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Wesleyan Begins Returning Native American Artifacts

Wesleyan University opened the Orange Judd Hall of Natural Science in 1871 and the museum displayed sacred Native American objects alongside curiosities that included dinosaur tracks, a stuffed bison and an Egyptian mummy.

BY ERIK HESSELBERG, Special to The Courant The Hartford Courant

December 9, 2013

MIDDLETOWN — Graveyards are sacred, but for many Native Americans their journey into the spirit world was interrupted when their ancient burial grounds were dug up in the name of science. For example, in 1948, the University of California Berkeley boasted to Life magazine that the university held in storage “more than 10,000 Indian skeletons, many of them complete.”

Wesleyan University too collected Native American relics, but the university recently announced that it was returning the human remains of some 15 Native Americans held for more than 100 years.

Wesleyan has been discreet about returning the remains, revealing its intentions only on its website. The university also posted a formal apology “to all Native Nations and indigenous peoples” for keeping the relics so long.

Asked to elaborate, Wesleyan spokeswoman Kate Carlisle said, “The information on the website is really all I can offer you at this time.”

For Native Americans, the objects are considered so sacred that tribes insist they neither be photographed nor itemized publicly. Wesleyan is believed to possess associated funerary objects in addition to the human remains.

The return of Wesleyan’s Native American relics is mandated by federal law. In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires federally funded museums and universities to repatriate human remains to recognized tribes.

“It’s certainly a positive thing,” Kevin McBride, a University of Connecticut archaeologist and the research director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, said of Wesleyan’s decision. “Repatriation is not all easy to address – it’s a time-consuming, but it’s necessary.”

Wesleyan University opened the Orange Judd Hall of Natural Science in 1871 and the museum displayed sacred Native American objects alongside curiosities that included dinosaur tracks, a stuffed bison and an Egyptian mummy. In its early years it was managed by Wesleyan graduate George Brown Goode, who had worked in marine science at Harvard under Louis Agassiz. Goode sent teams of fossil hunters out West to dig up dinosaur bones, where they also gathered Indian artifacts for his museum. During the 1930s, the Judd Hall natural history museum welcomed hundreds of Middletown school children on field trips.The museum closed in 1957. (Wesleyan University Library, Special Collections & Archives / November 29, 2013)

Wesleyan’s interest in Native American artifacts began after the Civil War, with the building of the brownstone Orange Judd Hall of Natural Science in 1871. The museum housed Native American artifacts alongside dinosaur tracks, a stuffed bison and an Egyptian mummy.

The museum in its early years was managed by a Wesleyan graduate, George Brown Goode, who had worked in marine science at Harvard. Goode was later employed by the Smithsonian, where he became a pioneer museum administrator overseeing numerous exhibits, including one on the latest sports equipment.

At Wesleyan, Goode sent teams of fossil hunters out West to dig up dinosaur bones, and they also gathered Native American artifacts for the museum.

In 1957, when the museum closed, thousands of artifacts, including Native American relics, were boxed up and put into storage.

Wesleyan was nudged into federal compliance by several of its professors, principally J. Kehaulani Kauanui, associate professor of anthropology and American studies, and Donald Moon, professor of government and environmental studies. In 2010, Kauanui and Moon organized a panel discussion, “Reconsidering Repatriation: Colonial Legacies, Indigenous Politics and Institutional Developments,” in which the federal process was reviewed and strategies for compliance developed.

At the time, Wesleyan had been noncompliant for 15 years, according to a Nov. 16, 2010, article in The Wesleyan Argus, the college newspaper.

Complying with the federal artifacts law requires inventorying museum collections. Then lists have to be sent to the more 500 recognized tribes in the United States.

To assist with the process Wesleyan hired a repatriation coordinator, Honor Keeler, a lawyer who is part Cherokee. The university said it expects repatriation to take several years.

Wesleyan’s Native American relics have been traced to tribes in Connecticut, Illinois and Tennessee, according to Doug Charles, chair of Wesleyan’s anthropology department. Charles told the Argus in 2010 that Wesleyan had provided tribes with summaries of Wesleyan’s holdings, but until then there had been no requests for repatriation.

