Tohono O'odham
Encyclopedia
The Tohono O'odham are a group of Native American
people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert
of the southeastern Arizona
and northwest Mexico
. "Tohono O'odham" means "Desert People." Although they were previously known as the Papago, they have largely rejected this name (meaning literally "tepary-bean eater"), which was applied to them by conquistador
es, who had heard them called this by other Piman bands who are very competitive with the Tohono O'odham. The term Papago derives from Ba:bawĭkoʼa, meaning "eating tepary beans", which was pronounced Papago by the Spanish.
residing on a portion of its people's original Sonoran desert lands, the Tohono O'odham Nation within the United States is organized into 11 districts. The land lies in three counties of the state of Arizona
: Pima County
, Pinal County
, and Maricopa County
. The main reservation is located between Tucson
and Ajo
, Arizona
, with its administrative center in the town of Sells
. A few of the districts are not contiguous with the main reservation: The San Xavier District southwest of Tucson, the San Lucy District near the city of Gila Bend
, and the Florence Village near the city of Florence
. The reservation's land area is 11534.012 square kilometres (4,453.3 sq mi), the third-largest Indian reservation area in the United States (after the Navajo and the Uintah and Ouray
). The 2000 census
reported 10,787 people living on reservation land. The tribe's enrollment office tallies a population of 25,000, with 20,000 living on its Arizona reservation lands.
The Nation is governed by a Council and Chairperson, who are elected by eligible adult members of the Nation under a complex formula intended to ensure that the rights of small O'odham communities are protected as well as the interests of the larger communities and families. The present Chairman is Ned Norris, Jr. since 2007.
The Nation provides affordable housing through the Tohono O'Odham Ki:Ki Association
.
, along the lower Gila River
. The Sobaipuri
are ancestors to both the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham who resided along the major rivers of southern Arizona.
Debates surround the origins of the O'odham. Claims that the O'odham moved north as recently as 300 years ago compete with claims that the Hohokam
, who left the Casa Grande Ruins, are their ancestors. Recent research on the Sobaipuri
, now extinct ancestors of the O'odham, shows that they were present in sizable numbers in the southern Arizona river valleys in the 15th century.
Historically, the O'odham
-speaking peoples were at odds with Apaches from the late 17th until the beginning of the 20th centuries when conflict with European settlers caused both the O'odham and the Apaches to reconsider their common interests. It is noteworthy that the O'odham word for the Apache 'enemy' is ob. Still there is considerable evidence that suggests that the O'odham and Apache were friendly and engaged in exchange of goods and marriage partners before the late 17th century.
O'odham music
al and dance
activities lack "grand ritual paraphernalia that call for attention", wearing muted white clay instead, and grand ceremonies such as Pow-wow
s. O'odham songs are accompanied by hard wood rasp
s and drum
ming on overturned basket
s, both of which lack resonance
and are "swallowed by the desert floor", while dancing features skipping and shuffling quietly in bare feet on dry dirt, the dust raised being believed to rise to atmosphere and assist in forming rain clouds.
The San Xavier District is the location of a major tourist attraction near Tucson
, Mission San Xavier del Bac
, the "White Dove of the Desert," founded in 1700 by the Jesuit missionary and explorer Eusebio Kino
, with the current church building constructed by the Tohono O'odham and Franciscan
priests from 1783 to 1797. It is one of many missions built in the southwest by the Spanish
on their then-northern frontier.
The beauty of the mission often leads tourists to assume that the desert people embraced the Catholicism
of the Spanish conquistador
s. In fact, Tohono O'odham villages have resisted change for hundreds of years. Two major rebellions, in the 1660s and in 1750s, rivaled in scale the 1680 Pueblo Rebellion
. The armed resistance prevented increased Spanish incursions on the lands of Pimería Alta
. The Spanish retreated to what they called "Pimería Baja." As a result, much of the desert people's traditions remained largely intact for generations.
