The Counter-Narrative Series is a quarterly discussion on various topics. The following resource guides provide information material used to assist the IPCC Museum Staff in their research for topics discussed in the Counter-Narrative Series.
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center was brought into this conversation by an Ancestry.com advertisement that utilized a handful of “Indian Pueblo” artifacts and featured a New Mexico actress, Kim Trujillo, who discovered through her DNA test that she was surprisingly 26% Native American. (*After recently revisiting the advertisement we found that the ad was modified from its original version.)
Countless organizations across the country have since felt the effects of this recent craze. IPCC has taken this opportunity to continue this discussion in hopes of promoting dialogue, respect, and understanding in the communities that we live amongst and share histories with.
The Genes R’ Us: DNA, Identity, and Genealogy in the Southwest held on March 21, 2018. In this session of our quarterly Counter-Narrative lecture series, panelist focused on Native American DNA and genealogy issues in the Southwest. Questions surrounding the personal discoveries of people’s Native ancestry through DNA tests and genealogy websites were examined in regard to identity, culture, and heritage.
PANELISTS
Miguel A. Tórrez, is a Research Technologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory working in Material Science. He earned his BS in Environmental Science from Northern New Mexico College. Tórrez also serves as the administrator of the New Mexico Genealogical Society’s (NMGS DNA Project) DNA project.
Moises Gonzales, is a Genízaro Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico. Moises Gonzales is an Associate Professor of Urban Design in Community and Regional Planning at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico. He is a genízaro heir of both the Cañón de Carnué Land Grant and the San Antonio de Las Huertas land grant. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Carnué Land Grant and has written various academic articles on the history and culture of genízaro settlements of New Mexico. He is a danzante of the Matachin and Comanche traditions of the Sandia mountain communities. With Dr. Enrique LaMadrid, Moises is co-editor of the forthcoming book, Genízaro Nation: Ethnogenesis, Place, and Identity in New Mexico (to be released by UNM Press in 2018).
Gregorio Gonzales, Ph.D, is Genízaro and a 2017-2018 University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Gregorio’s research explores the intersections of race, ethnicity, and Indigeneity within the U.S. Southwest Borderlands–particularly focusing his work on: the politics and conditions of Indigeneity; cultural representation and Indigenous identity; critical Latinx Indigeneities and Indigenous transnationalism along the U.S.-Mexico border; and, sovereignty, recognition and the settler state. Earning his Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin in May 2017, Gregorio focused his doctoral work at the intersections of Latinx Studies and Native/Indigenous Studies, where he successfully completed Graduate Portfolios in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and Native American and Indigenous Studies. He also earned his M.A. in Latin American Studies (with Distinction) from The University of New Mexico in 2012, and graduated from New Mexico State University with a B.A. in Government (with Honors) in 2010.
Daniel, Karen Stein. Native American Genealogical Resources for New Mexico. New Mexico Genealogical Society, 2008.
Gonzales, Moises. “The Genizaro Land Grant Settlements of New Mexico.” Journal of the Southwest, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 583–602, 2014.
New Mexico Genealogist. “Special Issue: DNA and New Mexico Genealogy” New Mexico Genealogist: Journal of the New Mexico Genealogical Society v.55, no.3, September 2016.
Stuart-Warren, Paula. “Researching Your American Indian Ancestry.” National Genealogical Society. January/February/March, pp. 44-46, 2005.
TallBear, Kimberly. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
Stuart-Warren, Paula. “Researching Your American Indian Ancestry.” National Genealogical Society. January/February/March, 2005, pp. 44-46.
Tsosie, Mary Alice. “Native American Genealogical Research: The Paradox, a Navajo Librarian’s Perspective.” New Mexico Genealogist v.44, no.4, pp. 214-218, December 2005.
Valdes, Alisa. “New Mexico Hispanics Discovering and Embracing Their Indigenous Roots.” Santa Fe New Mexican, July 2, 2016.
“The Ancient One Coming Home.” Native American Calling, February 2, 2017.
Cal Community Content. “From Blood to DNA, From "Tribe" to "Race": Science, Whiteness & Property”YouTube. November 11, 2011.
“Putting Ancestry to the DNA Test.” Native American Calling, July 12, 2016.
Wells, Spencer. “A Family Tree for Humanity.” TedGlobal, June 2011.
"A Guide to Tracing American Indian & Alaska Native Ancestry.” Office of Public Affairs, U.S Department of the Interior.