McBride said he wasn’t sure whether any Wesleyan artifacts had any connection to the Pequots, which once held sway over the lower Connecticut River Valley and Long Island Sound. He said he looks forward to reviewing Wesleyan’s inventory.

“I have attended reinterment ceremonies following repatriation and they are deeply moving,” McBride said. “There are tears of anguish and of joy. You have to understand, these are their ancestors – and they are finally coming home.”

Comprehensive bill introduced to improve lives of Native children

12/9/2013 Cherokeepheonix.org

BY STAFF REPORTS

WASHINGTON – United States Senators Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a comprehensive plan on Oct. 30 to find solutions to the complex challenges facing Native American children throughout Indian Country.

The bipartisan legislation, Heitkamp’s first bill as a senator, would create a national Commission on Native American Children to conduct an intensive study into issues facing Native children – such as high rates of poverty, unemployment, child abuse, domestic violence, crime, substance abuse, and few economic opportunities – and make recommendations on how to ensure Native children are better taken care of and given the opportunities to thrive.

Heitkamp and Murkowski are both members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

“We have all heard stories or seen first-hand the struggles that too many Native children and their families face from extreme poverty to child abuse to suicide. Since I’ve been in public office, I’ve worked to address many of these challenges, and I’m proud my first bill as a U.S. Senator will take a serious look at finding solutions to better protect Native children and give them the opportunities they deserve,” said Heitkamp. “Tragically, for children in our nation’s tribal communities, the barriers to success are high and they are the most at-risk population in the country, facing serious disparities in safety, health and education.”

She said the government needs to strive for a day when Native children no longer live in third-world conditions; when they don’t face the threat of abuse on a daily basis; when they receive the good health care and education to help them grow and succeed.

“The federal government pledged long ago to protect Native families and children. We haven’t lived up to that promise. But we can change that,” Heitkamp said.

Murkowski agreed that the federal government must uphold its trust responsibility to tribes, especially to Native children.

“This commission will examine from the lens of justice, education, and healthcare how to improve the lives of our Nation’s native children,” Murkowski said.

Conditions for young people in Indian Country are tragic: 37 percent of Native children live in poverty; suicide rates are 2.5 times the national average for children 15-24 years old; high school graduation rate for Native students is nearly 50 percent, compared to more than 75 percent for white students; and while the overall rate of child mortality in the U.S. has decreased since 2000, the rate for Native children has increased 15 percent.

Tribal governments face numerous obstacles in responding to the needs of Native children. Existing program rules and the volume of resources required to access grant opportunities stymie efforts of tribes to tackle these issues. At the same time, federal agencies lack clear guidance about the direction that should be taken to best address the needs of Native children in order to fulfill our trust responsibility to tribal nations.

To help reverse these impacts, the Commission on Native Children would conduct a comprehensive study on the programs, grants, and supports available for Native children, both at government agencies and on the ground in Native communities, with the goal of developing a sustainable system that delivers wrap-around services to Native children.

Then, the 11-member commission would issue a report to address a series of challenges currently facing Native children. A Native Children Subcommittee would also provide advice to the commission. The commission’s report would address how to achieve: better use of existing resources, increased coordination, measurable outcomes, stronger data, stronger private sector partnerships, and implementation of best practices.

Do Native Americans Face Discrimination in the Labor Market?

12/05/2013 Huffington Post

By Algernon Austin

Since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, Native American employment has been lowest in the regions where white employment has been highest. In my research in 2009 and 2010, I found that while whites were doing relatively well in terms of employment in Alaska, the Northern Plains, and the Southwest, Native Americans were doing rather poorly in these very same regions. I also noted that these were the regions where the proportion of Native Americans was relatively high in relation to the proportion of non-Natives. These findings raised the question of whether racial discrimination might play a role in the high level of joblessness among Native Americans.

In a labor market free of racial discrimination, one would expect whites and Native Americans to have somewhat similar outcomes, not starkly divergent outcomes like we see in Alaska, the Northern Plains, and the Southwest. These divergent outcomes are the first suggestion that racial discrimination might be at play.