It was not until Americans of Anglo-European ancestry began moving into the Arizona territory that traditional ways were consistently oppressed. Indian boarding schools, the cotton
industry, and U.S. Federal Indian policy worked hand-in-glove to promote assimilation into the American mainstream. The structure of the current tribal government, established in the 1930s, is a direct result of commercial, missionary, and federal collaboration. The goal was to make the Indians into "real" Americans, yet the boarding schools offered only so much training as was considered necessary to work as migrant workers or housekeepers. "Assimilation" was the official policy, but full participation was not the goal. Boarding school students were supposed to function within the United States' segregated society as economic laborers, not leaders.
Despite a hundred years of being told to and made to change, the Tohono O'odham have retained their traditions into the 21st century, and their language
is still spoken. However, recent decades have increasingly eroded O'odham traditions in the face of the surrounding environment of American mass culture.
At intervals of approximately two years the tribal government makes a distribution of excess casino earnings to the adult tribal membership. In the past, this distribution has been $2,000 per adult. In addition, there is a one-time monetary distribution to each Tohono O'odham upon reaching 18 years of age. The one-time distribution (called "the Thou" from the fact that at one point it was one thousand dollars) is presently $2,000 and is from the United States government in satisfaction of treaty obligations with the tribe.
(Cabazon, 2006) that resulted in the deaths of five Forest Service employees, several wildland firefighters began to try to locate the family members and written record of former Tribal Member Frank Rios who was killed in a wildfire in October 1967 in the same area, so that his story can be told and remembered, and that his family can be properly honored for their service and their loss. The intent of those firefighters is to make sure his name is shown on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, the California Fallen Firefighters Memorial, and that a statue is given to the family on behalf of all wildland firefighters.
have become commonplace among tribal members. Half to three-quarters of all adults are diagnosed with the disease, and about a third of the tribe's adults require regular medical treatment. Federal medical programs have not provided solutions for these problems within the population, and some tribal members have turned to traditional foods and traditional games to control the obesity that often leads to diabetes. Research by Gary Paul Nabhan and others shows that traditional foods regulate blood sugar. A local non-profit, TOCA, has started a cafe that serves traditional foods.
Every February, annually, the Sells Rodeo and Parade is held in the capital of the Nation. The rodeo has been an annual event for 73 years. In February 2012 it will be the 74th year the Nation has held the Event.
In the visual arts, Michael Chiago and the late Leonard Chana have gained widespread recognition for their paintings and drawings of traditional O'odham activities and scenes. Chiago has exhibited at the Heard Museum
and has contributed cover art to Arizona Highways magazine and University of Arizona
Press books; Chana illustrated books by Tucson writer Byrd Baylor and created murals for Tohono O'odham Nation buildings.
At the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI), the Tohono O'odham were represented in the founding exhibition. Mr. Lopez blessed the exhibit. In 2004, the Heard Museum
awarded Danny Lopez its first heritage award, recognizing his lifelong work sustaining the desert people's way of life.
, and was planning to construct a shopping center, resort, and casino. The City of Glendale and the Gila River Indian Community opposed the project for various reasons, arguing that it would harm residential neighborhoods and compete with tax-paying businesses. In March 2011, a federal judge dismissed many of the city's claims, including an argument that Public Law 99-503 infringed on the State of Arizona's Sovereignty. Nevertheless, the Resort continues to face multiple legal challenges, including a measure passed by the Arizona Legislature which will allow the City of Glendale to incorporate land owned by the tribe, thereby making the land ineligible for inclusion within the Reservation.
, but there is also a population of several thousand in northern Sonora
, Mexico. Unlike aboriginal groups along the U.S.-Canada border, the Tohono O'odham were not given dual citizenship when a border was drawn across their lands in 1853 by the Gadsden Purchase
. Even so, members of the nation moved freely across the current international boundary for decades – with the blessing of the U.S. government – to work, participate in religious ceremonies, keep medical appointments in Sells, and visit relatives. Even today, many tribal members make an annual pilgrimage to Magdalena, Sonora
, during St. Francis festivities. (Interestingly, the St. Francis festivities in Magdalena are held in the beginning of October (the anniversary of the death of St. Francis
of Assisi), and not at the time of St. Francis Xavier, who was a Jesuit.) But since the mid-1980s, stricter border enforcement has restricted this movement, and tribal members born in Mexico or who have insufficient documentation to prove U.S. birth or residency, have found themselves trapped in a remote corner of Mexico, with no access to the tribal centers only tens of miles away. Since 2001, bills have repeatedly been introduced in Congress
to solve the "one people-two country" problem by granting U.S. citizenship to all enrolled members of the Tohono O'odham, but have so far been unsuccessful. Reasons that have been advanced in opposition to granting U.S. citizenship to all enrolled members of the Nation include the fact that births on the reservation have been for a large part informally recorded and the records are susceptible to easy alteration or falsification.
The proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border incurs further costs to the tribal government and breeds many social problems.
Many of the thousands of people crossing the Sonoran desert to work in U.S. agriculture or to smuggle controlled substances seek emergency assistance from the Tohono O'odham Police Department when they become dehydrated or get stranded. On the ground, Border Patrol emergency rescue and tribal EMT coordinate and communicate. The tribe and the State of Arizona pay a large proportion of the bills for border-related law enforcement and emergency services. The former governor of Arizona
, Janet Napolitano
, (now Secretary of Homeland Security) and Tohono O'odham government leaders have repeatedly requested that the Federal government repay the state and the tribe for the costs of border-related emergencies. Tribe Chairman Ned Norris Jr. has complained about the lack of reimbursement for border enforcement.
, and Telescopes and Baboquivari Peak. The observatory sites are under lease from the Tohono O'odham Nation. The lease was approved by the Council in the 1950s, for a one-time payment of $25,000 plus $10 per acre per year.http://www.mauna-a-wakea.info/maunakea/H4_astrodev.html In 2005, the Tohono O'odham Nation brought suit against the National Science Foundation to stop further construction of gamma ray detectors in the Gardens of the Sacred Tohono O'odham Spirit I'itoi
, which are just below the summit.
There has been at least one incident of a Kitt Peak employee being harassed, notably having his car stopped without cause.
The Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation
, at32°09′01"N 112°02′41"W, is generally divided into four geographical parts with a total land area of 11534.012 square kilometres (4,453.3 sq mi) and a 2000 census
population of 10,787 persons. The area code for The Tohono O'odham Reservation is 520.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
of the southeastern Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and northwest Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. "Tohono O'odham" means "Desert People." Although they were previously known as the Papago, they have largely rejected this name (meaning literally "tepary-bean eater"), which was applied to them by conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es, who had heard them called this by other Piman bands who are very competitive with the Tohono O'odham. The term Papago derives from Ba:bawĭkoʼa, meaning "eating tepary beans", which was pronounced Papago by the Spanish.
Administration
A United States reservationIndian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
residing on a portion of its people's original Sonoran desert lands, the Tohono O'odham Nation within the United States is organized into 11 districts. The land lies in three counties of the state of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
: Pima County
Pima County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*74.3% White*3.5% Black*3.3% Native American*2.6% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.7% Two or more races*12.4% Other races*34.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, Pinal County
Pinal County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.4% White*4.6% Black*5.6% Native American*1.7% Asian*0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.8% Two or more races*11.5% Other races*28.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, and Maricopa County
Maricopa County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
. The main reservation is located between Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
and Ajo
Ajo, Arizona
Ajo is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,705 at the 2000 census. Ajo is located on State Route 85 just from the Mexican border. It is the closest community to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument....
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, with its administrative center in the town of Sells
Sells, Arizona
Sells is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 2,799 at the 2000 census. It is the capital of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the home of several of their tribal businesses, such as Tohono O'Odham Ki:Ki Association...
. A few of the districts are not contiguous with the main reservation: The San Xavier District southwest of Tucson, the San Lucy District near the city of Gila Bend
Gila Bend, Arizona
Gila Bend , founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is close to but not precisely at the community's current location...
, and the Florence Village near the city of Florence
Florence, Arizona
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,054 people, 2,226 households, and 1,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,056.2 people per square mile . There were 3,216 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile...
. The reservation's land area is 11534.012 square kilometres (4,453.3 sq mi), the third-largest Indian reservation area in the United States (after the Navajo and the Uintah and Ouray
Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation
The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Utah, USA. It is the homeland of the Northern Ute Tribe, and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Tribe of Native Americans. It lies in parts of seven counties; in descending order of land area...
