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<< Project 4
Project managers: Dr. Robert Preucel, Lucy Fowler Williams, and Utsav Schurmans hold the scientific responsibility of the project. Further we will consult with members of the Hupa and Yurok tribes.
This project aims to study the existing Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk
collections of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology. The collections housed by the Museum consist primarily
of ceremonial dance regalia collected by Stewart Culin in 1900 and
by Frank Gist, a trader working for George Byron Gordon in 1912
and 1915. These collections number approximately 200 specimens.
In addition there are a few isolated pieces from these tribes collected
and donated to the Museum numbering approximately 50 specimens.
While the collections do include everyday objects such as bows and
arrows, baskets, harpoons, and gaming pieces, the most important
artifacts are those related to the three ceremonial dances of the
Yurok, Hupa, and Karuk.
These important dances, the White Deerskin Dance, the Jumping Dance,
and the Brush Dance were practiced at the end of the 19th Century
(Kroeber 1976; Goddard 1903; Spott and Kroeber 1942; Drucker 1936;
Goldschmidt and Driver 1940; Kroeber 1925) and they still are today
(Jackie Winters, personal communication 8/2002). Therefore the dances
form an ideal connection point for an exhibit and study of these
peoples now living in the Hupa Reservation, Northern California.
While each of the tribes involved belongs to a different language
group (Curtis 1907; Kroeber 1976; Winters, personal communication
8/2002), the Karuk to Powell’s Quoratean language group (Dixon
and Kroeber’s Hokan), the Yurok to Sapir’s Algonquian
language group (Weitspekan according to Powell), and Hupa to the
Athapascan languages (Curtis 1907), they all practice the very same
dances with little or no distinction. More broadly it can be said
that these people are nearly identical culturally, a fact that fascinated
Kroeber (Thoresen 1976: xxii).
A study of the dances and the associated regalia forms a great
starting point for better understanding these people, as pointed
out by Jackie Winters (personal communication 8/2002) as well as
brought out by an analysis of the White Deerskin Dance (Goldschmidt
and Driver 1940). Despite the elaborate material culture of these
peoples, the Hupa, Karuk, and Yurok do not have any social stratification.
We would like to investigate how the position of the dances in society
might have changed throughout the last century as “white culture”
has increasingly influenced life on the reservation.
Native American undergraduate students recruited through our collaboration
with the Education Programs of the Hupa and Yurok and University
of Pennsylvania undergraduate students will study these artifacts
and the contextual information surrounding them at the University
of Pennsylvania Museum.
In a second phase, the Native American undergraduate and University
of Pennsylvania student will spend a summer on the Hupa Reservation
to study and document the dances as they are practiced today, as
well as on observations of the daily life on the Reservation. This
phase will be coordinated by the Educational Programs on the Hupa
Reservation. This process, designed in two phases, will repeat six
times for a total of three years (six semesters) to complete the
project ultimately aimed at making a museum exhibit based on the
story the dances tell.
TARGET STUDENTS: Museum Studies, Anthropology, Cultural Studies,
Art, Art History
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