Evo Morales is the first native person to ascend to the presidency of Bolivia. Evo, as leader of Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Torwards Socialism), won the presidency with the largest margin and with the largest voter turnout in recent Bolivian history. Before being sworn in as president in La Paz, Evo participated in a Aymara [...]
Many news sites such as the New York Times are reporting what archaeologists are toting as the earliest discovered Maya mural. The mural, partially discovered in 2001 and unearthed this month is thought to date to 100 B.C. but I am sure the Maya date it using the long count. The New York Times article [...]
Every summer we would gather the fruit of the yucca, grind and pulverize it and mold it into cakes; then the tribe would be assembled to feast, to sing, and to give praises to Usen. Prayers of Thanksgiving were said by all. When the dance began the leaders bore these cakes and added words of [...]
I had the privilege to visit the National Museum of the American Indian along the Capital Mall in Washington D.C. During my short stay in Washington I visited the NMAI several times, each time having lunch at the cafeteria there. The NMAI has a wonderful collection of Peace Medals given to chiefs to help solidify [...]
“Our songs are so short because we know so much.†I always liked that line and often repeat it myself. I don’t know where I picked it up but I recently found out that this was the response of an Inuit woman to an anthropologist. Along this lines Chief Joseph said, “It does not require [...]
Upon their arrival, the Spanish burned all but a few of the sacred books compiled by the Maya, Zapotec, Aztecs, and other tribes. But in a twist of irony, it is through Spanish authors that we first read about the splendors of the Pre-Hispanic world here in the AmerÃcas. No person embodies this irony more [...]
In the previous entry I wrote about how I had subscribed to the AmerÃcas, a magazine published by the Organization of American States. I whole heartily recommend this magazine to anyone interested in indigenous and mestizo heritage of the Americas. The two issues that I have, June and October, had articles on Monte Alban in [...]
Who is a Native American? Thinking outside the box, the United States, when I say Native American I include the indigenous peoples of Latin American. But the question still remains the same, who is a Native American? I have seen two distinct articles from two very different magazines touch on this topic recently. The September [...]
I recently subscribed to AmerÃcas, published by the Organization of American States. The October issue of Américas has great article …
Edward S. Curtis, with a grant from J.P. Morgan set out to photograph and record the history of, as he put it, “one of the great races of mankind.†It has been estimated that Edward Curtis …