Visiting the collections of Hupa basketry, regalia, and ceremonial objects is always bittersweet and during this conference it was no different. I was delighted to see and hold the stunning baskets and greet them in na:tinixwe mixine:whe’ but I was equally saddened to watch them be put back in their storage closets. The Smithsonian collections were in a giant concrete labyrinth in Maryland some 30+ miles away from D.C. I couldn’t help but think that the objects in those collections were very far from the valley and the people who know how to use them to remake the world.
About Stephanie Lumsden:
He:yung, ‘awho:lye Stephanie Lumsden. Na:tinixwe ‘a:wht’e. Stephanie is an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. She is currently a MA student in the Native American Studies department at the University of California, Davis. In 2011 Stephanie received her BA in Women’s Studies with a Minor in Native American Studies from Portland State University. While at Portland State University she also earned recognition for academic excellence and was placed on the Dean’s List. Her thesis research focuses on Native American women and the prison-industrial complex in California, Federal Indian Policy, political economy, California Indian history, and California Indian basketry.