELEVISION AND CHANGES IN HOPI COMMUNITIES Television came to the Hopi very smoothly, around the 1960s. As the middle-aged people recall, it was not a modern innovation which the elders talked about with any great concern. It just came, as other modern infrastructural things, including electricity and running water, which connected Hopi to the modern world. These, however, were talked about a lot by the elders. One of the interviewees described the social situation at the time when television was introduced to the Hopi as follows: I don’t think anybody discussed the issue, I mean, the leaders, maybe they were concerned, but they didn’t say anything about it. It came, you know, there was no way to say, ‘no, you can’t have TV!’ The leaders, in certain villages, are saying, ‘no, you can’t have electricity.’ So, maybe, that’s good in that way. But that’s not to say [that] even though you don’t have electricity, you go somewhere else where you find TV. (41-year-old male)

When television started to take hold in the life of Hopis, it became a medium which gave you social competence. People were able to talk about the issues which they had seen on TV. This was important especially among young students. Television also turned into a social status item, because it was considered an indicator of economic well-being. This is very obvious in the recollections of the next interviewee, who was a twelve or thirteen-year-old schoolgirl in a boarding school for Native American children in Riverside, California, when she first experienced television: And so when I went away for four years, I watched a tremendous amount of television ’cause I had come from a place not having one. And also that it was a stigma at that time. It was an indication that


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you were poor, because kids that were well to do [had television] and if you didn’t have television, you were disadvantaged. And so I didn’t know who Hopalong Cassidy was or all these shows that kids had watched, and ‘Gilligan’s Island’ they would talk about, and so in order to show myself not being a deprived person, I tried to be a sponge and absorb as much as I could so that I could talk about these things that other kids were talking about. So it was very important for me to catch up. Television can make strange things to you. It’s like kids today, if they don’t have a computer, there’s a certain stigma attached to that, it’s like, ‘Well, gee, can’t your family afford it, we have two or three of’m [television].’ These days, you’ve got to have one [television] in every room. You can’t just have one. And so it’s a show of economic well-being for some. (41-year-old female)

The meaning of television as an indicator of wealth, especially in children’s minds, appeared also in the villages. One middle-aged lady recalled how she and her sisters and brothers promised to do the dishes if their father bought a television. Kids did not want to appear poor by not having a television in the family. That television turned out to be an indicator of affluence and a status symbol is not unique to the Hopis. Television became an attractive status symbol in Finland, for example, in the 1950s and 1960s (Helsti, 1988: 52). According to the recollections of the interviewees, the arrival of television to Hopis’ consciousness was smooth and not divisive. The medium also brought a new cultural competence and, in addition, was a natural part of everyday culture for those who were brought up with it: . . . I think also, because my generation was brought up when TV was around, it’s part of our cultural upbringing. And has, obviously, a big influence on what we’ve done and what we’ve seen. So for me it (TV) has its place, but it would not be devastating if it was no longer available. (38-year-old female)

That television became a natural part of everyday life in a few years is proved by the next interviewee. She recalls experiencing life as dull when she returned from boarding school to the reservation, where her grandma did not have a television.

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Media and Ethnic Identity . . . I was living with my grandmother, who was probably in her late eighties, and I told her one time, ‘It’s so boring out here!’ And she was real quiet, and then she looked at me, and she said, ‘What’s boring?’ And I couldn’t believe she didn’t understand. (34-year-old female)

When television came to the Hopi villages, it became an attention-capturing magnet. According to the interviewees, it soon changed everyday practices of time and place. Consider how Vice Chairman at the time of the interview, later Chairman of the Hopi Tribal Council Wayne Taylor, Jr., recollects the arrival of television: I think TV has helped dramatically change the lifestyle in our community, in our homes. Because it’s such a big draw, it’s a magnet, particularly when you’re young. And I could feel the change that occurred as I was growing up, because I was right during that age. Before we had TV, there was nothing to keep us at home. And so, we had this vast land and everywhere to go. You just hardly ever stayed home, because there was area to explore, so much to do out there. And we would do that, and we would have donkey rodeos. We would go hunting. We would go explore, just climb rocks. We would get into a lot of different kinds of mischief, including raiding somebody’s field, getting grapes, getting watermelon, getting peaches. And though you don’t get permission, I think it was expected by these farmers, and they tolerated it. And so, there was just this whole world to explore. But when the TV came, I noticed that you were anxious to come back home from school, because your favorite cartoon was gonna be showing on TV. And you came home, you went straight to the TV, and you watched your favorite programs. And one of the favorite pastimes that I remember from early on was the wrestling programs that we used to have on TV. They still do, and people are still very attracted to, and drawn to it apparently. But, it brought everybody in my family into the living room. We’re all there together, my grandmother, grandfather, and these other folks. They would all come to our house; in that way, it was good that we were all together. But, our focus was that little tube. It was fun, but it was clearly interfering with our normal cultural activity that we did when the TV wasn’t there before. And, that, I think, in the long run, along with many, many other influences, it has made


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us sedentary. Our lifestyle has changed from being very active, being very productive people, farming, and all kinds of things, it has made us content with being at home, to be content with being entertained in that way, and not being out there being productive, helping to sustain a family, the culture. So those are some very dramatic impacts, I think. And so, today we’re faced with loss of culture. We’re faced with loss of a healthy and prosperous lifestyle. A lot of major health problems. And that’s kind of a sad reality.

The recollection of the then Vice Chairman Wayne Taylor, Jr., is a frame narrative of all views expressed when Hopis were interviewed about how life was before and after television. When speaking about television as a “magnet” and as a “focus” located in the living room, Taylor expresses captured time views, which is a natural example of time-based views. In addition to views of captured time, Vice Chairman Taylor’s comment also includes another category, changed living space preference views. In expressing them, the interviewee depicts a change in people’s activity and behavior with the arrival of television. Briefly put, there was a switch from outside activities to sedentary activities inside. As Taylor recollects, this “magnet” had such a dramatic attraction that it made working, productive people into people entertained at home. This again was seen to have dramatic consequences for health and Hopi culture. While the captured time views are a time-based category of views, the changed living space preference views become both time and spacebased. A clear example of captured time views is also the next interviewee’s comment to the question about television’s possible influence on life in the villages: You get stuck on the TV. You sit in front of the TV. You don’t do anything. That’s what’s bad about having a TV. There’s a lot a things that need to be done, but the TV is there and you don’t [do them]. (35-year-old female)

Changed living space preference views come through in the next two answers to the question about television’s possible influence on the life in the villages: Kids would rather watch TV, watch movies, play with the video games than go outside and help their father with the field. It’s made

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Media and Ethnic Identity us have a sedentary lifestyle, where we are not as fit as we should be. Yeah, I think it has, in a way, it’s gotten us lazy. (34-year-old female) And what it has also done, a lot of young people, especially in families where they also have a VCR, where they can have movies of their choice, sit for two hours until it’s over. Or when it’s over, put on another movie, and sit for another two hours. In the meantime, things that could be done in that time, are not getting done. For example, if it’s in the summertime, in the crops, or in the fields, they’re not helping their parents, or their grandfather. And for us who grew up in a generation where television was absent, we had a lot of things to do. But today, when kids run out of movies to watch, one of their complaints is there’s nothing for us to do, which to me is false, because there are a lot of things to do. We can help around the house, clean around the house, go to the fields, go get wood. If it’s in the wintertime, maybe help somebody go get coal, go visit your relatives, your neighbors, and help them out, if they’re doing something, or just to visit, that’s also very educational, to walk somewhere. (55-year-old male)

While many interviewees acknowledged that their living space had moved from the outdoors to the indoors with the arrival of television, they also said that there was less time for cultural, religion-based practices, or at least there was a great temptation to avoid them. This change and contradiction in Hopi life was mentioned mostly by male interviewees. There was a pain in their voices over the issue, even if they were kind of joking about the attraction of a certain game. Most of the interviewed males spoke generally about the change, but some of them reflected on their own behavior in a situation where you have to choose between television and the kiva: . . . The younger kids and myself, sometimes we’d rather watch a game than go down to the kiva. And through that thing, my goal is way off. Again, once when you pull somebody away from a goal, and our goal is to keep up our religion, you throw that stumbling block TV in front, and that throws your concentration off and that is the most devastating thing you can do to a religion, to take off your concentration. (49-year-old male)


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Another example relates to the competition between the kiva and television, though the interviewee speaks generally about “men folks”: Well, tomorrow, if there was something happening, this is just an example. . . . When is the Suns’ game? Anyway, the Suns are gonna be there, and if something else was to happen in the kiva, most of the men folks would be at home watching the Suns’ game. So it (TV) does distract, from Hopi cultural things. We can’t deny that. (44-year-old male)

The interviewee emphasizes changed priorities. When asked whether the use of time had changed, he answered: Yeah, it’s just that our priorities are different now. In the old days, if it was a kiva happening, then they would’ve been in the kiva. There was no ands, ifs or buts. You’re in the kiva. But now it’s such that the TV is here, the Suns are on, so their priorities change to whether they watch the game or the things on the tube, and the kiva becomes less important. Yeah, I guess, less important. (Ibid.)

The changed living space preference views also appear in the comment of the next interviewee. It also shows that there are elements the television offers to the youth that construct new preferences, a youth culture. The direction, in any case, is the same, away from the traditional to the non-Hopi mainstream. New elements refer to television not only as capturing time and changing living space preferences, but also to some features of television coverage which take the Hopis’ attention beyond the traditional space, from both inside (a living room) and outside (the Hopiland). These kinds of views are confused space views. They are time and space-based. Referring to features of coverage is one subcategory of confused space views. One interviewee saw television’s influences on the life in the Hopi villages as follows: Yeah, it (TV) has (influenced). People wanna spend time watching TV versus going to participate in dances. Youth wanna watch television and imitate what’s going on on television, like the youth culture, what’s going on that’s been portrayed on the media, rather than being part of their own ceremonies. So it does have an impact, from what I can see. (45-year-old male)

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In the above example of confused space views, it is supposed that television programs direct the attention of viewers outside the traditional space by offering new and strange models. Another example of the confused space views refers to television coverage which does not teach how to solve problems. The next interviewee recollected how his generation had role models in his family. The children could communicate with them and learn from them, and they also had time for the younger ones. But this is no longer the case in the era of television: . . . from the TV, they’re not gonna learn how to solve problems. They’re not gonna learn how to cope with bad situations. Well, it’s good to fantasize, yes, I could say that maybe a little portion of it is fine, but again, you’d have to tell your child that, ‘Hey, this is fun, but let’s be realistic,’ and we don’t take the time to sit down and point it out to them either. . . . (49-year-old male)

One part of the television coverage which was seen to have changed the daily social practices, were commercials: Definitely, your kids wanna spend more money with all those commercials. They gotta have whatever’s advertised on the commercial. And if they demand it, sometimes they get it. And that’s not the best, ’cause some of the families can’t afford it, but if they wanna make their children happy, and they think that’s one way of making them happy, they’re gonna get it for them. (52-year-old female)

Violence was also mentioned as an issue which brought disturbing ideas to Hopi communities: I think it (television) mostly affects the family. Like I said, one of the main things that I have about television is all the violence. It’s a number one thing, I think, that’s unfair, it’s now that we’re dealing with so much violence out there now. And instead to trying to keep it down, by showing all this violence, we’re making it worse, we’re showing other people what these people are doing, and they get these ideas from there. So they, in turn, will do the same thing. So violence, I think, is one of the main issues I have with television. (23-year-old male)


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Television also shows other sensitive things and crosses the border between the sacred and non-sacred: Oh, television has changed a lot. Television today borders on being dangerous, because we are now showing sensitive things, like not only on television, but even in films, on the big screen. We’re showing people being executed, for example. And those things that we once considered very sacred, are no longer sacred. We’re seeing killing on the screen on television to the point where killing has become entertainment. So we’re entertained by death. (41-year-old female)

Next, we have an example of confused space views with an emphasis on the general direction of attention away from local issues and Hopis themselves toward “other parts of the country,” in effect, toward “them.” These kinds of views could be considered a second subcategory of confused space views: Maybe it’s made us not do anything for ourselves. Again the media is there, we pay so much attention to what comes out on the TV. We’re more worried about what’s happening in Phoenix, we’re more worried about what’s happening in California, Washington, other parts of the country. We don’t pay attention to ourselves here. . . . (56-year-old male)

A third subcategory in confused space views is the lost language discourse. The focus is now on the worry of losing the Hopi language because of television. The English language—through television—takes up an inordinate amount of time in everyday life. Another big concern is the time taken away from practicing dances and from traditional cultural ceremonies. Such views are also close to changed living space preference views. A further example refers to the confused rhythm of the day’s activities and thus to a new category of views. However, because the emphasis in the next comment is on the loss of the Hopi language, it appears as a lost language subcategory of the confused space views: Well, it (TV) has (changed) in a way. But mainly, it’s changed the language thing. They (children) wake up by this TV, and they learn to speak English rather than the traditional Hopi. It’s the main thing that has been changed. I don’t know just how much of the kids. I would say that maybe

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Media and Ethnic Identity 35 percent are kind of hooked on TV. Like I said, there’s a lot of guys that are still prone to participating in these dances. And it takes three or four hours out of each evening with this, with practice two or three weeks prior to the dance. And a lot of it changed throughout the household as far as I know what is asked for the kids to do their things, like getting up in time for school, if they’ve watched TV late at night, and they have a problem getting up to go to school, maybe don’t even make it to school. (51-year-old male)

In addition to the three main categories of views described so far, of captured time, changed living space preference, and confused space, we can find one more main category of views, that of confused rhythm. It is a time-based category, in which the interviewee’s emphasis is on the description of television as confusing the routine of an ordinary day. There are elements of such views, when the interviewee tells how difficult it is for the children to wake up for school if they have watched television late at night. These elements, however, have not been emphasized in the interviewee’s comment. In the next comment, the same interviewee concentrates on describing how television has changed work habits, such as men’s traditional tasks of carving kachinas and clowns. Based on his answer presented above, the interviewee was asked to clarify who those people were, those children and school kids. He answered: Yeah, school kids and even my nephew, you know him, you know the lady that came in, my sister, her son and his wife, she works and he sits all day and tries to carve, and my boy, well this boy works at the house, but he is sitting there carving in front of the TV at the same time, where it should take him two days, it takes him a week and a half. That’s the same way down here, you carve and then you see a good program, I’ll put the carving away and watch the program till it’s over. (51-year-old male)

Another interviewee gave an example of confused rhythm views by comparing the changed day of the present to his childhood. His comment shows the deep-rooted feelings of change regarding television as a vehicle


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of modernity. He describes a disturbed relationship with “father sun” and a human being. “Father sun” has a very central meaning in Hopi culture. Yeah, I think there’s a lot of time that’s wasted. Time is not valuable any more, when all you do is spend a lot of it before a television doing nothing. And, because television shows are on twenty-four hours a day, people can stay up all hours of the night. And, when that happens, they can also sleep until mid-day the next day, and that is irritating to me. I didn’t grow up like that. I was out of bed before sunrise, or at sunrise, or shortly thereafter, getting ready to do something, having breakfast, or, you know, being productive. But to sleep until noon, or mid-morning, that is irritating, that’s disrespectful, because this is our father, the sun, who is taking care of us, and as the Hopi say, ‘You’re a burden to this sun, if you remain in bed.’ And as our uncles used to tease us, ‘I guess, this person is, we might as well go bury him. Let’s throw’m over the side of the mesa.’ That kind of thing. (55-year-old male)

The arrival of television and its becoming a part of everyday life in the Hopi villages changed that life, not only in the people’s voices, but in reality as well. It changed how time was used, it changed the routines of the day, it made outdoors people, working and wandering, into indoors people sitting in their living rooms. In doing this, it also changed cultural preferences. The male interviewees reflected on this when describing their own experiences of having to choose between a televised game and the kiva.

THE ROLE AND PLACE OF TELEVISION IN ONE’S PERSONAL LIFE When the role and place of television came up in the personal life of the interviewees, there was clearly a group which declared an unproblematic relationship to the medium. They described their viewing as situational or selective and emphasized a person’s own control of her/his viewing time. These kinds of views are unproblematic relationship views. Within the unproblematic relationship category of views there are two subcategories. One includes views where the interviewee spoke enthusiastically about her/his own control. I call these celebrating one’s own control views.

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When asked if in their opinion television took too much of their time, the holders of these views answered: No, I don’t think it does. When we have something to do and we think it’s really important, we forget about the TV and we do what we have to. (59-year-old male)

The other subcategory of unproblematic relationship views were those of earned viewing. The viewing of television is seen as a prize for working hard. Television as a medium also provides common moments with family members. This appears in a couple of answers of the next interviewee, who was asked about Primestar (satellite television) and whether she had it: We have a satellite, but ours is broken. As a matter of fact, we’re just talking about that; maybe we should get one, because my husband and I don’t run off to town all the time. I mean, that, for us, is to be home and watch TV when we’re together. We don’t go out to restaurants as much, but that’s our pastime, if he’s not out in the fields. Or if we wanna just stay home for the week-end, besides cleaning house. (52-year-old female)

When asked about the amount and variation of daily watching, she replied: In the evenings quite a bit. Now that I don’t have a lot of meetings to go to. I didn’t watch as much when I worked for the Tribe, because we had a lot of meetings to attend. I’m not as involved in those things as I used to be. I guess right now I feel that I’ve done so much parent and volunteer work that I just wanted some time out for a few years before getting that totally involved [again]. (Ibid.)

Clues to earned viewing are also present in the next answer. When asked whether she felt that she should be doing something more useful than watching television, the interviewee answered:


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Not me. When I finally get a chance to watch it, I don’t have any guilt at all. Nope. (38-year-old female)

All the examples above expressed a kind of easiness in the viewing of television, which appeared either by celebrating one’s own control or speaking about viewing as an earned time for relaxation. There were also interviewees who spoke about the issue in an oppositional way, bringing up the feeling of guilt. They spoke about cultural responsibilities and a need to do something useful. They represent feeling guilty views. The next interviewee described a change of lifestyle, which she recognized after returning to Hopiland after living in Phoenix for eleven years. She depicted how a person must be “real conscious of it (cultural ways) and do that (cultural ways). Otherwise you can get into the trap of just coming home [and] watching TV.” To the question whether she recognized the change when living in Phoenix, she replied: Yeah, there’s always something to do. Even if you’re watching TV or a movie, you might feel guilty ’cause there could be something else you should be doing, or preparing for something. (34-year-old female)

On being asked where she thought the sense of feeling guilty came from, she clarified: Responsibility, of cultural responsibilities. Maybe there’s a wedding going on, or maybe some kind of other ceremony. There are a lot of responsibilities and your relation to that. Like, if it’s a wedding, if that’s your sister or your nephew, you have certain responsibilities. (Ibid.)

Another answer shows the emphasis on social and cultural responsibilities which should rise above watching television: . . . I have a mandate to attend board meetings also. And then whenever there are ceremonial activities, I have the privilege to participate. I involve myself in that as much as possible. But I do live here in a modern house with all the modern conveniences. So all those modern

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Media and Ethnic Identity conveniences are available to me, but I still take time to get involved in my community and my religious activities. (45-year-old male)

The third main category of views in discussing the role and place of television in one’s personal life were those which stated how little time was used for watching television. They denote diminishing the relationship views. Interestingly, those who express such views maintain that they hardly watch television at all, or watch only a little bit. On the other hand, they may list many kinds of programs that they watch. An example is given by the next interviewee, who, while tracing his viewing habits, recollected his childhood activities. At the same time, he describes cultural changes: I hardly watch television. The only time I really watch TV is like when ‘Discovery’ is on, historical things like that. I like to watch those. And sometimes sports, ’cause I used to participate in sports when I was in high school. Track, mostly, I like to watch track, and basketball, and football, those are my favorite interests. I played golf a little bit too, and archery, I played archery. And another sport we used to have when we were given our bow and arrows in the wintertime, we used to shoot grandma’s chickens, maybe (laugh). Those were the days. But, you don’t see the kids doing that. Today, it’s very interesting; today, when the children get their items, the girls will get their doll, kachina doll. The boys will get a bow and arrow, and maybe a turtle shell, a rattle. As soon as they get it, the parents take it away, put it up on the wall for decoration. But, in our days, we got to play with it. (58-year-old male)

The next example depicts diminishing relationship views. Less television watching turns into interest in other activities. One interviewee (44-yearold male) talked about this issue. Question: What do you think about TV? Answer: I think it’s all right. I don’t really watch. I just. . . .


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Question: Not at all? You don’t watch TV? Answer: No. (both laugh mildly) Question: So, you could do without it? Answer: Yeah, I can do without. But it’s just like, that’s where I get most of my information from news. Question: From news, right, but not entertainment. So TV is just not important for you. Answer: Not really. Question: Do you think that it’s vain to use time watching TV? Answer: I think it just depends on what you do. If you’re working, if you like a program, if it’s a good program, I don’t think it’s vain. (laugh). Question: But you don’t want to yourself? Answer: I’m just now doing my house, so. . . . Question: Oh, sorry, I did not see (laugh). Answer: Then, probably, just in the evening time, ’cause I work. Question: Right, I understand.

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THE MEANING OF TELEVISION IN ONE’S PERSONAL LIFE The role and place of television in a Hopi’s life has significant cultural meaning. The relationship with television was explored further, when the interviewees got to discuss the meaning of television for them personally. One group depicted an unquestionably positive relationship by expressing their pleasure with the medium or by emphasizing its role in their lives. These kinds of views are enjoying views, expressed by those who also had unproblematic relationship views. When asked what television meant nowadays, one interviewee answered: I really enjoy television. I’ll have to say, because I was mentally engaged in my work and I do a high level of thinking work. There are days when I come home and it doesn’t matter to me what I’m watching. If it’s a nonthinking program, whether it’s a sitcom or it’s just pure entertainment, I sit there and watch it. There are other times when I’m working and I’ll have the television on just to hear the noise. I’m not really watching but I’m working while it’s on. There are other times when I’m particularly interested in hearing that I know it’s going to be on for a special reason that I’ll watch it. So I’m very selective. I do it for different reasons. I am really stressed out and I need to unwind and I tell my kids, ‘OK, I’m just a couch potato tonight, I’m watching TV. My time to have control of the television.’ Or to watch videos, classic movies or foreign movies or whatever, I’ll get the television. But I enjoy television. I mean, I like having that smorgasbord, the different movie opportunities, and to be able to say, ‘I can watch this or I can turn it off or I can have it on.’ I like having that. (41-year-old female)

The interviewee above also expressed joy over her power to decide about her viewing. She expressed celebrating one’s own control views. Similar views are shared by the next interviewee: I guess it’s (television) like anything else. If I’m gonna watch it, I wanna have a choice. I wanna be able to decide what it is I’m going to watch, whether it’s news or sports or live programming. I’m a real visual person, a real visual learner and visuals are important to me. I mean at all levels, not just for entertainment. So, yeah, it definitely has a place in my life. I see this as an important thing also because my generation as well as Gerry’s (a visitor in the house), I think we’re almost the same age, was brought up when TV was around so it’s part of our cultural upbringing.


