by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
The most important thing about a cultural map is not what is on the map, but what is not on the map, said Jim Enote, who did a cultural map for the Zuni tribe.
It could be dangerous for maps to include the location of sacred places, Enote said.
"If you don't want it to be out there, don't put it on there," he said. "Somebody's going to find a way to exploit it."
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Cultural maps are a way for American Indians to identify and document places and progress of their tribes, said student Tobias Major, events coordinator for the University Libraries' Indigenous Nations Library Program.
"It's almost like putting up a flag," he said. "It's important for people to say, 'This is mine.'"
Enote spoke at a lecture in Zimmerman Library on Wednesday about cultural mapping. About 30 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the Indigenous Nations Library Program.
The event is part of the Medicine Wheel Lecture Series. The next event on March 21 will have free food prepared by American Indian chefs.
Major said the maps emphasize sovereignty. The maps show people in the community where important places are, what their names are and what they mean, Major said.
"Images help bring younger people interested in their culture," he said.
Taft Blackhorse, who spoke at the event, makes terrestrial and extraterrestrial cultural maps based on artwork. Terrestrial maps are for looking up at the stars from the Earth, while extraterrestrial maps are for looking down at the stars from the heavens, Blackhorse said.
He said when people are born, they are taught where their six mountains are. With the terrestrial and extraterrestrial maps, they can never get lost, he said.
"No matter how far you go from the six mountains, you can always find your way back," he said.
Blackhorse said the maps are in the sky, but they are connected to the Earth.
"Mother Earth and Father Sky are one body," he said. "One can't do without the other. It has to have the male and female
component."
Blackhorse said the maps view the landscape as it relates to the Earth and sky.
"They're not just there to exist," he said. "They're prayers, but they also play as a component to the terrestrial landscape."
Enote said American Indians have always had maps, whether they're prayers or drawn on pottery or tapestries.
Maps don't have to just show the location of places, Enote said. Cultural maps can show progress and how people want to move forward and change, he said.
Enote said it's important for American Indians to have
cultural maps.
"They can help us regain our land and help us regain history," he said. "If we don't map ourselves, somebody will."
