Dreaming, embodiment and perception in the narrative arts of the Hopi people

Abstract

This study examines the symbiotic relationships between Hopi traditional arts, the use of art and narrative as mnemonic device, and embedded references to the Fourth World narrative that describes how the Hopi people climbed from a troubled Third World into the current spatio-temporal era, the Fourth World. (The original oral narrative was published by anthropologist Harold Courlander and anonymous consultants in 1971 as The Fourth World of the Hopis: The Epic Story of the Hopi Indians as Preserved in Their Legends and Traditions.) This study posits that the traditional arts of the Hopi and their forebears serve as visual and oral reiterations of the Fourth World narrative, including their emergence from an opening in the earth known as the sipaapuni. After promising to live a harsh but reverent life, the land’s guardian, Maasaw, made the arid southwestern North American land theirs. The Hopi people call these lands Hopi Tutskwa, the original home of the migrating “Ancestral Puebloan” predecessors. The Hopi consider objects, habitation sites, structures, and other sacred features to be these ancestors’ embodied “footprints.” This study describes how diverse Hopi arts are both Ancestral Puebloan “footprints,” and what archaeologists define as “exographic” objects or mnemonic forms of “symbolic storage.” The use of mnemonic objects within the Puebloan culture has been documented as early as 1630 by Fray Alonso de Benavides who noted the use of “knotted strings” as a form of recording “sins” (Morrow, 1996:42). As they relate to mnemonic technology, Hopi arts and lifeways expand the boundaries of Western art history studies to include elements of archaeology and anthropology. Within these interdisciplinary contexts, objects and imagery are not simply “art” in the Western sense, but embodiments of cultural belief and visual reiterations of oral narratives which preserve intrinsic cultural knowledge and belief. This study suggests that what has previously been categorised as Hopi “art” within Western academic contexts is instead an extension of the West’s tradition of ekphrasis, or simply “writing about art.” Therefore, Western academia inappropriately emphasises chronological form, style, and development within Hopi arts rather than the significant cognitive role art plays within the culture of the people. As traditional metaphors for or reiterations of the Fourth World narrative, this study shows how content embedded within Hopi arts is most appropriately studied through iconological and mytholinguistic analysis as they best serve the Hopi people’s non-Western oracy-based tradition.

Hierdie studie ondersoek die simbiotiese verhoudings tussen die Hopi se tradisionele kunsvorme; hulle gebruik van kuns en narratief as mnemoniese middele; en ingebedde verwysings na die Vierdewêreld-narratief wat vertel hoe die Hopi-nasie bo ’n veelbewoë Derde Wêreld kon uitstyg en die huidige tydruimtelike era, die Vierde Wêreld, kon betree. (Die oorspronklike orale narratief, The Fourth World of the Hopis: The Epic Story of the Hopi Indians as Preserved in Their Legends and Traditions, is in 1971 deur die antropoloog Harold Courlander en anonieme konsultante gepubliseer.) Hierdie studie voer aan dat die tradisionele kunste van die Hopi’s en hul voorvaders dien as visuele en orale reïterasies van die Vierdewêreld-narratief, insluitende hulle verskyning deur ’n opening in die aarde wat as die sipaapuni bekend staan.Nadat hulle beloof het om 'n moeilike dog eerbiedige lewe te leef, het die bewaker van die land, Maasaw, die woestynagtige suidweste van Noord-Amerika aan hulle gegee. Die Hopi-nasie het hierdie streek Hopi Tutskwa, die oorspronklike tuiste van die swerwende “Voorvaderlike Puebloaanse” voorgangers, genoem. Die Hopi beskou objekte, woonterreine, strukture en ander heilige elemente as vergestaltings van die voorvaders se “voetspore”.Volgens die studie is uiteenlopende Hopi-kunsvorme nie net Voorvaderlike Puebloaanse “voetspore” nie, maar ook die “eksografiese” objekte of mnemoniese vorme van “simboliese bewaring” wat deur argeoloë omskryf word. Die aanwending van mnemoniese objekte in die Puebloaanse kultuur is reeds in 1630 opgeteken deur Fray Alonso de Benavides. Hy het vermeld dat knope in toue gemaak is om van “sondes” boek te hou (Morrow, 1996:42). Die verband wat Hopi-kunsvorme en -lewenswyses met mnemonise tegnologie hou, verbreed die grense van Westerse kunsgeskiedenisstudie om ook elemente van argeologie en antropologie in te sluit. In hierdie interdissiplinêre kontekste is objekte en beelde nie net eenvoudig “kuns” in die Westerse sin van die woord nie; dit is ook ’n vergestalting van kulturele oortuigings en visuele reiterasies van orale narratiewe wat intrinsieke kulturele kennis en oortuigings bewaar. Hierdie studie voer aan dat dit wat voorheen in Westerse akademiese kontekste as Hopi-“kuns” gekategoriseer is, in werklikheid ’n verlenging is van die Westerse ekphrasis-tradisie, wat eenvoudig beteken “om oor kuns te skryf”. Westerse akademici plaas dus ’n onvanpaste klem op die chronologiese vorm, styl en ontwikkeling van Hopi-kuns in plaas daarvan om die kognitiewe rol wat kuns in die kultuur speel, te beklemtoon. Hierdie studie toon hoe die ingebedde inhoud van Hopi-kunsvorme, as tradisionele metafore vir en reiterasies van die Vierdewêreld-narratief, op die mees gepaste wyse bestudeer kan word deur ikonologiese en mitolinguistieke ontleding van die Hopi-nasie se nie-Westerse tradisie wat op geletterdheid van die gesproke woord (oracy) gebaseer is.