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And has obviously a big influence on what we’ve done and what we’ve seen, so for me it has its place, but if I didn’t have it, I don’t think it would be horrible. I’d probably find other things to do. But I like being able to watch it when I want to. (38-year-old female)

The next interviewee expressed enjoying views but did not speak about her own control: It’s (television) important. Because now most people watch TV. I mean, if you don’t have a TV, you don’t have a life. (35-year-old female)

For one group discussing the meaning of television, the medium appeared as communication with the world. These kinds of views represent contact with the world views. I guess for me television would be like communication with the rest of the world. We are so isolated here that we have no idea what’s going on in the next town. (43-year-old female)

Well, it (television) means that, we learn about other countries and other states. What’s going on. The weather. And like I say, we watch news a lot to see what’s happening. (59-year-old female)

The next interviewee also expressed the meaning of television as a contact to the world. However, he also stated his worry about the negative impacts of this contact, including disharmony and conflicts which the medium brings to the local sphere. His statement shows that television is able to connect the local and the global, both for good and bad. These kinds of views are conflicting contact with the world views. It (television) keeps me in touch with what’s happening. It’s reality that this world has really shrunk. That at one time we had a universe here

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Media and Ethnic Identity at Hopi. And the universe was Hopi. And now, when you turn on the TV, the reality that you get from the TV, you’re just a very tiny speck, and that in fact, there’s such a larger universe than just Hopi. And if it happens anywhere else, it has some kind of an impact on Hopi. So that you have to be aware of what’s going on around here. And there’s a lot of positives to that. And then there’s also negatives to that. There’s a lot of, unfortunately, negative impacts from this culturation of the impact of this modern society that we’re having to face. And so, to a large degree, we live in a disharmony now, and we have many, many conflicts. And you face all of that, or I do because my work that I have deals with the needs of the people. So I have to be aware all the time, and it’s very draining, it’s overwhelming by itself. And then when you look at media, and you see what is happening around you, you know, speaking of overwhelming, that’s even more so. But, then also, on the lighter side of it, I guess, is that you’re not alone with everything that’s happening. (41-year-old male)

Some interviewees referred to the limited contacts which television provides to the world. The limitations arise from the facilities, which often provide only one channel, Channel 2 (NBC’s Flagstaff-based KNAZ-TV). This is the case if a household does not have a Primestar satellite. The next interviewee mentioned the limited channel resources. Her comment also reflects the impression that, because of the limited resources, television has only been for entertainment. However, it could be something else, something more. Such views constitute limited contacts with the world views: Television for me is just for what we have, because it’s been limited, it’s entertainment. I think that again it would be an opportunity for some young persons, if they really are interested in seeing what a television station does, and what it can be. They can go out there and learn. They can come back and educate us. And they should be ones to impress upon us, why they think television could be more than just entertainment purposes. (52-year-old female)

The next interviewee also mentioned his limited television channel facilities, but his attitude toward the situation was the opposite. While the previous interviewee mentioned that television channels could be “more than


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just entertainment,” the following respondent doubted that more channels would bring an essential change, because “you’re only watching one at a time.” He admitted that he liked to watch some situation comedies, because he needed “some laughter and some humor in my life,” but he was also sure that he “can do without it.” I call these kinds of views minimizing the meaning views: I can do without it. If I don’t have it, then it’s no big deal that I don’t have it. My family sometimes, my wife sometimes, might mention that we could buy this thing called Primestar which brings in a lot of channels. And my response, that’s stupid. How can you ever watch that many channels at one time. You can only watch, supposedly, one show, one channel at a time. How do you, possibly, justify having that many channels, and paying for it, when you’re only watching one at a time. I may not be very smart, but to me that doesn’t make any sense. (55-year-old male)

For the next interviewee, the meaning of television centers around negative impacts. More attention should be paid to local issues in television coverage. These kinds of views are need for local views: Well, to me I think, TV gives you too much of a negative type of atmosphere. I guess, they seem to try to bring out good news that is really helpful news. But they don’t seem to succeed in it. They don’t seem to succeed at all, because there’s always certain attitudes that are happening. And I guess, the thing is that bad news shouldn’t be the central point, or the main point with the news broadcasting and all that. I think if it was local, it would be a lot easier. Because their news is sort of [what] myself and the young people around here that we’ve got, really, a corrupt world, but when you go down to the local level, it’s not really that bad. But, what you should do, we should be optimistic about our own surroundings. You have to pay attention to worldwide happenings and bad crises and all that, but I feel that we should focus more on our own local issues. Then it seems [after] the national or the other state crises, it covers the local problems, and we cannot work on them. That’s the bad thing about TV. We’ve got a lot of small problems here that we could work on before it becomes a large problem. But we tend to wait

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Media and Ethnic Identity until it becomes large because, that’s what the TV is showing us. We wanna be part of society, so let’s wait until the problem gets big and then, maybe, we can do something about it. . . . (49-year-old male)

There is a great variety of views on the community and personal level. The interviewees feel many different things about the changes which television brought to Hopi communities. They speak about their television relationship, offering different views. For example, television was not seen as changing communities only in a very positive or very negative direction. The relationship is more complex. On the personal level, conceptions of viewing habits and the meaning of television vary to a great extent. There is, however, a common undercurrent which runs through all aspects, referring to the use of time. It says something of the power of television, both in communities and personal lives, as a capturer of time. Some people live with this more easily than others. When speaking about changes in communities, some Hopis emphasized television’s time-catching role (captured time views) per se, while others discussed the changed living space preferences (changed living space preference views) that the “time catcher” had introduced. Some interviewees describe more confused space (confused space views), related to some features of television coverage, or focused on new directions of attention, or lost language. One group spoke of the confusion (confused rhythm views) orchestrated through the new medium. On a personal level, when addressing their own conceptions of their viewing activities, one group emphasized an unproblematic relationship with television (the unproblematic relationship views). They celebrated being in control (the celebrating one’s own control views) or saw the time used for viewing as earned (the earned viewing views). On the other hand, a group also exists which feels guilty (the feeling guilty views) about spending time watching TV instead of doing something more valuable, while another group underlined how little time they spent watching television (diminishing the relationship views). In considering the meaning of television, one group concentrated on the enjoyment (the enjoying views) that the viewing brings to them. Another group sees the viewing as contact with the world (contact with the world views), whereas others regard the nature of the contact as very limited (limited contacts with the world views). But there were also interviewees for whom this contact was conflicting (the conflicting contact with the world views), and yet others who emphasized a need for local issues in television


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coverage (the need for local views). And one group of interviewees minimized the meaning of television (the minimizing the meaning views) in their lives. The differences between various categories of views and the interviewees who expressed them bring out the gender factor. Generally speaking, females seem more at ease with television than the males. On recalling the arrival of television on a community level, women referred to the social competence and status brought by the medium. Most of the views were expressed by both genders, but the tones differed. In addition, there were some views expressed only by male interviewees. The views expressed by both genders were those of captured time, changed living-space preference, and confused space. When expressing the captured time views, however, some females referred to their own control. Holders of changed living-space preference views, both males and females, described the changes brought by television. Males, however, often identified stressful personal situations that evolved from having to choose between televised sports and kiva activities. For them, television was more of a temptation than a neutral medium easy to control. The confused space views were expressed mostly by males. They spoke about television’s strange role models and coverage which failed to show how to solve problems, television violence, attention directed away from “us,” and lost language. When females expressed these kinds of views, they would focus on commercials and inappropriate programming. Views expressed only by males were confused rhythm views, including changes in working habits and a disturbed relationship between “father sun” and human beings. In Hopi culture, the sun, taawa, has a very important meaning (see, for example, Loftin, 1991: 42-43). On a personal level, the females’ easiness with television is evident, for example, when they describe their viewing habits and responses to their viewing. Unproblematic relationship views are only found among females. This category of views included celebrating one’s own control and earned viewing views. Conversely, diminishing the relationship views were expressed only by males. As regards views of feeling guilty, which was a third main category of views, gendered responses are more complicated. Both genders offer regrets about viewing, but in the examples of this study, the female interviewees speak on a general level, describing cultural responsibilities in the Hopi community generally, while the males’ voices are much more personal and quite clearly bring up how community and religious activities should be more important than the using of modern conveniences. The females’ easy television relationship also appears in another personal level issue, namely the meaning ascribed to television. For them,

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television carries positive meanings. They also openly admitted enjoying television, seeing it as a positive contact with the world. All those who expressed enjoying views and contact with the world views were females. The one interviewee who expressed limited contact with the world views was also a female. At the same time, she still attributed positive meanings to television. Through a limited contact with television, she referred to the television channel infrastructure in Hopiland. Without a satellite, this infrastructure does not allow for all channel possibilities, not to mention all possibilities which television could provide. When males spoke about the meaning of television, they used more critical tones. The views expressed only by males were conflicting contact with the world views, minimizing the meaning views, and a need for local views. The gendered differences in relation to television resemble the results of the survey (Levo-Henriksson, 1997) made in the Hopi Jr./Sr. High School in 1996. It appeared that female students’ attitudes toward television were more lenient than the feelings of the male students. Many of the female respondents, 23 percent, admitted that television had “some meaning” for them, while not one of the male students thought so. Television was either “life” or had “no meaning” for some male students, whereas there were no female students in these categories. One indication of the female students’ lack of “big feelings” toward television could also be that some of them saw television as a source both for entertainment and learning, whereas no male respondents mentioned these elements together. Among both genders, though, the largest group of respondents were those who expressed a critical attitude toward television. The reasons for criticism often related to the time wasted on television and to preferences for other activities (ibid.: 25-26). Thus, the Hopis’ television relationship shows that females experience television as less problematic, more pleasant, and somehow more natural in the home than do males. It is easy to find celebrating one’s own control views, when females speak about television. This does not mean that one would not find references to cultural responsibilities in the context of television, as well as many other references among both genders. It does mean, however, that females speak about television as an issue which they control. When males speak about television, the medium often appears as a temptation. It involves difficult choices which interrupt with cultural responsibilities. Television also creates strange role models, directing the community’s attention from “us” to “them,” making one forget one’s own language and disrupting the daily routine.


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The differences which seem to appear in the views of Hopi females and males spring from the cultural separation of gender roles. From her interviews with Hopis, Gail Julia Carroll concludes that (1984: 333-334) in Hopi families the husband’s primary role is to be the spiritual head of his family. Among his most important ceremonial duties are the education of his children in the Hopi way, and promotion of harmony and balance on the domestic level. His kiva group helps him maintain his spirituality. Against this cultural background, it is quite natural that television easily creates stress with its strange role models and by focusing attention outside the community. Stress increases if you also find that television causes you to forget your own language. Nor is it easy to maintain harmony and balance in the family, if the rhythm of the day is badly confused by the medium. The situations of having to make a choice between television and the kiva challenge the Hopi males’ social role. A woman’s role (ibid.) is more secular in nature. She has the house and she manages all domestic affairs. She is also accountable to her clan because households are matrilinear, and she is responsible to her women’s society, which is still quite active in the villages’ social service work. Television may be one more issue for females to manage in the sphere of domestic affairs. It may be a significant reason for their relatively easy television relationship. One other detail in the smooth managing of television is that in those few cases when the interviewees commented on who decides what programs are viewed, females often answered that either the children or they themselves choose. This is opposite to what other studies have shown in the United States and England. According to them, men have a greater say than women over the selection of primetime television programs viewed by families (see Lull, 1990: 170 and Morley, 1986: 148). A study by Alice Schlegel (1992: 386-388) shows that the house is the “kingdom” of Hopi women and wives. Schlegel’s fieldwork found that it was not considered appropriate for Hopi men to spend much time in their wives’ houses. She was often told that “the man’s place is outside the house.” Today Hopi men spend some of their spare time with their friends in the kivas, which in addition to the main function as the ceremonial site also serve as a men’s clubhouse. Finally, according to Schlegel, the kiva also acts as a central political institution. It is easy to understand that television and its enchantment—as a medium which belongs to the wife’s world—is a more complicated issue for Hopi males than females. It must have had a great influence in a Hopi man’s life. Not only does it compete for the use of time, confusing

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the routines of the day, but in a very concrete way it has called and continues to call Hopi men from their own male sphere in the outside world to the inside world of women, both physically and mentally. Television for Hopi men has appeared as a time catcher, a rhythm confuser and a double place catcher. That television can be understood as a double place catcher for Hopi men is based upon their views of television influences on community life. In these views, television directs attention from local issues to mainstream culture and draws men from outside the home to domestic activities inside. Rhythm, then, has an important meaning throughout Hopi cultural life. Hopi phratries1 in particular are concerned with controlling certain desirable cosmic rhythms (Loftin, 1991: 27). As regards place, television has not only taken Hopi men from the outside, from the male sphere of kiva, to the female’s inside sphere of home, but has also shifted them from community issues to mainstream cultural issues, from local culture—including the language—to mainstream culture and language. It has taken a lot away from Hopi men. When competing with the kiva, television contends with the central institution of Hopi men’s culture. And because women support kiva activities, television also competes with the traditional Hopi culture in general. For Hopi women, television is a time catcher as well, but one which they seem to find easier to handle. Instead of being a double placecatcher, as with men, television is only a place catcher in the sense that it has refocused attention from local issues to mainstream culture. The change does not seem to create stress for the females, who rather see it as a possibility and positive contact with the world. For women, television has brought something new; it might be described as a new window in their house, and the difference between this window and other windows is that it opens wider. One can see unpleasant views through it, including violence, but one does not have to watch it. For both genders, television appears, as elsewhere in the world, as a time catcher and as a place catcher. It mostly directs attention from local to national and global issues. It is easier to manage for some persons than for others. In many places, however, and in ethnic majority homes in particular, the competition with television and other activities often follows mainstream cultural terms. In ethnic minority homes, as in Hopi communities, the competition between television and Hopi cultural traditions may have created greater tension, because friction already existed between mainstream culture and ethnic minority culture. In no way is this new to Hopis, who are professionals in handling tensions of this kind. In the context of time and place, television plays


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as great a role in culture change as any other kind of modern technology; but Hopis have been able to manage the changes. As Harry James (see Loftin, 1991: 113, refers to H. James, 1974: 222) points out, Hopi history indicates both “an exceptional ability to change,” and “a willingness to take time to discriminate and reflect before abandoning the old for the new.” Men still go to kiva, though the choice between the kiva and the “Suns’ game” may sometimes create difficulties. It would be misleading, however, to claim that the coexistence of the old and the new is streamlined. On the contrary, the process of struggling through cultural changes may hurt and frustrate. The pain is expressed clearly in one of the verses by the Hopi poet Michael Kabotie (1987: 24): Now we all stand on mesa’s edge; aliens to our homeland, gasping and struggling to survive under the pollution/treads of technology, wondering why, Once our land no more forever? “Our Land No More Forever”

However painful the struggle between the two cultures may be, the world of controversies is also present in the very content of television. The world of controversies, the tension between mainstream culture and Hopi culture, and the issue of how tightly television is interwoven in Hopi domestic life is also described in Michael Kabotie’s verses (1987: 35-36). His verses speak of controversies but also call attention to a viewer’s ability to shut out the controversial world. We may sit for a while in the living room of a Hopi home on the Hopi mesas. Relaxing, we turn to watch the world through television windows; seeing bloated black children starve in Africa; Arabs and Jewish people hunting each other on barren deserts with devastating arsenals as lovely American maidens sell us the stunned viewer on the secrets of

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Media and Ethnic Identity youth, as my aging mother and aunt chuckle and crack Hopi jokes. “Transistor Windows”

Television has already been tightly knit into Hopi domestic life, but a newer medium has also developed and is knocking on the doors of Hopi communities. The Internet, too, has provoked a Hopi response.

VIEWS ABOUT THE INTERNET New information and communication technology is a very timely issue on the Hopi Reservation. Computer networking in particular, usually on the Internet, is a new development. During the spring of 1996, when interviews were conducted with the Hopis, students already had computers at some schools, including the Hopi High School; and hopes for access to the Internet were high. Late that same spring, the Hopi High School obtained Internet access through interactive TV (ITV) lines. In 1996, the school was already linked to other facilities via ITV, which has been used in teaching Hopi language classes. Hopi scholar Emory Sekaquaptewa taught the class in person in 1995. Since then, he and the University of Arizona have been teaching the language every year. Though the new millennium has brought improvement to telecommunications technology, most Hopi still have no access to e-mail or other online services. Those who do usually conduct their Internet contacts from the neighboring city of Flagstaff or some major institutions (see “Hopi Mediascape”). One big problem is also the high cost of computers for private homes, which many interviewees mentioned. One of them assumed that 90 percent of the people cannot afford computers in their homes. A problematic consequence is that Hopis do not have a fast and effective medium to discuss information written about them by others on the Internet. Many interviewees claimed that the Internet carried incorrect information about them and their culture, which they would like to correct. Services provided by the Internet, and other applications of new information and communication technology, were of great interest to the Hopis. The survey (Levo-Henriksson, 1997) showed that more than 75 percent of the 59 respondents wanted to be able to access e-mail and other online services via the Internet. About 25 percent were not interested in these services. All the students attending computer courses at the Hopi High School would like to have the services available in the computer class.


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Besides the Internet, students have a great interest in computer art. The computer screens in the very same computer class displayed images of kachinas, clouds, and rocky mesas as if they were marching across the screens from a Hopi art exhibition. The computer graphics were so full of Hopi life that in the spring 1996 they won all the awards in the computer-assisted art category of a statewide art competition for Native American students, sponsored by the Heard Museum in Phoenix. While new information and communication technology has started a new era, the march of the kachinas across the computer screens is also a good example of the continual element of culture. To be able to create new things, one must draw on the sources available; but one can create endless new forms. The views of the interviewed people on the Hopi Reservation about new information and communication technology were mainly positive, though people also had some concerns. Some interviewees wanted to make it known that new information and communication technology was not to everyone’s liking. They may utilize it, because other people already use it. Sometimes the technology is also used against Hopis when false information is distributed about them via the Internet. In this view, Hopis are “forced” to use the technology themselves. Because of the outside element of “force,” such argumentation amounts to pressure outside views. One Hopi male articulated as follows: . . . I think we’re forced into utilizing and getting involved into some of these activities, because other people are already using them, and then they are using them against us like this information I talked to you about. (The interviewee refers to a long story about Hopis on the Internet written by a non-Hopi) (45-year-old male)

Another interviewee also sees the issue as one of “no choice,” and thus as an issue which Hopis are in a way forced to face. However, she also recognizes some positive sides of the new technology: . . . I think that we really have no choice in order to keep up with the progress of the world. You know, I think we have also to communicate better with them. I think we really have no choice. I think it is an important way of communication. (female in her forties)

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The positive features of new information and communication technology are presented without reservations by many interviewees. They see technology mainly as a possibility (possibility views). It is a means to communicate worldwide, to access information, to educate, to progress, and to advance Hopi language and culture. When expressing possibility views, young interviewees in particular emphasized worldwide communication via the Internet. To the question about the importance of computers, one young interviewee answered, emphasizing communication through the Internet: . . . The Internet. So, you can communicate with other people around the world on the Internet. (18-year-old female)

Those who expressed possibility views underlined the meaning of new information and communication technology for youth. It would enable easy access to information, education and competition on the job market. Some parents would like to have computers for their children because of easy connection to library information. This would be very important as there are no libraries on the Hopi Reservation: . . . the reason why I want them (children) to get a computer is we don’t have libraries out here. And through the Internet we have access to a lot of that kind of information. (41-year-old male)

The emphasis on the importance of computers in education is not restricted to only one particular family. The interviewee also expressed his view of the importance of a more general computer literacy among Hopis: . . . in my view, the ideal is to have everybody computer literate, and everybody have access to a computer. (Ibid.)

Emphasizing computers as a part of new information and communication technology and as a tool for youth and the future comes up frequently:


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. . . I think, most of the time out here, the parents are quite supportive of new things that their children learn. . . . I think we are very supportive of our children learning on the computer, and hope they will be as competitive in the job market if they have to go outside for college or employment. (52-year-old female)

Parents sometimes depreciated their own computer abilities, but felt positive about computers’ potential for young people: Well, for me, I’m older, and I’ve just learned how to use computers, and mine is primarily word-processing that I use it for. I haven’t learned a whole lot yet. But from what I’ve seen, what it can provide as far as information, and how much quicker you can get things done, I think it’s important that young people gain that skill. It’s gonna bring them closer to being able to work with the outside world and maybe help people here gain some of the things a little bit quicker. We won’t be as far behind as 15-20 years behind times maybe in the future. But I think it’s good. Someday I hope to learn more than what I know now which is very little. (Ibid.)

Some of the interviewees admitted that there were advantages to the new information and communication technology. They also expressed some criticism, often referring to negative impacts on culture and tradition. Their criticisms of the new technology and recognition of its advantages represent critical acceptance views. . . . in some positive ways, in terms of modern involvement, it will help the tribe to become more in line with the world in terms of what’s going on. But on the other hand, it can also have negative impacts on the culture and tradition, because the more modern convenience technology that you get into that also has a direct impact upon culture and the retention of those. And then at the same time, they can also be used to our advantage, like, language and culture has been taught. . . . Well, in particular language has been taught on computers. (45-year old male)

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According to the comment above, new information and communication technology is an opportunity to monitor the environment or as the interviewee puts it, “to become more in line with the world in terms of what’s going on.” In addition, it provides a channel for teaching minority languages and cultures. Unfortunately, these advantages are not the only elements, for this “convenience technology” also has negative effects on language and culture. The next comment focuses on the negative elements, though the interviewee admits that the new technology also has its advantages. She is worried about the change in the allocation of time that a computer would bring to a home, resulting in less time with the family: . . . And this (computer) allows me to take it (work) home and do something out here, but then, the threat is, when you go home, you should spend time with your family. I have a little one-year-old and an eight-year-old, and I should spend time with them; but this allows me to be able to do work there. So you’re taking away from the family. That’s kind of a small example. (34-year-old female)

Some interviewees stated that a person can learn much via the Internet, but they also wondered if it was necessary for people to deal with all the worldwide information which the Internet makes available: . . . I don’t know the technology of how this Internet, and everything works. I’ve only briefly been acquainted with it. But now more people are wanting to do that, and get on the Internet. And yes, you can learn a lot about all over the world, and what’s happening all over the world. But do we need that much to handle, or what we wanna do locally? Maybe, [but] it’s too advanced for us to get all of that, all at once. We’re still in the community development stages, and so some of the information that we can get from that would be ok. I don’t think we need it. (52-year-old female)

Interestingly, several years later, in 2002, this same interviewee admitted that she spends more time on Internet, because it saves her a lot of time, though she misses the direct voices on the telephone. She agreed with what she had said earlier, but emphasized that the Internet and technology in general are now an everyday consideration.


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Another comment also belongs to the critical acceptance views. The interviewee mentions the existence of two worlds in the context of new information and communication technology in Hopiland. One is the world of school, which is equipped with computers, while the other is the world of home, which is not. Both worlds require their own, special communication skills. To become computer-literate at school should not mean becoming nonliterate at home or in the neighborhood. When asked about the importance and potential consequences of teaching computer skills to Hopi children at school, this interviewee gave a long answer, divided in separate paragraphs below to enable its richness to come out in an easily readable form. I think it’s important that they know and learn communication skills, not only at school, but within their own community, because community communication and being streetwise may not be necessarily the same medium they learn in school. If you go to Old Oraibi (a Hopi village on the Third Mesa), for instance, not too many of those households have computers. So they’re learning computer literacy at school, and they’re learning that computers are a major communications device. They need to understand that the counterpart to that can be completely different in their own homes. And they shouldn’t relinquish one for the other. Otherwise, they may have fantastic communication skills in something that works at school and be totally communication disabled in their own household or with their neighbors or within their community. And so there needs to be a fine balance. (41-year-old female)

The interviewee also considers the role of the computer or any communication medium in an assisting role. According to her, it is important to make a difference between a medium and good communication, but to be able to use a medium per se does not make a person a good communicator. In addition, she refers to the basis of communication—the need to make contact—and criticizes the attempt to hide meanings through complicated argumentation. . . . But communication is not a product or a thing, communication is a skill that you should be able to transport from any medium and from any kind of community whether it’s your neighborhood or whether it’s a school. A computer cannot make you a good communicator; it can only assist you. Communication is a very primal need. It’s not a luxury. There’s nothing mystical about it. When an infant wants to be fed, the baby is going to let you know. It communicates, really quite effectively, and in a

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Media and Ethnic Identity very simple non-glossy way what it means. Today we don’t communicate directly. We don’t tell people what we need. Instead we say all kinds of things, and we’re never directly to the point. We say about twenty different things before someone figures out, ‘Oh, well, that’s what they need.’ (Ibid.)

