Pueblo Profiles: Cultural Identity through Centuries of Change

Description

In Pueblo Profiles, Joe S. Sando weaves a tapestry of individual lives against a backdrop of history—telling the stories of political leaders, educators, and artists who took part in the events and movements that have shaped Pueblo Indian life from the time of the Pueblo Revolt to the present day.

The author, who died in 2011, was an elder at Jemez Pueblo and a recognized authority and respected writer on Pueblo history who participated in the affairs of the nineteen New Mexico pueblos over several decades. He was thus able to present the kind of accurate, detailed information that will, once and for all, lay to rest many of the stereotypes, distortions, and misconceptions that continue to color attitudes—and policy—toward Native Americans.

Sando’s gripping history of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 includes both the early Spanish accounts and the orally-transmitted information that has been carefully preserved in the Pueblos since the seventeenth century. His biographies of twentieth-century political leaders and other noted people document a history of continuing assaults on Native American dignity and sovereignty. More importantly, they highlight the creative responses that enabled the Pueblo people to preserve their identity within the dominant culture, while moving with the times. The cultural integrity of the Pueblo people shines through the lives of these individuals, who have lived simply and with a humility that reflects their most deeply held values.