“Havasupai Tribe and the Lawsuit Settlement Aftermath” American Indian & Alaska Native Genetics Resource Center, 2018.
“Native American History and Genealogy.” Access Genealogy,. 2018.
“Tracing Native American Family Roots.” National Indian Law Library, 2018.
“Tribal Enrollment and Genetic Testing Resources” American Indian & Alaska Native Genetics Resource Center, 2018.
The lecture event, “Zia Symbol: Iconography & Appropriation” held on June 20, 2018. In this quarterly counter-narrative session, the panelists discussed the historical and contemporary issues surrounding one of the most iconic symbols in the U.S., the Sun Symbol of Zia Pueblo. Topics discussed include the iconography of the symbol, history of the appropriation by the state of New Mexico, and tribal concerns over its usage.
PANELISTS
Senator Michael Padilla is a member of the New Mexico State Senate, representing District 14 since January 2013. Senator Padilla was elected to leadership in his second year in office, as the Senate Majority Whip, and serves on nine legislative committees, including Chairman of the science, technology, and telecommunications committee. Padilla grew up in Los Padillas, a rural farming community that his family helped settle over 150 years ago and is located inside of the district he represents. Padilla has always been involved in the Democratic Party of New Mexico, serving as a precinct chairman, ward chairman, county central member, and state central committee member. He has also served on numerous boards and commissions prior to becoming a senator, including Youth Development Incorporated, Special Olympics New Mexico, Junior Achievement of New Mexico, Association of Commerce and Industry of New Mexico, New Mexico Workforce Development, and several others. Padilla has successfully passed multiple pieces of legislation to improve job creation and economic development, access to high speed broadband Internet, child food security, child protective services, and education reform and funding.
Rob Martinez is Deputy State Historian and a native New Mexican born and raised in Albuquerque. A graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.B.A. in International Business Management, Rob then went on to pursue his interest in New Mexican culture and history at U.N.M., earning an M.A. in Latin American history, with an emphasis on church, cultural, and social practices of the Spanish Colonial period in New Mexico. During his tenure as a graduate student, he was a research assistant for four years at the Vargas Project, learning research skills and paleography, abilities that would serve him well as a historian. Upon graduating, Rob pursued a teaching license and also worked for fourteen years as a research historian for the Sephardic Legacy Project, scouring civil and church archives in New Mexico, Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, analyzing documents for a research and publishing project about the Crypto-Jewish phenomenon in New Mexico and the Caribbean. Rob has presented papers and lectures on his research at the University of New Mexico, as well as history conferences throughout the southwestern United States. He has also spoken to historical groups in New Mexico such as the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, the Albuquerque Historical Society, and the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies about research methodology, unique findings, New Mexico Hispanic culture, and general History of New Mexico. Rob was a teacher at Rio Rancho High School for ten years, educating young New Mexicans about World History, New Mexico History, and Language Arts.
Peter Pino is a former governor of the Pueblo of Zia. Peter has been a Tribal Council member since 1967, and since 1977, has served as the tribal administrator and treasurer. Mr. Pino is a traditional spiritual leader, holding a lifetime appointment as one of the tribe's Keeper of Songs. He is also a traditional craftsman who tans deer hides and makes moccasins, bows, arrows, digging sticks, rabbit sticks, and bone tools, using the same techniques employed by his Puebloan ancestors. His archaeological and outdoor interests have led him to committee and board commitments with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and Mesa Verde National Park. He is the first Native American to serve as a Commissioner for the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission; his term ended in January 2007. Mr. Pino holds an M.B.A from the University of New Mexico in Business Administration; a B.A in Industrial Education, and an A.S in Electronics from New Mexico Highlands University.
Berman, Tressa. “Beyond the Museum: The Politics of Representation in Asserting Rights to Cultural Property,” Council for Museum Anthropology (U.S.), Museum Anthropology, Vol. 21, Issue 3, December 1997, Pages 19-27.
Euler, Robert C. “Environmental Adaption at Sia Pueblo” Human Organization, Winter 1954. Vertical Files of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Library & Archives
McSherry, Erin. General Counsel, Report to the Indian Affairs Committee of the New Mexico Legislature, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, August 30th, 2014.