The interviewee also gives an example of communication in everyday life: . . . it’s not good for me, when I say, ‘How was your day at school?,’ and my child says, ‘Fine.’ The ‘fine’ doesn’t tell me anything. They’re either telling me they had a really lousy day, they don’t want to talk about it, or they really had a great day and it was fine. And so sometimes they say it’s fine in such a way when they’re actually telling you, I really had a bad day. So, even teaching our children to communicate clearly, when you ask them a straightforward question, has become very difficult over the years, because they have learned that people just don’t communicate directly. Nobody really says what they mean. Or if you said something, you have to tell people, it’s what I said, but it’s not really what I meant. (Ibid.)

Instead of being good communicators, present-day human beings have turned into “decipherers,” who spend their lives wading through oceans of information, asking why. The question which the interviewee raises with her answer could be asked everywhere in the globalized world: . . . What we have learned to do is to decipher. We’ve become decipherers of communication. And we’ve added an extra task of muddling through memos, through letters, through wondering what is it that those people really want from us and what they are really saying to us. And we’ve built professions around that. And so it’s a huge communications industry, because we’ve not learnt to communicate very well. (Ibid.)

In criticizing new information and communication technology, some interviewees brought up views where technology was not seen as problematic. Their views represent unproblematic attitude views. The next interviewee, for example, emphasizes the nature of technology as a changing continuum,


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which is not a problem compared to a real problem, such as the preservation of the Hopi language: I am concerned with language, not technique per se. In my youth we had a small radio. (51-year-old male)

An unproblematic voice is also heard in the next comment, where the interviewee associates new information and communication technology with “anything else” that may be useful, but which can also be abused: Useful, if it’s gonna benefit individuals, families and the people. It’s just like anything else, if you abuse it, it’s not gonna work. I mean, it’s not gonna be fully able help the individuals. (56-year-old Hopi male)

A very similar tone is found in a young interviewee’s comments about the influences of new information and communication technology. In his opinion, the technologies themselves are not the problem, but rather what the users of these technologies do with them: . . . it would be up to the individuals themselves, as to which way they turn, I guess. (23-year-old male)

In all, despite the different views concerning new information and communication technology, one cannot deny a great interest among the Hopis in the information super highways. Compare this modern interest with a Hopi prophecy from the late nineteenth century of roads sweeping across the sky and people communicating through spider webs crisscrossing the land, which Richard O. Clemmer describes in his book Roads in the Sky. The Hopi Indians in a Century of Change (1995). It is hard to resist the idea that maybe the prophecy foretold the coming of the Internet to the Hopis. Clemmer states that it foretold the coming of airplanes and telephone lines. Maybe the prophecy foretold all of these. David Maybury-Lewis (1998: 3), founder and president of Cultural Survival Quarterly, believes the Internet remains “a two-edged sword.” According to him, the Internet seems useful to indigenous peoples in their

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political struggles, but it may cause problems in the social struggles, for the intensification of communication with the wider world might undermine the distinctive cultures indigenous peoples cherish and try to protect. But as Maybury-Lewis also mentions, this is not a peculiar problem caused only by the Internet. Rather it is a part of a larger issue which other indigenous groups and other minorities face. The issue is “how to balance their interaction with, and participation in the wider society with their desire to maintain a vibrant and separate culture” (ibid.). In this sense, the Internet is nothing but an additional product of mainstream culture, which Hopis, and other indigenous groups, have a long history of managing.

HOPI VIEWS ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA Hopis’ views on media and technology issues—representations, television, and the Internet—fit the metaphor of a “two-edged sword” used by David Maybury-Lewis (1998: 3, see also above) in the context of the Internet’s impacts in indigenous communities. Hopis do not speak about media and new information and communication technology as a totally hopeless or a wholly unproblematic phenomenon. Rather they discuss both problems and positive developments (for example in representations), both many losses and also some gains (in television and community issues), both conflicts and their own competence in media reception (when speaking about the meaning of television in one’s personal life), and negative impacts, concerns, and possibilities (when speaking about the Internet). In Hopis’ views regarding representations of Native Americans and Hopis, the “two-edged sword” hangs over publicity. Even if they believe that the media is characterized by insufficient, biased coverage and stereotypical representations, the interviewees do not see that increased information of Native Americans and Hopis in the media would necessarily correct the situation. Privacy is highly valued, especially in practicing traditions and ceremonies. Additional information would only be disturbing. The interviewees argue that the key to improving the coverage and representation is rather found in additional sensitivity attained by mainstream journalists. The film industry already provides some good examples for this new development, as filmmakers have consulted more with Native Americans. The tension in the area of publicity springs from different comprehensions of informational publicity between mainstream culture and Native American cultures (discussed in Chapter Two). Improving the coverage and representations on Native Americans and Hopis requires an understanding and managing of this intercultural difference.


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Different views of publicity are one of the “touching surfaces” where majority culture and ethnic minority cultures meet. Two others are language and technology. In addition to publicity with reference to television, the Native language also carries a “two-edged sword” in Hopi views. Though many Hopi interviewees, especially females, see television as a window to the world, and thus as a gain, many male interviewees commented on the losses, too, including their worries about the loss of the Hopi language. Time given to television by Hopis means time spent using the English language. Other negative elements presented by male interviewees have to do with publicity and locality. As a part of confused space views, interviewees expressed their additional concerns that television directs general attention from local to national issues, which is from “ourselves here” to “other parts of the country,” and hence toward “them.” Focusing on television from an intercultural viewpoint is problematic, because it is such a domestic medium (see, for example, Silverstone, 1994: 24-51). Family members are used to it, and it is easily experienced as a part of home where a mainstream culture and a distinctive culture are intertwined in the reception of television programs. Although television mixes these cultures in an ethnic minority home, it does not hide the fact that home is a place of cultural conflicts (see Silverstone, 1994: 25). In Hopis’ case, cultural conflict appeared, for example, when males spoke about their stress of having to choose between television and participating in kiva activities. Should they use a product of mainstream culture or practice traditional culture? As we have seen, the differences between males’ and females’ views of television are connected with the cultural separation of gender roles (see more Carroll, 1984: 333-334, see also above). Hopi experiences with television as intercultural communication reveal controversies which some interviewees manage better than others. Hopis’ experiences are also an example of media consumption as a localized phenomenon, formed in a particular socio-historical context (see, Thompson, 1995: 174). Though it is a localized phenomenon, it may also serve as a more generalized example of an indigenous culture which has difficulties preserving its language and traditional culture in the blue enchantment of a domesticated screen. These kinds of difficulties were also reported in a study conducted among Canadian Inuits (see Chapter Two). The crux of the matter is time, especially the use of time. According to Hopis, television’s power both in communities and in personal life lies in its nature as a time capturer. Some people have fewer problems with this phenomenon than others. At the community level, television’s time capturing role has meant changed living space preferences. Space and daily rhythms

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have been disturbed. These are all issues which refer to cultural change and movement from traditional culture toward mainstream culture. As in the rest of the world, Hopis’ co-existence with the Internet is shorter than with television. Even so, some aspects of the Internet have already proved to be a double-edged sword, though positive views prevail at present. Hopis speak of the Internet both as a possibility and as a threat to Hopi culture and tradition. Among the benefits are the ability to “communicate with people around the world” and the use of the Internet for educational purposes. Even when speaking about “negative impacts on culture and tradition,” one interviewee, however, mentioned new information and communication technology’s possibilities in teaching Native languages and cultures. This again shows the “two-edged sword’s” place in cultural issues. In an intercultural communication frame, the pressure outside views have to do with managing publicity: Hopis have to utilize the new technology, because other people already use it, and they even use it against Hopis by distributing wrong information about them. Hopis’ views on media-related issues are nuanced. It would be misleading and restricted to speak of them simply pessimistically or with optimism. Media representations of Native peoples have serious limitations, and they also fail to provide rich elements for self-esteem and identity construction. Improvement is, however, in the making, which requires consulting with representatives of Native cultures. Improving media representations would also demand sensitivity and respect for the different views of publicity that Native cultures have. Television and the Internet make it possible to communicate with the world, but these same media operate at the expense of traditional culture. Hopi experiences prove that time spent watching television is time away from practicing Hopi culture, especially for men. It also means living in the world of the English language instead of the language of the Hopis. The biggest impact of television on Hopi communities as well as indigenous communities anywhere may be the medium’s ability to capture time from other activities. It is but one of the long-term germinating seeds of cultural change.

Chapter Five

Hopi Identity Construction in the Context of Media

The project of establishing the Hopis’ first locally-based public radio station was a major effort to promote Hopi culture and to improve media infrastructure on the Hopi Reservation. The “Hopi Radio Project” was undertaken by the Hopi Foundation. Today, the project already has a history, as its aims were realized with the launching of KUYI-FM in December 2000. This revolutionary media development has already in a short space of time had an impact on Hopi cultural survival and reconstruction. A number of interviews were conducted in nine Hopi villages in the spring of 1996 to elicit Hopi views regarding the planned radio station. Checkup interviews made in the summer of 2002 have provided more information. In addition to the interviews in the villages, I will consider the results of the survey I conducted in the Hopi High School during the spring of 1996 (Levo-Henriksson, 1997). Thus, the interviews span the time period both before and shortly after KUYI-FM went on air. The focus is, however, on the planning of Hopi radio through the views of prospective listeners. Before hearing the Hopi voices through the interviews and the survey, a history of the project is necessary. This will focus on the radio’s launch and the planning of its programming.

THE PLAN FOR A HOPI RADIO STATION Radio has long been the primary medium not only for Native American communities but for indigenous communications internationally (see Alia, 1999: 7). Native radio stations have an important role in their communities, for they “have introduced and informed their reservation communities, places and peoples that were not expected to survive” (Knopff, 2001: 131). The idea of a Hopi radio station had been quietly germinating on the reservation since the 1970s, when the first Native American radio stations 159

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started (see Orozco, 1995: 25). Executive Director of the Hopi Foundation Barbara Poley (interview in 2002) recalls that the Hopi Tribe had conducted a feasibility study for a radio station already in the 1980s. However, it was in the mid-1990s that different ideas about the radio station all came together. Some sources argue that two White men, reservation schoolteacher Gerry Gordon and Los Angeles filmmaker Dennis Murphy, brought the idea to the surface (Robbins, 2001; Suetopka interview in 2002). They discussed the issue with Hopi community people, and found that many were and had been supportive of the idea of the Hopis’ own radio station. Other sources give more credit for the initiative to Hopis (interviews in 2002 of Poley, Suetopka, and Taylor). In common with many other visitors, it was the desire to see ceremonial dances which brought Dennis Murphy to visit the Hopi for the first time. He later returned to pursue several projects, including making movies with Gerry Gordon’s students. Around 1994, when Murphy was helping a veterinarian during the calving season, he recognized that Hopi ranchers were listening to the Navajo station KTNN-FM. The veterinarian explained that KTNN was the only station in the area with Indian language programming. The Hopis tuned in, even though they did not understand Navajo. Dennis Murphy, Gerry Gordon and some others brought the idea of a Hopi radio station to the Hopi Foundation. Established in 1987, the Hopi Foundation seeks alternative ways to address issues such as Hopi poverty, illiteracy and joblessness (Robbins, 2001). The radio plan was conceived in November 1995, when a petition of support for the project was circulated at a Hopi Education Summit meeting. After the summit, in one December week, meetings were held in five different villages: Hopi community members responded enthusiastically to the idea of a Hopi radio station (The Hopi Foundation: Radio planning project, part IV project narrative, p. 2; Gallup Independent, Dec. 9, 1995). Feedback from the residents was also collected by the radio organizing committee, which published a questionnaire in the local newspaper. In addition, formal letters of support were gathered from the local newspaper staff, area educators, counselors, students and tribal officials. Their comments showed how Hopis believed the local radio station would be useful for “helping the community preserve its voice, culture, tradition and vision,” and “for keeping area residents up-to-date on events and issues in the community.” In the words of the Hopi Foundation officials, they “cannot recall any issue that has so united the community as the radio station has” (The Hopi Foundation: Radio planning project, part IV project narrative, p. 2-3). The Flagstaff-based public broadcasting station KNAU was also very supportive of the project since the beginning,


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and willingly assisted the Hopi Foundation in establishing the local service (p. 1). The sense of change and the need for expressing one’s own voice come through very clearly in the following letters of support from Ferrell Secakuku, then Hopi Tribal Chairman and Wayne Taylor, Jr., then Vice Chairman, later Hopi Tribal Chairman: . . . As we move into the twenty-first century it is essential that we keep pace with the rest of society, yet at the same time keep our Hopi language, culture and tradition strong and alive. . . . (Ferrell Secakuku, 1996) . . . Life is changing here on the Hopi Reservation as it is everywhere else. Now, more than ever, we need our own voice and our own vision. We need to be able to express ourselves in the Hopi language and make sure our children are able to do this as well. . . . (Wayne Taylor, Jr., 1996)

The importance and pride of hearing one’s own language on the air is beautifully expressed through the childhood memories of the artist Rosanda Suetopka Thayer in her letter of support for Hopi radio. She also worked with Gerry Gordon and representatives of the Hopi Foundation for the Hopi Radio Project: One of my father’s uncles, whose name is Ben Setima, was the first and only Hopi radio announcer from 1972 to 1985, as the host of ‘The Hopi Hour’ on a radio station located in Winslow, Arizona. He aired at noon everyday, Monday through Saturday. All announcements, news, sports, and weather were broadcast in the Hopi language. He had an extremely strong following, which included our family, though at that time we lived off the reservation in California. The look on my father’s face that visually validated the pride of hearing his own language on the air, is deeply etched in my childhood memories. I can remember when Grandpa Ben sent us a tape of his show that he dedicated to my dad and how happy my dad was on that entire day. The possibility of repeating this pride and happiness can be made possible through this project. . . . (Rosanda Suetopka Thayer, 1996)

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The vision of having one’s own radio station for the benefit of the community has been strong. In its project narrative the Hopi Foundation (p. 3) “views a radio station as a potentially valuable tool and local resource for economic development in the reservation communities.” Hopi residents have been active with the project not only through letters of support. Hopi Radio Project T-shirts were produced by a grassroots fundraising project, which involved the renowned Hopi artist Neil David designing the image of a clown holding the microphone. Sales of the Tshirt provided the initial funding to cover costs for preparing a planning grant application. According to the planning documents for the project, Hopis believed that a local public radio station “can be a significant tool in bringing their indigenous language and customs into more general, everyday use.” This would be achieved by offering a wide array of news, information and cultural services (The Hopi Foundation: Radio planning project, part IV, project narrative, p. 2). On March 26, 2001, the Hopi Foundation received an FCC (Federal Communications Commission) license for a radio station, assigning it the call letters KUYI-FM. Kuyi is the Hopi word for water. A call letter contest for the Hopi radio station was held in the fall of 1997; KUYI was the entry sent in by Ross Joseyesva, Jr., from Second Mesa (the Hopi Tutuveni, August 21, 1998, p. 18). “This is KUYI, Hotevilla,” run the announcements on the radio. Instead of the actual physical locations of the radio tower, or transmitter, and studio near Keams Canyon, it is the village of Hotevilla on the Third Mesa that appears here. It is the address of the non-profit-making licensee, the Hopi Foundation. The person hired by the Hopi Foundation to create KUYI-FM and put it on the air was Susan Braine, a member of both Assiniboine and Dakota tribes of Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. She had had twenty years of community radio experience, mainly working on tribally-owned and operated stations across Indian Country. Before the Hopi radio station, Braine had built up and put on the air the nation’s first urban Native-owned station—KNBA-FM in Anchorage, Alaska. In 1994, she launched American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS), a 24-hour programming service, administered by Native American Public Telecommunications, headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. According to the Hopi Tutuveni (1998, August 21, p. 18), KUYIFM was first scheduled to go on the air in the fall of 1998 but it did not. There were problems with the site of the tower. The planned site north of the Bacavi Community Center on the Third Mesa proved controversial, delaying consensus.


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Barbara Poley, Executive Director of the Hopi Foundation (interview, 2002), says that the original site did not work because it was too close to a ceremonial pathway. There is also a burial site nearby. In addition, some village members had fundamental objections. During the planning process, archaeological surveys had shown that the tower would not disturb the site itself or anything in the village. According to Executive Director Poley, the first tower site was on Third Mesa, north of the Bacavi Community Center, as it had the best reception covering the entire Reservation. It “came up in the engineers’ report as the best reception by far, where we could meet both sides of the Reservation as far as Moenkopi.” A new plan was devised, however, with a site on First Mesa. Three villages of First Mesa then reached consensus, and when permission was obtained from the Water Corn Clan, who owned the land, a 300-foot tower was erected on Antelope Mesa about 6,200 feet above the sea level in December 2000. The last hours before the launch of the station were filled with excitement and competition against the deadline set by the FCC. KUYI needed to go on the air by 3 A.M., December 21, or it would lose its construction permit. They beat the deadline by 15 hours by being on the air at noon on December 20, 2000 (See Robbins, 2001). Catherine Robbins’s article (2001) in The New York Times vividly depicts the crucial moments of the opening day for KUYI-FM. The sun, taawa, was finally needed to make the dream of radio come true. Aligning the studio and the antenna precipitated a small crisis, which was resolved by a teenager’s bright idea. Normally they are aligned with lasers, which were not available at KUYI at the crucial moment. Marshall McKerchie, the 18-year-old son of Burton McKerchie, KUYI’s Chippewa and Ottawa engineer, suggested using mirrors to align the two points with the reflections of the sun’s rays. ‘It’s ironic, because the sun is very important to Hopi culture,’ Burton McKerchie said.

The first words heard over the Hopi radio were from the Chairman of the Hopi Foundation Doran Dalton: “You’re listening to KUYI.” They were followed by Jimmy Lucero, a Hopi crier from Hotevilla, shouting the news in Hopi. The hopes for the station culminated in the words of Harlan Nakala, the kikmongwi, or chief and religious leader of First Mesa: “We can give news to elderly Hopi that can’t speak English. Some young don’t speak Hopi, so now they can hear Hopi and not be ashamed” (see Robbins, 2001).

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Besides elderly Hopis who do not speak English, KUYI also reaches listeners in those villages whose residents have chosen not to have electricity or running water. Among these villages is Oraibi, an 800-year-old village on Third Mesa. Loris Taylor, Associate Director of the Hopi Foundation and a key figure in managing the Hopi Radio Plan, mentioned to Catherine Robbins that her mother, living in Oraibi, has a solar radio and can now tune in (see Robbins, 2001). KUYI broadcasts daily for twenty-four hours. Its programming is delivered in a mixture of English and the Native language, like most American Indian stations. The station carries information about tribal and village governments; syndicated national news in English; community bulletin boards; mainstream and Native American music, which range from drum groups to contemporary music; and live coverage of high school basketball, which is very popular among Native American audiences. In addition, like many other stations, KUYI carries the English-language Native American program “Native America Calling.” The KUYI staff consists of five permanent members and a host of volunteers. During the first years of KUYI programming, the Hopi language was mostly used by three DJs who had their own music programs and who talked about the music they played in both Hopi and English. The three DJs came from the three different Mesas (First, Second and Third), and so all three main dialects of the Hopi language were available. Of the popular programs during the first years of KUYI, two special programs deserve mention. They are “Shooting Stars,” a morning program for children and “the child in all of us,” produced by health educator David Nelson, and “KUYI House Calls,” a local talk show about health issues, co-hosted by Dr. John Tveten from the Hopi Health Care Center and Burton Poley, the Operations Manager of KUYI. Poley is also called “Blues Bear” because of his own blues music show. The music schedule was diverse from the very beginning. News was another focus: in fall 2002, KUYI founded Indian Country News Bureau together with KNAU, a Flagstaff-based public broadcasting station. At the time, it also started to co-operate with the Hopi High School in the education of young broadcasters. Before the realization of the KUYI, the Radio Plan was discussed in the villages. Hopi interviews centered on three viewpoints: people’s views of the benefits of their own radio station, guidelines for the station’s programs, and Hopi cultural issues in the context of radio as a medium. In addition, the benefits and guidelines were considered in open-ended questions through a survey at Hopi High School.


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BENEFITS OF A HOPI-OWNED RADIO STATION In the survey, the benefits of a Hopi-owned radio station were approached through this question: “Plans are in the works to implement a Hopi Radio Project. Why would it be useful to have a Hopi-owned radio station? Please explain below.” Many of the Hopi students (68 percent) focused on the significance of local information, representing local information views. The most typical answer in this category of views was, as one 19year-old female student put it: “So we could know what’s all going on on the Hopi Rez.” Local information views also came up in the interviews of young people in the villages. Sometimes the need for local information was quite practical, applying to weather reports, for example. This was the case with the young interviewee, who described as a benefit of the Hopiowned radio station to “get more information out,” and argued: It might be (important), maybe for school. Like during the winter. You don’t have to go to school. (18-year-old female)

The importance of information concerning the Hopi Reservation was also expressed by many older interviewees. Local information views were common among young people in the Hopi High School and older people interviewed in the villages: When I think of the radio program (Hopi radio), I think it would be a really good way to broadcast communication of different events, really important things that are happening on the Hopi Reservation. (43-year-old female) I think it should carry a lot of Hopi happenings. It should carry, like, a Hopi hour, maybe. And, it should also open a time for the kids to make their requests. (44-year-old male)

Some of the interviewees emphasized local information in the context of decision-making and especially before the decisions were made:

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Media and Ethnic Identity Well, I heard that they were planning to have that (the Hopi Radio Project) but I hope it does succeed ’cause that would be a good way to let the people know what’s happening out here. Because, like I said, when they’re gonna do something, we don’t hear about it till it’s all over. (59-year-old female) . . . I would like to know all the details that are happening with the land issue (the Navajo-Hopi dispute). I think that’s where the radio station would be really important because they would give us updated information on what’s happening instead of just when decisions are made on certain things regarding the land issue. . . . (43-year-old female)

A close category of views to the local information views was a discourse which underlined togetherness, community building, and public awareness of common problems on the tribal level. These views were problem-centered, at times seen in the context of the “outside world.” They represent community building views and came up in the interviews in the villages. For example, one female interviewee said: . . . [For] community support building, I think, the project is a real vehicle to bring people together. So there’s a common theme and a common way to bring attention to different issues. . . . (38-year-old female)

Consider the next answer as regards cultural differences between villages, the need for information between them, and problems from “the outside world”: . . . to [build] great good attitudes, if the younger kids are listening to it, have programs that build self-esteem, pride in who they are, and also, I guess, some sort of program where each small child from each village will identify themselves, or sort of relate to the other young person in the other village, because we’re all different. You go from one village to the next village, and we’re completely different. That’s what’s so unique in Hopi. Us being a small society, we’re a society within a society. You’ve got such familiar problems that the outside world has.