Additionally, sociologists have long argued that the relative size of racial groups can influence the amount of conflict or competition between groups. If a minority group is very small, the group is less likely to be threatening to the dominant group. But a larger minority group, which can potentially pose a challenge to the dominant group’s control over resources, can lead to increased prejudice and discrimination against the minority group. The fact that Native Americans are doing worse in the labor markets where they make up a larger share of the population also suggests that racial discrimination may be an explanation.

While my prior research was suggestive of anti-Native American discrimination in the labor market, it was far from conclusive. This year, I have had the opportunity to take a deeper look at the issue. (The complete report is forthcoming at epi.org.) I was able to use data that allowed me to go beyond region and to examine employment rates by state. I was also able to take into to account the effect of other factors that might contribute to racial differences in employment rates.

The Native American-white employment rate gap once again pointed to states in the Northern Plains as well as the adjacent upper, western Midwest region. The biggest gaps were in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Arizona and Utah, in the Southwest, also showed rather large employment-rate disparities.

An employment-rate gap can be the result of differences in age, educational attainment, as well as a host of other factors between groups. A stronger case can be made that racial discrimination is at play if one controls for the effects of these other factors. I was able to control for differences between the white and Native American population distributions in age, education, state of residence, reservation residence, marital status, disability status, and other factors. I still found that Native Americans had a significantly lower odds of being employed than whites after all of these factors were taken into account.

And once again, the Northern Plains, upper, western Midwest, and Southwest states stood out as being particularly bad for Native Americans looking for work. The worst states were, in declining magnitude of the disparity, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Utah, and Arizona. While this research still does not prove that racial discrimination is the cause of these disparities, it does raise the issue of discrimination as a more serious possibility.

Native Americans have suffered a long history of racial oppression in this country. While some Americans are eager to declare that the United States is now post-racial, the social scientific data continues to suggest otherwise. Joblessness continues to plague Native Americans. There is much that we need to do as a country to address this problem. Sadly, it appears that one important step may be to simply provide Native Americans with same opportunity to work as we do whites.

Follow Algernon Austin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EconomicPolicy

6 Questions With USDA’s Kunesh & the Need for Tribes to Use Programs

Brenda Austin, ICTMN

Patrice Kunesh is the Deputy Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development (USDA-RD). She began her tenure at the USDA on May 22, 2013, and among her many responsibilities are the oversight of Operations and Management, the Office of Civil Rights and she also works with the state directors.

According to a USDA press release, during fiscal year 2013, Rural Development’s electric programs invested a historic high of $275 million for new and improved electric infrastructure to more than 80,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives. That total includes a loan for copy67 million to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority in Arizona. Through their Community Facilities program, Rural Development invested copy14 million this year in 73 loans and grants, representing a 600 percent increase over FY 2012. Of that funding, $3 million (24 grants) was provided to tribal colleges and universities. Rural Development also made their largest single investment to a tribe this year to help the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians finance a new healthcare facility in the form of a $40 million direct loan and a copy0 million loan guarantee.

Deputy Under Secretary Kunesh recently spoke with Indian Country Today Media Network about Rural Development’s program assistance to American Indian tribes, goals for 2014 and her own interest in Indian country.

With your background in tribal law, governance and economic development, what made you want to make the leap to USDA Rural Development?

It was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. I was teaching at the University of South Dakota School of Law and received a call from the White House asking if I would consider coming to Washington D.C. and working on behalf of Indian Affairs in the Solicitors Office at the Department of the Interior (DOI).

Then around the election I received another call from the White House saying that I have done good work for the Administration and would I consider branching out. They asked me where might I go and the USDA was at the top of my list.

In the back of my mind I have always had great admiration and appreciation for USDA. As a young mother of two little ones I had received food stamps for a number of years. I also was a recipient of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) vouchers. I lived in public housing and went to public health clinics. It was a precarious time for me. I was able to continue my education and earn a college degree because I had food stamps.