Suzanne Milchan, Whose Rights Are These Anyway -A Rethinking of Our Society's Intellectual Property Laws in Order to Better Protect Native American Religious Property, 28 Am. Indian L. Rev. 157 (2003),
Watkins, Joe. “Cultural Nationalists, Internationalists, and ‘Intra-Nationalists’:Who’s Right and Whose Right?”, International Journal of Cultural Property, International Cultural Property Society, 2005.
Brown, Michael F. “Who Owns Native Culture?” London, Engand, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2003.
Owen Lewis, Nancy, and Kay Leigh Hagan. “A Peculiar Alchemy: A Centennial History of SAR, 1907-2007.” Santa Fe, School for Advanced Research Press; illustrated edition, July 10, 2007.
Turner, Stephanie B. “The Case of the Zia: Looking Beyond Trademark Law to Protect Sacred Symbols.” Yale Law School, Yale Law School Legal Scholarly Repository, Student Scholarship Papers, March 1, 2012.
White, Leslie A. “Zia: The Sun Symbol Pueblo” University of Albuquerque in collaboration with Calvin Horn Publisher, Incorporated; Re-issue Edition, January 1, 1974.
Young, James O. and Conrad B. Brunk “The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation” West Sussex, UK, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009.
Bernholz, Charles D. and Linda G. Novotny, Ana L. Gomez. “American Indians and the United States patent and trademark office: The Native American Tribal Insignia database.” Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 26, Issue 1, January 2009,
Dauber, Kenneth. “Pueblo Pottery and the Politics of Regional Identity” Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 32, No. 4, Inventing the Southwest, Winter 1990.
Ellis, Florence Hawley. “The Immediate History of Zia Pueblo as Derived from Excavation in Refuse Pots,” American Antiquity, Vol. 31, No. 6, Cambridge University Press, Oct 1996.
Greer, Olivia J. “Using Intellectual Property Laws to Protect Indigenous Cultural Property” NYSBA, Bright Ideas, Winter 2013, Vol. 22, No. 3.
Jill Koren Kelley, Owning the Sun: Can Native Culture Be Protected through Current Intellectual Property Law, 7 J. High Tech. L. 180 (2007) Provided by: New Hampshire School of Law. Downloaded April 10, 2018.
Nelson, Rebecca. “Preventing the Zia Porta-Potty: The 1999 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hearings on Native American Insignia”
Zark, Brian. “Use of Native American Tribal Names as Marks” American Indian Law Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 2, Volume III, Issue II, Article 7, May 15, 2015.
Zark, Brian (2015) "Use of Native American Tribal Names as Marks," American Indian Law Journal, Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 7.
Baca, Marie C. “Brooklyn Beverage Company Used Zia Symbol.” Albuquerque Journal, February 9, 2018.
Boswell, Alisa. “Zia Pueblo say they want symbol used respectfully.” The Portales News Tribune, April 21, 2015.
Cart, Julie. “A Culture Clash of Symbolism, Commercialism.” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1999.
Dyer, Jessica. “Land of Emoji’s: New Company Rolls out Icons with NM Themes.” Albuquerque Journal, January 12, 2017.
English, Mike. “Proposal would prod payment for use of Zia symbol.” Albuquerque Business First, Feb. 20, 2015.
Graham, Robert. “Brand Values.” Currents, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, July 22, 2016.
Pino, Peter and Dody Fugate. “Icons of Statehood: Zia’s Symbol, New Mexico’s Flag.” El Palacio, Vol. 117, no. 1 , Spring 2012.
Patton, Phil. “DESIGN NOTEBOOK; Trademark Battle Over Pueblo Sign.” The New York Times, Jan. 13, 2000.
“Zia Pueblo Uspset over Symbol Usage.” KOAT.com, June 4, 2014.
“Zia Pueblo wants symbol removed from flag of city in far-away Wisconsin.” Indianz.com, June 27, 2017, www.indianz.com/News/2017/06/27/zia-pueblo-opposes-of-symbol-on-flag-of.asp. Web. Accessed April 10, 2018.
The National Congress of American Indians. Recognition of the Pueblo of Zia’s Cultural Property Rights to the Zia Sun Symbol, Resolution #ANC-14-025, 2014.
Fresh & Clean Portable Restrooms. Advertisement, www.freshandclean-pr.com.
Mercogliano, Frank. “Lobo’s Wear Zia Sun Symbol on American Indian Night v. NMSU” UNM Football, Oct 2, 2015.
“The Pueblo of Zia: Home of the Sun Symbol.” Silver Bullet Productions, 2007.