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They may think it’s small, but to us it’s sort of big, it’s very important, and we tend to cover up the problem by saying that, ‘oh, the other village has it, you know, we’re just like other villages.’ So we’ll find a way to solve it. But again, like I said before, every village is unique, they think differently, they act differently, their habits are different, their arts and crafts are different, almost everything. To me, even their body language is different. (49-year-old male)

Community building views were mostly expressed by middle-aged Hopis, but sometimes also by younger interviewees: I think the benefit we would have is more public awareness, I guess, of different issues that are affecting the tribe, because I know a lot of people right now aren’t aware of a lot of the issues that are facing the tribe. There are a lot of new issues that come up. They’re coming up constantly. And there isn’t very many people out there in the villages to inform the people of what’s really going on here at the tribe. And one of the main things that I see is that it could be used to inform a lot of the Hopi people, not only in English, but in the Native language as well. (23-year-old male)

Comments which belong to the category of community building views often carry educational elements. In some of the comments, the educational elements were seen as very practical skills. Other comments brought up heightened awareness of some problematic issues, but the Hopi radio station was always depicted in the service of community: . . . So, all of these media can be good. That’s why I support the Radio Project. I see a lot of positive good that it can do for us. It would be a medium for us to talk about these kinds of issues. . . . (41-year-old male) The benefits of a radio is to teach a few people some new skills. We’ve never had a radio station out here. And even though it may mean employment of only a couple of people, you have people employed in new areas. And who knows, the station could become larger. We

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Media and Ethnic Identity could gain a television station in the future. I mean, gaining those kind of skills will be important to service our community. (52-year-old female)

In some of the survey answers, Hopi radio was again seen as working for the community, or community people, in a very concrete way as an employer: It would be useful, because it would give a few Hopis jobs and it can be used to broadcast important information about Hopi issues. (19-year-old male student)

Another category close to the local information views reflected opinions which emphasized the accessibility of the radio as a medium on the Hopi Reservation. These views are called accessibility views. They were expressed only by people interviewed in the villages: I think that the greatest benefit would be having the ability to communicate through a medium that is accessible to almost every household on the Hopi Reservation. Because out here we have some people who still don’t have television. Some people don’t subscribe to print media or they don’t read. But a radio uses a different part of your human sense, hearing. You can hear it, you don’t have to read it or use sight to watch it. It’s another human sensory medium. Hearing makes it accessible to every Hopi, young and old. So the range of age is going to be broader, and it’s going to be geographically broader. And I think that’s probably going to be one of the first benefits. . . . (41-year-old female)

One group of interviewed Hopis expressed their hopes and views of the quality and nature of radio programs to be transmitted. It would be, after all, Hopis who would make the decisions in the selection of programs. These kinds of views are sovereignty views: I guess, the benefit of Hopis going into doing radio broadcasting, I would hope that in order for it to be a great benefit, I would want them to rely, or more basically, cover good stories instead of bad stories, to create good attitudes to help, if the younger kids are listening


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to it, to have programs that build self-esteem, pride in who they are. ... (49-year-old male)

Some of those who expressed sovereignty views also made cultural differentiations, reflecting on highly valued community information versus entertainment. They could also show their appreciation toward other tribes, especially toward their neighboring tribe, the Navajos, in this context: . . . Other tribes that have ventured into owning and operating their own radio station, it seems that it’s an effective means of communication and it has worked for them. In particular, like the Navajo tribe, that has their own radio station and they’re able to use that, not only for entertainment but for community information and as a means of communicating information from the tribe (tribal officials) to the public. . . . (45-year-old male)

Some holders of accessibility views (see above) also expressed sovereignty views. The second benefit is being able to program, to have control over programming is [becoming] more responsive to the needs of the people. Whether it’s in the Hopi language or not, having control over programming is going to be important. (41-year-old female)

A person who expressed sovereignty views also believed that the Hopiowned radio station might be able to change the biased media representations of Native Americans and Hopis, an issue described more in detail in Chapter Four. He said: I think the only way it’s gonna change is if this radio station comes out and actually gives the hard facts . . . because we don’t have any control of the media. And, as far as we don’t, it’s still gonna be the same way. It’s still gonna be done the same way that’s it’s being done right now. (44-year-old male)

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To an extent, sovereignty views are reminiscent of empowerment symbol views. In these views, expressed mainly by young Hopis, it was important to have a Hopi-owned radio station for reasons of identity and news infrastructure. The answers in this category of views emphasized the need to focus on Hopi issues and having their own station, because Navajos already had theirs. Also, what was distinctive in this category was the value placed on news programs as an institution. Answers in this category were the most media-centered as to the benefits of a Hopi-owned radio station. A Hopi radio station would be perceived as a new kind of symbol of empowerment. Typical answers in this category of views are, for example, these four responses from the Hopi High School survey (Levo-Henriksson, 1997): Because there isn’t a radio station that focuses just on the Hopi people in general. (18-year-old female student) Because if the Navajos can have one, why can’t we? (15-year-old female student) So that we can get the news right instead of hearing all the gossip. (18-year-old female student) So Hopi people will know the ‘real truth’ instead of just relying on gossip. (18-year-old female student)

The last answer shows how the news as a higher form of information is separated from gossip; but at the same time it shows a critical assessment of the media—in this case the news—when the student describes the news as “real truth.” It is interesting that the need for identification through a news infrastructure on the Hopi radio station seems to be a key female issue. It did not come up in any of the males’ responses as being important for the Hopi radio station. One benefit of the Hopi Radio Project, identified by the students in the Hopi High School and also by the interviewees in the villages, was the use of the Hopi language on the radio. In some answers, the importance


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referred to the Hopi language per se, which I call language per se views. Others recognized the Hopi language as a means of enriching Hopi culture. These kinds of views are language as a cultural empowerment views. A third category of views extracted from the interviews are language as an equality issue views. Accordingly, the Hopi language would be particularly important for those, usually old people, who did not understand English. All three categories of views can be understood as subcategories of views which together form the Hopi language views. Language per se views were quite often expressed by the students in the Hopi High School: Because they might talk in Hopi and they might play Hopi songs. (15-year-old male student) So we can have a radio station to visit and have Hopi language. (14-year-old female student)

These views were expressed by the students and young and middle-aged interviewees in the villages. An emphasis on the meaning of the Hopi language was obvious for one young Hopi, who believed in the radio’s possibilities to teach the Hopi language to young people: . . . There are a lot of younger people who aren’t speaking Hopi. It’s not spoken in the home as much, and if they were able to hear it over the radio, I think that they would pick it up faster, and want to learn, I guess, more and more. (23-year-old male)

The belief that radio programs would create a desire to learn the Hopi language also emerged in another comment: They would be able to provide what programs they feel the community would be interested in. They could, probably, provide things in Hopi, and that would help. There would be a way to help people keep listening to the Hopi language, and hopefully become more, gain the desire, if you don’t know Hopi, gain the desire to learn it. (52-year-old female)

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A Hopi-owned radio station is also seen by the next interviewee as a catalyst to start speaking the Hopi language. And like the younger man interviewed above, she sees the radio project as a particularly important inspiration for young people to use the language: . . . And then the other thing, in fact I was already thinking of that when I first heard about the radio project was maybe this would also be a good way to get people to start talking Hopi because, I think, that’s what they would have to do in order to communicate with everybody so that they are going to have to do the majority of the broadcasting in Hopi. And if some of our young people are thinking of going into that kind of a career, that they would encourage them to start speaking Hopi because, that’s how they would have to communicate with the public. I would think that that would be a requirement that they also know how to speak Hopi. I think that would be a good source of encouragement for some of the young people. (43-year-old female)

That Hopi was heard on the radio was seen as important, not only for teaching and preserving the language, but as revitalizing Hopi culture and life generally. The next interviewee underlined this aspect of the language, and his comment is an example of language as a cultural empowerment views. Yeah, it’s difficult to foretell, but personally, I think that radio would enhance Hopi life. It would add to it. It would give it a better expression of Hopi values. Because one of the main things that I’m looking at with the Hopi project (the Hopi Radio Project) is the language. The language, I guess, is here on Hopi, language is one of the very biggest issues right now. . . . (23-year-old male)

Language and culture are also inseparable in the next comment. Radio could be a medium to circulate them: . . . Certainly it (radio) would help us, it would be a medium helping us, teaching our language. And when you teach language, actually what you’re doing is you’re teaching culture, because the


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language is the vehicle through which we learn our culture. You lose your language, you lose your culture. (41-year-old male)

An example of the third category of views, language as an equality, is given by the next interviewee. She wanted to emphasize that a Hopi radio station would also provide programs for those listeners (usually older people) who did not understand English very well. And then that (the Hopi-owned radio station) would too, by having the radio station, [be] for those that don’t understand English too well, [and] they (broadcasters) can talk to them in the Hopi language and explain things to them too. (59-year-old female)

In addition to these views about the benefits of a Hopi-owned radio station, the survey answers also had references to “more communication between people,” and claimed that “there would then be something worth listening to.” One respondent said that a new radio station would broadcast “cheap stuff” anyway, which gave cause to be critical of the project. When looking at the people’s views about the benefits of a Hopiowned radio station, there are two main categories of views which connect the young and older generations. These are local information views and language views, which emphasize the significance of the Hopi language. On the basis of these two most common categories of views, one can say that common hopes attached to the Hopi Radio Project in Hopi communities included receiving different kinds of local information, ranging from information of local events to information concerning the grounds for societal decision-making. This was coupled with a desire to learn the Hopi language, which would help revitalize Hopi culture. Representatives of both generations also expressed comments referring to problem-centric community building views, though they were mostly emphasized by middle-aged people, and by some younger people interviewed in the village, not by the students who participated in the survey. Meanwhile, views which were clearly expressed only by young students, and specifically by young female students, were empowerment symbol views. For them, the planned Hopi-owned radio station appeared

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as a symbol of strength. And what was interesting in the context of these views was that they used action taken previously by the Navajos as a yardstick. “ . . . If the Navajos can have one (own radio), why can’t we?” In addition, news was clearly separated from gossip, while the need for identification through the news infrastructure was also expressed. This category of views carried some critical reading of the media, too. Compared to young students, older people and especially middleaged people interviewed in the villages expressed accessibility views and sovereignty views when reflecting on the benefits of a Hopi-owned radio. In accessibility views, the radio was seen as providing a medium of common access on the Hopi Reservation. Expressers of sovereignty views emphasized the Hopis’ own decision-making in the selection of radio programs as well as the quality of the programs. They also made cultural differentiations, preferring highly-valued community information over entertainment. These views might also indicate some kind of admiration for Navajo radio programming.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PROGRAMS The guidelines for programs of a Hopi-owned radio station were systematically surveyed in the Hopi High School. The respondents were asked what kind of programs the Hopi radio should broadcast and were invited to give recommendations. The results of the survey therefore map out the guidelines. Some comments from the interviews in the villages also apply to actual program guideline assessments. Two main categories of guidelines clearly emerged from the survey: local information, often expressed as news, and Hopi cultural identity issues. As in the context of the benefits of a Hopi-owned radio station (see above), one represents local information views. The other category, Hopi culture and identity views, encompasses a wide variety of issues, including the Hopi language. This could of course be a category of its own. However, the language issue is explored in more detail in “Benefits of the Hopi-Owned Radio Station” and in the next section, “Hopi Cultural Issues and Radio.” Here the Hopi language issues are presented more in the practical program context. Local information views were more clearly expressed by females, especially by young female students in the Hopi High School. The women also differentiated between types of news on the Hopi radio. Most of the mentions had some concrete local touch, and the words “community” and “tribal” came up frequently:


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. . . things going on in the community, such as village concerns. (17-year-old female student)

The latest tribal news, not sure. (18-year-old female student)

Examples of very concrete local news could be: News about deaths, birthdays, weddings, engagements, about fire calls and fires. (17-year-old female student) What’s going on at the Mesas, like ladies making piki (piiki, wafer bread, made from blue corn flour) and baking bread. (14-year-old female student)

The need for local information also appeared in the interviews in the villages. This was mostly expressed by female interviewees, though there were some exceptions. In drawing attention to the need for local information, the next male presented it as a woman’s need. This he connected to some special community events, such as dances, weddings and naming ceremonies. Without a doubt, Hopi women have a special role in these events. In many dances, which are presented only by Hopi men, Hopi women are spectators. In weddings and naming ceremonies, the women have a very important role in the preparations of the festivities and in participating in the actual ceremonies. When asked what kinds of programs he would like on Hopi radio, this interviewee answered: Probably, mostly community information. I know the women would like to hear about the dances going on over there. Or maybe, information about a wedding that’s gonna be put on by somebody. ’Cause, if they’re relatives, they need to know, if there’s gonna be a wedding, or naming ceremonies. Some special event going on in any one community. (58-year-old male)

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Community information also appeared in a comment by the next male interviewee. When we discussed the types of programs needed on the radio, he talked about a broad, diversified listening audience which needed different types of music and general news. In addition: . . . And they wanna hear specific news that’s happening on Hopi also. I think that type of service would be good for them; community service broadcasting information would be beneficial for them also. Announcing community events, community happenings would be beneficial for them. . . . (45-year-old male)

Local information does not only refer to coming events but also to uniquely “Hopi items” and Hopi views about issues: The Hopi items. Maybe talking about issues that are, a panel, like having a panel. Talk about, maybe, gaming as an issue, something traditional . . . , student programming, whatever they choose. And information on coming events. . . . (34-year-old female)

Occasionally, the guidelines also brought out criticism against the kind of local information in the media: . . . I would like to, because we really don’t know all the details that are happening with the land issue (the Navajo-Hopi dispute), I think that’s where the radio station would be really important because they would give us updated information of what’s happening instead of just when decisions are made on certain things regarding the land issue. (43-year-old female)

The need for interactive communication via Hopi radio came up repeatedly: . . . There are so many things that they (decision-makers) could solve, like let people call in and express how they feel about certain things and being able to call in and ask questions about certain things.


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That way they could find out things that they have a hard time doing right now. (59-year-old female)

A need for dialogue with decision-makers and representatives of community service institutions, such as hospitals, was also clearly expressed by the next interviewee: I guess some type of dialogue between the government, maybe a callin show, where people can ask direct questions of our council people, of our program people. Programs, where, like the tribe, and the hospital could come and advise us of what’s happening out there that they have to make ready for the budget cuts that are happening. Why they are happening . . . to be able to quell some of the uneasiness that happens when we have the budget cuts. Getting that information ahead of time so we can become, maybe, more proactive to some of the things that will be happening that might have a negative impact on our community. . . . (52-year-old female)

As the examples show, the talk about local information does not only cover information about coming events, for example, but also about communication services. Demands for interactive communication similarly emerged, as did the possibility of having some proactive influence in the community before decisions were made. The second of the two main categories of views which the Hopi High School survey uncovered as regards program guidelines was Hopi culture and identity views. These views were expressed by male students. This may be linked to Hopi culture, since traditional songs are usually presented by male dancers, and the continuity of the songs is one of the males’ responsibilities. As the next examples show, male respondents mentioned such things as Hopi issues and people, stories and storytelling and Hopi music: Broadcast stuff about the land. (13-year-old male student) Hopi issues—Hopi music. Rock-n-roll. (18-year-old male student)

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Media and Ethnic Identity Old stories about the Hopi people. (20-year-old male student) Storytelling, kachina songs and other traditional stuff. (18-year-old male student) Traditional songs and language, songs that youth like. (15-year-old male student) Hopi Dance songs. (15-year-old male student) Hopi songs. (15-year-old male student) Weather songs. (16-year-old male student)

Music plays an important role in Hopi culture and identity. In many answers, music refers to traditional Hopi music—kachina songs, Hopi dance songs, and weather songs. These answers could also be classified in a separate category under music views, but because they appear in a clear context in Hopi culture, they remained together. Answers were categorized under music views, when an interviewee mentioned music on a general level or listed different kinds of music, including, for example, Native contemporary music. What is interesting in Hopi culture and identity views, though, is that when music is mentioned, traditional Hopi music and contemporary music coexist: “Hopi music, Rock-n-roll,” “traditional songs . . . songs that youth like.” In the context of program guidelines, the Hopi High School answers indicated Hopi culture and identity views. Although they were mostly presented by male students, by no means did the female students totally neglect such views. The female responses often referred to Hopi people and language, and mentioned local news in conjunction with cultural issues:


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Issues about the Hopi people. (16-year-old female student) Hopi language lessons, play a variety of Hopi music (kachina songs, and children’s songs), up-to-date news on what’s going on in the villages. (18-year-old female student)

Hopi culture and identity issues in the context of program guidelines also came up in the village interviews. As among the students, it was often the males who talked about them, although some females did, too, mostly voicing concern for the preservation of the Hopi language. The next interviewee talked about certain key issues of Hopi culture by referring to “Hopi history,” “Hopi knowledge,” and “foreign influences.” My interest is in Hopi history. That is important. And also, sharing of Hopi knowledge. Programs that would also talk about the social issues of Hopi people, and how some of these might refer back to earlier history. How foreign influences have affected our lives to this date. That’s a real strong interest of mine. (55-year-old male)

The tone of the next interviewee’s comment was similar when she spoke about “cultural education” and “Hopi music.” But in addition, she expressed her worry over the Hopi language: I would like to see some cultural education through radio. I’m not exactly sure how that would be done. But I think the music is also important, Hopi music. And, again, this is going to have to, in order to understand the songs, you have to, you have to know Hopi in order to understand what the songs are about. (43-year-old female)

The preservation of the Hopi language was a common concern voiced by the interviewees in many different contexts. However, it was interesting that when the role of the Hopi language was discussed in the context of

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preferred radio programs, there were different views. What the answers shared was that they all discussed how the Hopi language should be used. While most interviewees mentioned that Hopi should be used, some argued that it should not be taught on the radio. On the other hand, some people talked about a Hopi hour, which would teach the language. The next interviewee was among those who felt that the radio should use, but not teach, the Hopi language. When asked how he saw the meaning of the language and whether it could be channeled through radio, he answered: I think it could be, but not to provide lessons over the radio, but rather to talk in Hopi about issues. Use the Hopi language to talk about issues, including history, yeah. But not to teach language on the radio, ’cause that could be provided in the classroom setting, and at home. That’s where I would make the differentiation. (55-year-old male)

When a female interviewee answered the same question, she did not differentiate between using the language on radio programs and teaching Hopi via the radio. At the same time, she expressed her admiration toward the neighboring tribe, the Navajos’ radio: Yeah, because the majority of our ceremonies are done, well, all of our ceremonies are done in Hopi. And if the young kids don’t understand it and they can’t speak it, they’re not going even be able to perform any of those ceremonies . . . , language is very vital to all of the ceremonies. (43-year-old female)

Question: Do you think that, I guess, Navajos have their own Navajo language on radio, so do you think they have succeeded well with the language? Answer: You know, I really admire that because they just rattle right through the Navajo language and I really admire that. I guess that’s how I picture the Hopi radio station, going in, the majority of it in the Hopi language. (Ibid.)


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Some other interviewees who expressed Hopi culture and identity views also told of their admiration toward Navajos for their cultural programs on the radio. To a question about his hopes for Hopi radio programs, an interviewee answered: I guess an educational type, because a lot of things out here I see since I’ve been back, we’ve kind of gotten away from some of our activities, some of our history of the Hopi people. We don’t do enough so we’re overwhelmed by what the Navajos put out. (56-year-old male)

An example of an interviewee who hoped for Hopi language teaching via radio, in addition to Hopi language and English programming, comes next: . . . We’re using a lot of language. I’d like to see it done in Hopi, and then translated in English, all the programming. And then a Hopi hour, ’cause I don’t speak Hopi, and I barely understand. And I would like to have something for children and for adults. (34-year-old female)

The issues regarding the use of the Hopi language in radio programs are discussed more thoroughly under the next heading which will analyze relations between the radio project and Hopi culture on the whole. In all, Hopi culture and identity views covered a wide variety of issues, from “Hopi issues” to storytelling, Hopi music, and language. They were mostly expressed by young Hopi males in the Hopi High School, but often also by older Hopis in the interviews in the villages. When female interviewees expressed these views, they would focus on the preservation of the Hopi language. What came out in this context as well was an admiration for the Navajo radio in cultural issues. After local information and Hopi culture and identity views, the next common views held by Hopi High School students applied to music, called music views (see above). These answers mentioned music on a general level or listed different kinds of music, including Native contemporary music. Of the students, both genders referred to music equally. In some answers, music came up on a very general level. Some respondents, females in particular, differentiated between certain types of music—rap, reggae, and rock—when asked about their guidelines for

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Hopi radio programs. Examples of answers referring to a particular type of music follow: Rap—it’s the future! (13-year-old female student) Reggae; flute music; Native contemporary music. (17-year-old female student) Rock and roll. (13-year-old female student)

Young people listed their music hopes and preferences also in interviews, and as in the survey, identified different kinds of music than the middleaged interviewees. One young female student (18 at the time) gives more clues about the young Hopis’ music preferences: Question: And what kind of programs would you hope for on your own (Hopi) radio? Answer: Good music. Question: Good music, yes. And what would you consider to be good music? What kind of music? Answer: Just different kinds, R&B (rhythm and blues), techno. When middle-aged interviewees spoke about music, they would mention it quite broadly, as simply “music” or “different types of music,” as one interviewee did: Well, I think, Hopis really have a broad, diversified listening audience. So you want to hear different types of music. . . . (45-year-old male)


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Besides music in general, middle-aged interviewees also mentioned classical music, as the next interviewee who listed her program hopes: A variety of things. I know one thing that I enjoy; I don’t know how many people of the Reservation would enjoy that. It’s like a bit of classical music, like KNAU, sometimes. That’s another radio station from Flagstaff. (female in her forties)

On the basis of survey answers and interviews, it seems that females found it somewhat easier to name their music preferences than males, who often spoke about music on a general level. It must be taken into account, though, that not very many interviewees had music guidelines to make. The survey material, however, would indicate that the gender difference is quite pronounced. Another difference seems to be between generations. Young people, in this case most often young females, list different kinds of music. The few middle-aged people who mention music speak about different types of music, like classical music. Young people’s music list consists of rap, reggae, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and techno. They also seem passionate about the music: “Rap—it’s the future!” On the other hand, the difference between the generations is not that simple if we read “between the lines,” and especially if we take into account Hopi culture and identity views where Hopi music is discussed. Within Hopi culture and identity views, we can find references to Hopi music among both young people (in this case mostly young men) and middle-aged people. According to the young interviewees, Hopi music lives along with rock and roll and “songs that youth like.” In their music views, we can also find a coexistence of music born outside Native American culture and Native American music. In all, it looks like Hopi music is a common denominator for the younger and middle-aged generations. This would indicate that it has a future in people’s minds. In addition, when speaking about different types of music, the middle-aged are happy with a range of musical tastes. Big intergenerational music fights did not figure in the plans for Hopi radio programming. All three categories of views—local information views, Hopi culture and identity views, and music views—mainly cover the views expressed by the interviewees in the villages. Sport was also mentioned occasionally, often in the context of local information. The three categories of views are also the backbone of the answers in the survey.

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Judging by the survey and the interviews, it is difficult to imagine Hopi radio programming without the elements already raised: a variety of local information on people, their activities, community, and issues; on culture in the Hopi language and in English; and many kinds of music, Hopi and others, traditional and new. Other features which emerged in the student survey—in addition to comments of “all kinds” of programs—were sports (clearly by male students), comedy (a few mentions), and “topics that affect our life” (one mention). Since the survey and interviews did not include a question about the public/private system of a Hopi radio station, the radio system seldom came up. It might occur as a side issue when the respondent was reflecting on the totality of requirements in the development of the radio project. In her program recommendations, the next interviewee observed: . . . I guess, there’s so much, so much that can be done if you get a, well, you have to get skilled people too. Someone skilled enough so they can help you develop those programs. But also skilled enough to teach others, especially if we get a non-Indian in those positions, in the beginning, that we teach our own Hopi how to do programs, how to go out and sell ads, if that’s what we have to do. Learn how to raise funds, if it’s a public radio. . . . (52-year-old female)

In those very few cases when an interviewee expressed a preference for a certain system, s/he emphasized the radio’s independence, as the second example will show. Here a 56-year-old male interviewee noted the benefits and programs of the Hopi-owned radio station: I mean, politics can be discussed there, but controlled by the Tribal Council, the Chairman, Vice Chairman. The Tribal Council should have no control. Let it be independent.

