Over the Edge: The Grand Canyon Skywalk, Global Tourism, and Representations of the Hualapai Past Dr. Jeffrey P. Shepherd, University of Texas at El Paso

Main Points Historical Background Constructing “the Hualapai” – Ethnographers, tourists, bureaucrats Neo-Colonialism Hualapai Tourism Representations, Narrative, Symbolism

Historical Background

Mapping of Yuman Peoples by Linguistic Organization

Reservations in Arizona

Historical Turning Points “Northeastern Pai” Origin Story along the Colorado River and Grand Canyon Dispersal across the Southwest 13 bands of extended families Seasonal migrations and light agriculture Decentralized political leadership and social organization

Band Names & Geographical Identifications WiKawhata Pa’a (Red Rock People) Ha’’Emete’ Pa’a (Cerbat Mountain Amat Whala Pa’a (Walapai Mountain) Teki’aulva Pa’a (Lower Big Sandy) Ha’ Kiacha Pa’a (Mahone Mountain) Whala Kijapa Pa’a (Juniper Mountain) Tanyika Ha’ Pa’a (Grass Springs? Ha Dooba Pa’a (Clay Springs) Kwagwe’ Pa’a (Hackberry Springs) He’l Pa’a (Milkweed Springs) Yi Kwat Pa’a (Peach Springs) Ha’ Kasa Pa’a (Pine Springs) Havasooa Pa’a (Blue Green Water)

American Colonization “Hualapai Wars” – Colonel William Redwood Price and genocide – Killed 1/3 of all Hualapais – Hualapai leader Schrum, never surrendered Removal and Internment to La Paz, Hualapai “Long Walk” Executive Order Reservation 1883 Northeastern Pai became “The Hualapai” due to confusion, racism & administrative expediency

Ethnographic Invasion Army Corps of Topographical Engineers and U.S. Geological Survey – Cartographers and “empty space:” Necessity of conquest: erasure – Mapping and assimilation of natural and human “resources” – Joseph Ives, 1851, Report on Colorado River included Hualapais Bureau of American Ethnology – Categorizing humans – Major John Wesley Powell, Colorado River and Hualapais Anthropology – “Science” of studying human hierarchies. Tendency to depoliticize it, claim objectivity and purity of motive beyond study. The context of the era shaped its race-based agenda: prove superiority of whites

Continued… Archeology – Southwest as laboratory for scientists “studying” the human past – Scientific construction of “Southwest” as an ethnic “other” and exotic region beyond history – Insertion of spatial construct into linear/teleological time Mesa Verde & Chaco Canyon Symbolic, Cultural, Spatial, Racial incorporation of the “domestic-foreign” lands into the American national space

Colonial Nostalgia Santa Fe Railway and the Harvey Corporation Construction of the Southwest American Exotic Pre-modern anti-materialism artists, novelists, counter-cultural icons Mabel Dodge Luhan & Georgia O’Keefe Susan Wallace, Land of the Pueblos Charles F. Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo H. H. Jackson, Ramona & Century of Dishonor

Necessity of “The Indian” American History as history of expansion West as crucible of independence and democratic character Frontier forged American identity No frontier, no identity? Search for “lost past” Desire for the foreign, exotic others to serve as outlet for passions, inhibitions, strict gender roles noble savage myth reaffirms masculine nationalism

Conquest as narrative

Alfred Jacob Miller, 1840s, reproduced extensively

Selling the Southwest (postcard)

Santa Fe Railway Company

Pop-culture Indians

Assimilation and Cultural Genocide Off-Reservation Ranchers & the Santa Fe Railway – Monopolized land and water Wage labor Boarding School Assimilation and detribalization Non-Citizenship, beyond the boundaries of the nation-state/space

Neo-Colonialism The Great Depression Hualapais move to the reservation Hualapais “accept” the Indian Reorganization Act Government Tribal Council lacks cultural legitimacy, not supported by tribal members Economic development Oversight and neo-colonial control by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Inability to control their own economy, community, society

“Indigenous Tourism” 1970s: Hualapais contracted river runners to take tourists down the Colorado River Fired the company and started their own Hualapai River Runners was established in 1973, and remains the only Native owned and operated river running business. Reaction to environmental problems caused by uranium mining & logging. Failed casino Desire to control their economy Sovereignty