Scott, Sage. “The Fascinating Story Behind the Zia Sun Symbol on New Mexico’s State Flag.” Everyday Wanderer, March 11, 2018.
Sari Sharoni (JD 2016), “The Mark of a Culture: The Efficiency and Propriety of Using Trademark Law to Deter Cultural Appropriation,” 2015-2016 IP Award-winning paper, Stanford Law School.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Zia People.” Wikipedia, February 16, 2018.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Flag of New Mexico.” Wikipedia, May 10, 2018.
“United Daughters of the Confederacy” Portales Main Street Program, Historic Buildings and Memorials.
United States, Congress, Secretary of State, Legislation.
United States Trademark Act (Lanham Act) of 1946. United States Code 15:1051-1141.
United States, Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Law Treaty Implementation, Public Law 105-330, Oct. 30, 1998.
“Zia Pueblo” New Mexico Tourism Department, New Mexico True.
“The Zia Sun Symbol” State of New Mexico," New Mexico History.org, 2007.
Ebright, Malcolm, Rick Hendricks, and Richard W. Hughes. "Four Square Leagues: Pueblo Indian Land in New Mexico." UNM Press, 2014.
Gordon-McCutchan, R.C. “The Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake” [1995] Red Crane Books
Leonard, Olen E. “The Role of the Land Grant in the Social Organization and Social Processes of a Spanish-American Village in New Mexico” [1943] Reprint Albuquerque Calvin Horn Publisher, 1970
Roberts, David “The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion that Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest” [2005] Simon & Schuster
Sando, Joe S. “Pueblo Nations, Eight Centuries of Pueblo History” [1992] Clear Light Publishing
Simmons, Marc “New Mexico: An Interpretive History” [1988] Reprint University of New Mexico Press
Westphall, Victor “Mercedes Reales: Hispanic Land Grants of the Upper Rio Grande Region New Mexico Land Grant Series” [1993] Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press
Bletzer, Michael “The First Province of That Kingdom” New Mexico Historical Review 88, No. 4 [2014]
Carlson, Alvar W. “El Rancho and Vadito: Spanish Settlements on Indian Land Grants” El Palacio 85 (1979): 28-39.
Carlson, Alvar W. “Spanish-American Acquisition of Cropland within Northern Pueblo Indian Grants, New Mexico” Ethnohistory 22 (1975): 95-110
Jenkins, Myra Ellen. “Spanish Land Grants in the Tewa Area” New Mexico Historical Review 47 (1972): 113-34
Jenkins, Myra Ellen. “The Baltasar Baca ‘Grant’: History of an Encroachment” El Palacio 68 (1961): 47-64, 85-114.
Romero, Hilario E. “Pueblo Villages, Land Grants and Spanish Villages in the Valle de Cochiti: A History of Pena Blanca and Its Lower Rio Santa Fe Neighbors, 1250-1845” Green Fire Times (2018): Jeff Norris Article 2 Parts.
Sanchez, Carlos. "Four Leagues of Their Own: Pueblo Land Grant History" Pasatiempo.
The following websites contain numerous videos.
Bears Ears National Monument. Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. VIDEO.
Chaco Canyon. Frack Off Greater Chaco. VIDEO
The lecture event, “Sowing the Sacred: Cultivation, Appreciation, and Appropriation' was held on June 26, 2019. In this quarterly counter-narrative discussion session, panelists Aaron Lowden, Reyna Banteah, Jeanette Hart-Mann, and Marian Naranjo discuss historical farming techniques, seed cultivation, and examine questions around legal ownership and stewardship of native and heirloom seeds. The panel of invited guests brought a wide range of perspectives and included cultural, historical, and spiritual concerns, as well as focusing on the physical.
PANELISTS
Aaron Lowden (Acoma Pueblo), Program Coordinator at Southwest Conservation Corps. Aaron joined Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) in May 2012 as a Crew Leader under Ancestral Lands heading a youth hiking program called the Acoma Hiking Club for its second year. Prior to becoming a SCC Staff member, he worked for the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and National Park Service - Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance (NPS-RTCA) Program coordinating a trail feasibility study with for the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. While under SCA/NPS-RTCA, Aaron worked the Zuni Mountain Trails Partnership to help facilitate a trail project with the US Forest Service, as well as initiate, coordinate, and lead the first pilot groups of the Acoma Hiking Club. He also worked for the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum as Tourism and Hospitality Coordinator for two years. Aaron was born and raised in the historic and culturally rich Pueblo of Acoma and studies at New Mexico State University. He enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, mountain biking, and participating in his Acoma cultural traditions.