HOPI CULTURAL ISSUES AND RADIO Cultural issues in the Hopi Radio Project divided into two main categories of views. Most interviewees identified different problems and contradictions, endorsing problem centered views. On the other hand, some saw radio as an oral medium in complete and natural agreement with the oral nature of Hopi culture. These fall into continuum views.


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Those who discussed the relation between Hopi culture and radio as a medium, pointed to oral culture as a basis for radio. Issues were raised which concentrated around the use of one key feature of oral culture, traditional storytelling in radio programs, and the use of the Hopi language in general on the radio. That radio draws on oral culture was discussed around the question: “They say that Native Americans are and would be really good speakers in radio programs. So what do you think about that? Is it one of the White people’s stereotypes, or is it true, because you have such a very strong oral culture?” Some interviewees saw no contradictions here, regarding radio as a continuum of an already existing culture. The next interviewees represent continuum views of this kind: I think that Native American people would be really good in radio or communications, because they do have that, that oral culture where all the stories are told orally, and a lot of people have those skills already in just talking. And so I think that they would be, because it’s something they would be able to do, something like radio. (23-year-old male) I think it’ll (Native Americans are good speakers in radio programs, because of oral culture) make absolute sense for Hopi. (38-year-old female)

Some interviewees took a very personal stand. To them, the issue was clearly problematic. In a problematic situation between the traditional culture and a modern medium, they found a solution: changing with the times is acceptable as long as “I still practice my tradition.” Such views are a subcategory of problem centered views, called self-regulated coexistence views (between traditional and modern practices). One of the interviewees was very conscious about the rules of his traditional culture and of his own way to solve the problem. He also made an interesting distinction between “Traditionalists” and “Progressives” (a word which he did not actually use). None of the interviewees made the distinction in the context of Hopi identity (see above, Chapter Three, under “Communicating with People of the Mainstream Culture”). The interviewees remarked that it was a differentiation made by Whites.

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When asked if he saw radio as an especially good medium for Hopi culture because of the Hopis’ rich oral tradition, he answered: Well, yeah, but it might be that the traditionalists, you’ve got two people here, some are opposed to it, and some like I, it don’t bother me. I mean, I can see the advantage of it, and a little disadvantages, but then, I’m more prone to the advantage part of it, where we gotta change the times anyway. But I still practice my tradition and I limit myself. I know what not to do and what to do type thing. As far as making certain images we’re not allowed to do, I still hold that far anyway, as far as broadcasting what is not suppose to, as far as tradition goes. . . . (51-year-old male)

A second subcategory of problem centered views were those which described differences between the traditional, oral Hopi culture and modern mediamediated culture. The differences may appear in the format, setting, and function of the use of language, and in the role of a central presenter in the two cultures. Consider the lengthy comment by the next interviewee who elaborated on the differences. Views of this kind constitute contradiction views. The comments are divided into two paragraphs to facilitate the reading. I speak Hopi, but radio is different from the oral traditions of Hopi, because radio has a radio format. You have spots and you have seconds in which to articulate points to the public, whereas Hopi tradition is oratory. It may take you an hour or two to relate a story. The setting for storytelling is completely different from a radio setting, where you are talking into a microphone and where your audience is unseen. You just know they are out there. And so, I think those have to be considerations. Not only that, Hopi, the language, is used to convey meaning and purpose, either about the religion or cultural life style. The language was a vehicle to get across the meaning and the soul of understanding of what it is to be Hopi. Whereas radio is entertainment and information. So it depends on what you are trying to do with language. If the radio format allows storytelling, for example, it could be close to how stories used to be told, but it would not be the true form of how it used to be, because there are such things as DJs. Traditionally, we don’t have Hopi DJs. We have Hopi storytellers, and we have Hopi teachings, and we


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have Hopi teachers. We have basketweavers and pottery makers. But being a DJ allows you to take a different persona. You sound different, you’re entertaining, your voice changes. You tell jokes and stuff. So being a DJ could be anybody and I cannot imagine an older storyteller crossing over just to be a DJ or vice versa, I cannot see a DJ crossing over to be a good Hopi storyteller. (41-year-old female)

The third category of problem centered views were fear of lost identity views. The fear refers to losing one’s cultural identity as a result of the conventions of the new medium. When talking about traditional Hopi culture and the role of the media in a community in general, the interviewee referred to the radio plan in the following manner: . . . And that’s what I’m saying, like, a radio project is pretty innocent to begin with. But what if we get a Howard Stern telling Hopi people, ‘This is the way the world is.’ Or if we get Hopi DJs that are now personified and they’ve become a stature in the community that we’ve never had before, and they can endorse a political candidate. Then what has innocently started out as another vehicle, just simply to communicate, is now a vehicle that helps to frame the kind of world that we live in. What we have today, in the larger world, because if it happens out there, it’s going to happen here. We’re not immune to that, and that’s what I’m saying, no one’s thought about all these things. (41-year-old female)

When asked if Hopis would then really be part of or only similar to the other world, she answered: Exactly, yeah, exactly, we’re gonna become cloned, like a suburb outside of Chicago or New York or. Except the only thing we’ll have is that we’ll throw in our cultural thing just to be slightly different. (Ibid.)

STORYTELLING AND RADIO The same interviewee also expressed contradiction views in the context of storytelling, which is a special and important part of traditional

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oral culture. She reflects on the changes which radio might introduce to the indigenous cultural heritage of storytelling. Actual storytelling only occurs during the winter months. It demands a certain etiquette and real face-to-face contact, while radio as a medium has its own logic and characteristics which do not necessarily follow the indigenous Hopi way. Radio might therefore confuse the rhythm and the community. When discussing radio’s potential impacts on the storytelling tradition, she argued: . . . I think it (radio) could change things. And sometimes when we revise the way that we do things, it becomes accepted by the next generation and that becomes true for them. For example, we don’t tell stories during the entirety of the year. We only tell stories during the winter months. And there’s a certain etiquette to telling stories. You have to invite the storyteller in. You have to provide snacks for the storyteller. And you have to respond to the storyteller when the story is being told. Now, if you were going to tell the story over the radio, let’s say you did it in the middle of June, first of all, it’s not during the correct month. Second of all, it’s an unseen audience. Third, there’s no interaction between the storyteller and the audience and thereby there’s no need for the etiquette of responding to the storyteller. And let’s say that Hopi children accept this storytelling over the radio, so two generations later they may think that storytelling over the radio in that fashion is cultural, when really, it’s a whole different form. And they may come to accept the radio form of storytelling as being a cultural heritage that came from generations before, when somewhere we made the transition. And so, it’s not the same. (Ibid.)

Another interviewee also mentioned storytelling in the context of radio. He talked about problems relating to a special characteristic of storytelling, but to him, radio could also be suited to storytelling if certain things were adjusted. His view represents regulated coexistence views, a fourth subcategory of problem centered views. Coexistence here refers to the co-living of traditional Hopi culture and modern media. The interviewee spoke about issues on the community level, using the expression “we.” When asked whether storytelling was possible on the radio, he answered: I think so. There’s always sensitivity about timing. It cannot be outof-season. . . . Those kind of things we’ll have to deal with as well.


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Storytelling is primarily for the Hopi. It’s primarily told during the winter months, when people have to be in the homes. There’s that certain time for it, and there’s taboos about what will happen to you if you tell these stories out of season. (41-year-old male)

USE OF HOPI LANGUAGE GENERALLY IN RADIO PROGRAMS The language of storytelling is Hopi. The use of the Hopi language in written form has been a contentious issue in some Hopi communities, where problems spring from the spiritual nature of the language. How it is used in the media can also be a problem, because the Hopi religion is involved. The interviewee believes, however, that it is possible to use the Hopi language in the media. Hopi-language storytelling, too, is possible once appropriate times are taken into account. In addition to the traditional use of the language, the interviewee also considers creative things possible in using the Hopi language. Similar to the comment of the previous interviewee, the following response is also an example of regulated coexistence views. When asked if the Hopi radio project could play an important role in preserving the language, the interviewee answered (the answer is divided into two parts to facilitate the reading): Well, it’ll play a role, but what many people don’t understand is that the Hopi language is a birthright of the Hopi people. . . . That’s why there is an ongoing controversy among our religious leaders in the villages about the public issues that deal with the Hopi language. Many of our people don’t really agree with the writing of the Hopi language, because of its spiritual nature. So, I guess modern ways of preserving languages are options, but whether or not it’s going to be totally acceptable, I think we have to take it from the standpoint of the religion. It remains to be seen, but I think we can do a lot with media. I generally support some of these innovative approaches to the use of language, one being radio. And we could do a lot with the Hopi language program on radio. We could, in appropriate times, have historic telling on radio. We could have a Hopi language program that would do some creative things with language on radio. We could have, even,

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Media and Ethnic Identity Hopis to become efficient enough to talk about world news in Hopi on radio. . . . I think I would like to see the Hopi language in the Hopi newspaper be bilingual, to have both English and Hopi. Things like that need to be attempted. (male in his forties)

Similar views were also expressed by another interviewee, when he discussed the possibilities of using the Hopi language on radio. He described different levels of the language and compared them with the grades in White schools. Hopis “would have to be careful” as “to what level” they would go with the Hopi language on radio, but “those things can be worked out”: I think it would be good to have storytelling on radio. It would be good to have your everyday news in Hopi. To have programs that talk about, well, provide the education in the Hopi language. And there are differences, just like with White man’s education where it’s broken by grades. The same thing is true for Hopi, obviously, you know. There’s a certain language that is spoken, that the young children first learn, from the time you’re born up to a certain age. And we speak to the young children with that same language, and they speak back to us with that language. And then that language becomes, as you grow old, more and more sophisticated, you put more words in there, and these words, of course, have real significant meanings in our culture, and our religion, and so forth. We’d of course would have to be careful to what level we’d go with that. But those things can be worked out as we move along forward. (41-year-old male)

The next comment also represents regulated coexistence views in referring to the generation gap in the Hopi community. The interviewee states that broadcasting in the Native language and telling “a little bit about the culture” might serve to fill the gap: . . . I think the project probably could serve to fill in the gap, by broadcasting in the Native language, telling a little bit about the culture, but seeing it as a modern technology, using modern technology to do that. I think that could serve as good to fill that gap there. (23-year-old male)


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This comment, as well as regulated coexistence views, can be seen as optimistic regarding the coexistence of traditional Hopi culture and media, in this case the radio. In all, when the Hopi Radio Project was viewed in the context of Hopi cultural issues, very few people saw the issue as unproblematic. Those who did described radio as an oral medium; a natural for oral Hopi culture. These kinds of views, as mentioned above, are continuum views. Most interviewees, however, described some problems, contradictions and fears, even though they also spoke about the possibilities to solve them. All views focusing on problems and contradictions are problem centered views. Hopi cultural issues were not covered in the survey, and so students’ views about these issues are excluded. Discussion focused on oral culture as a basis for radio as a medium, and highlighted certain parts of the oral culture, traditional storytelling in radio programs, and the use of the Hopi language in general in radio programs. In describing oral culture as problematic as a basis for radio as a medium, interviewees expressed either self-regulated coexistence views, contradiction views or fear of lost identity views. In expressing self-regulated coexistence views, the interviewee saw a problematic situation between traditional culture and a modern medium. S/he found, however, that changing with the times was acceptable as long as “I still practice my tradition.” The interviewees talked about resolving the contradiction on a personal level. Contradiction views focused on differences between oral Hopi culture and modern mediated culture in the format, setting, and function of the use of language, and in the role of a central presenter in the two cultures. Fear of lost identity views were heard in concerns over a lost cultural identity, which could result from the conventions of the new medium. Contradiction views also came up in some interviews which addressed storytelling in radio programs. Radio was seen as potentially disrupting indigenous cultural heritage. As a medium, it might confuse the natural order inherent in the Hopi community. Other views expressed in this context were regulated coexistence views. The respondents saw the possibility of traditional Hopi culture and the modern medium coexisting. They also referred to the community level by using the expression “we” when considering how the coexistence could be managed. Regulated coexistence views were also held by those who reflected on the use of the Hopi language in general on radio programs. It could be done, but only at appropriate times. In this context, some interviewees also offered creative ways to use the language, which would help revitalize it. One respondent said that the written form of the language gave cause for concern because of the spiritual nature of the Hopi language. The overall

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tone, however, was optimistic: broadcasting in their Native language, telling something about their culture and using modern technology could fill a generation gap.

HOPI RADIO STATION AND CULTURAL ISSUES: SUMMARY OF VIEWS Two generalizations emerge from the views regarding a Hopi-owned radio station. First, people had high hopes of the radio’s benefits and guidelines of programming that would focus on local information and Hopi culture and identity issues. Second, the great hopes attached to Hopi culture and identity issues also carry major problems and contradictions. Local information was high on the agenda, in recognition of Hopi cultural and identity issues, especially the preservation of Hopi language and music. These aspects unite younger and middle-aged generations. At the same time they are also sources of contradiction: for example, how to use the Hopi language in the programs and how to implement storytelling? When considering program guidelines, most interviewees mentioned that the Hopi language should be used. Some interviewees argued that it should not be taught as such, while others wanted a “Hopi Hour” which would teach the language. Some felt that it could even be used creatively by broadcasting world news in Hopi. Similar diversity can be found in storytelling views. Some interviewees tried to solve the problem on a community level through regulated coexistence views, by adjusting traditional and modern practices. To them, storytelling is possible on the radio when certain things, such as appropriate times for presentations, are taken into account. It is the community that should take care of this. Some interviewees, on the other hand, spoke about a personal solution to managing the problem between traditional and modern customs. They expressed self-regulated coexistence views pertaining to oral, traditional culture and radio. In a conflicting situation, one personal solution might be, as one of the interviewees put it, to accept changing with the times as long as “I still practice my tradition.” Contradiction views were expressed by the many interviewees who emphasized differences between traditional, oral Hopi culture and modern media-mediated culture: the two worlds are different, and crossing the borders between these worlds is impossible. In other words, an older storyteller cannot be a DJ, and a DJ cannot cross over “to be a good Hopi storyteller.”


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Other differences which appeared in these views were in the format, setting, and function of the use of language. As regards the format, radio has spots and seconds, while in Hopi traditions, “it may take you an hour or two to relay a story.” The different settings refer to the meaning and presence of an audience in the actual presentation situation. In the function of the use of language, contradiction views related to seeing the radio more narrowly as entertainment and information. In addition, respondents felt that the Hopi language was not for public speaking because of its very nature at the core of Hopi identity. As a 41-year-old female interviewee commented, “The language (Hopi) was a vehicle to get across the meaning and the soul of understanding of what it is to be Hopi.” While regulated coexistence views and self-regulated coexistence views can be understood as linking the two worlds (traditional and modern) in the Hopi radio project, contradiction views relate to fear of lost identity views. The respondent describes fear of a lost cultural identity which could result from the conventions of the new medium. As a consequence, “we’re gonna become cloned like a suburb outside of Chicago or New York.” If these kinds of fears are taken into account in the policy and actual programs of the Hopi radio, concerns over Hopi cultural traditions will receive the emphasis they deserve. All Hopi cultural issues eventually turn to the uses of the Hopi language. It is very difficult to understand culture-related problems, if one does not respect tribal views about the nature of the language. The very nature of Hopi as a language must be understood in the spiritual realm. This is why many Hopis do not agree with writing it down, as one interviewee already said. In addition, as the female respondent mentioned above, language functions differently from radio, which is mostly for entertainment and information. The Hopi language is a key to Hopi identity and a central element in Hopi culture. Demands for Hopi to be used on radio programs were voiced time and again by the interviewees in the villages and the Hopi High School students who participated in the survey, but how the demands are met and accommodated in practice requires special planning. One of the key challenges in the use of Hopi language on radio is related to the generation gap. Young people play a crucial role in the survival of a minority language. As Stephen Riggins (1992b: 283, see also above, Chapter Two, under “Problems and Challenges of Native American Media”) has pointed out, the use of minority languages in the media validates them publicly, which is important for their survival in the eyes of young people. The survey and the interviews show that young Hopis are eager to learn and use the Hopi language on radio programs.

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On the other hand, teaching the language certainly demands the contribution of middle-aged and older people who know the language and its proper usage. According to the middle-aged interviewees, there is a readiness even for a creative use of the language, if certain sensibilities of form and timing of the programs are taken into account. Such concerns include the issue of how the language is taught. Some middle-aged interviewees argued that they should not provide Hopi language lessons via the radio, but “rather to talk in Hopi about issues.” Some younger interviewees hoped for a designated Hopi hour for Hopi language teaching. The program policy and the practice of the years to come will define the details of this issue. Donald R. Browne (1996: 237, see also above, Chapter Two, under “Problems and Challenges of Native American Media”) has a recipe for reaching young people. It entails the use of indigenous languages throughout programming, particularly in music, sports, and disc jockey patter. In Hopis’ views, music and sports are uncontroversial items: many kinds of music and sports were suggested. Hopi music was a common denominator for both the younger and the middle-aged generations. In young people’s views, Hopi music should be played alongside rock and roll and “songs that youth like.” In addition, the middle-aged were supportive of different kinds of music. But disc jockey talk cannot be passed over quickly. In talking about Hopi cultural issues and the radio, some interviewees felt there were contradictions between the storytelling tradition and disk jockey banter (see also above). Program policy must determine what kind of disc jockey model should be used in programs involving Hopi cultural issues. However, the roles of the disc jockey and the storyteller are unlikely to intertwine. The greatest challenge among Hopi generations may relate to applying the Hopi language in practice. That there are so many common elements in the program hopes of younger and older generations will be a great help. The Hopi radio plan was also constructed through the various views voiced by the different generations over the benefits of their own radio station. For young people, especially young females, the station appeared as an empowerment symbol (empowerment symbol views). Culture and identity issues (Hopi culture and identity views) were emphasized by young males. For middle-aged Hopis, radio provided accessibility (accessibility views) and sovereignty (sovereignty views), which would guarantee the selection of programs for Hopis. In addition to common program elements, there was one additional aspect which united generations and genders. It was a certain admiration felt toward other tribes, especially Navajos, for their radio operations. Hopis saw that Navajos had succeeded with language and other cultural


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issues. For some of those who expressed empowerment symbol views, Navajo radio was seen as a measuring stick: “Because if the Navajos can have one (their own radio), why can’t we?” One expresser of sovereignty views saw radio as an effective means of communication for the Navajo tribe. Among those who expressed Hopi culture and identity views, there was recognition of the Navajos: “I really admire that (use of the Navajo language) because they just rattle right through,” and “we’re so overwhelmed by what the Navajos put out.” As regards promoting ethnic identity, the Hopi Radio Project in itself is a trial for promoting Hopi culture. In addition, many views expressed in the survey and interviews show a great desire to achieving that goal. If Hopi views on the Radio Project are seen against the background of George De Vos’s (1982: 10-16, see also above in Chapter One) factors contributing to ethnic definitions and identity maintenance, views about benefits and guidelines are especially challenging, because they refer to the future. One factor—language—is still crucial in regard to these views. The meaning of language is expressed in many different categories of views, called language views collectively, and divided into three different subcategories: language per se; language as a cultural empowerment; and language as an equality issue. Language also comes up in Hopi culture and identity views. Closely related to the language factor are storytelling traditions and traditional Hopi music. They relate to an aesthetic cultural pattern as well as to religion. From other factors contributing to ethnic definitions and identity maintenance named by De Vos (ibid.), for example, territoriality emerged in the local community views. The survey and interview respondents both raised these views when they spoke about the kind of information that should be transmitted about the Hopi Reservation. Aspirations connected to language are high in Hopi communities, both among the youth and the older generations. They felt that radio as a medium would help fulfill their wishes and expectations. The Hopi language appears as a strong symbol for ethnicity, but it is not in fact used by all members of the Hopi community. This, according to De Vos (1982: 15), is common in ethnic minority communities today. If the Hopi language were to be emphasized in radio programs as much as many students in the survey and interviewees in the villages hoped, it would constitute a major cultural reconstruction project in Hopi communities (see the term, Nagel, 1994: 162-163). That Hopis emphasize ethnic identity issues, and in Joane Nagel’s words (1994: 162, see also Chapter One), tribal identity, when they speak about the radio plan, does not mean that they would not communicate with others. Remember that their views also refer to other tribes—Navajos in particular—as models for radio operations, and they include diverse

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Native contemporary music in their program guidelines. They thus relate to a supra-tribal or pan-Indian (ibid.) identification. Their views also refer to global news, “world news in the Hopi language” and to music genres born outside traditional Native American cultures. The new medium would not only promote ethnic identity in the minds of forthcoming listeners, but it would also be a new contact with other indigenous peoples and nonindigenous people outside the community. Equally important, it would be a contact controllable by the community.

