Peter Nabokov

This is a tricky review to write, partly because I skimmed most of the book and partly because this is a textbook—or a textbook-like book, hard to say which. It’s less a narrative than a series of connected essays, which bring up some interesting points, present some things for me to mull over and bear in mind, and critique anthropologists, historians, folklorists, and other academics who have occasion to interact with indigenous peoples and their stories. I don’t know enough about historigraphy or indigenous histories to evaluate his bias, but it doesn’t seem like Nabokov’s cherry-picking his topics or examples apart from what he needs to to drive home his points: accept that Native people have their own histories which don’t look or act like European histories; let Native people be their own historians without imposing Western mindsets on their work; take White histories of indigenous peoples with a heaping of salt; respect indigenous peoples, their culture, and their stories. I found it interesting and readable, but it wasn’t gripping or page-turning or overly enlightening the way I prefer books to be. (But then again, textbook. What do you expect?)

7/10… (mehr)

"Hunt never had the permission of the pueblo to impart any Acoma sacred information to anyone, much less to the Bureau of Ethnology for publication. The pueblo has always considered this publication by the Bureau of Ethnology to be a fundamental breach of trust by the United States. It is a glaring example of the unfortunate and ugly incidents of the late 19th century involving archaeologists and anthropologists, personified by the likes of Frank Cushing at Zuni.

The Origin Myth of the Pueblo of Acoma is the intellectual property of the pueblo, not the property of the United States, and surely not the property of Hunt or Nabokov to reproduce. The pueblo today has grave uncertainty as to Hunt’s actual knowledge about Acoma beliefs, as he left the pueblo at an early age to attend school, and thereafter chose not to participate in the activities where traditional knowledge is passed on to the younger generations.

This concern is strengthened by the many inaccuracies in the book. It is a product of the complete disregard and disrespect for the community, which Nabokov’s book builds upon. It is not, as your article suggests, a book for the pueblo youth to learn about the Acoma origin beliefs. Instead, it is a modern-day example of sensationalized disrespect and disregard of tribal culture, community and sovereignty."

Fred S. Vallo Sr. is governor of Acoma Pueblo.
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