). The 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
reported 10,787 people living on reservation land. The tribe's enrollment office tallies a population of 25,000, with 20,000 living on its Arizona reservation lands.
The Nation is governed by a Council and Chairperson, who are elected by eligible adult members of the Nation under a complex formula intended to ensure that the rights of small O'odham communities are protected as well as the interests of the larger communities and families. The present Chairman is Ned Norris, Jr. since 2007.
The Nation provides affordable housing through the Tohono O'Odham Ki:Ki Association
Tohono O'Odham Ki:Ki Association
The Tohono O'odham Ki:Ki Association – formerly known as the Papago Housing Authority – is the tribally designated housing entity of the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona, enacted by Resolution of the Tohono O'odham Legislative Council No...
.
Culture
The Tohono O'odham share linguistic and cultural roots with the closely related Akimel O'odham (People of the River), whose lands lie just south of PhoenixPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, along the lower Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
. The Sobaipuri
Sobaipuri
The Sobaipuri are one of many indigenous groups occupying Sonora at the time Europeans first entered the American Southwest. They were a Piman group who occupied southern Arizona and northern Sonora in the 15th-19th centuries...
are ancestors to both the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham who resided along the major rivers of southern Arizona.
Debates surround the origins of the O'odham. Claims that the O'odham moved north as recently as 300 years ago compete with claims that the Hohokam
Hohokam
Hohokam is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological Oasisamerica traditions of what is now the American Southwest. Many local residents put the accent on the first syllable . Variant spellings in current, official usage include Hobokam, Huhugam and Huhukam...
, who left the Casa Grande Ruins, are their ancestors. Recent research on the Sobaipuri
Sobaipuri
The Sobaipuri are one of many indigenous groups occupying Sonora at the time Europeans first entered the American Southwest. They were a Piman group who occupied southern Arizona and northern Sonora in the 15th-19th centuries...
, now extinct ancestors of the O'odham, shows that they were present in sizable numbers in the southern Arizona river valleys in the 15th century.
Historically, the O'odham
O'odham language
O'odham is an Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside. As of the year 2000, there were estimated to be approximately 9750 speakers in the United States and Mexico combined, although there may be more due to underreporting...
-speaking peoples were at odds with Apaches from the late 17th until the beginning of the 20th centuries when conflict with European settlers caused both the O'odham and the Apaches to reconsider their common interests. It is noteworthy that the O'odham word for the Apache 'enemy' is ob. Still there is considerable evidence that suggests that the O'odham and Apache were friendly and engaged in exchange of goods and marriage partners before the late 17th century.
O'odham music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
activities lack "grand ritual paraphernalia that call for attention", wearing muted white clay instead, and grand ceremonies such as Pow-wow
Pow-wow
A pow-wow is a gathering of North America's Native people. The word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning "spiritual leader". A modern pow-wow is a specific type of event where both Native American and non-Native American people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor American...
s. O'odham songs are accompanied by hard wood rasp
Rasp
A rasp is a tool used for shaping wood or other material. It consists of a point or the tip, then a long steel bar or the belly, then the heel or bottom, then the tang. The tang is joined to a handle, usually made of plastic or wood. The bar has sharp teeth...
s and drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
ming on overturned basket
Basket
A basket is a container which is traditionally constructed from stiff fibres, which can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are...
s, both of which lack resonance
Acoustic resonance
Acoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to absorb more energy when it is forced or driven at a frequency that matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration than it does at other frequencies....
and are "swallowed by the desert floor", while dancing features skipping and shuffling quietly in bare feet on dry dirt, the dust raised being believed to rise to atmosphere and assist in forming rain clouds.
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Mission San Xavier del Bac
Mission San Xavier del Bac
Mission San Xavier del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission located about 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham San Xavier Indian Reservation...
, the "White Dove of the Desert," founded in 1700 by the Jesuit missionary and explorer Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta...
, with the current church building constructed by the Tohono O'odham and Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
priests from 1783 to 1797. It is one of many missions built in the southwest by the Spanish
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
on their then-northern frontier.