TRANSMISSION OF CULTURAL TRADITIONS It has become evident that the plan for a Hopi radio station emerged as an important issue of Hopi identity and media. In the context of identity matters, it turned out that in addition to the family it was some traditional practices, including the dances, which drew young people back to visit Hopiland. It was also seen that media, including the radio, could help preserve some traditions. However, as we have already noticed, this is complicated. Tradition as a concept is not unambiguous, and one cannot speak about it without discussing the concept first. Early anthropologists, for example, used it to refer to ancient and virtually unchanging things. In recent decades, however, such a view has been attacked as factually incorrect and self-serving (see Peterson, 1994: 183, refers to Hobsbawm, 1983, and Clifford, 1988). Currently, the term “collective memory” is often substituted for “tradition,” acknowledging that the past is continually reinterpreted to fit the changing needs of the present (Peterson, 1994: 183, refers to Halbwachs, 1992). The connection of past and present in the context of traditional practice is brought out very clearly by Gail Guthrie Valaskakis (1988): “In the writing of outsiders, Native American traditional practice is often misunderstood as feathers and fantasy or, worse, as oppressive reification of the distant past. But Indian traditionalism is not these; nor is it lost in transformation or revived as a privileged expression of resistance. It is an instrumental code to action knitted into the fabric of everyday life” (Valaskakis, 1988: 268). Valaskakis sees “tradition” also as “cultural experience,” “representation and explanation”—“both by insiders and outsiders” (ibid., refers to Clifford, 1986: 19), “which situates the social field of current practice. Traditionalism is experienced collectively and individually as heritage, a multivocal past, re-enacted daily in the ambiguous play of identity and power” (Valaskakis, 1988: 268). Valaskakis also explains the significance of collective and individual cultural experience in the context of tradition and traditionalism. In doing so, she refers to the hermeneutic and identity aspects of tradition. The


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significance of these aspects in the modern world has also been emphasized by John B. Thompson (1995: 186-187). The hermeneutic element refers to using tradition to make sense of the world, while the identity concepts interpret tradition as a way of belonging. According to Thompson, the identity aspect of tradition also contains a sense of oneself. Thus, traditions provide some symbolic material for identity formation, both at the individual and collective level. “The sense of oneself and the sense of belonging are both shaped—to varying degrees depending on social context—by the values, beliefs and forms of behavior which are transmitted from the past” (Thompson, 1995: 186). In this context, tradition has also been termed “invented” by historian Eric Hobsbawm (1983: 1). By this he means “a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behavior by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past.” He also emphasizes that where it is possible, traditions normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past. What is interesting here is often forgotten when analyzing Hobsbawm’s concepts of tradition. He writes about traditions in the context of nations; and he refers, for example, to the British monarchy and its ceremonial manifestations. In a now famous essay (1983), Hobsbawm even makes a distinction between old and invented practices, noting that anthropology may help elucidate the differences between them, if there are any differences. According to Hobsbawm, old practices are specific and strongly binding social practices, while invented practices are rather unspecific and vague as to the nature of the values, rights, and obligations of group membership (ibid.: 10). Using Hobsbawm’s view on old practices, traditions in this chapter can be defined as “patterns of beliefs, customs, values, behavior and knowledge or expertise which are passed on from generation to generation by the socialization process within a given population” (Seymour-Smith, 1986: 279-280). In the Hopi context, the focus is limited to a discussion on oral tradition, on storytelling, and on ceremonies, dances in particular. In these, I have primarily considered Hopi males’ interviews, because oral traditions, such as teaching and storytelling, are mainly in the hands of men, often uncles (see, later in this chapter, the memoirs of Helen Sekaquaptewa). Moreover, Hopi ceremonies are primarily the province of men (Loftin, 1991: 28). First, consider “the traditional Hopi way,” which is often transmitted through oral teaching. According to Walter Collins O’Kane (1973 [1953]: 177), the traditional Hopi way aims at a course of conduct which will lead

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to well-being and happiness. In this sense, it bears similarities to religions whose teachings are found in writings. The traditional Hopi way concurs with many of the Ten Commandments of Christianity. O’Kane (1973 [1953]: 177) summarizes: “To the Hopis the essence of it all is to seek what they term ‘a good heart,’ a way of life in which a man is honest, truthful, considerate, gentle with children, understanding with those who are old, free from sadness, fear, or harmful thoughts, constantly aware that he is a part of a great, immortal spirit world.” An evocative, lively description of Hopi teaching appeared in Helen Sekaquaptewa’s life story Me and Mine, first published in 1969 (1993). She recalled the time and the storyteller: This time (December defined from new moon to new moon) is set apart for teaching the young. The uncles (mother’s brothers) go to the homes of their sisters in the evening to teach her children. An uncle is treated with respect, and the family gathers around to listen as he tells about the advent of the Hopi, recites traditions and prophecies, and gives instructions. We call it ‘Pbutsquani’ which is like the Ten Commandments. . . . Sekaquaptewa with Udall (1993 [1969]: 228-229)

Helen Sekaquaptewa remembered the teaching evening with great excitement. She conveys to us the impressions of a child on a cozy teaching evening around a fireplace. I can distinctly picture our family in Old Oraibi when I was a little girl, all sitting around the fireplace, with the light from the fire on our faces as we listened to our uncles’ voices. I would get so sleepy I thought I could not stand it, as they talked on and on, but if my head nodded, someone would punch me and tell me to listen. I remember the teachings though. Repetition served then as now in remembering. . . . Sekaquaptewa with Udall (1993 [1969]: 230)

Hopi teachings are often transmitted through recitations of legends and myths, which are frequently related both to instruction and entertainment (Carroll, 1984, refers to Simmons, 1942: 416). Hopi myths were collected by Leo Simmons (1942) from Don Talayesva, his informant. A primary concern in Hopi myths were contests between good and evil, won by the forces of good with the help of the gods, usually minor deities. The myths


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would deal with prophecies, natural and geographical details of the land, the interdependence of the natural and supernatural, and Hopi history (Carroll, 1984: 132-137). As Gail Julia Carroll (1984: 141-142) states, keeping the myths alive and repeating them every winter has helped to maintain the status quo of Hopi life, and has created “The Hopi Way.” All behavior not consistent with The Hopi Way was punished in legendary history and children thus learned that laziness, greed, aggression, disharmony, selfishness, and rage were dangerous behaviors. Further, they learned that cooperation on all levels of life was necessary to its continuity. Cooperation and order had to dominate these relationships for the proper operation of things. Carroll (1984: 141)

Cooperation and order have been essential to “the Hopi Way.” They both have a place in Hopi ceremonies. Understanding ceremonies as transmitters and sharers of cultural values is not possible without placing them in the Hopi view of cosmos. “The key to this understanding is the concept of unity; the unity of all things, the relatedness of all things and the mutual dependency of all things” (Carroll, 1984: 102, refers to Thompson, 1945). “All things” meant people and nature, as well as “heavenly bodies, ancestors and spirits.” They were organized into interrelated orders or classes which were combined into independent categories (see ibid., refers to Thompson 1944). As Carroll describes it: “In performing his ceremonials, man did not act in and for himself but on behalf of his category, order and suborder; phatry.” In these ceremonies, the Hopi also pray for the welfare of all peoples, all mankind, not only for their own people (Carroll, 1984: 103-104, refers to Thompson, 1944). Hopis conduct several kinds of ceremonials that include sacred and secular dances with associated rituals and initiation rites. Sacred ceremonies and dances were preceded by preparatory rituals and practices within the kiva (Carroll, 1984: 106-107). Generally, ceremonials are “blends of the sacred and secular elements; more particularly, the religious, social, political, economic and artistic” (Carroll, 1984: 102 refers to Dennis, 1972). Ceremonies have changed and are changing. Susanne and Jake Page (1994: 78) describe this dynamic living nature of the ceremonies. Sometimes Hopis may get “too creative,” and a ceremony changes into something too elaborate which leaves the true purpose behind. When form becomes more important than content, the elders intervene. Some of the ceremonies are

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also dying out, and are no longer practiced in all villages. But as the Pages put it, the ceremonies are not the whole story: “Ceremony, or ritual—with all that it implies among the Hopi, including humor and an understanding of human nature, of the forces of good and evil, and the blessings of the earth and the sun—ceremony is part of everyday life for most Hopi we have met, as much a regularly occurring part of existence as, say, breathing.” Ceremonial kachina songs are transmitted in the Hopi language. These songs are poems, rich in metaphor and sophistication and often untranslatable into English. As a highly valued creativity on the part of the Hopis, new songs or poems are added to each type of kachina dance. The Hopi language is thus very important in the transmission of the ceremonies. But as a Hopi friend explained to the Pages, there is more to this: “To perceive the essence of these ceremonies requires sociological background, psychological preparedness, physical experience, and spirituality—all four” (Susanne and Jake Page, 1994: 75). The sharing and transmitting of traditions through ceremonies carries elements of the past and brings new elements to life. As such, it is easy to understand that ceremonies provide individual and collective experiences to those who share cultural knowledge and participate in them. At the core of these experiences is spirituality. Tribal traditions and ceremonies have meaning not only for Hopis, but for most Native Americans. The writer of American Indian Ethnic Renewal Joane Nagel (1996) states this clearly: “Individual Indian ethnic renewal appears to be tightly connected to an interest and a participation in tribal traditions and ceremonial practices, in particular to notions of and activities associated with spirituality” (190).

HOPIS’ VIEWS ON TRANSMISSION Dancing plays a very important role in sacred and secular ceremonies, and as Gail Julia Carroll (1984: 325) says, dancing “has become a celebration of the People’s pride in being Indian and Hopi.” Hopis have also been able to maintain more of their cultural traditions and values than any other Native American group, with the possible exception of the Zunis (Bonvillain, 1994: 93). When discussing with Hopis the issue of intertribal sharing of traditions and ceremonies or the possibilities of continuing them in all Hopi communities, a number of opinions were expressed. Three categories emerged: fear of lost identity views, societal gap views, and possibility views. The view for fear of lost identity came from people who expressed their concern about the continuity of traditions; some parts of the Hopi culture had already been lost. Usually, what they were concerned about


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was the loss of their indigenous language and religion. Interviewees who described a lack of communication between older and younger generations, or between other groups in Hopi communities, expressed conceptions that belong to the societal gap category. Those who felt pessimistic about both issues saw that there was less continuity of tradition, or that there was little continuity left. Meanwhile, interviewees who expressed possibility views identified communication technology or interpersonal communication as a possible means for transmitting traditions. This category also includes views which recognized that continuity and the ability to change were potential ways to preserve traditions. An example of the first category, fear of lost identity views, is seen in the following comment. The answer refers to the ability of young people to maintain traditions. The interviewee states his worry over the lost language: There are still a lot of these young kids interested in [ceremonies], but the only problem is that we don’t, because of the TV and all these modern things, nobody knows how to speak Hopi. They might understand a few words, but. And that’s where it’s scary, because once everybody can’t speak the language and all, it eventually’ll die out. I don’t know whether they could carry on, because all the traditions, the songs, and what not, it’s all in the Indian language. (51-year-old male)

This interviewee links Hopi traditions to the Hopi language: for him the loss of the Native language is a loss of traditions as well. He also makes this very clear, when he describes the contemporary learning of dance songs, many times from tapes. Singing without understanding is destructive. In the worst scenario dancing itself would be done through those tapes. This would be the downfall of tradition. For this interviewee, technology in the context of traditions is impossible. The respondent had very consistent views about modern media and traditional Hopi cultural issues. However, he saw radio as a possibility to preserve oral Hopi culture as long as he still practiced his traditions (see “Hopi Cultural Issues and Radio” above). Through this statement, he expresses self-regulated coexistence views (between traditional and modern practices). This interviewee had no problem bringing traditional Hopi culture to modern media as long as he was able to continue his cultural traditions. He thinks, however, that one cannot bring modern media to the core of Hopi

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culture—to its central traditions. In practice, this means that radio can promote Hopi culture, but that Hopi dances, for example, should never be danced through tapes. In the context of radio, dancing, and modern technology, the question is about compartmentalization (see Loftin, 1991: 84. See also above, Chapter Three, under the heading “Middle-Aged People’s Views of Life in ‘Two Worlds’”). A Hopi may be ready for cultural changes, as long as it is possible to preserve traditional religious values (see ibid.). The readiness for change is not limited only to religious values, but also to their emblems which appear in religious ceremonies. In the next comment, the interviewee describes the modern learning of dance songs: You wanna learn a song, but they’re singing something they don’t understand. They might actually learn a song, to pronounce the words, perfectly throughout the whole song, what it’s saying or what not, but it’s a bit irritating that they don’t understand what they’re singing. You just learn the song, tape thing. That’s the most scary part. I think of it now and then, and it like, ooh, I don’t know, how far, maybe twenty years, or so, whether this is really gonna happen. I don’t know. I just feel all this song and dance thing is gonna cease when it gets to that point. But each dance, the villagers sit there and record the songs, just for their personal enjoyment or whatnot. But, I always felt, eventually, they’re gonna be dancing to those tapes, which to me, it’s gonna be something very strange. That’s the main thing, that’s the major thing that’s gonna be like the downfall for the continuation of the song and the dance thing. (Ibid.)

When discussing what Hopi communities can do to stir interest in young people in their traditional culture, one group of interviewees were worried because the older people in Hopi communities did not teach this culture to Hopi children. Instead, they explain the Hopi traditions to Whites. One reason often mentioned by the interviewees was the fear that other people in the community might “make fun of them.” These kinds of conceptions reflect mistrust between the generations and belong to the societal gap views. One interviewee’s comments show his concern about the mainstream culture appropriating Hopi traditions outside the Hopi community. He uses the expression “so-called Traditionalists.” In doing so, he shares views which other interviewees had when they used the concept as a questionable term in the context of identity issues (see above, Chapter Three, in “Middle-Aged Hopis’ Views of Communication with People from the Mainstream”).


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See, we have the elders who are supposed to teach us that [our own culture]. And every time we try to invite some of them that are knowledgeable in these things, they say that it’s all over here in the village, in our village. They always say it’s a White man’s thing. And then they close [off] themselves. They don’t come and try to teach the little kids that, because they’re scared that they might be branded as a harm, and other people are gonna make fun of them. But, I think if it’s such a way that we have certain people in our own clans who are well respected, and I think that it will probably work that way, but it would be more of a home type situation. (44-year-old male)

Question: Those elders who know a lot, so they don’t want to tell of traditions? Answer: . . . These so-called Traditionalists that go out and tell the whole world of what tradition is all about are the main ones that are closing the doors to our Hopi kids. Question: Really? Answer: They’re ready to teach the White man anything they want, even the heavy religious things, but then they close the doors to our own kids, our people. All because of money. Question: Oh, you think they get money? Answer: That’s how they make their living. People sympathize with’m, so they give’m food, clothing, money. And every time they go on a trip, they probably raise money for their retirement. And then, build their homes. A societal gap also appears in the next interviewee’s comments about the teaching of traditions. He reminisces about his childhood and compares it to the present. This long answer has already been referred to in the context of

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living in two cultures (see above, Chapter Three, in “Middle-Aged People’s Views of Life in ‘Two Worlds’”): . . . And what my grandparents taught me was the songs that kachinas bring to you, when they sing to you, it tells a story. And it tends to tell the people, maybe a prophecy that might be coming, and things like that. So you tend to believe in those things. And if they talk about rain, and things like that, and if it does rain, usually it’s supposed to rain four days after the ceremony, and if it does, it makes a believer out of you. If the people were of one heart and one mind, participating in this ceremony, pulling all those energies together, would make this happen. But the kids don’t know that today. (58-year-old male)

The discussion continues: Question: Right. How is it that they don’t know? Answer: Because they are not taught. Question: But why are they not taught anymore? Answer: I have no idea. I don’t go to the kivas that often. And I continue to tell my brother, my little brother, he takes part. He’s not real little, he’s 48 years old, I am over fifty years old. But he takes part in ceremonies all the time, the dances, and, I continue to tell him: ‘When I go to the kiva, why are they not teaching these kids, you know, the Hopi language, and letting them know what these songs mean.’ And I tell him: ‘To me, they’re just going in there like it’s Halloween. To put on a mask, and take part, and when it’s over, it’s over.’ Nothing is taught to them no more. That’s the reality throughout the Reservation. Another interviewee agreed that it was preferable to relate old teachings to outsiders. Hopi prophecies, for example, are related to non-Indians


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and exchanged for money. And non-Indians are adopted into the Hopi community. A 58-year-old male continues: That’s the thing. See, I know for a fact that that happened. Those elder Traditionalists, who came to me, the most traditional leaders, or people throughout the villages, they sold those things. . . . Telling the non-Indian the Hopi prophecies and making money on it. . . . They (Traditionalists) have adopted them (non-Indians) as sons and daughters, and that’s what they do when they come back over there. They initiate’m, not initiate’m, but baptize, wash their hair, give’m a name, and accept’m as their daughters, their sons. (Ibid.)

A societal gap, which appears in the comments of some interviewees when they speak about transferring cultural traditions, also seems to be related to another gap in Hopi communities. Who gets told about traditions, Hopis or non-Indians? One interviewee mentioned that outside interests pursue Hopis for a political agenda and that some elders are used to this. He reflected on who should be told religious knowledge: . . . these guys who call themselves Traditionalists seem to be picking the whole world. And yet, why can’t they do the same thing for us here. I sometimes feel like that. I feel bad, when someone comes in and listens to a Traditionalist out there and knows more than me. Because these guys are teaching them how to make prayer feathers, prayer feathers that I know nothing about. Non-Hopis know how to make that and these guys know more than I do. . . . (male in his forties)

Some other interviewees also lamented that these persons who called themselves Traditionalists and yet related traditions to non-Hopis, were not allowed to teach traditions to anybody because they themselves were not initiated. One of the interviewees held strong views: A person who calls himself a Traditionalist is not Hopi. And the whole social life of Hopi is based on initiation. (47-year-old female)

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What often emerged was a kind of fear of disrespect among the interviewees regarding the difficulties of the older generation to pass on cultural traditions to younger generations. It may also be easier for the elders to recount the traditions to non-Indians who show interest. . . . That’s why you see a lot of things being printed in the books. Old people are doing that just because the response they get back from the younger people [is], ‘That was back then.’ (56-year-old male) . . . some of them (elders) did not want to pass that information on to the younger people because they felt that they [the elders] were not respected, and they [the youth] would not practice it. . . . (45-year-old male)

One interviewee told about difficulties to get elders to come to schools to share any Hopi cultural issues because the elders were insecure about their role: . . . You try to get people to come into schools, elders to come into schools to talk to the children. They are hesitant. Because, too, they don’t really realize that they still have an important part in the family. (52-year-old female)

A group of students in the Hopi High School with whom the role of grandparents as storytellers was discussed endorsed a certain generation gap. When asked if their grandparents told them stories and Hopi ways in the Hopi language, they answered: A female student: They used to, when we were smaller. Question: But not anymore? Answer from all: No.


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Answer from a male student: Not unless you ask’m. And there’s only a certain time when you can tell stories, though. The male student’s comment also refers to cultural knowledge and norms. Some interviewees emphasized information and communication technology or interpersonal communication as a means for transmitting cultural traditions. They represented possibility views. When people mentioned communication technologies in such a role, they referred, for example, to video or audio tapes: . . . I put on a kachina tape, listen to that. That’s what I do in the house, listen to kachina songs and be creative and take advantage of technology. I think we could very well produce our own cartoons by using Hopi folk tales. And folk tales have a lot of Hopi humor. And, admittedly, in some cases, there are some depictions of some forms of violence, like the elders coming to the village and the folk tale way capturing kids and eating them. (male in his forties)

The same interviewee also mentioned film production as an opportunity: . . . We could do our own film production out there, have it in Hopi. We need not be scared of technology, rather we should take advantage of it. (Ibid.)

Some interviewees mentioned the use of videos and audio tapes at school as a tool for transferring cultural traditions: I found that video taping, a video tape is a good way of transmitting some of that, if you don’t have on hand to show’m. . . . If not a video tape, just audio—listening to how the students have gone about developing something, using the audio, and then putting it into a visual type of thing. And storytelling. What we have up at our school, at Hotevilla school, Hotevilla-Bacavi school, we have done several books, two books in the Hopi language and the English language. And when you show that, when you read that to the

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Media and Ethnic Identity students and then show it on video, they can connect with the storyteller more. (female in her forties)

The meaning of interpersonal communication, and the key responsibility of the family in transferring cultural issues, came up in many interviews: Well, we know it’s (transmitting Hopi culture) hard. We know it’s very difficult, especially if you don’t start very early in the child’s life, to give them that kind of influence. And, I am starting early with my youngest son. I am a step-father also. And, I am starting very early with them too, to pass on my influence, and my values, the importance of being a Hopi person, being part of this Hopi community. And, letting them know that there are gonna be some times that are gonna be hard for them. Because, even though they’re young, and I think that they can understand. They can understand those kind of things. And so, the way to best influence our children is to begin to talk with them, communicate with them, at an early age, without getting after them. Explaining to them why there are reasons why we do the things that we do. (55-year-old male) So, yeah, the people first, I think, are the best communicators of anything that’s important. (Ibid.)

In the heart of communication lies the Hopi language, the song of deities, the “way out,” the way to “a better way of life:” I think that (the Hopi language in transferring Hopi culture) would prolong it. I think that would prolong it, because they know without language, and if they hear the songs that are sung by the deities, hopefully they’ll put those two together, and put in their minds, ‘hey, this is really something.’ That’s what they call, ‘way out.’ Really way out. I never thought of this before. And, hopefully, that will just help them pursue a better way of life. (58-year-old male)


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A proof of the power of the “way out” are Hopi dances which are still practiced in some Hopi villages in accordance with the lunar cycles. Sometimes they have been slightly modified because of changed times and changed culture: instead of weekdays, they now take place on weekends. One interviewee mentioned that the older people found it difficult to tell the younger generation about traditions. When I repeated his words “earlier everything had its place and time in your culture,” he insisted that Hopis still have the time and place for everything, although in changed circumstances. This refers to the Hopis’ continuity and ability to preserve their traditions by changing what is needed to preserve them. Such a conception is also an example of possibility views. Here the idea of compartmentalization (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86. See also above, Chapter Three, under “Middle-Aged People’s Views of Life in ‘Two Worlds’”) helps preserve traditions and manage the dominant culture: It still is. We still have that time and that place for everything. Our activities are based on cycles, the lunar cycles: the sun, the moon, the stars. We do everything by that. We don’t go by the calendar, like the dances. Dances never used to be on a week-end, it could be any time during the week. But again, it’s because of the time and the culture we’re in, everything is geared toward the weekend. And, then also because we have to survive, because again, money, money, money. (56-year-old male)

THROUGH CULTURAL EXPERIENCE As many examples of Hopi views prove, the cultural experience by which Gail Valaskakis (1988: 268, see above) explains Native American traditional practices is a significant approach to the transmission of cultural tradition. It is also important to remember that traditions, “patterns of beliefs, customs, values, behavior and knowledge or expertise which are passed on from generation to generation by the socialization process within a given population” (SeymourSmith, 1986: 279-280, see above) focus on the past, but not only on the past. It is through the socialization process—another focus of the definition—and through the cultural experiences in it, as Valaskakis emphasizes, that Native American traditions and traditionalism really situate in the present, or “the social field of current practice” (1988: 268). Examples of cultural experiences, based on current practices, can be found in all three categories of views. In fear of lost identity views, a 51year-old male detailed some of the problems involved in learning dance songs: “ . . . they’re singing something they don’t understand. . . . it’s

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a bit irritating that they don’t understand what they’re singing. . . . the villagers sit there and record the songs, you know, just for their personal enjoyment or whatnot . . . ” A holder of societal gap views (44-year-old male) explained why the elders in Hopi communities did not teach Hopi children: “ . . . they’re (older Hopis) scared that they might be branded as a harm, you know, and other people are gonna make fun of them. . . .” This is repeated by a 56-yearold male: “ . . . Old people are doing that just because the response they get back from the younger people, ‘that was back then.’ . . .” His cultural experience is also described by a 58-year-old male interviewee: “When I go to the kiva, why are they not teaching these kids . . . ?” Also, cultural experience and practice are raised in possibility views, when the respondent emphasizes the responsibility of the family in transferring cultural issues: “ . . . I am starting very early with them (children) too, to pass on my influence and my values, the importance of being a Hopi person, being part of his Hopi community. And letting them know that there are gonna be also some times that are gonna be hard for them. . . .” Many examples in the interviewees’ statements also refer to Valaskakis’s (1988: 268) concept of Native American traditionalism as heritage “reenacted daily in the ambiguous play of identity and power.” When a holder of fear of lost identity views mentions that “ . . . I always felt eventually they’re gonna be dancing to those tapes. . . . that’s the major thing that’s gonna be like the downfall for the continuation of the song and dance thing,” he is in fact discussing the issue of authenticity. The conception of authenticity refers to issues of cultural identity and power, for the norms of authenticity are connected to who has the power to define the norms. An interesting discussion of authenticity and power is provided by Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2001: 73-74). She examines the term from the perspective of the colonized world, First World academics, and the West. According to her, in the colonized world the term “authentic” was used “as a form of articulating what it meant to be dehumanized by colonization” and “for reorganizing national consciousness in the struggles for decolonization.” Among many other things, it appeals “to an idealized past, when there was no colonizer” and “to our authentic selves as a people” (73). Meanwhile, the West uses the term “authentic” as one criterion to determine “who really is indigenous, who is worth saving, who is still innocent and free from Western contamination.” Such a view endorses, says Smith, “a belief that indigenous cultures cannot change, cannot recreate themselves and still claim to be indigenous” (74). Authenticity also appears in an interviewee’s comment which belongs to societal gap views. A 58-year-old male respondent describes his current experience of kiva practice: “ . . . To me, they’re just going in there like


