As the Rez Turns: Anomalies within and beyond the Boundaries of a Pueblo Community

Abstract

L ike Skylar, a character in the soap opera As the Rez Turns, community members at San Antonio Pueblo often discuss the numerous changes that have occurred at the reservation during the last twenty years.1 A character in the “first Indian soap opera” written by students in a community Tiwalanguage class, Skylar’s vision of the rez is fictional; her commentary, however, seems accurate—and at times hilarious—to the young adults at San Antonio Pueblo who created her. In the tribal library, in the community Head Start building, and at feasts and parties, San Antonians talk about how incredibly different life was “before we had a casino” or “back when we all had to go to Indian School in Santa Fe.” Community members identify many of these changes as positive, including the greater number of people returning to the pueblo to live and work; the new educational opportunities that are available to tribal members; and their increased religious, cultural, and political