Rural Development is about serving rural America, and Indian country is synonymous with rural America. And the needs of rural America are synonymous with the needs of Indian country.

USDA Rural Development has invested in tribal infrastructure, housing, education and health, both in grant funding and loans. Is there anything that tribe’s can or should be doing to take advantage of what Rural Development has to offer?

I don’t think tribes are doing enough. Tribes don’t know generally what we can do in terms of our programs and in terms of housing, business and utility infrastructure.

One of the things I am doing with my colleagues in Natural Resource Conservation Services, the Farm Service, the Office of Tribal Relations and our Food and Nutrition Services is to spread the word wherever we possibly can. So as busy as this week was with our observances of Native American Heritage Month and the White House Tribal Leader Summit we are working with other federal agencies such as the Departments of Energy, Commerce and the U.S. Treasury, as well as the Department of the Interior, to let tribes know there is a whole host of support that we can provide to them that they may not realize is available to them.

To my great surprise and tremendous appreciation I find that Rural Development alone last year invested $660 million in Indian country. That is tribal colleges and tribal schools, health clinics and an abundance of housing that we have built on Indian reservations.

But more than the investments that Rural Development has made in terms of funding, we have really forged wonderful relationships with Indian tribes. And much of this work in the field has taken many years of developing the trust, rapport and respect of tribal leaders, and to help provide the technical assistance tribes may need to get the grant or loan application in to be awarded these funds.

What are your goals for working with tribes in 2014?

In 2014 we are going to be trying to establish significantly more partnerships across the federal government and with tribes. Our top priority right now is that we need Congress to provide a comprehensive multi-year Food, Farm and Jobs Bill as soon as possible so we can ensure for all Americans, as well as tribal governments, that Congress is committed to supporting rural America and Indian country.

We need to put nutritious food on the table in Indian country and we need to invest in good food for tribal youth in schools. We need to continue improving infrastructure in tribal communities and that goes well beyond community centers and clinics – it’s about growing local and regional food systems to feed Indian people. It’s about reviving traditional foods that tribes have historically cultivated. It’s educating Native students at every level. So we have tremendous goals both in Rural Development and throughout the USDA.

With the current state of our economy, under funded health care and the effects of sequestration on tribal governments and employees, what relationship would you like to see this year between Rural Development and tribal nations?

We can only do this work in partnership – and the partnership between the federal government and Indian tribes is really based on a legal obligation, and I would say a moral obligation. This partnership has been our purpose since we participated in the first White House Tribal Nations Conference in 2009, but it goes beyond that in terms of trust responsibility and a trust relationship that drives us to work with tribes across the nation.

This year president Obama established the White House Council on Native American Affairs and that is to further expand the federal tribal collaboration and understanding. We are proud of our results thus far. I think we have stepped up to provide a coordinated response to many of the needs in Indian country.

We also have to recognize that our veterans have served our nation with great pride and are part of the picture here too. Native American veterans have served in greater percentage per population than any other segment of the population. We truly see that as remarkable, but also an opportunity for us to give back to them to support them and to include them in our work in very meaningful ways.

Do you believe current funding for Rural Development is at a level that can meet the needs of American Indian and Alaskan Native programs?

Definitely no. The budget is not sufficient to meet the needs in Indian country, but it’s not sufficient to meet the needs in rural America either. Rural America is the heart of the United States and the work that rural America does drives the U.S. economy in terms of feeding us and supporting all the things that we need in the U.S. and is so incredibly important. The budget is not sufficient and we really do need to look at funding levels that truly are reflective of the contributions that rural America makes and what we can provide to enhance that as well.

You are invested in Native communities and are personally of American Indian descent, did you grow up in a rural environment knowing your tribal culture and traditions?

My mother was a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and her father was born on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota and grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation. My grandfather left the reservation due to the harsh conditions at the time in the early 1900s.