The beauty of the mission often leads tourists to assume that the desert people embraced the Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
of the Spanish conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s. In fact, Tohono O'odham villages have resisted change for hundreds of years. Two major rebellions, in the 1660s and in 1750s, rivaled in scale the 1680 Pueblo Rebellion
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of several pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.-Background:...
. The armed resistance prevented increased Spanish incursions on the lands of Pimería Alta
Pimería Alta
The Pimería Alta , an area of the 18th century Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, encompassed parts of what are today southern Arizona in the United States and northern Sonora in Mexico....
. The Spanish retreated to what they called "Pimería Baja." As a result, much of the desert people's traditions remained largely intact for generations.
It was not until Americans of Anglo-European ancestry began moving into the Arizona territory that traditional ways were consistently oppressed. Indian boarding schools, the cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
industry, and U.S. Federal Indian policy worked hand-in-glove to promote assimilation into the American mainstream. The structure of the current tribal government, established in the 1930s, is a direct result of commercial, missionary, and federal collaboration. The goal was to make the Indians into "real" Americans, yet the boarding schools offered only so much training as was considered necessary to work as migrant workers or housekeepers. "Assimilation" was the official policy, but full participation was not the goal. Boarding school students were supposed to function within the United States' segregated society as economic laborers, not leaders.
Despite a hundred years of being told to and made to change, the Tohono O'odham have retained their traditions into the 21st century, and their language
O'odham language
O'odham is an Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside. As of the year 2000, there were estimated to be approximately 9750 speakers in the United States and Mexico combined, although there may be more due to underreporting...
is still spoken. However, recent decades have increasingly eroded O'odham traditions in the face of the surrounding environment of American mass culture.
Economy
Now numbering over 25,000 enrolled members, the Tohono O'odham Nation gains most of its income from its three Desert Diamond casinos. This source of income is just over a decade old. It has paid for the tribe's first fire department, but the casinos cannot cover tribal members' numerous basic needs. Housing, emergency services, medical, and educational needs require expensive infrastructure, including transportation, personnel, education, and technology. The physical isolation of the Nation has always been a handicap to its economic development.At intervals of approximately two years the tribal government makes a distribution of excess casino earnings to the adult tribal membership. In the past, this distribution has been $2,000 per adult. In addition, there is a one-time monetary distribution to each Tohono O'odham upon reaching 18 years of age. The one-time distribution (called "the Thou" from the fact that at one point it was one thousand dollars) is presently $2,000 and is from the United States government in satisfaction of treaty obligations with the tribe.
Fire fighting
Following the Esperanza FireEsperanza Fire
The Esperanza Fire was a wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that was started in a river wash near Cabazon, California, west of Palm Springs, California. By Sunday, October 29, 2006, it had burned over 61 square miles and was 85% contained...
(Cabazon, 2006) that resulted in the deaths of five Forest Service employees, several wildland firefighters began to try to locate the family members and written record of former Tribal Member Frank Rios who was killed in a wildfire in October 1967 in the same area, so that his story can be told and remembered, and that his family can be properly honored for their service and their loss. The intent of those firefighters is to make sure his name is shown on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, the California Fallen Firefighters Memorial, and that a statue is given to the family on behalf of all wildland firefighters.
Health
Since the 1960s, obesity, and with it, type 2 diabetesDiabetes mellitus type 2
Diabetes mellitus type 2formerly non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetesis a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Diabetes is often initially managed by increasing exercise and...
have become commonplace among tribal members. Half to three-quarters of all adults are diagnosed with the disease, and about a third of the tribe's adults require regular medical treatment. Federal medical programs have not provided solutions for these problems within the population, and some tribal members have turned to traditional foods and traditional games to control the obesity that often leads to diabetes. Research by Gary Paul Nabhan and others shows that traditional foods regulate blood sugar. A local non-profit, TOCA, has started a cafe that serves traditional foods.
Cultural revitalization
The cultural resources of the Tohono O'odham are threatened—particularly the language—but are stronger than those of many other aboriginal groups in the United States.Every February, annually, the Sells Rodeo and Parade is held in the capital of the Nation. The rodeo has been an annual event for 73 years. In February 2012 it will be the 74th year the Nation has held the Event.
