"The Encounter: Native Americans and the Quincentenary" Reprinted from Encuentro, A Columbian Quincentenary Newsletter, Latin American Institute, the University of New Mexico by: Dave Warren in: Five Hundred Magazine, Volume 1/No. 1; May/June 1989, Coral Gables, FL 33146 U.S. Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission Charles Wilkinson writes in his recently published Indians, Time and the Law that a new federalism must now be embraced to include federal, state and American Indian tribal governments. His assertion is rooted in the concept of tribal sovereignty and in the parallel recognition that Indian tribes had functioned as self-governing entities before the first European settlers descended upon the Americas. What is more, the principle of tribal sovereignty--despite all efforts to displace it--has been consistently reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The importance of Indians and of Indian concerns within national and international arenas has become increasingly evident in recent years. Indians in the United States, for example, occupy areas of access to critical natural resources and thus influence, by virtue of water rights and regulatory powers vested in tribal governments, the growth and expansion of major metro- politan centers in the west. Indians in Brazil, Peru and else- where in the Americas are at the center of controversies involving human rights as well as the development of vast interior lands. Canadian Indians, Natives, and Metis are now a key force in shaping new federal, provincial, and tribal infra- structures central to an integrated national system. The generation of youth today will come of age in the 21st century. As the Indian people continue to exert influences, often out of proportion to their numbers, on the general society there is an ever-increasing probability for misunderstanding, conflict and confrontation. In 1992, we have the opportunity to commemorate and record the new threshold of understanding and appreciation of the greatness and complexity of the hemisphere's earliest inhabitants not as anomalous artifacts of cultures past but as one of the unique, vital elements of the New World and the newly-emerging century. Clearly, all of these issues surrounding Indians' rights and identity have implications for the Quincentenary. But let us digress for a moment. Throughout the Americas, Indians have long constituted an anomaly. From the very outset of contact with Europeans, the question was persistently raised about their place in colonial society as well as in the theological schema of the time. Who were these people and what status should they be accorded? Indians became the center of major philosophical and theological disputes, in many ways unprecedented in western history. For some, the "Great Debates" of the 1550s concerning the nature of the Indian and the moral, legal, and religious responsibility of the Spanish Crown marked the end of the medieval world and the beginning of the modern era, as Aristotelian concepts of natural slavery yielded to a more enlightened acceptance of the humanism and universalism that would later flourish during the Age of Enlightenment. And yet concurrently, it was the idea of race--rather than of Christian versus Infidel--that emerged as the distinguishing criterion of human relationships, a criterion, sadly enough, with which we are still struggling. And although these paradoxes continue to bedevil us, official policy has shifted from insistence upon the forced integration of Indians to a recognition that culture and tribe must be accommodated as part of the Indians' assimilation into the broader society. The Eurocentric Bias The Quincentenary thus arrives at a propitious time for the native peoples of the Americas, a time of heightened awareness of their rights and aspirations, and of their role in the formation of hemispheric society. Consequently, should the observance of the Quincentenary fail to incorporate these elements, not only will recognize a five-hundred-year-old historical reality, but also will achieve the subtler task of using the occasion to refine and deepen our understanding of one of the most significant changes in the history of mankind. Were American Indians to be polled on the question, a majority would likely agree that the Quincentenary is currently being viewed with much the same Eurocentric bias that characterized the 1892 cele- bration. This perception notwithstanding, the national perspective does seem to be changing in ways that focus on the appropriate role and place of native Americans. Some of the clearest evidence in support of this change lies in the recent work of the U.S. Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. The Commission, in a recent report to Congress, proposed a series of major themes and initiatives to be coordinated by its several committees and advisory boards. At least three of these themes, "Our New World Heritage," "The American Alternative," and "The Future: New Worlds and Then and Now," offer excellent oppor- tunities for stimulating research on matters of current and historical interest to Indians both individually and collec- tively. In turn, a variety of specific initiatives have been adopted to implement these themes, including the projects that would provide a wider dissemination of primary source material documenting the life and history of the Indians, translations of native language texts and literary works and preservation of Indian art and artifacts. The translation effort exemplifies the rich possibilities that exist to fill in the historical record. With the exception of a handful of translations of indigenous language masterworks, such as the Popol Vuh, the Florentine Codex, and related material from the native tradition in Latin America, little is known of the key narratives, philosophical tracts and poetic writings composed by Indians in the immediate aftermath of Spanish contact. One needs only survey such reference sources as the Handbook of Middle American Indians and earlier volumes published by the Bureau of American Ethnology to comprehend how much remains to be done in this field. In addition to the publication of classic texts, a critique of contemporary Indian writing will also serve to illuminate the Indian experience. Scott Momaday, James Welsh, Leslie Silko, and most recently, Louise Erdich, among a small army of American Indian poets and writers, have stamped a clear imprint of the native American genre on American literature as a whole. The Quincentenary provides an ideal means for promoting greater understanding of this distinctive contribution to the cultural life of the nation. These and other suggested projects culminate in the most far ranging of the Commission's initiatives: the founding of a "Museum of the Americas," wherein . . . a program of exhibitions, research, and training can be mounted to illuminate the entire sweep of Indian life through the millennia of their occupation of this hemis- phere. [Further, the museum] should provide for a full portrayal of the ethnic, and cultural diversity of native American peoples, a thorough presentation of the high civi- lizations of pre-Columbian eras, and a means of educating the public about the dynamic roles which native American cultures continue to play in the many national societies of the Americas, including our own. Since first proposed, the concept of such a museum has been merged with a recent proposal to relocate the Museum of the American Indian from New York City to Washington, DC, where it would be incorporated into the Smithsonian Institution. A national museum modeled after that outlined by the Commission would be a fitting place to sustain much that the Quincentenary stimulates in new learning and understanding of contemporary American Indian culture as an organic part of the design of Western hemispheric life. New Environments The extent to which Indians will participate in the five- hundredth anniversary of Columbus' voyages is still questionable. Understandably, it will be difficult to commemorate what is viewed and felt by many as the beginning of institutionalized injustice and a long-term crisis of survival. By the same token, the occasion presents a unique opportunity to affect the public consciousness in ways never quite possible before. The numerous symposia, conferences, and other gatherings soon to unfold will, if intelligently planned, bring a greater appreciation of the singular qualities present in native American life both prior to and after contact with Europeans. In the end, American Indian participation can only enrich and help focus the deeper meaning of the Quincentenary. If one perceives the Encounter as a continuing interaction between and among peoples, its relevance for the American indian is obviously paramount. As noted above, the anomaly which the Indian repre- sented to the European Renaissance mind is still found in the current dialogue over sovereignty and tribal self-determination. Anniversaries aside, American Indian life will continue to harbor traditions that were born well before the fifteenth century. What is truly at stake is how we utilize the Quincentenary to help realize the value of unity within diversity as a social and cultural mainstay of the nation. In this enterprise, research and scholarly investigation-- such as that already underway within the Smithsonian Insti- tution's quincentennial program--will be instrumental by broaden- ing our understanding of the complexity and vitality of pre- Hispanic America, of the intricate mechanisms by which Indian people have managed to survive, adapt, and maintain a way of life against all odds. And finally, scholarship may lead us to better strategies of accepting and in fact honoring the particular character that American Indians lend to the reality of American social and cultural pluralism. As the world clearly demon- strates, the interdependency of peoples and nations will probably hold sway as the dominant reality of the new century. How we accommodate to this reality can be measured in part by the acceptance of American indian values within our society. Permission to reprint this article was given by Five Hundred magazine. WARREN01.ART