I grew up in Minnesota knowing and feeling very grateful for our Indian family on the reservation. My father worked for Indian tribes through the Youth Conservation Corp and we participated in more of the Ojibwe culture at the time then the Lakota or Sioux communities. At that time it was the American Indian movement and a lot of Indian people were very concerned about how we were going to maintain cohesive coherent cultural ways and build strong tribal governments. And I think it was from that work and from hearing my mother talk about growing up on the reservation that I decided this is what I want to do with my life. I decided I wanted to do what I can to improve and secure the wellbeing of Indian children. That is how I started my work and that’s how I think of my work right now – through the lens of child wellbeing.

The debate: Indian names, mascots for sports teams

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III turns out of the pocket during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Landover, Md., Monday, Nov. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By Rich Myhre, The Herald

As a former student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, home of the Tomahawks, Dr. Stephanie Fryberg remembers seeing a fellow student clad in a headdress of feathers and watching as other kids participated in the Tomahawk Chop.

Fryberg, a Native American and member of the Tulalip Tribe, said she always found those displays disturbing.

“I was an athlete in Marysville and I was definitely part of the sports culture, but I always felt weird about that,” said Fryberg, who received a PhD from Stanford University in 2003 and is today an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, where she is also affiliate faculty for American Indian Studies (she is on leave in the current academic year).

“If you’d go and watch (those displays at Marysville-Pilchuck events),” Fryberg added, “you’d never see Native students participating.”

The use of Native American sports nicknames and mascots has been a controversial topic for many years, and one recently rekindled when President Barack Obama said he would “think about changing” the name of Washington’s NFL team, the Redskins, if he owned the ballclub.

“I don’t know whether our attachment to a particular name should override the real legitimate concerns that people have about these things,” Obama added in an interview with The Associated Press.

Fryberg agrees, and said she backs her position with research that proves those nicknames and mascots have a negative effect on the self-perception of Native American students. “I’m a scientist,” she said, “and from that level, absolutely, the data is concrete.”

Team names like Indians, Chiefs and Braves, among others, are “a stereotype that’s playing with someone’s identity,” she said.

Likewise, Fryberg finds the Redskins nickname particularly offensive “because it very much has race connotations, though that’s not my area of (research) expertise,” she said.

This issue has always been particularly relevant at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, which serves the Tulalip reservation. There have been periodic discussions over the years about dropping the Tomahawks nickname, and one of the most intense debates occurred in the 1980s when Marysville High School and Pilchuck High School merged to form Marysville-Pilchuck.

Some in the community urged the school board to use Pilchuck’s nickname, the Chargers, for the newly merged school. But among those arguing otherwise was Don Hatch, a member of the Tulalip Tribal Council and a man who later served 16 years on the Marysville School District board.

Hatch says that Native American nicknames and mascots “are not derogatory,” and he believes it so strongly that he purchased Redskins sweatshirts, hats and other team merchandise when he visited Washington while representing the Tulalip Tribal Council.

“I’m proud of the Redskins,” he said. “I support them, just like I do the Tomahawks. … I think it brings to light us as Indian people.”

Years ago, Seattle’s Blanchet High School considered changing its nickname from Braves. Hatch said he visited the high school and spoke to the students at an assembly, urging them to retain the nickname. His words evidently had an impact as Blanchet teams are still called the Braves.

Likewise, Marysville-Pilchuck remains the Tomahawks and that nickname is a tribute to the Tulalip history, culture “and pride we have,” Hatch said. Likewise, the school colors remain red and white, which is emblematic “of the red man and the white man,” he said.

Tulalip Tribes Chairman Mel Sheldon could not be reached for comment, but in a statement released by a tribal representative he said: “It’s time for sports teams to change mascot designations that use Native American names and cultural imagery. Stereotypes, no matter how innocent they seem, help to perpetuate certain perceptions about Native Americans that obscure our history, and the contributions we’ve made to American society.

According to Fryberg, those nicknames and mascots also demean the people they are purported to esteem. “People say they are honoring Natives,” she said. “No, they’re not.

“Given the difficulties Native students have had being successful in mainstream schools,” she went on, “I just don’t think it’s a place where we need to add one more stereotype and one more barrier for Native students to (overcome). … Negative stereotypes are playing with people’s identity, and at the end of the day, how many Native students have to say it bothers them before we care?”