Reyna Banteah (Zuni Pueblo), Ts’uyya Farm. Reyna started her journey in agriculture through a farmer-training program called Grow the Growers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Last year she started her own farm/business called Ts’uyya Farm, which means hummingbird in the Zuni language. Ts’uyya Farm finds opportunities to connect others with knowledge of farming, seed saving, cooking and processing of foods, especially engaging youth and emerging young farmers. Ts’uyya Farm grows landrace crops, such as beans, corn, squash, chile, amaranth, and gourds, and is a resource for local seeds. Reyna focuses on using sustainable farming methods, saving native seeds adapted to the Southwest, and providing the local community with healthy food. Her goal is to help create thriving, self-sustaining agricultural communities both in Albuquerque and among our Native Communities with more young entrepreneurs/farmers.
Jeanette Hart-Mann, Director, Land Arts of the American West, Farmer/Artist and SeedBroadcaster, Assistant Professor of Art and Ecology and UNM. Jeanette Hart-Mann is a transdisciplinary artist/farmer whose work interrogates the boundaries between culture and biologic systems. Her artistic practice is centered in a desire to counter oppressive power structures through examining and cultivating transspecies relationships and ecologic processes as acts of resistance to germinate resiliency. Her methodologies are interdisciplinary, spanning across video, sculpture, photography, installation, experimental media, print, performance, farming, writing, and activism. Jeanette is a founder of the SeedBroadcast Collective and the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station.
Her current projects include Seed: Climate Change Resilience (Albuquerque Museum), running from June 22 – September 22, 2019. Jeanette is also the Director of Land Arts of the American West, Assistant Professor of Art & Ecology in the Department of Art at the University of New Mexico, and Collective Operative of Fodder Project Collaborative Research Farm in Anton Chico, New Mexico.
Cajete, Gregory. Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education. Kivaki Press, 1994. Institute of Education Resources.
Naranjo, Tessie. Agriculture at Santa Clara Pueblo, 1995.
Abourezk, Kevin. “’Seeds of Resistance’: Ponca Corn Planted in Path of Keystone XL Pipeline.” Indianz, June 10, 2019.
Barber, Dan. “Save Our Food. Free the Seed.” New York Times Magazine, 7 June 2019,
Gattuso, Reina. “The Promise and Perils of Resurrecting Native Americans’ Lost Crops.” Atlas Obscura, April 4, 2019.
Hooks Cody. “Lujan Grisham Vetoes Language in Budget Threatening Food Seed Control.” Santa Fe New Mexican, April 6, 2019.
Hooks, Cody. “Walking the Ditch in Las Trampas.” Taos News, April 23, 2019.
Karp, Liz Susman. “How Seed Saving is Repairing a Painful Past for Native Americans.” Modern Farmer, May 20, 2019.
Mann, Charles C. “What Ancient Maize Can Tell Us About Thousands of Years of Civilization in America.” Smithsonian Magazine, Nov 2008.
Tlapoyawa, Kurly. “Acquais: a forgotten history.” Ipilwan Ketzalkoatl, June 9, 2019.
Wallace, Eric J. “Americans Have Planted So Much Corn That It’s Changing the Weather.” Atlas Obscura, Dec 3, 2018.
Hubbard, Kristina, and Jared Zystro. State of Organic Seed, 2016.
National Climate Assessment. Climate Change in the Southwest United States. Edited by Gregg Garfin et al., Island Press, 2013.
“Nina Dubois & Jeanette Hart-Mann.” PBS, Oct 18, 2009.
“The Race to Save Endangered Foods.” Youtube, June 3, 2019.
“2105 Patent Eligible Subject Matter – Living Subject Matter.” United States Patent and Trademark Office, Jan 24, 2018.
“About.” Open Source Seed Initiative, 2016.
Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute. 2016.
“A Forest Garden with 500 Edible Plants Could Lead to a Sustainable Future.” National Geographic, Feb 8, 2019.
“Mission.” Culinary Breeding Network.
Native Seed Search, 2019.
“NIFA-Land Grant Colleges and Universities.” United States Department of Agriculture, March 2019.
“Our Story.” Sierra Seeds, 2019.
School Gardens. Northern Arizona University.
Seed Distribution, Department of Agriculture. U.S. House of Representatives, 1920.