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it’s Halloween. To put on a mask, and take part, and when it’s over, it’s over. Nothing is taught to them no more . . . ” Practicing traditions demands that the past is continually filtered through the changing needs of the present (see above, Peterson, 1994: 183). Changing needs always contain seeds of change. In Hopi traditions discussed in this text, the seeds of change, as well as the actual changes, are present in the very practicing of the ceremonies, in people’s views of social relationships and in the frames in which traditions are practiced. In the ceremonies, new songs are added, for example, to each type of kachina dance (see above, Susanne and Jake Page, 1994: 75). Some of the old ceremonies are also dying out, and are no longer practiced in all villages (see above, ibid.: 78). According to the Hopi interviewees, societal gap views in particular, or social relationships between generations and different groups of people, do not always encourage the transfer of oral traditions such as teachings and storytelling. Also, the frames of ceremonies have changed, with ceremonies being held for the most part on weekends, because during the weekdays most people earn wages (Loftin, 1991: 88). This was also mentioned by another interviewee (see above, 56-year-old male). The role of the media is and will be important in the transmission of traditions, such as Hopi teaching and storytelling, and in the practice of ceremonies. As the different categories of views above have shown, the media at present is, however, seen as ambiguous in Hopi communities. In expressing fear of lost identity views, a 51-year-old male interviewee sees the media as one of the causes behind their lost language: “ . . . because of TV and all these modern things, nobody knows how to speak Hopi. . . .” Parts of his statement also make it obvious that modern media is not wanted in the area of religious ceremony. He refers to the issue of authenticity (see above) when stating: “ . . . I always felt, eventually, they’re gonna be dancing to those tapes, which to me, it’s gonna be something very strange. . . . that’s the major thing that’s gonna be like the downfall for the continuation of the song and dance thing.” On the other hand, some representatives of possibility views expressed potential advantages of technology in the form of audio tapes or video tapes (male in his forties, female in her forties). It is very difficult to say what would explain the different views on the role of the media. In this special case, it might have something to do with the age of the interviewees. Younger interviewees have a more positive attitude towards media, but few respondents gave their views on the issue. In addition, people of the same age who are very pro media remain critical about the role of radio as a transmitter of traditions. Though it is difficult to explain the reasons for the different views on the role of media in the context of traditions, it is obvious that they connect

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to religious values. Those who do not feel comfortable with modern media technology as linked to ceremonial dancing may think this way because they do not believe that modern media technology can preserve traditional religious values. This, in turn, relates to compartmentalization (see above, Loftin, 1991: 84). A Hopi may be ready for cultural changes, if it is possible to preserve traditional religious values. While the media was seen as playing an ambiguous role in transmitting traditions, the role of interpersonal communication is not without problems, either. Those interviewees who expressed societal gap views were mainly concerned about a lack of communication on these issues between generations and different groups of Hopi communities. The reason for this gap appeared to be a kind of fear of disrespect for older people. People would rather not communicate than upset one another. Still, holders of societal gap views seemed to long for the bridging of these gaps. Some representatives of possibility views emphasized the meaning of interpersonal communication and, in particular, the responsibility of the family to transfer cultural issues. Even if it is the media or interpersonal communication or both through which traditions are transmitted, this is not the most important issue to Hopis. It is more important to understand the role of cultural experience in the transmission. It is an essential part of the socialization process. As such, cultural experience exists in the present, but also carries the past through the memories of earlier cultural experiences. Cultural experience is always an experience of identity. It entails both a sense of belonging and a sense of oneself. In the comments of many interviewees, cultural experience is expressed with reference to authenticity and to the role of the Hopi language and religious values. As a vibrant social process which must meet the changing needs of the present, cultural experience must become meaningful for the members of a community. It has to touch their feelings, reach them on an emotional level. To determine whether a cultural tradition becomes meaningful for members of a community, it has to take the ultimate test of moving into a future practice. A precondition is that a tradition is communicated in such a way that different groups find one another, age groups in particular. When this happens, the cultural experience of a tradition may find a “way out.” And among different cultural experiences in the context of tradition, a “way out” may be a significant cultural experience which brings people together and draws them back to the Hopi Reservation for ceremonies. It pulls people toward tribal traditions and ceremonial practices, and also attracts young people living outside the reservation to come to visit. Young


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Hopis say it is the family and ceremonies which draw them back to the reservation (See above, Chapter Three, in “Young People’s Views of Life in ‘Two Worlds’”). One “way out” experience is described by a 58-year-old male interviewee above. Something of this experience has also been described by Loris Minkler (1996: 33-34), who reminisces about her childhood experience of a ceremony on the village plaza: The first song was almost finished. I couldn’t wait to get my bowl of fruit. I stood up to get a closer look. The kachinas seemed larger, wavering gently in the heat wave. Their song grew louder and louder, filling the air until it reached all the way to the sun. Then right before my very eyes, each word of the song transformed into a soft light of wings. The words, like magical butterflies, touched the faces of little children and caressed the wrinkle of every grandma and grandpa. The words floated from one person to the next until everybody in the plaza was connected. It was like a one giant halo.

Hopis’ identity construction can be clearly seen in the discussions of the Hopi Radio Project and the issue of transmitting cultural traditions. As their views proved, the Hopi Radio Project has in itself served as a trial for the promotion of Hopi culture. These aims are explicitly expressed in Hopi culture and identity views. The views provide an explanation for the purpose of the new medium—to communicate Hopi culture. The new channel is a symbol for empowerment (empowerment symbol views), a new arena to access publicity in the Hopi mediascape (accessibility views), and a new dimension to practice media policy (sovereignty views). In addition, it is comprehended as a forum for the Hopi language (language per se views, language as a cultural empowerment views, language as an equality views), local information (local information views), and community building (community building views). At the core of communication of Hopi culture via the new medium are issues of how the Hopi language, including traditional storytelling and parts of Hopi music, is managed. These central issues of media and program policies are crucial in the sharing of Hopi culture and traditions within Hopi communities. They are also issues of interpersonal communication, of how well different societal and age groups communicate. This communication must grow into a meaningful cultural experience in order to continue to draw the Hopi people together again and again.

Chapter Six

Constructing Identity in a Mediated World

The importance of communication between generations comes through in this excerpt from the letters of support for the Hopi Radio Project: Many generations have been disciplined that to speak Hopi was not acceptable and shamed to do so. Many still carry this shame around to the point where we do not teach our children the Hopi Language. I feel the radio station can help our people feel proud of our language and to motivate our Hopi people to listen and learn language. Language is the basis of our Hopi life. (Letter in possession of author)

The emphasis of the letter writer is on the Hopi language as a crucial part of Hopi identity. Like any other indigenous or other group identity, Hopi identity includes different elements which act as tools for identity construction. To understand Hopis’ views about the media and their construction of identity in a mediated world, we need to understand two things: first, the elements that are important in Hopi views of their ethnic identity, and secondly, how the majority culture (its people and media) is related to these elements.

IDENTITY FACTORS The views related to Hopi identity and media are multivocal. The scope and extent of the views show, however, that some elements of ethnic identity construction are particularly important. These are such factors of ethnicity as values (see Isajiw 1991 (219-220), language, and territoriality 215

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(see De Vos 1982: 10-16). Another crucial element, basic to Hopi views, are traditions, which could be placed in the area of religion and aesthetic cultural patterns in the categorization of ethnic factors (see ibid.). Hopi values appear as an ideal to strive for while difficult to realize in everyday practices. Hopi language and territoriality, which appears mostly as a sense of place, are often present in views on identity and media-related issues. The Hopi language is a factor whose meaning is unquestionable as related to Hopi culture and identity. The significance of the meaning of language came up consistently in all Hopi interviews across the generations. However, the use of the language has been eroded in the younger generation. Speaking the Hopi language partly acts in identifications as an “external symbol” rather than as an actual cultural ability. This is typical for modern ethnic identifications (see Sollors 1986: 35 and Fitzgerald 1992: 116). It is, however, a potentially resourceful “identity tool,” which may be used consciously in the media to strengthen Hopi identity. One example is through Hopi radio. Territoriality expresses itself as a strong sense of place. It focuses on Hopiland, and proves to be another central factor contributing to identity construction. Attachment to the Hopi communities is affectively expressed by both younger and older generations. According to the Hopis, the great sense of place has the power to bind and call people back to the Reservation. People are also drawn back by family and ceremonies, which represent traditions. The importance of the attractors as traditions adds another important element of Hopi identity construction. All these elements are also bound to Hopi religion, which is outside the scope of this research. For many reasons, Hopi traditions, and ceremonial practices in particular, would seem to work as a powerful identity element. Most importantly perhaps, they serve as a forum for cultural experience which may be able to touch and grow meaningful for the members of the community. Through his or her own experience, a participant in a ceremony has the opportunity to live in a moment where the past—the stories—and the present meet. A cultural experience, remembered in the place where it was first experienced also has a strong impact on the participant, strengthening a sense of place. In addition, ceremonial practices provide a forum for using the Hopi language and practicing the Hopi religion. Hopi traditions are in fact a crossroads for different elements of ethnic identity, for past and present, cultural knowledge, ability, and experience. It is no wonder that Joane Nagel (1996: 190), for example, sees individual Indian ethnic renewal connected to ceremonial practices and, specifically, to activities associated with spirituality. Traditions such as ceremonial


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practices have thus far been examined through cultural experiences by individuals. In addition, they also serve communal experiences. Not all ceremonial practices are now practiced in each Hopi village, but where they are, they do form a firm communal bond. In addition to these elements of ethnic identity construction, there is one other, more recent, factor which should not be forgotten. That is the media, the group’s own media, and more precisely the planned Hopi radio which is seen as a potentially powerful identity tool. The Hopi radio is considered a carrier of Hopi culture, including language, oral culture, and local news. Some Hopis also see the planned Hopi radio as a medium for identity construction per se. Such views include empowerment symbol views, usually expressed by young Hopis, and most especially by young females, and sovereignty views, expressed by some middle-aged interviewees. Holders of empowerment views see the Hopi radio station as a symbol of cultural power, while holders of sovereignty views enjoyed the fact that Hopis themselves had the possibility to control their own media.

NEGOTIATION PROCESSES Following these central identity factors of Hopi identity as seen by the Hopis themselves, it is time to consider how Hopis view majority culture (its people and media) as related to these elements and Hopi identity. These issues are examined separately, focusing first on Hopis’ communication with people of the mainstream culture and later with particular reference to the media. Living in Hopi culture, as in any culture, does not occur in a vacuum. Other cultures are always present. My research is focused on the people and media representations of mainstream culture, and on the media which it has developed and which is now a part of the Hopis’ everyday life. Constructing and reconstructing ethnic identity is a continuous negotiation process produced by interpersonal intercultural communication and mediated intercultural communication. One can trace this process through Hopi views about themselves and their lives in two cultures, their communication with other people, media representations, television and the Internet, and Hopi plans for their own radio and other forms of transmitting their cultural traditions through media. When focusing on Hopi views about themselves and their lives in two worlds, the negotiation process appears in contradiction views, pressure views (pressure outside, pressure inside views), and feeling of otherness views. They all seem to revolve around describing different problems between cultures. Also, this negotiation process is not concluded. Such views are therefore labeled under ongoing problem centered negotiations.

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Often the expressers of these views—both of pressure views and feeling of otherness views—were young people. For them, the practicing of ethnic culture, like learning to speak the Hopi language, is a difficult experience, not least because of living in a world of many different demands. Nevertheless, they value preserving the Hopi language very highly. One young Hopi expressed this experience both as a pressure outside view and a pressure inside view. A young person may also feel otherness because of different interpersonal communication styles. In the words of a young Hopi female, the problem is “because we are quiet and mostly listen instead of talk.” One example of ongoing problem centered negotiations can also be seen in impossible to come back views, which some young Hopis had about of maybe coming back to the Hopi Reservation. One obstacle was the Reservation’s poor job market. Although the above views expressed a certain incomplete negotiation process, there were also views where negotiation between the two cultures was successfully completed. In these cases, the interviewee often presented her/his way of managing the two cultures, though s/he also described problems. The interviewee might also speak about how the managing of two cultures could solve a problematic issue or at least diminish its importance. These views represent successfully concluded negotiation. This does not mean, however, that negotiation between cultures would be over. Intercultural negotiations are an on-going process. Naming certain kinds of negotiations successfully concluded only means that views on certain issues have been considered while others remain. The best example of such views is the category of cope with strategy views. The interviewees described the handling of two cultures through adjustment, like “being in the middle,” “pick the good from the White man’s side,” “keep the good from the Hopi side,” or emphasized the importance of “your culture,” or being “well grounded,” or in other words, having ethnic consciousness. Successfully concluded negotiation often appeared in middle-aged interviewees’ responses. Negotiation between cultures happens in everyday practices and sounds very natural. Balancing between cultures is not easy, and it is especially difficult in issues such as earning one’s living. This is obvious in the words of a 34-year-old female interviewee: “Being able to make your pottery, and live off that, that’s kind of a luxury for me. . . .” Successfully concluded negotiation was also expressed in unproblematic ethnicity views. In addition, beyond ethnicity views can be regarded as successfully concluded negotiation. A professional and artist can feel free from her/his own ethnic culture or story and do art for art’s sake. Professionalism grows above the issue of two cultures (mainstream and minority culture).


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In addition to ongoing problem centered and successfully concluded negotiation, one could find (in this context) ongoing aim centered negotiation, which includes responsibility views. The holder of these views described the different responsibilities which a person should take to maintain Hopi culture. Ongoing aim centered negotiations also include duty to come back views and pleasure to come back views. These views were expressed by some young Hopis, when they speculated about returning to the Hopi Reservation. The negotiation process in communication with people of the mainstream culture is an example of ongoing problem centered negotiation. A visitor was often seen as an intruder who arrived in Hopiland for different reasons, but always to benefit from Hopis. These kinds of experiences were common in feeling of objectification views. The intruder also created divisive categories, setting Hopis apart as “traditionals” or “progressives,” which are commonly used divisions by non-Native scholars. Not all visitors to Hopiland were regarded as intruders, however. The interviews made it clear that the visitors could also hold positive and negative interests in Hopis. A positive interest is to learn more, whereas a negative interest appears in trying to know too much, in intruding and not respecting people’s privacy, religious privacy in particular. As the discussion above has proved, identity factors which are central to Hopi views on their identity are also central in intercultural negotiations. Possibilities and difficulties to uphold Hopi values, traditions and language were considered in different negotiations. Territoriality, which appears as a sense of place, is expressed as an affinity for Hopiland—the “home.” Another focal identity factor, Hopis’ own media, and in this case the planned Hopi radio station, will be examined below in the context of the media’s role in identity construction. Communication with people of the mainstream culture is evaluated on the basis of its supportiveness in identity construction.

MEDIA’S ROLE IN IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION To understand Hopi views on media, we should understand how the media was experienced in Hopi identity construction. Did it advance or disturb the construction of their identity? As in communication with people of mainstream culture, identity construction is approached as a negotiation process between mainstream and indigenous culture. Negotiation processes between cultures in media-related issues are here examined in three areas: media representations, media’s presence in everyday life, and own media. We must therefore ask how Hopis see mainstream media representations

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and the media’s presence in advancing or disturbing identity construction. How is the role of having one’s own media perceived in this construction? Generally, according to Hopi views, it is obvious that mainstream media may disturb Hopi identity construction by directing attention away from Hopi values, language, and Hopiland. It also works as a temptation for Hopis to go with the flow of the mainstream, to stay in the comfort of the living room instead of venturing out to practice Hopi traditions. This pattern was a particular concern in the Hopi males’ television relationship. On the other hand, this same media also provides windows to the world and technology to advancing and reconstructing Hopi culture. Because of such ambivalent views regarding the representations and presence of the media (focusing on television’s presence in everyday life) and about the Internet, media may in the end be a “two-edged sword.” This is a term used by David Maybury-Lewis (1998: 3, see also Chapter Four) in analyzing the Internet’s impacts in indigenous communities. In seeing the role of mainstream media as ambiguous, Hopis believed that the management of their own media would give them influence over media policy and its role in identity construction. Conclusions on negotiations in three areas of media issues follow.

REPRESENTATIONS The mainstream media’s representations provide material for an ethnic minority’s construction of identity. In the negotiations with mainstream media representations, Hopis as well as other Native Americans and ethnic minorities have not usually had much to say. Insufficient representations views are an example of ongoing problem centered negotiation. On the other hand, interviewees also indicated some successfully concluded negotiation in expressing possibility views and cope with strategy views. Insufficient representation views indicate that mainstream media representations are considered to provide very thin and rather disturbing material for identity construction. Poor coverage and negative stereotypes slow down rather than clear up identity construction. Biased representations also refer to seeing Hopi culture through a tourist’s eyes. This may also cause inconvenience, because such representations focus on ceremonies which belong to the sensitive religious area, considered non-public in Native Americans’ lives (see Chapter Two, “Different View of Publicity”). Another example of ongoing problem centered negotiations are need for privacy views, expressed in the context of some traditions and ceremonies, and aimed at defending Hopi culture against mainstream culture. In


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these views, media has a time and place closely regulated by Hopis in the context of ceremonies. Hopis may view media representations in positive terms (as possibility views) if the image of the savage has been laid to rest. This has been the case with some films in the 1990s. When media representations were seen as positive, it required that media professionals respectfully recognized Native Americans. In addition, Hopis felt that representations of Native Americans and Hopis could be more accurate, if there were more Native American journalists and broadcasters in the media business. This would bring to the fore more diverse knowledge about different Native American cultures. More reporting on positive issues and “progress” would also improve media representations. Contact with journalists and broadcasters was considered to add understanding, which would then hopefully lead to more diverse reporting. Good contacts with media professionals of the mainstream culture could also result in an appreciation of sensitivity, especially in the area of publicity. In the category of successfully concluded negotiations, one can also consider cope with strategy views. In these views, mainstream culture with its modern technology can be used for sustaining Hopi ancient lifeways. This kind of view is also an example of “compartmentalization” (see Loftin, 1991: 84-86, and see also Chapter Four).

PRESENCE An important medium which has been a part of Hopi everyday life since the 1960s is television. When examining the presence of television on the community level, the recollections and evaluations of communities before television and now generally revealed what could be called a lost negotiation. This refers to modern changes in which Hopi culture loses out to new practices brought in by mainstream culture. These views are changed living space preference views, confused space views, and confused rhythm views. Even if some interviewees connected TV as a medium to social competence and economic well-being at the time of its introduction, it was the category of lost negotiation which prevailed. In addition to a lost negotiation in this context, one could also find an ongoing problem centered negotiation, which appeared in captured time views. Negotiation can be understood as not concluded in this category because television appears as a continuous attractor, a “magnet” and “focus.” According to such views, television has changed everyday practices, which have come to reflect mainstream practices. It has thus altered the traditional Hopi way of life, and in turn Hopi culture.

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As an opposite to lost and ongoing problem centered negotiations on the community level, negotiations concerning television’s role, place, and meaning on the personal level were mostly successfully concluded negotiations. Examples are unproblematic relationship views, celebrating one’s own control views, earned viewing views, enjoying views, contact with the world views, and limited contacts with the world views. Diminishing the relationship views and minimizing the meaning views also belong to these negotiations. Exceptions to successfully concluded negotiations are views of feeling guilty, need for local views and conflicting contact with the world views which represent ongoing problem centered negotiations. When approaching television in the context of Hopi culture, it is good to remember that it has been a part of Hopi life for many decades. We could therefore argue whether or not it is acceptable to approach television and Hopis on a personal level as an issue of intercultural communication (see more Chapter Four, under “Hopi Views on Mainstream Media”). In the framework of this study, it has been seen as an appropriate issue, but another study would be needed for the specific discussion of the question. In evaluating the arrival of new information and communication technology—Internet in particular—to the Hopi Reservation, the negotiation process appears mostly successfully concluded. Successfully concluded negotiation includes possibility views, unproblematic issue views, and also critical acceptance views, though negative impacts on the “culture and tradition” also came out in this context. The fourth group of views presented about Internet, pressure outside views, can be identified as ongoing problem centered negotiation.

HAVING ONE’S OWN MEDIA The focus here is the Hopi Radio Project, which has been a powerful identity tool for promoting Hopi culture and improving media infrastructure on the Hopi Reservation. As interviews have proven, the benefits for the Hopi community have been unanimously emphasized. Benefits were expressed in views which could all be included as ongoing aim centered negotiations, because they often brought out clear aims or at least suggestions for constructing Hopi identity. These goals and suggestions were expressed in local information, community building, accessibility, sovereignty, and empowerment symbol views and in all language views (language per se, language as a cultural empowerment and language as an equality). Another example of ongoing aim centered negotiations were also Hopi culture and identity views in the context of program guidelines.


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In program guidelines, there appeared two other groups of views which are important not only for identity construction, but also for improving intercultural communication. Local information views mentioned both “the latest tribal news” and “village concerns.” Representatives of different cultures meet in Hopi villages. Music views for program guidelines include the coexistence of non-Native and Native music, and thus provide an example of successfully concluded negotiations. For intercultural communication, complex negotiations are found in one special area of Hopi culture. They deal with oral culture as a basis for radio, and included the use of one special part of oral culture, traditional storytelling, and the use of the Hopi language in general. As regards oral culture as a basis for radio, the negotiations proved to be both successfully concluded (continuum views and self-regulated coexistence views) and ongoing problem centered (contradiction views and fear of lost identity views). Of these, self-regulated coexistence views, contradiction views, and fear of lost identity views had a common denominator called problem centered views. They referred to issues identified as problems, contradictions, and fears. Where an interviewee also suggested some solution to problems, s/he articulated self-regulated coexistence views, which represent a successfully concluded negotiation. Meanwhile, when the interviews expressed contradiction views and fear of lost identity views, the focus was on describing and thinking over problems, contradictions, and fears. The interviewee’s negotiation can therefore be understood as ongoing problem centered negotiation. In the context of storytelling, the negotiations were also successfully concluded (regulated coexistence views) and ongoing problem centered (contradiction views). The issue of using the Hopi language generally in radio programs proved to be successfully concluded negotiation and appeared as regulated coexistence views. This means that the use of the Hopi language is possible when certain traditional cultural rules are taken into account. Negotiations between cultures in the media context also occurred in the discussion of transmitting cultural traditions, such as storytelling and ceremonies. This applied most particularly to dances. Similar to the radio context, negotiations were both successfully concluded (possibility views) and ongoing problem centered (fear of lost identity views). In the transmission of cultural traditions, one could also find an additional ongoing problem centered negotiation, which appeared as societal gap views. Negotiations did not occur between cultures, but between generations and different groups in Hopi communities.