The striking thing about this issue, of course, is how vigorously people disagree, including many Native Americans themselves. While some see nicknames like Indians, Chiefs, Braves and even Redskins as symbols of disrespect, others like Hatch believe those same nicknames help to preserve the historical dignity, pride and heritage of all Native Americans.

Keeping those nicknames “is very important,” he said. “And I’m proud to have (sports teams) named after our Indian people.”

BIA: Who’s your leader? C&A per cap checks on hold

December 4, 2013

By LENZY KREHBIEL-BURTON, Native Times

CONCHO, Okla. – Thanks to their tribes’ protracted leadership dispute, Cheyenne and Arapaho citizens will not be getting their December per capita payments on time.

According to a letter obtained by the Native Times on Nov. 26, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ agency office in Concho denied a drawdown request by the Janice Prairie Chief-Boswell administration from two of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ trust accounts. Among the withheld $3 million in lease funds are $1.6 million in oil and gas leases that provides an annual December per capita payment for tribal citizens.

“Regrettably, the Concho agency cannot honor your request for federal action as of this date because the agency does not know with certainty the identities of the validly seated governor, lieutenant governor and members of the legislature for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes,” agency superintendent Betty Tippeconnie wrote in the letter, dated Nov. 21.

The tribe has been dealing with a constitutional crisis for almost three years, with both Prairie Chief-Boswell and Leslie Wandrie-Harjo each claiming to be the legitimate governor. The two women ran for office and were inaugurated together in January 2010, but their alliance dissolved within a year over a series of allegations. Since the women’s political partnership fell apart, each has formed her own government, claiming to be the legitimate authority over the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Boswell and her supporters are working out of the tribal complex in Concho, while Wandrie-Harjo and her government is based out of nearby El Reno, Okla.

Federal law gives the Prairie Chief-Boswell administration 30 days to appeal the decision to the Southern Plains regional office in Anadarko or it will become final.

The Prairie Chief-Boswell administration did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement posted to her Facebook page, the other claimant governor urged her counterpart to negotiate a compromise in order to have the per capita payment funds released.

“All of us members need those per capita monies,” Wandrie-Harjo wrote. “We have suffered enough.

“Boswell needs to swallow her pride for the well-being of the members and meet w ith me and the BIA to get this per cap out or she needs to step down so the BIA and I can get the money out to the members.”

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court affiliated with the Prairie Chief-Boswell administration has not handed down a decision in either pending appeal of the tribes’ Oct. 8 primary election. The justices heard appeals from former governor and disqualified gubernatorial candidate Darrell Flyingman and tribal member and employee Joyce Woods on Nov. 15 and initially announced that a decision would be handed down within 10 days. No verdict had been announced by press time.

Judge approves auction of sacred Hopi masks

By THOMAS ADAMSON, Associated Press

December 6, 2013

PARIS (AP) — A judge has ruled that the controversial sale of 32 Native American Hopi masks can go ahead next week.

The Hopi tribe had taken a Paris auction house to court Tuesday to try to block the sale, arguing that they are “bitterly opposed” to the use as commercial art of sacred masks that represent their ancestor’s spirits.

Corinne Matouk, a lawyer who represented the Drouot auction house said the law was on their side.

“In French law there is nothing stopping the sale of Hopi artifacts.”

Pierre Servan-Schreiber, the Hopi’s French lawyer, said it is “very disappointing” and said he would explore options including seeking help from U.N. cultural organization UNESCO.

The “Katsinam” masks are being put on sale by a private collector on Dec. 9 and 11, alongside an altar from the Zuni tribe that used to belong to late Hollywood star Vincent Price, and other Native American frescoes and dolls.

The tribe has said it believes the masks, which date back to the late 19th and early 20th century, were taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the early 20th century.

In April, a Paris court ruled that such sales are legal, and Drouot sold off around 70 Hopi masks for some 880,000 euros ($1.2 million) despite vocal protests and criticism from actor Robert Redford and the U.S. government.

