White Shell Water Place, An Anthology of Native American Reflections on the 400th Anniversary of the Founding of Santa Fe, New Mexico

by F. Richard Sanchez

This anthology, a companion to the Santa Fe 400th Anniversary Commemoration publication, All Trails Lead to Santa Fe , affords Native American authors the opportunity to unreservedly express their ideas, opinions and perspectives on the historical and cultural aspects of Santa Fe using their own voice and preferred writing styles that are not necessarily in accord with western academic and writing conventions. One cannot truly contemplate the history and culture of Santa Fe without the voices of the Native Americans--the original inhabitants of Po'oge , ''White Shell Water Place.'' Indeed, much of Santa Fe's story is conveyed from a western colonial perspective, which, until fairly recently, has predominantly relegated Native Americans to the fringes. However, over the last thirty years colonial narratives regarding Native American history and culture have been, and continue to be, disputed and amended as the pursuit of academic, intellectual and cultural self determination gains momentum in respective Native American tribal and academic communities. The Santa Fe 400th Anniversary Commemoration has created an opportunity for the Native American voice to be heard. This anthology is a ceremony of Native voices, a gathering of Native people offering scholarly dialogue, personal points of view, opinions, and stories regarding the pre and post-historical and cultural foundations of Santa Fe.

188 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2010

Reviews

[chats · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish every geography had a book like this featuring the people whose history and present are inextricably bound up in it. I really didn’t know much about Santa Fe before starting this and I feel lucky to be going there soon with this new understanding!

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that explores modern Native American reflections on the founding of Santa Fé in honor of its 400th anniversary in 2010.

Ch. 1 focuses on a Pueblo history of Santa Fé, in particular with respect to the Spanish colonial period.

Ch. 2 is about slavery, genízaros, and detribalized Indians from the colonial period and how that affects their modern descendants.

Ch. 3 focuses on the first Spanish capital, before Santa Fé, at Yungeh outside Okhay Owingeh.

Ch. 4 is a short story where the protragonist explores the career of "the Turk" - the guide who lead the original Spanish expedition away from the Pueblos and into the plains - and the relevance to the future of the Pueblo people.

Ch. 5 explores the Santa Fé trail during the 19th century in both the Mexican and American periods, focusing on the Pueblos, the surrounding unsubjugated Indian nations, and the displaced peoples who had been forcibly relocated from the East.

Ch. 6 is a short essay about the Porch - the portal outside the Palace of the Governors where Indian artists sell their pieces.

Ch. 7 is a longer essay about labor and marketing of American Indian art pieces in Santa Fé, and how this is shaped by the Euro-American perspective and culture.

Ch. 8 is about the role of mixed-ness - mixed in the sense of mixed Indian heritage as well as the sense of the mixed-race Hispanic people of northern New Mexico.

Ch. 9 is a memoir (with temporal and spatial discontinuities) in which the protagonist recounts their childhood memories in different places in New Mexico as well as their heritage as mixed Diné and Hispanic.

Ch. 10 is about the developing legal relationship between the State of New Mexico and the Indian nations therein.

I enjoyed this book - there are 10 authors with 10 different topics, writing styles, and perspectives, all of which shed light on the deeper history of Santa Fé.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some essays/stories much better than others, kind of disjointed.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is made up of ten essays, mostly by Pueblo people whose ancestors were living here when the Spanish arrived in 1540, seeking Cibola, the "seven cities of gold." Tewa scholar Alfonso Ortiz describes the Coronado expedition as a "rampage of death, deceit and destruction," and relations between the Spanish and the Pueblos didn't improve much until after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the only successful Native revolt against their European conquerors in what's now the United States.

It's said that history is written by the winners, but it's fascinating to read history from the viewpoint of the "losing" side -- although, after 470-some years of European contact, almost all of the old families are some mix of American Indian, Spanish, Anglo and Mexican Indian blood. I found the history of the Genizaros, detribalized Indians who were once household slaves of the Spanish settlers, queasily fascinating. And the series of vignettes by Carol Harvey, daughter of a Navajo father and a Nuevomexicana mother, of growing up in Santa Fe, was one of the high points of the book. The ten essays vary in quality & writing style, but I enjoyed all but one. Recommended for anyone interested in the history of Northern New Mexico.

"White Shell Water Place" is a translation of Ogha Po'oge, a Tewa name for Santa Fe.

Editor Richard Sanchez's introduction:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note...

Google Books sample:
http://books.google.com/books?id=8AhC...