The National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is devoted to advancing understanding and knowledge of the Native cultures and heritage of the Spanish-speaking hemisphere via a partnership with Native people. NMAI collections have their importance and relevance to diverse populations. The New York show at the museum explores the legacy of indigenous Caribbean people known as the Taino people (Strong, 2015). The museum stems from their culture from the Arawak- speaking community of Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. The culture of the Taino people has been mistaken to be extinct.

In a story, the Europeans arrived at the Caribbean in 1492, led by Christopher Columbus, resulted in enslavement, foreign diseases, conquest, and disruption of the native agrarian lifestyle. The process led to a devastating loss of over ninety percent of the indigenous people. The survival of the remaining ten percent after the destruction led to the emergence of the inciting incident of the museum exhibition. The show is about the legacy of the native community in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. The exhibition deeply digs into how the surviving ten percent adapted and maintained their culture and traditions. It also shows how the Taino identity and activism advanced to the current Taino movement.

Although the exhibition focuses on long-centuries perseverance of the Taino community, it also features ancestral artifacts and objects. The objects and artifacts assist in defining their culture prior to the colonialism era. Nearly twenty percent of the artifacts date between 800 to 1500 AD. The artifacts include; cemis, bateyes, consch shell, donaca and pearls.

Cemis

The Tainos adored and worshipped cemis, in the same way, Christians celebrate crucifix and cross symbols. The cemis were encompassed into two concepts; a spiritual being, who acted as the advisor and protector of an earthly being, and also a manifestation of spiritual being on earth. The Tainos referred to cemis as the one who give rain, sunshine, and children. The stone images of cemi were predominantly made with three-pointed heads, various shapes and sizes. Tainos believed that the head was the presentation of a human being.

Bateyes

Most of the Taino rituals were officiated by the Kacikes, but the ballgame played in the batey was officiated by a behike. Batey,is Taino term that encompassed two concepts: the multipurpose ballgame where they played it to celebrate their areas and also in battles to bond neighboring villages. The games were an invocation to the gods. The outcome of the games was considered divinely prophetic, and their families sat in places of honor at the head of the playing field.

Conch shell

The Taino used the conch shells to primary source materials for tool making, such as fish hooks, hammers, canoes, and net-mesh gauges. The conch was shaped into disc beads, carved into talismans, and used as inset materials in more intricate sculptures.  Conch shells were also fashioned to trumpets. The shells were obtained from the largest snails in the Caribbean.

Caguara

Caguara relates to a definite clam tool that was used to cut hair. The Tainos modified the shells to form a sharp edge. The Spanish descriptions are insufficient to describe which clam was used. The Tiger Lucine clams are common in archeological sites even though the sunrise tellins are found to have a much thinner and sharper natural edge.

Donaca and Pearls

The very tiny donax were commonly collected at the water edges. They were compiled by the trickles along the shoreline put to pepper pots. A pearl refers to a glistering object produced within the mantle of a living animal. It resembles the shell of a mollusk.

The New York museum exhibition sightsees how the survival tactics encompassed the passing down and surfacing of the Native language. Prominently, the show calls the traditional house known as ‘bohio’, as the “Native Survival Kit”. The house was constructed using vines and other local materials resistant to weather; and the traditional garden plot, ‘conuco’. Such traditional houses abetted the Native rural communities to be able to build shelter and produce food with limited resources.

‘Casabe’, a flatbread made from cassava flour. The bread had a valuable trait in the Carribean heat, which ensured it did not spoil. The flour was skillfully extracted from the poisonous cassava (Alivizatou, 2016). The skilled community members extracted the poison and used it to catch the fish.  The ‘cabeza de macorix’ extracted from Hispaniola Islands, represents a Native leader who was venerated after death.

In tristate region of New York, the Arawak Mountain Singers formed and active in the powwow circuit in 1991. More recently, a village of ‘YaYa Guaili Ara’ formed in the Bronx. The village dedicated to recovering, preserving and sharing the Native heritage with its members. The efforts included reconstructing linguistic traditions, hence exploring the roots of Taino words such as hammock, tobacco, and hurricane as well as public and environmental policy efforts.

Conclusively, it is interesting how a community with only ten percent dwellers managed to their culture and traditions. The aspect of fine arts, aesthetic collections symbolize the religious and historical significance of the Native Caribbean community. The Tainos have represented a number of significant cultures cutting across from South America, Canada, the United States, Jamaica, and Middle America. Interestingly, the museum holdings in New York include media archive, photographic archive, audiovisual, and film records. The growth of the National Museum of the American Indian continues to focus on contemporary and modern arts. NMAI relies on donations to expand its previous ethnographic collections.

References

Strong, P. T. (2015). American Indians and the American Imaginary: Cultural Representation Across the Centuries. Routledge.

Alivizatou, M. (2016). Intangible heritage and the museum: New perspectives on cultural preservation. Routledge.