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CULTURAL COEXISTENCE As the analysis of Hopi views has revealed, they can all be located in the frame of four different intercultural negotiations. These are successfully concluded, ongoing problem centered, ongoing aim centered, and lost. Of the different stages in the process of negotiating, the most challenging in this context are successfully concluded and ongoing problem centered negotiations. These are the predominant intercultural negotiations. While a successfully concluded negotiation reflects integration and management of intercultural communication (interpersonal and mediated), an ongoing problem centered negotiation refers to differences between cultures, and more precisely to specifying problems in intercultural communication and the management of both cultures. Both successfully concluded and ongoing problem centered negotiations relate to the phenomenon of “compartmentalization” (see Loftin, 1991: 85-86, see also Chapter Three). In a successfully concluded negotiation, “compartmentalization” appears as Hopis’ ability to handle “two worlds.” An ongoing problem centered negotiation indicates problems in the “compartmentalization” process. When a person thinks that s/he is able to manage “two worlds,” or they may be combined, we can follow Chris Barker (1999: 70-71), who maintains that “two separate cultural traditions are juxtaposed” and we may “move between them as situationally appropriate.” However, this does not mean that the traditions have remained unchanged. As Hopi ceremonial practices have shown, changes have been caused by mainstream practices. Ceremonies are now mostly held on weekends, because during the week most people earn wages (Loftin, 1991: 88, see also above Chapter Five, under the heading “Through Cultural Experience”). When there are problems in the “compartmentalization” process, or when a person expresses views of ongoing problem centered negotiation, s/he focuses on describing and analyzing the two different cultural traditions but lets the process continue unresolved. In an ongoing problem centered negotiation, the difference emerges in identity-related views and in media-related views. For identity-related views, the difference appears in contradiction views, pressure views, feeling of otherness views, and impossible to come back views. In communicating with people of the mainstream, the difference appears as feeling of objectification views. In media-related issues, the problems are present in media representations in insufficient representations views and in need for privacy views. In the presence of media—in this case television—intercultural differences and problems appear in captured time views, feeling guilty views, need for local


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views, and conflicting contact with the world views. The differences are apparent also in views which identify new information and communication technology, the Internet in particular, as pressure outside. Problems emerged, too, when Hopis considered various Hopi cultural issues related to the radio. The ownership of a radio station helps to reconstruct Hopi culture, but despite the many options available, contradiction views and fear of lost identity views were also present in the discussions. Fear of lost identity views considered the issue of transmitting cultural traditions, because the holders of such views believed that some parts of Hopi culture were already lost. Thus, the differences and problems between cultures which are present in ongoing problem centered negotiation indicate a major challenge to Hopis in interpersonal and mediated intercultural communication. In addition to negotiations between cultures, Hopi communities will continue to negotiate between different generations and societal groups. They are ongoing problem centered negotiations, expressed in societal gap views. On the basis of the Hopi interviews, the negotiations focus primarily on two concerns. One refers to using the Hopi language in radio programs, which challenges the generations to work together. The second issue requires that generations and different groups bridge societal gaps in the communication of Hopi traditions. How the challenges are met remains to be seen. Challenges in negotiations between cultures call for the representatives of majority culture to become more attuned to cultural sensitivity and gain a deeper understanding of an ethnic minority and indigenous culture. Representatives of a minority culture are in turn challenged to encourage communication both within their own community and between cultures. As the founding of the Hopi radio KUYI has already shown, radio has been constructed not only as a powerful preserving and reconstruction project for Hopi culture, but also for improving “an understanding and appreciation of indigenous cultures” (see KUYI Policies, 2001, p. 1). The meaning of intercultural communication is beautifully put by former Hopi Chairman Vernon Mesayesva in his speech “Native Peoples and the University Community,” delivered at Northern Arizona University on January 23, 1991 (Whiteley, 1993: 149). He said: “The key to our survival as Indian people is not just preserving our cultural ways, but in devising ways to effectively interact with the dominant society and with other cultures we coexist with.” Cultural coexistence is not easy. There are differences in all communities. This was clearly observed by the 49-year-old male interviewee above: “ . . . every village (Hopi) is unique, they think differently, they

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act differently, their habits are different. . . . Even their body language is different.” But while there is disagreement, dissonance, and differences in Hopi communities, as elsewhere, Hopis have proved that they can overcome the differences and keep their people together. Celebrating culture and cultural coexistence everywhere is inherent in Hopi teachings. In the words of Associate Director of the Hopi Foundation Loris Minkler (1993): We must all work to make the teaching come true: let there be life, let it be a good life, let it be forever.

Notes

NOTES TO CHAPTER ONE 1. I primarily use the terms “Native American” and “American Indian.” The term American Indian is used by many specialists on Native Americans, such as Peter Iverson (1998), Philip J. Deloria (1998), Joane Nagel (1996), Margaret Connell Szasz (1994), and John Wunder (1994). I have also heard Native Americans calling themselves “Indians.” This term can be found in contemporary academic literature. As Joane Nagel (1996: xi) describes the practice, ethnic terminology is a complex and sensitive matter, and “the terms ‘Indian,’ ‘American Indian,’ and ‘Native American’ are all widely used by both Indian and non-Indian scholars.” There are also some less common terms used in this context. In practice, the use of different concepts has been varied. According to Joane Nagel (1996: xi), “Some scholars, activists, leaders, and commentators have preferences for one term or another that vary in intensity and over time, while others do not.” In Canada, the term “First Nations” is often used (Iverson, 1998: 4). Another term found in Canada is “indigenous.” This term is used internationally, as well, when referring to indigenous people of the world (see, for example, Valerie Alia, 1999: xiv). Valerie Alia (ibid.) also uses the concept “Aboriginal,” but in the North American context, she notes that many people outside Canada find the term objectionable or prefer other terms. Besides Native Americans and American Indians, also used is the term “Native” or “Native people” in this context. As Peter Iverson (1998: 5) recommends, “Native” is spelled with a capital “N” to distinguish it from “native American,” an identity shared by many citizens of the United States. In this work, the terms used are “Native American,” “Native,” “Native people,” “American Indian” as well as “indigenous.”

227

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Notes to Chapter Four

NOTES TO CHAPTER TWO 1. Some of the issues covered in this chapter are also discussed in my essay (2007) “Media as Constructor of Ethnic Minority Identity: A Native American Case Study.” In Linda K. Fuller (ed.), Community Media: International Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2. Like Clint C. Wilson II and Félix Gutiérrez (1995), I have capitalized words such as “white” and “black.” By doing so I wish to emphasize that they are labels. I have, however, tried to keep the non-capitalized forms, if this is what my sources have done (see Karttunen, 1994: xiv).

NOTES TO CHAPTER THREE 1. The brief account of the history of Hopi contacts is based on the Home Pages of the Hopi Tribe, http://www.hopi.nsn.us/Pages/History/history. htm, retrieved in August 2002. 2. http://www.hopi.nsn.us/Pages/History/history.htm, retrieved in August 2002.

NOTES TO CHAPTER FOUR 1. Non-Native anthropologists generally refer to phratries as aggregations of related Hopi clans (see Whiteley, 1988: 53). According to Whiteley (1988: 55) phratries are not only units of an abstract, social structure, but also intrinsic to the Hopi conceptualization of a world in which nature and culture are tightly interwoven.

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Index

A Abercrombie, Nicholas 105 Aboriginal, discussion of term 227n1 (chap.1) Adams, John 17 AIHEC Distance Learning Network 28 AIHEC Telecommunications Project 28 AIROS 27–28, 103, 162 Alaska 12, 28 indigenous broadcasting 27, 28, 35, 162 satellite technology 41 telecommunications planning in 29 Alia, Valerie 18, 35–36, 227n1 (chap. 1) American Indian, discussion of term 227n1 (chap. 1) American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) 28 American Indian Movement 37 American Indian Press Association 24 American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) 27–28, 103, 162 American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts 25 American Indian Theatre Ensemble 24 American Society of Newspaper Editors ASNE 21 Anasazi 2, 83–84 Anchorage 28, 162 Antelope Mesa 163 Appadurai, Arjun 101 Arapahoes 19 Arizona xi, 1, 27, 31, 103 105, 107 state of 46 Arizona Daily Sun 102 Arizona Republic 31, 102 Arthur, Chester 46

Australia 102 Authenticity 121, 210–212

B Bacavi 6, 162, 163, 207 Barker, Chris 224 Barth, Fredrik 11 Bell, Jim 42 Berry, J.W. 26 Berryhill, Peggy 25, 31 Bieber-Roberts, Peggy 19–20, 109 Bird, Elisabeth 17 Boarding schools 41, 68, 123 Braine, Susan 162 Brown, Mary 19–20, 109 Browne, Donald R. 26, 31, 33, 194 Bull, Simone 18 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 28, 207

C California 12, 68, 124, 131, 161 Campbell, Christopher P. 18–19, 21 Canada 18, 27, 28, 38, 40, 42, 227n1 (chap.1) Carey, James W. 41 Carroll, Gail Julia 145, 199, 200 Categories of views, term 7–8 Ceremonial cycle 2 Cherokee Phoenix 27 Chicago 187, 193 Chimoni, Duane 32 Clan 12, 79, 145, 163, 203 and responsibilities 53 and story 84 Clemmer, Richard O. 155 Coldevin, Gary O. 39–40

237

238 Coleman, Cynthia-Lou 97 Commissioner of Indian Affairs 3 Commission of Radio and Television Policy 22 Community radio 27, 162 “Compartmentalization” 73 and cope with strategy views 98, 123 and intercultural negotiations 224 and media 202, 212 and preserve traditions 209 and technology 113, 221 Congress, U.S. 29–30 Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) 28 Costner, Kevin 121 Cottle, Simon 9 Crees 39 Cultural change 27, 131, 147 readiness for 202, 212 and television 157–158 Cultural coexistence 224–226 Cultural contacts 2 Cultural and intellectual property rights 30 Cultural past 13 Cultural reconstruction programs 13 Cultural Survival Quarterly 9, 155 Cultural traditions 13, 34–36 Hopis’ views on 47, 113, 224 Hopis’ views on transmission of 200– 209, 217, 223 and Native media 25, 32, 34 and radio 193, 225 and television 40, 46 tradition as a concept 196–197 transmission of 4, 7, 36, 196–213 Cyberspace 29, 42

D Daley, Patrick J. 35, 41 Dalton, Doran 163 “Dances with Wolves” 110, 121 David, Neil 162 De Vos, George 10, 13–14, 195 Deloria, Philip J. 227n1 (chap. 1) “Discovery” 136 Dooplej, Barbara 38 Downing, John D.H. 22 Duran, Bonnie 20–21 Duran, Eduardo 20–21

E Eagle Eye 102, 103

Index Earth 52, 88, 200 caretakers of 122, 123 England 80, 145 Epstein, A. 10 Eriksen, Thomas Hylland 9, 10 Eskimos 39 Ethnic identification 87 levels of 12 modern 12, 63, 83, 96–97, 216 Ethnic identity 9–14 Ethnic identity construction factors of ethnicity 215–219 media’s role 99, 101, 159–213, 219–223 mainstream media representations 158, 220–221 media’s presence 221–222 having one’s own media 213, 222– 223 Ethnicity 9–14 Ethnic minority community 21, 37, 195 Ethnic minority media 9, 10, 15, 21, 22 goals and functions 25–26, 32, 37 and survival of minority languages 33 Europeans 45, 98 Everyday life, see also Television ceremony as a part of 200 and communication 154 and contradictions 49 and information and images 4, 107 and living in “two worlds” 82 and meaning of Hopi language 58 and media 99, 217, 219–220 portrayals 116 radio 38 television 7, 38, 106, 107, 123–125, 131–133, 221–222 and terms “traditionals” and “progressives” 95 and traditionalism 196

F FCC (Federal Communications Commission) 34, 162, 163 Fenton, Steve 9, 10 Finland xi, 6, 90, 125 First Amendment 36, 37 First Nations, discussion of term 227n1 (chap. 1) Fitzgerald, Thomas F. 3, 12 Flagstaff 79, 102, 105, 107, 119, 140 and Internet contacts 107, 148 living in 77

Index radio stations based in 103, 104, 160, 164, 183 France 77 Freedom of speech 30, 36, 37 Fuller, Kevin 19–20, 109 Fuller, Linda K. 228n1 (chap. 2)

G Gallup Independent 102, 103, 116 Geiogamah, Hanay 23–24 Generation gap 206, 212 and Hopi Radio Project 190, 192, 193 and transferring cultural traditions 36, 225 Gender and television 106, 143–146, 157 and Hopi Radio Project 181, 183, 194 and representations of American Indians 17 Germany 111, 120 Glassner, Barry 5 Globalization xii, xiii, 15, 154 global and local 139, 146, 196 Gordon, Gerry 160, 161 Granzberg, Gary 39–40 Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty of 45 Gutiérrez, Félix 16–17, 22, 228n2 (chap. 2)

H Hall, Stuart 11, 96, 98, 118–119 Hamer, John 39–40 Heard Museum 149 Hisatsinom 1–2 Hobsbawm, Eric 197 Holland 90 Hopalong Cassidy 125 Hopi Foundation 159, 160–163, 164, 226 Hopi Jr./Sr. High School 4, 107, 144 Hopìikva Lavaytutuveni: A Hopi-English Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect 8 Hopi mediascape 6, 101–107, 148, 213, see also Mediascape Hopi Mesas xi, 6, 92, 147 First 93, 102, 103, 107, 163 Second 1, 93, 102, 162 Third 1, 8, 93, 102 and Bacavi Community Center 162, 163 and Hotevilla 90, 94, 162 and Old Oraibi 82, 153, 164 Hopi Radio Project 69, 103, 187–189, 222 benefits of a Hopi-owned radio station 165–174

239 communication between generations 215 cultural issues and radio 184–187 guidelines for programs 174–184 media policy 213, 220 plan for a Hopi radio station 159–184 storytelling and radio 187–189 trial for promoting Hopi culture 195, 213 use of Hopi language 189–192 “Hopi Run across Hopi for Cancer” 119 Hopi wellness program “100 Mile Club” 119 Hopi traditions 92, 94, 193, 201, 202, 211, 220 Hopi Tribe xii, 1–2, 228n1 (chap. 3) Tribal Council 46, 126 Tribal Government 46, 102 Hopi Tutuveni 3, 64, 91, 102 local issues 103, 107 and KUYI 162 Hotevilla 6, 68, 87, 90, 94, 163 base of KUYI 162 post office 102 school 207 Hrynyshyn, James 42 Human being 9 and disturbed relationship with “father sun” 133, 143 prayer for every 52 present-day 154 Husband, Charles 22

I In-depth interviews xiii, 5–6, 69 Indian Country News Bureau 164 Indian Country Today 102, 114 Indian, discussion of term 227n1 (chap. 1) Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, 46 Indigenous Communications Association 28 Indigenous, discussion of term 227n1 (chap. 1) Indigenous groups 9, 26, 42, 156 in the context of ethnicity 9–14 Indigenous media 9, 26, 33, 108 Intercultural communication 4 and constructing ethnic identity 217, 223 and experiences with the Internet 158 and experiences with television 157–158 frame for examining the research data 7 interpersonal 3, 15 management of 224 meaning of 225

240 media-mediated = mediated 4, 15 improving 17, 223 problems 32–37 and oral culture 223 problems of 224–225 television as an issue of 222 Intercultural co-operation 5 Intercultural negotiations 218–219, 224 Internet impacts in indigenous communities 42–43, 156, 158, 220 Hopi views about 148–156, 158, 222 Inuits 43, 157 Isajiw, Wsevolod W. 14 Iverson, Peter 227n1 (chap. 1)

J James, Beverly 35, 41 James, Harry 147 Japan 102 Jenkins, Leigh xii Johns, David xi Johns, Gloria xi Joseyesva, Ross 162 Journalistic practices 21

K Kabotie, Michael (Lomawywesa) 147–148 Kachina 51, 52, 74, 75, 149 carving of 132 dances 90, 200, 211 dolls 91, 136 songs 178, 179, 200, 204, 207, 213 KAFF/KFLG 103, 104 Keams Canyon 6, 46, 102, 162 Keith, Michael C. 27 KGHR 32, 103, 104 Kikmongwi 163 KILI 36 KMGN 103, 104 KNAU 103, 104, 160, 164, 183 KNAZ-TV 104, 105, 107, 140 KNNB 31 Koahnic Broadcast Corporation 28 Kosof, Anna 36 KSHI 32 KTNN 27, 31, 103, 104, 160, Kuptana, Rosemarie 43 KUYI 3, 4, 103, 107, 159, 162–164, 225 KVNA 103, 104 Kvale, Steinar 5–6

Index Kykotsmovi 6, 102

L Lakotas 36 “Last of the Mohicans” 110, 121 Lehtola, Veli-Pekka 33 Lepine, Fred 42–43 Lichty, Lawrence W. 106 Loftin, John D. 2, 73, 92, 113 Los Angeles 25, 160 Lucero, Jimmy 163

M Maori 98 Maracle, Lee 11 Marginalization 18–19 Matrilinear 145 Maybury-Lewis, David 155–156, 220 McKerchie, Burton 163 McKerchie, Marshall 163 McLuhan, Marshall 23 Means, Russell 37–38 Media representations of Native Americans 19, 99, 158, 217 critique toward 10–11, 122 Hopi views of 4, 114, 122, 219, 220– 221, 224 improving of 156, 158, 169 Mediascape 32, 101 Hopi 6, 101–107, 148, 213 Medium theory 38 Mesayesva, Vernon 225 Methodology xiii, 4–8 Mexican War of Independence 45 Mexico 2, 45 Meyrowitz, Joshua 2, 3, 38 Miller, Jody 5 Minkler, Loris xi, 213, 226 Mishongnovi 6 Missionaries 46 Murphy, Dennis 160 Murphy, Sharon 16

N Nagel, Joane 10, 12, 47, 195, 200, 216, 227n1 (chap. 1) Nakala, Harlan 163 “National Native News” 103 “Native America Calling” 28, 103, 164 Native American, discussion of term 227n1 (chap. 1) Native American journalists 21, 110, 221

Index Native American Journalists’ Association 24 Native American media 23–32, 193, 194 goals and functions 32 history 27 problems and challenges of 32–43 Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium (NAPBC) 24, 28 Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) 28 Native American radio, see also Native broadcasting 27, 28, 30–32, 159–160 Native American Resource Page 29 Native American Theatre Ensemble 24 Native broadcasting, see also Native American radio 27–29, 32 Native people, discussion of term 11, 227n1 (chap. 1) Native Voice One (NV 1) 28 Navajos 11, 32, 45, 116, 170, 181 as a nation or tribe 12, 31, 169, 194 Navajo culture 34, 35 Navajo-Hopi land dispute 115, 116, 166, 176 Navajo language on radio 180, 195 “Navajo Nights” 31 Navajo radio 34, 174, 181, 195 KTNN 27, 31, 103, 104, 160, Navajo Reservation 34, 102 Navajo-Hopi Observer 102, 103 Navajo Times 102 Navasya, Phil xi Negotiation processes, intercultural 217–226 Nelson, David 164 New information and communication technology and Hopi villages 4 and Hopi Reservation 148–156, 158, 222, 225 and Native Americans 15, 23–30 New Jersey 79 New Mexico 34, 45, 102 News criteria 21 New York 24, 77, 79, 80, 187, 193 New Zealand 98 Non-Native media 19, 20 Northwest Area Foundation 28 Northern Arizona University 103, 225 Nunatsiaq News 42

O Objectification

241 feeling of 89, 91, 92, 96, 98, 219, 224 O’Connell, Sheldon 39 Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) 29–30 O’Kane, Walter Collins 197–198 Oneidas 29 Oraibi 6, 68, 153, 164, 198 history of 1, 46, 82 Orozco, Joseph R. 37

P Page, Jake 200 Page, Susanne 200 Pan-Indianism 12, 53, 114, 123, 196 Phratry 146, 228n1 (chap. 4) Phoenix 77, 78, 131 living in 135 schools 68, 79 Place 2–3, 9 “placeless culture” 2, 3 sense of place, 3, 77, 79 as indication of territoriality 81, 97, 216, 219 Plains Indians 11, 53, 112 “Pocahontas” 110, 121 Polacca 6, 102, 107 Poley, Barbara 160, 163 Poley, Burton 164 Political factions 2 Polly, Jean Armour 29 Powwow 12, 53–54 Primestar 134, 140, 141 Privacy concerns about 30 and journalists 36, 117 religious 90, 96, 219 and tourists 82, 84–85, 89–90, 98, 219 and traditions and ceremonies 113, 117, 123, 156, 220 “Progressives” 95 construction of outsiders 92, 94, 96, 98, 185, 219 Publicity and commercial and academic exploitation 90 different views of xi-xii, 32, 36–37, 113, 116, 157 and locality 157 managing 158 radio as a new access to 213 and representations on ceremonies 220 and sensitivity 36, 156, 221

242 Pueblo Revolt of 1680 45 Pueblos 45

Q Qualitative research 5–6 in-depth interviews xiii, 5–6, 69 qualitative content analysis 7–8

R Racism 19 Rada, Stephen E. 34–35 Reporting 18, 47, 109, 120, 221 of Hopi 116, 118, 119 of Native Americans 16, 19, 21, 110, 111, 112 Research data xiii, 4, 6, 7–8 Researchers 39, 40, 64 and Hopis 82, 83, 84, 88, 92–94 Riggins, Stephen Harold 9, 25–27, 33, 37, 38–42, 193 Robbins, Catherine 163–164 Rushforth, Scott 2 Russia 102

S Sámi language 33 San Juan Basketmakers 2 Schlegel, Alice 145 Secakuku 102 Secakuku, Ferrell 161 Sedona 86 Sekaquaptewa, Emory 73, 148 Sekaquaptewa, Helen 198 Self-esteem 20, 158, 166, 169 Self-hatred 20 Sensitivity 36, 114, 225 and media 34, 123, 156, 158, 188, 221 toward people 89, 96 Setima, Ben 161 Shipaulovi 6 Shoshones 19 Shungopavi/Shongopavi 1, 3, 6 Smith, Linda Tuhiwai 11, 97, 98, 210 Social problems 15, 19, 20, 21 Sollors, Werner 11, 12, 83 Southwest Today 102 Spaniards 45 Spicer, Edward 73 Southwest xi, 2, 45, 83, 84, 103 Steinbring, Jack 39–40 Stereotypes on Native Americans 20, 83, 109, 110, 111, 118

Index in films and books 19, 112 and identity construction 220 Plains Indians 11, 112 Suetopka Thayer, Rosanda 161 Suns’ game 129, 147 Szasz, Margaret Connell 227n1 (chap. 1)

T Taylor, Loris Ann xi, 160, 164 Taylor, Wayne, Jr. xii, 62, 64, 126–127, 161 Television and changes in Hopi communities 124–133 and everyday life 7, 38, 106, 107, 123– 125, 131–133, 221–222 meaning of 138–142 relationship 123–124, 142–145, 220 gender roles 145, 157 role and place 133–137 use of time 129, 142, 145, 157 Territory 13, 29, 45, 81, 97 territoriality as factor of ethnic identification 3, 13, 14, 81, 195, 215 as sense of place 97, 216, 219 Tewanima, Lewis 119 Thompson, John B. 197 Tourists 82–86, 90–91 “Traditionalist” 92, 94, 202, 203, 205 construction of outsiders 185, 186 “Traditionals” 15, 95 construction of outsiders 92, 94, 96, 98, 219 Tuba City 32, 102, 103, 104, 119 Turtle Heart 30 Tveten, John 164

U Udall, Louise 198 Universe 122, 140 center of 79–80, 82, 140 symbolic 12–13 University of Arizona 148 Upham, Steadman 2 Upper Moenkopi 6, 102 Use of time, sea also Television impacts of communication technologies 43 and television 129, 142, 145, 157 U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment 29–30 U.S. Government 16, 45–46

Index U.S. Supreme Court 9

V Valaskakis, Gail Guthrie 196, 209, 210

W Wannabees 86, 87 War between Mexico and the United States 45 Water Corn Clan 163 Western Europe 102 “White”/”white,” discussion of term 228n2 (chap. 2)

243 Whiteley, Peter 92, 228n1 (chap. 4) Wilson II, Clint C. 16–17, 22, 228n2 (chap. 2) Winslow 55, 102, 161 Visitors 82–87, 98 ideal and difficult 84, 219 sources for the interest of 89–90, 95, 160 Women’s society 145 Wunder, John R. 227n1 (chap. 1)

Z Zah, Peterson 31

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