___

Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

Native Americans of Arizona knew the power of solar energy

In Canyon de Chelly, Ariz., Navajo people used the sun's energy in their vernacular buildings. — In Canyon de Chelly, Ariz., Navajo people used the sun’s energy in their vernacular buildings.

By Staten Island Advance
on December 06, 2013

CIRO ASPERTI, AIA STATEN ISLAND CHAPTER

Staten Island, N.Y. — It is possible to live in a building that is less dependent on oil delivered energy.

In principle, the form of a building and its composition can capture a great deal of solar energy; adding, foremost, comfort to our daily routines and reducing fuel consumption.

The solar radiation allowed into the building can be managed to immediately, or at a later time, warm spaces in a way that hot air systems or water filled radiators cannot offer economically, or environmentally.

Passive solar energy is not new. In fact, it has been used throughout history. Native Americans in the canyons of Arizona would use the southern cliff exposure of a canyon to heat their adobe buildings cleverly placed in caves just so that the low winter sun angle would soak them with sunlight while the summer angle would be higher and therefore missing the buildings.

Tracking the sun was part of life; many activities were dependent on the seasons and the sun path. Civilizations worshipped the sun for its power to generate and sustain life.

Although the reverence toward our star is not the same, the beliefs of earlier man still hold: A building is a receptor of energy and light. Its orientation is the most important factor to observe when planning a house. A properly oriented south facing wall will, with sufficient fenestration, allow solar energy to enter the building envelope and warm the interior.

To control this energy, storing heat for night use or limiting its entry in summer months requires the use of materials with great mass and canopy systems that block sunlight from entering into window openings.

Ceramic tiled floors or even concrete can absorb great quantities of sun energy during the day (thermal mass) and release it in the night hours passively repeating the cycle without failures.

Exterior canopies designed to block the summer high angle sunlight from entering, similar to American Indian canyon architecture, are a necessary feature of a passive solar house.

The building components of these homes and how they operate, are slightly different from what we are accustomed to. A basic knowledge of solar energy and its impact on buildings is probably most anyone will need to live in and operate a passive solar home. The daily heating cycles will repeat without human intervention.

Sizing of components such as windows, insulation, storage mass and canopies requires a professional. Because of their lack of moving parts, they will function for a long time without maintenance.

However, even the most well designed and properly sited solar building should not be without a conventional heating system. It will most likely be used sparingly with many savings.

The well controlled sun energy into our homes can be invigorating to its occupants. Plants, pets and ourselves enjoy time in the sun. Aside from the radiant quality, sunlight can define the space it fills, it can be filtered through drapes and glass with colored tones. Light bounces off shiny ceramic,metal and marble; it will show wood grain in furniture and blossom flowers in December.

Ciro Asperti is a member of the Saten Island chapter of the American Institute of Architects. His column appears twice each month in the Home section. Contact the organization at aiasiny.org.

Native-owned AMERIND Risk Advises on Holiday Road and Fire Safety

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Hitting the road this holiday? In some areas, winter weather means snow, sleet and ice that can lead to slower traffic, hazardous road conditions and unseen dangers. Are you prepared? According to a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) survey, 52 percent of people reported having supplies set aside for use in a disaster.

If your travel needs call for driving in wintry weather, prepare your car for the trip by updating your vehicle emergency kit with:

•   Booster cables;
•   Blankets, hats, socks, and mittens;
•   Road salt or sand; and
•   A fluorescent distress flag.

While on the road, follow these driving techniques to ensure you reach your destination safely:

•   Decrease your speed and leave plenty of room to stop;
•   Break gently to avoid skidding;
•   Do not use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads; and
•   Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to others.

Road conditions can change quickly! Should disaster strike when traveling, use the Disaster Reporter feature on the FEMA app to send photos of your location for first responders and response teams to view. You can also keep up with weather forecasts using your NOAA weather radio to plan ahead! Remember safety first. If weather conditions are too severe, it’s best not to drive.

Holiday Fire Safety

Each year fires occurring during the holiday season injure 2,600 individuals and cause over $930 million in damage in the United States. By following some of the outlined precautionary tips, individuals can greatly reduce their chances of becoming a holiday fire casualty.