Tourist Endeavors River Runners Hualapai Lodge and Restaurant Elk Hunting Grand Canyon West Grand Canyon/Hualapai Skywalk Guano Point “Elder Hostel”

Grand Canyon Skywalk Grand Canyon West established in 1988 Unobstructed views of the Canyon Failed Casino Tourists from Las Vegas 2002/3, David Jin Partnership with the Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, Hualapai corporation $40 million U.S. 75% of visitors are from outside of the United States Airplanes, busses and helicopters from Las Vegas

Construction

Adding a Restaurant and Observation Deck

Skywalk in Relation to Surrounding Region

Specifications Completed in 2006, unveiled in ,000 feet above the floor of the Grand Canyon Seven layers of glass, made in Belgium Withstand sustained winds in excess of 100 mph Category 4 earthquake Thousands of visitors per day

Discursive Difference and Debate within Hualapai Community Sacred Ground vs. Economic Development Environment vs. Poverty Indigenous land use and cultural continuity It is better than uranium mining “We’re acting White” “Too much money makes us greedy” “We Indians are just poor” “We’re moving into the 21 st century”

Tourism, Narrative, Capitalism Standard Narratives of the American West marginalize Indigenous People – As savages, obstacles, cultures doomed to extinction – Glorify Westward Expansion, teleological narrative In a capitalist tourist industry, do Indigenous people represent their history differently from non-Native controlled tourist industries? Do they tell stories to educate non-Natives? Can tourism serve as an “educational space?” Are Indigenous representations of history and culture simply commodities?

Hualapai Narratives and Iconography in the Tourist Industry “The Hualapai are a native people of the Southwest. Traditionally they inhabited an area of more than five million acres. Primarily nomadic hunter-gatherers, the Hualapai were organized in bands. Each band occupied a defined territory in pursuit of seasonally-available wild plants and animals. Skillful traders, the Hualapai engaged in commerce with groups far and wide. They traded hides to the Havasupai of the Grand Canyon for cultivated crops. They exchanged specialized products to native people as far away as the Pacific Coast and the Rio Grande Valley.” Tourist Brochure, “Grand Canyon West”

Analysis “The Hualapai” – Amat Whala Pa’a: One band, not entire ethnic group or nation known as Hualapai – Colonization and naming – Colonial space of the reservation Nomadic – Semi-sedentary Defined territory – Again, spatial identification – Land and identity Havasupai – Havasooa Pa’a: One band, became “tribe/nation”

Rhetorics of Experience “Experience Grand Canyon West” “Hualapai culture envelopes you as you pass through the doors of the Hualapai lodge” “Finding a balance between form, function, and nature, the Skywalk bridge gives us a chance to share the wonder of the canyon…” Science, nature, culture

Simulacra and “the becoming” of tourism Hualapai Ranch “A Wild West Experience…Step into the Old West.” “A Day of Hualapai Culture, an evening of cowboy hospitality”

“Frontier Town”

Indian Village & Authenticity

Ethnographic Museum Hopi Dwelling“Plains Teepee”

Continued… Sweat lodgeHualapai “Wikieup”

Continued… Navajo HoganHogan and Sweat lodge

Hualapai Dancers

Marking the Land

Geography of Iconography

Indigenous “Faces”

Conclusions The Skywalk and Hualapai tourism are not radically different from other tourist ventures in their fundamental narrative of U.S., Western History, but it does diverge in important ways. – Hualapai are rooted in place and persist in time – Not obstacles, barriers or savages opposing “civilization.” – Elements of “the frontier” and “Wild West” are incorporated, perhaps for tourist titilation as a historical commodity rather than pedagogical moment – Ambivalence of band identity challenges homogenization of Indians, yet simplifies narrative

Conclusions Tied to “ancient Southwest” narrative, and emphasis on the Grand Canyon and Colorado River origin stories. “Their presence along the Colorado River dates to 600 A.D.” Mention of 1883 Executive Order creating reservation marks the modern spatial history of the Hualapai 19 th century, not 20 th century No mention of conquest, Manifest Destiny, violence, with the exception of the “forced march to La Paz” (Hualapai River Runners Magazine) No mention of government, poverty, education, etc.

Questions & Comments Dr. Jeffrey P. Shepherd, Department of History, University of Texas at El Paso