In the visual arts, Michael Chiago and the late Leonard Chana have gained widespread recognition for their paintings and drawings of traditional O'odham activities and scenes. Chiago has exhibited at the Heard Museum
Heard Museum
The Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art is a museum located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. There is also the Heard Museum North Scottsdale branch in Scottsdale and the Heard Museum West branch in Surprise....
and has contributed cover art to Arizona Highways magazine and University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
Press books; Chana illustrated books by Tucson writer Byrd Baylor and created murals for Tohono O'odham Nation buildings.
At the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI), the Tohono O'odham were represented in the founding exhibition. Mr. Lopez blessed the exhibit. In 2004, the Heard Museum
Heard Museum
The Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art is a museum located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. There is also the Heard Museum North Scottsdale branch in Scottsdale and the Heard Museum West branch in Surprise....
awarded Danny Lopez its first heritage award, recognizing his lifelong work sustaining the desert people's way of life.
West Valley Resort
In 1960, the Army Corps of Engineers completed construction of the Painted Rock Dam on the Gila River. Flood waters impounded by the dam periodically inundated approximately 10000 acres (40.5 km²) of the Tohono O'odham's Gila Bend Reservation. The area lost by the tribe contained a 750 acres (3 km²) farm and several communities. Residents were relocated to a 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) parcel called San Lucy Village, Arizona. In 1986, the federal government and the Nation approved a settlement which the Nation agreed to give up its legal claims in exchange for $30,000,000 and the right to add replacement land to its Reservation. Public Law 99-503 specifies that the tribe may purchase up to 10000 acres (40.5 km²) unincorporated land in Pima, Pinal, or Maricopa Counties which the Federal Government will place into trust, thereby making it legally part of the Reservation. In 2009, the tribe announced that it had purchased about 135 acre (0.5463261 km²) near Glendale, ArizonaGlendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
, and was planning to construct a shopping center, resort, and casino. The City of Glendale and the Gila River Indian Community opposed the project for various reasons, arguing that it would harm residential neighborhoods and compete with tax-paying businesses. In March 2011, a federal judge dismissed many of the city's claims, including an argument that Public Law 99-503 infringed on the State of Arizona's Sovereignty. Nevertheless, the Resort continues to face multiple legal challenges, including a measure passed by the Arizona Legislature which will allow the City of Glendale to incorporate land owned by the tribe, thereby making the land ineligible for inclusion within the Reservation.
Border Issues
Most of the 25,000 Tohono O'odham today live in southern ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, but there is also a population of several thousand in northern Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Mexico. Unlike aboriginal groups along the U.S.-Canada border, the Tohono O'odham were not given dual citizenship when a border was drawn across their lands in 1853 by the Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S...
. Even so, members of the nation moved freely across the current international boundary for decades – with the blessing of the U.S. government – to work, participate in religious ceremonies, keep medical appointments in Sells, and visit relatives. Even today, many tribal members make an annual pilgrimage to Magdalena, Sonora
Municipalities of Sonora
The Mexican state of Sonorais divided into 72 municipalities:...
, during St. Francis festivities. (Interestingly, the St. Francis festivities in Magdalena are held in the beginning of October (the anniversary of the death of St. Francis
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
of Assisi), and not at the time of St. Francis Xavier, who was a Jesuit.) But since the mid-1980s, stricter border enforcement has restricted this movement, and tribal members born in Mexico or who have insufficient documentation to prove U.S. birth or residency, have found themselves trapped in a remote corner of Mexico, with no access to the tribal centers only tens of miles away. Since 2001, bills have repeatedly been introduced in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to solve the "one people-two country" problem by granting U.S. citizenship to all enrolled members of the Tohono O'odham, but have so far been unsuccessful. Reasons that have been advanced in opposition to granting U.S. citizenship to all enrolled members of the Nation include the fact that births on the reservation have been for a large part informally recorded and the records are susceptible to easy alteration or falsification.
The proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border incurs further costs to the tribal government and breeds many social problems.