Preventing Christmas Tree Fires:

•   Select fresh trees –Choose a green tree with a sticky trunk and tight needles.
•   Care for your tree – Keep it away from heat sources, and keep the tree stand filled with water. Take your tree down after two weeks.
•   Dispose of your tree at the recyclers –Never put the tree or branches in the fireplace or woodstove.

Holiday Lights Safety:

•   Maintain your lights –Inspect the lights, wires, sockets for wear and tear.
•   Electrical Outlets –Don’t overload outlets or stretch lights to reach outlets.
•   Periodically check the lights; they should not be warm to the touch.
•   Turn the lights off when you’re not at home and before going to bed.

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Sacajawea: If Not For Her, We Could Be Saluting the British Flag

sacajawea-statue-salmon-idaho — Jack McNeel
The Sacajawea statue in Salmon, Idaho is in the ancestral homelands of the Lemhi Shoshone people.

by Jack McNeel

12/6/13 ICTMN

Few women in U.S. history have had more influence on the nation’s history than the young Lemhi Shoshone woman, Sacajawea. It’s very likely that Lewis and Clark would never have reached the Pacific Ocean had it not been for her help. White settlement would have been different. Indian wars throughout the western half of the country would have been altered. We might even be saluting the British flag rather than the American flag. Sacajawea’s role was gigantic.

Innumerable statues have been created of her, she has graced postage stamps and the copy gold coin bears her resemblance. Despite that, there is great confusion and disagreement about this remarkable woman. No photos exist of her, so images and statues reflect what their creator thinks she would have looked like. There is disagreement about the spelling and pronunciation of her name, even where she was born and certainly where she died. But there is no disagreement as to her role in U.S. history. The Lemhi Shoshone people claim her, but others disagree.

Sacajawea was 11 or 12 when she was captured by the Hidatsa. A couple years later she married Charbonneau. When he was hired by Lewis and Clark as an interpreter she was included because they thought she might prove helpful when they reached her homelands in what is now Montana and Idaho. Four years had elapsed since her capture so she was probably 16 when she joined the expedition.

Dr. Orlan Svingen, a historian, and professor at Washington State University, has worked with the descendents of Sacajawea, the Agai Dika people, since 1991. “Sacajawea, carrying a child, speaking Shoshone, talking to a Frenchman… She disarmed anybody because she was a woman with a child,” he said. “On top of that, when she came to this country (western Montana) she knew people and could speak with them.”

Perhaps her first major influence on the expedition came in early May when the pirogue (boat) she was in with Charbonneau at the helm capsized. Lewis describes Charbonneau, writing, “Charbono cannot swim and is perhaps the most timid waterman in the world.” The boat contained instruments, books, medicine, much merchandise, “in short almost every article indispensably necessary to further the views, or insure the success of the enterprise,” Captain Lewis wrote.

Sacajawea was calm despite having her newborn son with her and was able to retrieve many scientific instruments and books. Their medical supplies were lost but they were able to continue westward. Without her help, at that point, the expedition would have been much more difficult and less successful.

According to Svingen, well before they reached what is now Idaho, Sacajawea said, “This is the home of my people.” It was August 8, 1805. They soon met some of her own, the Lemhi Shoshone people. The expedition was in desperate need of horses, winter was approaching and a massive mountain range separated them from the Columbia River and the Pacific coast. With the aid of Sacajawea as both an interpreter and friend to both the expedition and the tribe, horses were obtained and a guide, an elder they called Toby, was provided to lead them over the mountains. Without the tribe’s help and Sacajawea’s assistance, this likely would have ended Lewis and Clark’s exploration.

“This was huge!” Svingen said about Sacajawea and the tribe’s help. “This was like atomic energy! This was enormous!” Had Lewis and Clark not reached the Pacific, they would not have been able to claim the land for the United States.

Many questions will likely remain unanswered but few will argue the importance of Sacajawea to the Lewis and Clark expedition or to her impact on U.S. history.