Lolu cwaningo luhlolisisa ubuhlobo bobudlelwane obukhona phakathi kobuciko bamasiko endabuko amaHopi, ukusetshenziswa kobuciko nokulandisa njengamadivaysi aphathelene nokukhumbuza kanye nezinkomba ezifakwe emlandweni Wesine Womhlaba ochaza ukuthi abantu bamaHopi bakhuphuka kanjani ezweni elabe liyinkinga ukufinyeleleni kulesikhathi sanamuhla soMhlaba Wesine. (Indaba yokuqala elandisayo exoxwayo yashicilelwa umuntu oyisazi seanthropholoji esaziwa ngokuthi nguHarold Courlander kanye nabaxhumanisi abangaziwa ngonyaka ka1971 njengengoMhlaba Wesine wamaHopi: Indaba Yokubonga Amaqhawe abantu abangaMandiya angamaHopi njengoba Kugcinwe kuyiZinganekwane Namasiko abo). Lolu cwaningo lubonisa ukuthi ubuciko bamasiko bamaHopi kanye nabokhokho babo babedlulisa imilayezo ngezinto eziphindaphindiwe ezibukwayo nezidluliswa ngomlomo ekulandiseni ngoMhlaba Wesine, kufaka phakathi ukuvela kwawo ekuvuleni emhlabeni owaziwa ngokuthi yisipaapuni. Ngemuva kokuthembisa ukuthi uzophila impilo enzima kodwa ehloniphekile, umgcini wezwe uMasaaw wenza umhlaba omelele eningizimu nasentshonalanga neNyakatho neMelika ukuthi ube ngowabo. AmaHopi abiza lemihlaba ngokuthi yiHopi Tutskwa, okuyikhaya langempela olwafuduka “koKhokho wePuebloan” owayekhona esikhundleni ngaphambilini. AmaHopi abheka izinto, izindawo zokuhlala, izakhiwo kanye nezinye izici ezingcwele ukuba zibe yilezo zinto ezifakwe "ezinyathelweni" zokhokho. Lolu cwaningo luchaza ubuciko obuhlukahlukene bamaHopi obusho “izinyathelo” Zokhokho bePuebloan kanye nalokho okuchazwa ngabantu abaphenya ngezinto zasendulo okuthiwa ama-akhiyoloji njengezinto "eziyi ekzografi " noma izinto iziphathelene nokukhumbula okuthile "okuwuphawu olugciniwe". Ukusetshenziswa kwezinto eziphathelene nokukhujulwayo osikweni lwamaPuebloan laqoshwa phansi kusukela eminyakeni ye-1630 nguFray Alonso de Benavides oye waqaphela ukusetshenziswa “kwezintambo eziboshiwe” njengento yokuqopha noma ukurekhoda “izono” (Morrow, 1996:42) Njengoba zihlobene nobuchwepheshe bezinto ezikhunjulwayo, ubuciko bamaHopi nokuphila kwabo kwandisa imingcele yezifundo zomlando yaseNtshonalanga okufaka phakathi izinto zama-akhiyoloji nama anthropholoji. Ngaphakathi komongo wezizinda ezahlukene, izinto nemifanekiso akuzona nje izinto ezilula “eziwubuciko” ngokomqondo waseNtshonalanga, kodwa ukukhombisa izinkolelo zamasiko kanye imilayezo ngezinto eziphindaphindiwe ezibukwayo nezidluliswa ngomlomo ezigcina ulwazi lwangaphakathi olujwayelekile lwamasiko nenkolelo. Lolu cwaningo lubonisa ukuthi yini eyabekwa yahlelwa nje "ngobuciko" bamaHopi ngaphakathi kwezimo zezemfundo zaseNtshonalanga kunalokho kwandiswa isiko laseNtshonalanga okuwu buciko bokukhuluma, noma “ukubhala ngosiko”. Ngakho-ke, izazi ngezemfundo zaseNtshonalanga zagcizelela okungalungile ngendlela yokulandelana, isitayela nentuthuko ngaphakathi kobuciko bamaHopi esikhundleni sendima ebalulekile yokuqonda edlalwa ubuciko osikweni lwabantu. Njengamazwibela wendabuko wokungathekisa noma ekulandiseni ngoMhlaba Wesine ngokuphindaphindiwe, lolu cwaningo lubonisa ukuthi okuqukethwe kufakwe kanjani ebucikweni bamaHopi okuyindlela efanelekile okufundwa ngayo kusetshenziswa ukuhlaziya ayikhonoloji kanye nesayensi ephathelene nolimi lwezinganekwane njengoba babechaza abantu abangamaHopi olwakhelwe osikweni lokuxoxwa ngomlomo okungelona lwaseNtshonalanga.