Preserving Sacred Indian Landscapes
Andrew Gulliford
Bio:
Andrew Gulliford has researched Native American sacred objects and sacred
places throughout the West, Alaska, and Hawai'i. A graduate of Colorado
College (B.A., M.A.T.) and Bowling Green State University in Ohio (Ph.D.),
he is a professor of Southwest Studies and History and Director of the
Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
Previously he directed the Public History and Historic Preservation Program
at Middle Tennessee State University near Nashville.
His photographs of American Indian sacred sites have been published in
Norenewable Resources (1994), The Secretary of the Interior's Report to
Congress: Federal Archaeological Programs and Activities, 1993 (1993),
and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Report to Congress and
the President, 1993 (1993). His previous books include Boomtown Blues:
Colorado Oil Shale, 1885-1985 (1989) and America's County Schools (1984,
1996), both published by the University Press of Colorado.
Formerly the director of the Western New Mexico University Museum in Silver
City, New Mexico, Gulliford curated one of the largest prehistoric Mimbres
pottery collections. He has worked with the Ute to document, preserve,
and protect the Ute Trail on Colorado's Western Slope, and he now works
with the Eastern Shoshone in Wyoming on museum and preservation planning.
For the American Association of Museums he reviews tribal museums and
historic sites with Indian collections, and for the Smithsonian Associates
program, he has led tours on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Washington
and Oregon and on the Lewis and Clark Trail by canoe and horseback in
Montana and Idaho.
He has received a Take Pride in American National Award from the secretary
of agriculture for "outstanding contributions to America's natural
and cultural resources"; the National Volunteer Award from the chief
of the United States Forest Service; the Second Annual James Marston Fitch
Mid-Career Award for Historic Preservation; and the Award of Merit from
the American Association for State and Local History.
In summers, he backpacks, hikes, and canoes the West with his wife and
two sons.
SACRED OBJECTS AND SACRED PLACES: PRESERVING TRIBAL TRADITIONS
By Andrew Gulliford
An important study of tribal historic preservation and the revival of
American Indian traditions in the twentieth century.
Sacred Objects and Sacred Places combines native oral histories, photographs,
drawings, and case studies to present current issues of cultural preservation
vital to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Complete
with commentaries by native peoples, non-native curators, and archaeologists,
this book discusses the repatriation of human remains, the curation and
exhibition of sacred masks and medicine bundles, and key cultural compromises
for preservation successes in protecting sacred places on private, state,
and federal lands.
The author traveled thousands of miles over a ten-year period to meet
and interview tribal elders, visit sacred places, and discuss the power
of sacred objects in order to present the essential debates surrounding
tribal historic preservation. Without revealing the exact locations of
sacred places (unless tribes have gone public with their cultural concerns),
Gulliford discusses the cultural significance of tribal sacred sites and
the ways in which they are being preserved. Some of the case studies included
are the Wyoming Medicine Wheel, Devil's Tower National Monument, Mount
Shasta in California, Mount Graham in Arizona, and the Sweet Grass Hills
in Montana. Federal laws are reviewed in the context of tribal preservation
programs, and tribal elders discuss specific cases of repatriation.
Though the book describes numerous tribal tragedies and offers examples
of cultural theft. Sacred Objects and Sacred Places affirms living traditions.
It reveals how the resolution of these controversies in favor of native
people will ensure their cultural continuity in a changing and increasingly
complex world. The issues of returning human remains, curating sacred
objects, and preserving hunting traditions are addressed to provide the
reader with a full picture of Native Americans' struggles to preserve
traditions and keep their communities alive.
Dr. Andrew Gulliford is the Director, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort
Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive, Durango, Colorado 81301, and Professor
of Southwest Studies and History and author of America's Country Schools,
also published by the University Press of Colorado.
Oversize with 113 b&w photographs and 12 line drawings.
$55.00 Hardcover - $29.95 Paper
The University Press of Colorado
Advance praise for:
Sacred Objects and Sacred Places:
Preserving Tribal Traditions
By Andrew Gulliford
University Press of Colorado, 2000
"I am very pleased with your impressive coverage and interpretation
of issues surrounding the preservation of Tribal traditions. You have
provided up-to-date, comprehensive coverage that is a "must read"
for Tribes, anthropologists, historians, federal and state land and cultural
resource managers, and the interested layman. Your book is a tour de force.
It will be of great value to all who share the view that if anthropology
is to survive in North America it will be with, not in spite of, American
Indian cultural authority, control, and influence. Thank you for your
untiring efforts."
Deward Walker, Jr.
Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies
University of Colorado-Boulder
"If there is a better and more comprehensive summary of Native American
sacred sites issues, I
have not read it."
Fred Chapman
Native American Liaison
Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office
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