Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards, and the Trauma of History Volume II, 1680–1781 ed. by Thomas E. Sheridan et al.

Abstract

Reviewed by: Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards, and the Trauma of History Volume II, 1680–1781 ed. by Thomas E. Sheridan et al. Rose Miron (bio) Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards, and the Trauma of History Volume II, 1680–1781 edited by Thomas E. Sheridan, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, Anton Daughters, Dale S. Brenneman, T. J. Ferguson, Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, and Lee Wayne Lomayestewa University of Arizona Press, 2020 AS MANY WITHIN THE DISCIPLINE of history debate the extent to which tribal consultation is necessary and ethical, others are simply doing the work—showing us that collaboration is not only ethical but that it produces better results. Moquis and Kastiilam: Hopis, Spaniards, and the Trauma of History Volume II, 1680–1781 is an example of one such project. The volume is the second book within the Hopi History Project—a collaborative initiative between the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office and the University of Arizona that aims to reinterpret early Hopi history by prioritizing Hopi knowledge and sources. Using newly recorded Hopi oral histories as its starting point, the project revisits the documentary record produced by Spanish colonists to compare those accounts with Hopi traditional knowledge. Adding Hopi voices to the analysis of this period recaptures stories that have long been erased and sheds new light on a history that has virtually always been told from a European perspective. To accomplish this, the volume quite literally places Spanish documentary sources alongside Hopi knowledge and oral histories and directly interrogates the validity of various Spanish claims. Almost every historical text reprinted within this volume is prefaced by an introduction that provides context and calls attention to certain details that are either missing, incorrect, or could benefit from reinterpretation. For example, before inviting readers to examine excerpts from seventeenth-century Spanish leader don Diego de Vargas's journal and a letter he wrote to the king of Spain, the authors point to the stark embellishment present in Vargas's public account of his journey to Hopi pueblos, as well as his potential misunderstanding of one Hopi person's level of leadership based on his ignorance of matrilineal clan structures. Printed interviews with staff from the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office also shed light on issues that stretch across multiple sources, [End Page 183] illuminating the larger problems with the way Hopi history has been historically represented. This allows the collaborators to both "re-write, and re-right" history, directly addressing inaccuracies in the documentary record while also commenting directly on the process by which Hopi history has historically been constructed by primarily non-Hopi people and without Hopi voices (see Linda Tuhiwai Smith's 2012 book, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 2nd ed. [London: Zed], 29). In this vein, several sections of the book feature direct commentary on research methods that provide context for this project and advice for future collaborations. The authors comment generally on problems with the Spanish documentary record that Hopi perspectives can shed light on and emphasize the importance of Hopi people being able to confront historical trauma on their own terms, rather than whenever a non-Hopi writer decides they want to research it. Perhaps most effectively, the authors aptly highlight positionality not just as an academic term but as a Hopi value. Whether a story is being told from a Hopi or non-Hopi perspective, what narratives an individual is likely to know and what details they are likely to understand are directly impacted by their clan, lineage, and their relationships within a community. Ultimately, the editors make a strong case for all future research on Hopi history, and Native history more broadly, to include consultation with Hopi/Native people. Rather than being organized as a cohesive narrative or typical monograph, the volume is set up as a sourcebook that includes reprints of many Spanish historical texts, new oral histories and recorded conversations, and a new analysis of Hopi history from Hopi perspectives. It will be less appealing to those who are unfamiliar with Hopi history and are looking for a more generalized narrative account. Yet, for those studying and researching Hopi history specifically, or history in the Southwest more broadly, it is an essential guide. Anyone who consults the...