An Anthropological Examination of the Pueblos of the Southwest

All cultures have ways in which they de bewitching themselves, and Hatcher says that "visual art forms have fortuneential drop for being evently useful for this study because they ar material" (Hatcher 1999: 288). For that reason, the pueblo arts, especially the pottery, are the focus of this discussion, with the aim of determining whether the arts, as expressed through the pueblo pottery. are sufficiently distinctive that the pueblos could be called a subculture within the southwest. Information for this discussion comes from journal books and a museum catalog from an exhibit of pueblo pottery at the maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of parvenue Mexico.

Pueblo pottery has been a focus for anthropological study for decades. As early as the 1920s, Ruth Bunzel lived with Zuni a native, Catalina Zuni, observed how artists performed their work within the traditionally defined limits of formal styles, and wrote one of the early books on the topic The Pueblo Potter: A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive prowess (1929) (Hardin 1993:259). Her work, assigned by her mentor, Professor Boas, was to study how Zuni potters operated within their traditions. Bunzel chose pottery as a focus because it was an art form that was a prerogative of the pueblo women, and very much of the old anthropological research had been focused on male activities, especially the ceremonials (Hardin 1993:261). Bunzel encountered some resistance because previous anthropolo

Hatcher, Evelyn Payne. Art as market-gardening: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Art. Bergin

Missouri, St. Louis. 24 April 2004.

During past centuries, the pottery was not plan of as art, in a white person's sense of fine art, as every aspect of living was integrated. If a pot was needed for the family, it was created in a beautiful manner so the family could enjoy it. It was not until the pressures of the white civilization impacted the pueblos that the pottery was thought of as something for trade.

During the early 1900's the Paul Harvey company did much to popularize the pueblo culture in general and in particular the pottery, as trainloads of people went on the Southwest Chief to enforce the southwestern states, enjoying demonstrations of pueblo potters at the train stops. The Nampeyo family of the Hopi pueblo cooperated with the Harvey company, allowing their pottery to be promoted to the tourists (Seven Families 1974: 20).

Wolford, John. Definitions for Anthropology. section of Anthropology, University of

Pottery is the best known of the pueblo arts, and as such, it leads backward in an unbroken chain in terms of style. Hatcher asserts that there are no clear, hard and fast, definitions of culture or art, no right wing or wrong, as opinions can be somewhat inborn (Hatcher 1999: 287). The pueblo people adapted very well to the desert regions of the Southwest, expressing their spiritual beliefs in their daily activities, especially the handshaped earthenware forms of pottery. The pueblo Indians gather their clay themselves, winnow it and cleaning it, sometimes mixing in ground shards from old, adore pieces of pottery, indicating a respect for the past and former potters within the group.

Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1974.

Works Cited

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