Wiyaxayxt / Wiyaakaa'awn / As Days Go By: Our History, Our Land, Our People -- The Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295986239 ISBN 13: 9780295986234

Publisher: University of Washington, 2014

Synopsis

This book represents a new vista, looking past the days when there were two distinct groups-those who were studied and those who studied them. This history of the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla people had its beginnings in October 2000, when elders sat side by side with native students and native and non-native scholars to compare notes on tribal history and culture. Through this collaborative process, tribal members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have taken on their own historical retellings, drawing on the scholarship of non-Indians as a useful tool and external resource.

Primary to this history are native voices telling their own story. Beginning with ancient teachings and traditions, moving to the period of first contact with Euro-Americans, the Treaty council, war, and the reservation period, and then to today's modern tribal governance and the era of self-determination, the tribal perspective takes center stage. Throughout, readers will see continuity in the culture and in ways of life that have been present from the earliest times, all on the same landscape.

Wiyaxayxt (Columbia River Sahaptin) and Wiyaakaa'awn (Nez Perce) can be interpreted to mean "as the days go by," "day by day," or "daily living." They represent the meaning of the English term "history" in two of the common languages still spoken on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

About this title

About the Author:

Jennifer Karson is publications coordinator at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton, Oregon, and is a doctoral candidate in social anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Review:

"The legal and cultural record of this period is fascinating and helps make this book important far beyond the Umatilla..Highly recommended."―Choice

"Non-Indian and tribal scholars have created a work that is both accessible and on a firm foundation of scholarship, and it is well designed. The book is very successful in providing a tribal perspective on history and subjects addressed regularly by non-Indian authors. Anyone interested..will benefit from adding this book to his or her library."―Oregon Historical Quarterly

"The book is very nicely designed and should work very well in classrooms on the reservation and, one hopes, nearby..In most ways it is a model study..As Days Go By is essential reading for anyone interested in the American Indian communities of the Plateau culture area as well as for readers concerned with how those and similar communities should present their own story."―Journal of Folklore Research

"Editor Karson provides a rich collection of cultural information about the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes located in the Northwest United States. Twelve contributors to the work offer insight into the history of these Native American peoples from their point of view, an approach that sets this work apart from traditional approaches already available in print."―Multicultural Review

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Washington
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0295986239
• ISBN 13: 9780295986234
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Karson Jennifer