Many of the thousands of people crossing the Sonoran desert to work in U.S. agriculture or to smuggle controlled substances seek emergency assistance from the Tohono O'odham Police Department when they become dehydrated or get stranded. On the ground, Border Patrol emergency rescue and tribal EMT coordinate and communicate. The tribe and the State of Arizona pay a large proportion of the bills for border-related law enforcement and emergency services. The former governor of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
, (now Secretary of Homeland Security) and Tohono O'odham government leaders have repeatedly requested that the Federal government repay the state and the tribe for the costs of border-related emergencies. Tribe Chairman Ned Norris Jr. has complained about the lack of reimbursement for border enforcement.
Kitt Peak
The Tohono O'odham Nation is also the location of the Quinlan/Baboquivari Mountains, which include Kitt Peak and the Kitt Peak National ObservatoryKitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...
, and Telescopes and Baboquivari Peak. The observatory sites are under lease from the Tohono O'odham Nation. The lease was approved by the Council in the 1950s, for a one-time payment of $25,000 plus $10 per acre per year.http://www.mauna-a-wakea.info/maunakea/H4_astrodev.html In 2005, the Tohono O'odham Nation brought suit against the National Science Foundation to stop further construction of gamma ray detectors in the Gardens of the Sacred Tohono O'odham Spirit I'itoi
I'itoi
Iʼitoi or Iʼithi is, in the tradition of the O'odham people, the mischievous creator god who resides in a cave just below the peak of Baboquivari Mountain, part of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Visitors to the cave are asked to bring a gift to ensure their safe return from the depths...
, which are just below the summit.
There has been at least one incident of a Kitt Peak employee being harassed, notably having his car stopped without cause.
Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
, at32°09′01"N 112°02′41"W, is generally divided into four geographical parts with a total land area of 11534.012 square kilometres (4,453.3 sq mi) and a 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
population of 10,787 persons. The area code for The Tohono O'odham Reservation is 520.
- The main reservation, formerly known as the Papago Indian Reservation, lies in central Pima, southwestern Pinal, and southern Maricopa Counties, and has a land area of 11243.098 square kilometres (4,341 sq mi) and a 2000 censusUnited States Census, 2000The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
population of 8,376 persons. The land area is 97.48 percent of the reservation's total, and the population is 77.65 percent of the reservation's total. - The San Xavier ReservationSan Xavier Indian ReservationThe San Xavier Indian Reservation is located near Tucson, Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. It is the smaller eastern section of the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, the homeland of the tribe known as the Tohono O'odham Nation....
, at 32°03′00"N 111°05′02"W, is located in Pima County, in the southwestern part of the TucsonTucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
metropolitan area. It has a land area of 288.895 square kilometres (111.5 sq mi) and a resident population of 2,053 persons. - The San Lucy District comprises seven small non-contiguous parcels of land in and northwest of the town of Gila BendGila Bend, ArizonaGila Bend , founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is close to but not precisely at the community's current location...
in southwestern Maricopa County. Their total land area is 1.915 square kilometres (473.2 acre), with a total population of 304 persons. - The Florence Village District is located just southwest of the town of FlorenceFlorence, Arizona-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,054 people, 2,226 households, and 1,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,056.2 people per square mile . There were 3,216 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile...
in central Pinal County. It is a single parcel of land with an area of 0.1045 square kilometres (25.8 acre) and a population of 54 persons.
Communities
- ChuichuChuichu, ArizonaChuichu is a census-designated place in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 339 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chuichu is located at ....
- PisinemoPisinemo, ArizonaPisinemo is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 237 at the 2000 census.-Geography:The village of Pisinemo is located at ....
- Santa Rosa (Kaij MekKaij Mek, ArizonaSanta Rosa, or Kaij Mek , is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 438 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Santa Rosa is located at ....
) - SellsSells, ArizonaSells is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 2,799 at the 2000 census. It is the capital of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the home of several of their tribal businesses, such as Tohono O'Odham Ki:Ki Association...
- TopawaTopawa, ArizonaTopawa is an unincorporated community in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Topawa is located on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation south-southeast of Sells. Topawa has a post office with ZIP code 85639....
