Native American Art: Indigenous Cultures Before and After European Contact

Fred Kabotie (Hopi), Detail from The 1680 Pueblo Revolt at Hopi, 1976

For our topic, we discussed Native Americans before and after Europeans came to America. This included learning of their customs, homes, and art as well as their social conflict with Europeans and subsequent injustices that occurred due to colonization. The articles focused primarily on Native Americans of the Southwest including Anasazi, Hopi, Zuni, Mimbres, Navajo, and other native peoples. After a brief recap of the readings, we discussed various questions that our classmates had inquired through their responses on blackboard. 

Great Kiva of Chetro Keti

We talked about whether trading fairs such as the ones conducted by Native American tribes pre-colonization could happen in present times. The conclusion was that it could occur once again, but in a very organized manner due to changes in economic systems. Another topic was if humans would ever be able to look past cultural differences in order to see everybody around them as just people rather than something to look down on. It was said that cultural differences are important, that they are part of being human, and shouldn’t be disregarded but rather that humans need to accept differences and appreciate them. 

The class also talked about the problematic construction of Mount Rushmore on sacred Native American grounds. Is it considered land art? The consensus seemed to be that it was technically land art since it was sculpted by an artist. However, much was discussed how disrespectful to Native Americans it is, and how in response to Mount Rushmore Mount Crazy Horse is being constructed. This led into much interesting discussion about Native American representation in media and the strides that have been made to be more respectful in recent times. 

 Julian and Maria Martinez making pottery, San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM, c. 1950

After this discussion, we asked if people who create Native art that are not Native American disenfranchising or appropriating Native American art. This came down to education and being respectful about subject matter. Many agreed in the class that it is important to study different culture’s art in order to understand their process and forms. It is also important to make sure you educate yourself on the origins on the subject matter you are borrowing from and why it was made. 

Lastly, and perhaps our main topic, was whether the darker history of European colonization and the treatment of Native people should be taught earlier in school. This came from the fact that most people in the class had little to no education on the true history of the United States. It was agreed that the true history should be taught sooner than high school, we also discussed how to go about explaining the wrongdoings of early settlers toward Native Americans in a kid-friendly way. The class was very passionate about this topic and wished they had learned more sooner than a junior/senior in high school since it is almost world-altering information.

Overall, the discussion was very interesting since it was a passionate topic for the class. I think that everybody learned a lot more about our nation’s history than we had previously known and will strive to support changes that we felt should be made during our discussion. 

Cassi Amman, Teddy Lepley & Aly Didier


Articles Read: David W. Penney "Chapter 4: The Southwest"; Colin G. Calloway, "First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History"; and Akim D. Reinhardt, "Native America: The Indigenous"