Winter 2019
Power of language
Relationships come to life by revitalizing rather than preserving Native American languages. That's what Washington State University Professor Kim Christen strives for with several projects. » More ...
Native Americans
Fall 2019
Ancient ink
A chance find in Washington State University's College Hall leads to a better understanding of tattooing in early North American peoples. » More ...
Fall 2019
Interwoven Lives: Indigenous Mothers of Salish Coast Communities
Review of "Interwoven Lives: Indigenous Mothers of Salish Coast Communities," by Candace Wellman and published by WSU Press in 2018. » More ...
Summer 2019
Hearing the whispers
Washington State University alumna Annita Lucchesi produced a groundbreaking report that was published by the Urban Indian Health Institute that revealed the astonishing and horrifying numbers of missing and unsolved murders of indigenous women across North America. » More ...
Winter 2018
Days of future past
Rapid global cooling 13,000 years ago challenged early occupants of Alaska to adapt. People used to hunting mammoths and other megafauna with big stone tools suddenly found their weapons shattering in the cold. Access to the stone they used to make them got buried under snow.
As with any climactic change, the cold resulted in a shift in fauna, requiring new tools. Early Alaskans turned to microblade technology, a technique they’d kept alive for hundreds of years along with their dominant hunting tools. Microblades made efficient use of now-scarce toolstone and met the needs of a changing climate.
“Throughout the Holocene, the importance of microblade … » More …
Winter 2018
Peace for the wounded warrior
Since the earliest days of the republic, Native Americans have stepped up to defend the United States at higher rates than any other ethnic group.
From General Washington’s inclusion of Tuscarora and Oneida warriors at Valley Forge, through the world wars and Vietnam to today’s conflicts in the Middle East, Native Americans continue to answer their cultural calling to serve.
Traditionally, these soldiers were welcomed home with healing ceremonies that helped reintegrate them with the tribe and wider society. Compassionate medicine men, and women, used time-honored practices to mend the emotional, spiritual, and physical trauma of war.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. government banned Native religious ceremonies … » More …
Winter 2018
Bison
The day the bison herd swam across the river says it all.
About 80 of the legendary mammals, known for hardiness and stubbornness, decided to cross the half-mile wide Pend Oreille River in 1994—bulls, cows, and even calves—and all survived the crossing, recalls Ray Entz, natural resources director of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in northeast Washington.
That same rugged strength of the wooly North American bovines—whether you call them bison or buffalo—helped the entire resilient species survive. Although bison are now the national mammal of the United States, they once balanced on the cliff of extinction … » More …
Winter 2018
Spirit in the Rock: The Fierce Battle for Modoc Homelands
Jim Compton
WSU Press: 2017
Descending a great bluff towering above an endless sea of black in early 1873, the militiamen clench their rifles tighter as they wade into a thick gray fog among southern Oregon lava beds. A deafening crack and the flash of gunpowder pierces the dense mist. War paint-clad Modoc snipers poke their muzzles out between cracks in the blackened rock and fire unseen upon their adversaries. The bewildered U.S. troops search frantically through the … » More …
Winter 2018
Fabric of Washington
Stories, photos, paintings, and belongings like baskets and tools tell the rich history of Plateau tribes of the inland Pacific Northwest, a history now shared online.
The Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal, a gateway to those cultural materials, is maintained by Washington State University’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (CDSC) in partnership with WSU’s Native American Programs.
The materials have been chosen and curated by tribal representatives from the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Nez Perce Tribe, and … » More …
Winter 2018
Backwater Sunday: A personal memory
The weather was freezing at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation when the Dakota Access Pipeline protests turned violent on November 20, 2016. Native Americans opposed the 1,200-mile oil pipeline on the grounds that it violated the rights of the tribe and passed through Lake Oahe, a sacred burial site and major source of drinking water. This fall marks the second anniversary of the bloody incident, which is remembered as Backwater Sunday.
“Look out!” someone shouts as fiery tear gas canisters streak through the midnight sky. The cell phone video careens sharply as images of smoke and military vehicles come into view. In the darkness, … » More …