Notable Tohono O'odham
- Annie AntoneAnnie AntoneAnnie Antone is a Native American Tohono O'odham basket weaver from Gila Bend, Arizona-Background:Annie Antone was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1955. She learned how to weave baskets from her mother, Irene Antone. Annie began at the age of 19 and sold her first basket for $10. She gave the money to...
, contemporary, pictorial basketweaver - Terrol Dew JohnsonTerrol Dew JohnsonTerrol Dew Johnson is a contemporary Tohono O'odham basketweaver and health advocate, promoting traditional foods to prevent diabetes.-Background:...
, basketweaver and native food and health advocate - Ofelia ZepedaOfelia ZepedaOfelia Zepeda is a Tohono O'odham poet and intellectual. Zepeda is a professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and is well known for her efforts in the preservation of her native language and promotion literacy in it. She is also known for her work as a consultant and advocate on...
, linguist and writer - Jason David FrankJason David FrankJason David Frank is an American actor, martial artist and professional mixed martial arts fighter, best known for playing Tommy Oliver in Power Rangers.- Early life :...
, actor and martial artist - Maria Chona, memoirist and subject of Papago Woman (1936).
See also
- O'odham languageO'odham languageO'odham is an Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside. As of the year 2000, there were estimated to be approximately 9750 speakers in the United States and Mexico combined, although there may be more due to underreporting...
- Akimel O'odham (River people)
- Hia C-ed O'odhamHia C-ed O'odhamThe Hia C-eḍ O'odham , also known as Areneños, Sand Papagos, or Sand Pimas are a Native American peoples whose traditional homeland lies between the Ajo Range, the Gila River, the Colorado River, and the Gulf of California...
(Sand people) - List of dwellings of Pueblo peoples
- Chicken scratchChicken scratchChicken scratch is a kind of dance music developed by the Tohono O'odham people. The genre evolved out of acoustic fiddle bands in southern Arizona, in the Sonoran desert...
- Shadow WolvesShadow WolvesThe "Shadow Wolves" is a unit of Native American trackers. The law enforcement unit is part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
- SobaipuriSobaipuriThe Sobaipuri are one of many indigenous groups occupying Sonora at the time Europeans first entered the American Southwest. They were a Piman group who occupied southern Arizona and northern Sonora in the 15th-19th centuries...
Sources
- Desert Indian Woman by Frances Manuel and Deborah Neff, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2001.
- "In the wake of the wheel: introduction of the wagon to the Papago Indians of southern Arizona." by Wesley Bliss. Pp. 23–33 in Human Problems in Technological Change, edited by E.H. Spicer. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Publications.
- The Tohono O'odham and Pimeria Alta by Allan J. McIntyre, Arcadia Publishing, 2008.
- A Syndetic Approach to Identification of the Historic Mission Site of San Cayetano Del Tumacácori, by Deni J. Seymour, 2007a, in International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 11(3):269–296.
- Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part I, by Deni J. Seymour, 2007b, in New Mexico Historical Review, 82(4).
- Delicate Diplomacy on a Restless Frontier: Seventeenth-Century Sobaipuri Social And Economic Relations in Northwestern New Spain, Part II, Deni J. Seymour, 2008, in New Mexico Historical Review, 83(2).
- http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CHECK_SEARCH_RESULTS=N&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P001&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-all_geo_types=N&-transpose=N&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=25000US4200&-geo_id=NBSP&-search_results=25000US4200&-fully_or_partially=N&-format=&-_lang=en&-show_geoid=YTohono O'odham Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Arizona] United States Census Bureau.
- Papago Park: A History of Hole-in-the-Rock from 1848 to 1995, Pueblo Grande Museum Occasional Papers No. 1, by Jason H. Gart, 1997
External links
- Official Website of the Tohono O'odham Nation
- Tohono O'odham / ITCA (Inter Tribal Council of Arizona)
- Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA)
- TOCA's Desert Rain Cafe
- How To Speak Tohono O'odham – Video
- Tohono O'odham utilities
- O'odham Solidarity Project
- Online Tohono O'odham bibliography
- Tohono O'odham, Papago in Sonora, Mexico