Page 15 - zaglauer1995

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(except perhaps in Arizona and New Mexico). It is
generally described by laymen as an unchanging set
of behavioral patterns and material objects
uniformly used in the same way by all of the
people in the "tribe" or group under discussion.
This viewpoint conveys a false impression of what
"culture" is and may also serve to confuse pupils
of both non-Indian and Indian background....This
erroneous belief serves to deprive Indians of
today of a sense of identity as Indians since most
of them obviously can not live as native people
did a century ago.

Interestingly, I found that the interviewees in this

study were quick to tell me the same thing, that they did

not know very much about "Indian things" and that they did

not know if they would be of much help to me. They assumed

that I wanted to know about traditional Kawaiisu material

culture, Kawaiisu in the past tense. It has been common for

observers to say that the Kawaiisu "lost their culture" and

have become assimilated, but cultures are far from static

entities. Cultures change and what was practiced at one

time may not be practiced in the present for many various

and valid reasons, as new ways of responding to a changing

world are created and adopted. Cultures transform and take

on new characteristics. In this process, something of the

original culture may exist, but it may be obscured by the

adoption of parts of another culture. Moreover, the loss or

transformation of different aspects of a culture does not

always mean a loss of identity.

This research will introduce the reader to the lives of

a virtually forgotten and misrepresented people, their

changing culture, and their perception of a Kawaiisu