Tangata Whenua- Tohono O'odam

I spent my first weekend on my own firstly finding my local laundromat, and learning how to work the machines, and then visiting the Arizona State Museum which is on the university campus. This museum, in contrast to its very colonial red brick appearance, focuses almost exclusively on Native American stories and knowledge. One of the ongoing exhibitions concerns woven textiles and another 2,000 years of pottery tradition among local Native American groups. There is also an exhibition of Pahko’ora/ Pahk’ola masks from the Mayo and Yaqui people. These masks have deep ritual significance for the Yaqui and Mayo people of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. I read that when a person wears them they take on an animal spirit.

A temporary exhibit is one named Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations, in which items from Thrift stores are used to exemplify stereotypes concerning racial identity. The exhibit very cleverly uses these artefacts to encourage viewers to consider societal stereotypes and their own identity.

Another ongoing exhibition called Paths of Life, takes the visitor through an introduction to ten South West Native American groups including Seri, Tarahumara, Yaqui, O'odham, Colorado River Yumans, Southern Paiute, Pai, Apache, Hopi, and Navajo. Interestingly today as I took a turn at the reception to the World of Words Library, a group of Native American students had an event in the library, and listening in I learned how to say the name of the people whose land the University of Arizona is on: Tohono O’odam. (I had been saying it incorrectly).

I really enjoyed my visit to this museum, and felt that in some way, however inadequately, I had acknowledged tangata whenua. As a New Zealander, that feels important.

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